Fan requests

[grixxit]

Most of my friends checking out Zeitgeist get the feeling that firearms such as flintlocks are going to be introduced in the campaign. Will there be feat crossover for D&D 4e for the firearms or will there be a separate flint-lock feat list?

 

[Colmarr]

Yeah soonish is kind of....vague.

lol. The joys of the publishing industry, I guess!

Most of my friends checking out Zeitgeist get the feeling that firearms such as flintlocks are going to be introduced in the campaign. Will there be feat crossover for D&D 4e for the firearms or will there be a separate flint-lock feat list?

I'm personally hoping it will be a "counts as x-type-of-crossbow" deal, but I guess we'll know soonish.

 

[RangerWickett]

Since I'm pretty sure this got posted on the 'House Rules' forum for feedback at some point, this is what we're planning for now:



Firearms
Firearms use explosive alchemicals to fire metal ammunition. Reloading involves drawing and tearing open a paper cartridge, which contains firedust and a bullet. The gunman pours firedust down the barrel, then packs in the bullet with a ramrod. Pistols and carbines are fairly easy to aim, but the extreme length of muskets (over five feet long) makes them unwieldy for untrained users.

Reloading takes a standard action. Normally powers that let you make multiple ranged attacks let you reload freely between attacks, but you cannot freely reload firearms in this way. For that reason, a typical character might carry a loaded firearm to use as a once-per-encounter weapon. A character who wants to use a firearm as a primary weapon should take the Firearm Expertise feat, which lets him reload as a minor action. A fully specialized gunman may also want Speed Loader, which turns it into a free action.

We understand that many gaming groups use Wizard of the Coast’s Character Builder, and that – barring revisions to the software – adding new items is impossible. For that reason, we have based each firearm on an existing crossbow. The firearms trade a slower reload time for the brutal 2 and high crit properties.

To give your character a firearm, just equip the analogous weapon. When you print out your character sheet, you just need to remember or mark the different traits. To give your character Firearm Expertise, instead take the feat Crossbow Expertise. You gain the same attack bonus benefit, but use the firearm feat’s faster reloading in place of the secondary benefit of the crossbow feat. Feats, abilities, and powers that apply to crossbows also apply to firearms, and any character proficient in a crossbow is proficient in the equivalent firearm.

We admit this is a bit of a kludge, but it should let you take advantage of the Character Builder’s automatic calculations of attacks and damage, while giving firearms their own unique identity.

Pistol. This weapon is analogous to a hand crossbow.

Carbine. This weapon is analogous to a crossbow.

Musket. This weapon is analogous to a superior crossbow, from the Adventurer’s Vault.

 

[grixxit]

Thank you, I could not have asked for a more clear answer.

 

[Colmarr]

Agreed. Seems a simple approach. I especially like the Brutal 2 and high crit. It's a clean way of dealing with the high damage firearms are capable of.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Reloading takes a standard action. Normally powers that let you make multiple ranged attacks let you reload freely between attacks, but you cannot freely reload firearms in this way. For that reason, a typical character might carry a loaded firearm to use as a once-per-encounter weapon. A character who wants to use a firearm as a primary weapon should take the Firearm Expertise feat, which lets him reload as a minor action. A fully specialized gunman may also want Speed Loader, which turns it into a free action.

I like that concept of a firearm being a once-per-encounter weapon. That is more in line with medieval to early Renaissance firearms than what I see in many fantasy RPGs that allow firearms.

Hopefully, the character builder will eventually get modified to accommodate new weapons as well.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Yeah soonish is kind of....vague.

Longer than now-ish, sooner than long-ish.

 

[Eccles]

Going back to the suggestions theme; one lovely trick they had in an old WFRP module (Power Behind the Throne) was that the DM's information an tips for running the NPC were on a strip of paper, at the top of which was the NPC's image - only upside down.

This meant that you could pre-select the NPCs coming up in a situation (it was a very social section of the campaign), fold over the image and hang it over a GM screen. It gave the players something to focus on, and in an otherwise terribly confusing whirl of social encounters was incredibly useful.

Hang on - was this in the module or was it something I did for myself? I forget... Either way, was pretty useful.

Oh, and handouts. I love these, but I'm too cheap to print the glorious coloured handouts from the back of the WotBS modules as they'd drink ink. Maybe a less glorious download from the website?

 

[Colmarr]

I like that concept of a firearm being a once-per-encounter weapon. That is more in line with medieval to early Renaissance firearms than what I see in many fantasy RPGs that allow firearms.

Of course, the minute you throw firearms into the mix, someone wants to play a gunfighter (as demonstrated by my advice thread in the 4e discussion forum).

 

[NewJeffCT]

Of course, the minute you throw firearms into the mix, someone wants to play a gunfighter (as demonstrated by my advice thread in the 4e discussion forum).

I know what you mean on playing a gunfighter - most people have an image of guns akin to the American Wild West of the 1800s even in fantasy RPGs that are semi-based on the Medieval or early Renaissance era, or possibly even the Dark Ages.