Guns in a fantasy setting

[Umbran]

The problem with reskinning crossbows is that they never go up in damage. So you end up with the issue I see with bows and crossbows in DnD and that is at higher levels they are no threat at all.

But the same can be said for longswords - they don't go up in damage either.

This is pretty universal in D&D: Rise in damage is due either to magic, or character skills and abilities, not the physical weapon. That gunslinger type needs feats and class abilities that make him fearsome with a gun, just as the sword-and-board fighter needs them.

 

[ValhallaGH]

But the same can be said for longswords - they don't go up in damage either.

This is pretty universal in D&D: Rise in damage is due either to magic, or character skills and abilities, not the physical weapon. That gunslinger type needs feats and class abilities that make him fearsome with a gun, just as the sword-and-board fighter needs them.

Unfortunately, Power Attack doesn't work at range, and ability modifiers are not generally added to ranged damage.
Which gives you the solution, happily.

Guns add Dexterity bonus to damage. This works exactly like adding strength, including getting 1.5 times Dex for using it two-handed.
Then you just need a power attack equivalent. Like this:
Called Shot
Right between the eyes. He won't stand a chance.
You've mastered the art of putting lead where it hurts the most.
Prerequisites: Dexterity 13+
Benefits: On your action, before making attack rolls for a round, you may choose to subtract a number from all ranged attack rolls and add the same number to all ranged damage rolls. This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The penalty on attacks and bonus on damage apply until your next turn.
Special: If you attack with a two-handed weapon, or with a one-handed weapon wielded in two hands, instead add twice the number subtracted from your attack rolls. You can’t add the bonus from Called Shot to the damage dealt with a light weapon, even though the penalty on attack rolls still applies. (Normally, you treat a double weapon as a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. If you choose to use a double weapon like a two-handed weapon, attacking with only one end of it in a round, you treat it as a two-handed weapon.)
A fighter may select Called Shot as one of his fighter bonus feats.
Obviously you should adapt this to match your 3.x variant.

Then you just need stats for guns. Doghouse Rules Sidewinder: Reloaded has a lot of Old West Guns stats for 3.x d20 (d20 Modern, but that's close enough to not matter). You might even like some of the feats it includes.


Best of luck.

 

[Voadam]

What system?

Fantasy Flight Games had one of their 3e horizon line sourcebooks dedicated solely to this - Spellslinger.

3e has:
DMG
Twin Crowns
Spiros Blaak
Iron Kingdoms
Ptolus
d20 Freeport Companion
Black Powder Gods
Black Flags from Avalanche Press
Unorthodox Ranged Combatants from The Le
Nobis
Fantasy Firearms by Skorched Urf Studio (pdf)
EN Arsenal Pistols (pdf)
Pathfinder Ultimate Combat
Pathfinder Freeport Companion

4e has
Scarport
4e Freeport Companion

2e had some in the Forgotten Realms Adventures hardcover and I remember them being referenced in Spelljammer, particularly with the Giff affiliation for smokepowder.

Warhammer FRPG has always had pistols and cannon.

 

[mmadsen]

The problem with reskinning crossbows is that they never go up in damage. So you end up with the issue I see with bows and crossbows in DnD and that is at higher levels they are no threat at all.

So if you have a gunslinger which would be a fighter type he can unload bullet after bullet and never come class to bringing down the higher level threats.

As you note, this is a problem with bows and crossbows in D&D. Really, it's the nature of hit points. Either a weapon can kill something in one shot, in which case it generally will kill it in two, or it simply cannot kill it in one shot and needs two, three, four, or whatever number of shots, plus or minus one.

To reflect both reality and fiction, we'd like guns to generally miss, occasionally graze, and sometimes kill outright just about anything, with a well-placed shot.

Within the 3E framework, that might mean a huge critical threat range and a big critical hit multiplier.

 

[Twichyboy]

In my Spelljammer game i have firearms, however the players are loath to use them and only the Dwaves use them

I home ruled the arquebus to be more like the flintlock pistol

Where the flintlock pistol rolls only a D4 for damage, if you roll a 4 you roll again for damage

so for the rifle i made it so if you roll a 10, 11, or 12 on a d12 you roll again for damage, and to balance it i made it require 2 full round actions to reload

with this it balances the guns killing potentiality with it usually going only a single d12 but its possible to take a ton of damage, i once had a dwarf hit for 60+ damage with a single shot

also if you roll a 1 on the attack roll the gun misfires and hurts the user

 

[NewJeffCT]

I would love to have guns & gunpowder weapons in a D&D setting - even if it's just to give it flavor.

However, it seems like most guns used in a fantasy quasi-medieval world seem to skip over the entire early gunpowder era and give players the equivalent of late 18th to late 19th century firearms. Many early guns were used once to start a combat and then that was it.

I think I read somewhere about guns in one setting taking two standard actions to fully load, which I think would be acceptable.

 

[RangerWickett]

I would love to have guns & gunpowder weapons in a D&D setting - even if it's just to give it flavor.

However, it seems like most guns used in a fantasy quasi-medieval world seem to skip over the entire early gunpowder era and give players the equivalent of late 18th to late 19th century firearms. Many early guns were used once to start a combat and then that was it.

I think I read somewhere about guns in one setting taking two standard actions to fully load, which I think would be acceptable.

ZEITGEIST is one standard action. Pretty much discourages reloading during combat. But there are feats to let you use the weapons in a more gunslinger-y fashion. My goal was to make guns good enough that you're willing to have one even if you aren't specialized. You can fire from range, then drop it and advance to melee combat.

 

[Plane Sailing]

The Savage Coast region was an analogue of the Age of Exploration of the New World. As such, it had aspects of english, portuguese and spanish colonialism of the America. It found a place for a fantasy "Mexico" (Almarrón), fantasy "Pampas" with gauchos (Guadalante) and fantasy "old Texas" (Cimmaron) in a D&D framework.

I really liked the Red Steel setting. It would bring in a lot of other things that you might not want if you took the whole thing with the Red Curse, the Red Steel, the gunpowder and such.

It had a really nice feel though. Even though I never liked tortles.

 

[Thanael]

Check out Monte Cooks web enhancement to Chaositech. Though note that this is not meant to represent real historical firearms but a fantasy version.

Chaositech is the result of harnessing raw chaos to accomplish seemingly impossible deed, or at least impossible without magic. Chaositech has an opposite, however—and it’s not magic. Whether you call it “steamtech” or “science,” or even something like “ordertech,” chaositech’s opposite involves accomplishing impressive deeds using the natural order of things. Science is far more reliable than chaos-itech but less powerful, bound as it is by the laws of physics.

from Harnessing the Natural Laws: Technology in Your Game

Likewise, it would be weird to be running a fairly traditional fantasy campaign and suddenly throw in laser guns and force fields. So that means that Chaositech isn't designed for traditional fantasy campaigns, right?

No. That's not the way it's been designed. See, chaositech isn't technology. You don't look at this stuff and think Star Trek. It's meant to fit into a fantasy milieu. How? Well, it will pass as magic as easily as it will pass for technology, for it truly is neither. You'll find no discussion of scientific terms or physics applications in the description of chaositech abilities. You will find discussions on chaositech cults, the dread worship of chaos gods, chaotic spells, and how chaositech interacts with magic.

Chaositech is weird fantasy, but it is fantasy. The material within is designed to work in a standard D&D style fantasy campaign. It's how I used it (and continue to use it) in my own campaign.

In fact, because Chaositech was designed for fantasy games, it wouldn't fit well into a straight-up, hard science fiction game. It's too strange -- too supernatural seeming. It's got more in common with Dr. Frankenstein and his monster than with real science.

So, it's not my intention to change your campaign paradigm with chaositech. It will change it no more drastically than a new book of spells or magic items. Yet at the same time, it will introduce some new flavor and new threats the likes of which you probably (hopefully) have never seen. Here is an excerpt from the book to show you some ways you can bring chaositech into your game.

[...]
CHAOSITECH VS. REAL SCIENCE
One great way to introduce chaositech into a campaign is to do so alongside developments of real technology. If you've got dwarves that use steam-powered technology or the occasional firearm, or use "steampunk" technology in your game at all, this is a wonderful chaositech "hook." Because now you can offer up both, as equals but opposites. Chaositech, obviously, is the creation of chaos, and normal technology is the stuff of law. Gods of chaos (the Galchutt) support one, while the gods of law support the other—it's an arms race fueled by religion. The two forces can clash on a spiritual, philosophical, metaphysical, and physical level, and the PCs can choose which to support.

In particular, this option works well with the "tools of the ancient gods" approach, for it creates antoher way in which chaositech differs from conventional technology. While steampowered devices are new, chaositech is old: Chaositech isn't an innovation, it's an artifact.

from Campaign Paradigms


There's also Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms firearms PDF which is more steamtech.

 

[mmadsen]

However, it seems like most guns used in a fantasy quasi-medieval world seem to skip over the entire early gunpowder era and give players the equivalent of late 18th to late 19th century firearms. Many early guns were used once to start a combat and then that was it.

It is funny how actual matchlock firearms were considered roughly equivalent to crossbows by soldiers of the time, and thus they'd pose no balance issues in the game, but nobody wants "lame" guns in their game; they wan't repeaters at the least, and they really want automatics.