D&D 4E Firearms for the 4E Game (Contributions Welcome)

[Fallen Seraph]

Hmm, I just had a random thought for old guns, with the new recharge mechanics. What if there was a negative recharge.

When you decide to fire, if you roll a the weapon discharges in your face. (I dunno what mechanics this would cause), perhaps stunned till next turn?

 

[CleverNickName]

Hmm, I just had a random thought for old guns, with the new recharge mechanics. What if there was a negative recharge.

When you decide to fire, if you roll a the weapon discharges in your face. (I dunno what mechanics this would cause), perhaps stunned till next turn?

If "fumbles" exist, the weapon could backfire on a natural roll of 1. At least, that's how we do it in my 3.5 game. IMC, backfiring doesn't usually damage the person using the weapon, but it means the weapon has to be dismantled to remove the "stuck" lead ball from the barrel before it can be fired again. Takes about an hour.

 

[CleverNickName]

Four Firearm Feats

Here are a handful of firearms-related feats that I came up with, to help get the ball rolling. I'm still a bit shaky on what "tier" these should be put under; I don't have a wide basis for comparison on power levels yet. I suppose they are easy to move around if they are over- or under-powered.

Heroic Tier Feats

Sniper Sight
Your expert marksmanship allows you to shoot through cover easily.
Prereq: Weapon Focus [any firearm]
Benefit: You may ignore the -2 penalty to ranged attacks against opponents with cover (but not total cover).


Stab and Fire
Opponents hit by your bayonet are easy targets.
Prereq: ?Point Blank Shot
Benefit: if you hit an opponent with your bayonet, you may discharge your musket as a swift action, with a +2 bonus to the attack roll. This attack must be made against the opponent you struck with the bayonet.


Paragon Tier Feats

Prone Fighter
You are trained to fight from a prone position.
Prereq: Defensive Mobility
Benefit: You may attack from a prone position without penalty. Opponents do not have combat advantage against you while you are prone.


Steady Shooter
(Revised from the version found in the PHB Lite.)
Prereq: Con 15
Benefit: +3 damage to ranged attacks made with crossbow or firearm if you don't move.

 

[GiMiK1214]

A little background on Black Powder Weapons

Just to provide a little background, as a hobby I do some black powder shooting every couple of weeks and thought I would add some insight from my own experience. This is of course more for information purposes as I don't consider D&D to be a simulation game.

On Blunderbus/Shotguns: I was just firing a blackpowder short barreled shot gun. In my experience firing at 20 yards (12 squares), birdshot would hit a spread about 3ft in diameter. 32caliber buckshot (9 pellets) would strike the bulk of their shot over about 1.5 feet.

On rifled flintlock pistol: Once again a muzzle loader, Accuracy was good to hit a stationary target at 20 yards (12 squares) of normal human size. Reloading varies based on how prepared you are. I was using a powder horn instead of prepared cartridges and am not an expert or in a rush. I would estimate that I could reload the pistol and have it ready to fire again in about 30 seconds. Keep in mind a rifle takes longer as it is unweildy.

On revolvers: I've also used cap and ball revolvers, which aside from being no fun to clean (personal note, obviously not related to gameplay). Are good for 6 quick shots, but the reload for a cap and ball revolver is also a bit on the long side.

I can certainly see the per encounter power for these types of weapons in the 4e design system and can agree with that. On Blunderbuses I would suggest much like the choice for mages in 4e pick bird or buck shot after encounter for reload for next encounter. Allow adjacent targets on bird with relatively low damage and allow single target with higher damage for buck shot. I would certainly agree with the vs. Reflex for these weapons as the targets evasiveness is more of a reason to do no damage than his armor.

CarpeDM (latin: Seize the Dungeon Master)

 

[TerraDave]

I am more towards TerraDave in that accuracy of smoothbore muskets was very poor.
FYI:
From the Napoleonic era a Prussian experiment found against a target 100' long by 6' high:
@225 yards 25% hit
@150 yards 40% hit
@75 yards 60% hit

Edit: but also bloody dangerous on a hit. So I would go for low accuracy vs reflex (as armour was not very effective against muskets!)

Thanks! And just to reiterate, I would make these "dex vs. reflex". I think that also gets around the proficiency issue (if used as a melee weapon, then you add the prof bonus). (and makes them more distinctive).

I also wonder if you could make the blunderbuss a close-- --weapon. Though I don't know if we have seen any of those. But the symbol fits.

 

[TerraDave]

I you added pistols, you may also want to make them .

 

[Clawhound]

In my game, I intend to create a mage/striker hack to deal with this. To me, guns are special effects, not basic weapons.

Guns do FORCE damage. Guns are only use as powers.

For example, "Magic Missile" becomes "Brace of Pistols." "Rifle Shot" replaces Orb of Force.

"Right between the eyes." Daily. 3[X] + Int.

I think that this better gets the gun feel.

 

[Dayspire]

I'm glad that this thread exists. I'm going to be using firearms for my upcoming 4E game, but I making mine different than the OP's. The world is fairly similar to Iron Kingdoms, in that it has many steampunk elements (God help me, I even envision the guns having gears and occasionally shooting off steam, as odd as that sounds). I see them mechanically very close to crossbows, but slightly more damaging. To balance that out, I think the actual guns and the ammo should be fairly expensive. This means of course that they'd be in the hands of adventurers, highly ranked guards, Gun Mages, the wealthy, etc. That coupled with training requirements (Exotic Prof) should make them fairly uncommon.

 

[Sir Brennen]

My only problem with giving the weapon a per encounter ability is, players will simply carry a brace of pistols and get to use a "per encounter" power multiple times in said encounter.

And, as has been mentioned already in this thread, "realistic" reload times aren't very fantasy/action genre friendly. It's also more incentive to carry multiple weapons, componding the problem mentioned above. A move action for reloading would work well, but in 4E I think Move is reserved specifically for actual movement.

If one were to try and create a gun-totin' class, I think players of it would find themselves either be hamstrung by some of the restrictions, or find easy ways to be more powerful than intended.

What I'd like to see - a world were Rangers can be gunslingers rather than archers, and be on par with their bow-wielding counterparts. Determining if a ranger character with a particular gun would be too good or too nerfed might be a good benchmark.

 

[CleverNickName]

My only problem with giving the weapon a per encounter ability is, players will simply carry a brace of pistols and get to use a "per encounter" power multiple times in said encounter.

You say this like it is a bad thing. You would still need to spend the action switching weapons, and you would still have to buy them (not cheap) and carry them (not lightweight) in the first place. As for the powers, well, at the end of the day I imagine it isn't much different from collecting scrolls and wands.

What I'd like to see - a world were Rangers can be gunslingers rather than archers, and be on par with their bow-wielding counterparts. Determining if a ranger character with a particular gun would be too good or too nerfed might be a good benchmark.

I'm under the gun at work (*rimshot*) and I have midterms to study for all this weekend, so I don't have very much free time at the moment...but I'm improvising some rules for a playable six-shooter and lever-action carbine for steampunk/Old West game settings. This sounds like the kind of weapon you would be interested in.

As for me, I like the thought of muskets being "spears with a per-encounter ability." That is probably the best and most plausable idea I have seen lately, which means I totally owe SlagMortar a beer.

Anyway, my plan is to put all of these ideas into a downloadable .PDF document, sorted by time period. Primitive muzzleloaders in one section, then the faster-loading breechloaders, then repeaters. (I know...D&D is not actual history and time periods are different and realism and simulationism and blah blah blah. I just don't know a better way to sort the different types of firearms.) Then when the books are released, I will revise it and expand it. I'll probably make a 3.5/Pathfinder version, too.