D&D 5E (2014) Let's Talk About Guns in 5E

[CreamCloud0]

Now that is too good.

in combination with the limited ammo to do so? i'd imagine you couldn't be using the gun every turn it'd have to be a resource to be managed and used strategically.

 

[Reynard]

in combination with the limited ammo to do so? i'd imagine you couldn't be using the gun every turn it'd have to be a resource to be managed and used strategically.

Guaranteed damage is not really a thing in the 5E design philosophy. Better to double the dice or something. Also, magic items usually have charges rather than having to find more magic bullets.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Guaranteed damage is not really a thing in the 5E design philosophy. Better to double the dice or something. Also, magic items usually have charges rather than having to find more magic bullets.

i don't really feel like 'well it's not really something 5e does' is a great argument for not doing it, and i'd be perfectly fine if it ran off charges instead.

 

[Reynard]

i don't really feel like 'well it's not really something 5e does' is a great argument for not doing it

In general,I find that you have to be careful when doing things that are not typical for a game in question. This doesn't mean you can't, but it does mean you have to think through that possible knock on effects and also pay attention to how it actually ends up impacting play. Obviously you can do anything as a one off throw away idea and it won't disrupt your game, but if you are introducing new systems or standards you might find yourself regretting unforseen consequences.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Officially? 1454 or 1492, depending what you consider the beginning of the renaissance. I’ll let the scholars argue. Obviously it varied a lot geographically, and it’s not exactly clear when the era became aware of its own existence.

“Medieval Fantasy” sits comfortably over periods of the renaissance however. The “ren” part of ren fairs stands for renaissance, so not even medieval historically speaking. “Renaissance Fantasy” would likely be more accurate, but it’s the term “Medieval Fantasy” that stuck. Don’t ask me why. A mix or ignorance and willful anachronism probably.

Rennaissance was made up by Voltaire, don't buy into it!

Jokes aside, these terms are...not as useful as people think, past a very basic outline of history. Strong arguments have been made that the twrm is actively detrimental to understand European history.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

My only problem with firearms in 5.5e is that the artillerist or a Rogue multi-class (or by burning a feat) is the only ways that can make effective use of them.

The rules for using them are badly made.

Why? A musket is much like a crossbow in the phb.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

After watching a youtube video I fall into another point. What about the pneumatic weapons (by means of air presure)?

Air gun - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Pneumatic weapon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In a fantasy pre-steampunk world like Eberron this technology could be possible, at least created with help of magic.

 

[Mephista]

Why? A musket is much like a crossbow in the phb.

Unlike crossbows, guns do not have a way to ignore the Ammunition property except a single magic item that is quickly out-classed by other options. The ammunition property prevents them from working nicely with Extra Attack unless you get, like, a ton of disposable ones you constantly grab and drop. Which is just silly and unrealistic in most games, especially ones that give out magic items - a single +1 bow is better than using a wagon of muskets for the majority of weapon-users.

Rogues can also use crossbows without issue, since they get one attack per turn by default, but, strangely enough, they don't have proficiency with guns, necessitating either using a general feat or having a multi-class character to have access to guns. Furthermore, a lot of people tend to think about the Rogue as the "sneaky class" and are best suited by having weapons that don't make a lot of noise like a gun when trying to snipe someone. You can shoot from further away with a crossbow as well. A lot of trouble to use a single weapon.

Clerics with martial weapon proficencies can use a gun and benefit from True Strike/Divine Strike, but as a full caster, they're likely to fall back on spell slots rather than cantrips for most of their game after the earliest levels; even those clerics that do take up martial proficiency tend to use melee weapons that are designed to work with Emanation spells while in melee. Nothing stops you from being a gun cleric, but its not exactly a supported playstyle either. Its just there.

Artificer is the sole class in the game designed with gun use in mind, and that's only true for the Artilerist subclass, and only by using True Strike; and even then, at level 11 Artificer playstyle shifts to spamming level 3+ spells and summons via items. You can even make the gun as an Enspelled Weapon that shoots fireballs or whatever, and benefits from subclass abilities. Sadly, its only one subclass, and we only have that one subclass because of massive player feedback.

The simple fact of the matter is we have an entire category of weapons with so little support in the game, they might as well not exist outside of very niche cases. Now, there might be homebrew or 3PP that help, but when it comes to official WotC rules? We're out of luck.

 

[CleverNickName]

The ammunition property prevents them from working nicely with Extra Attack unless you get, like, a ton of disposable ones you constantly grab and drop. Which is just silly and unrealistic in most games, especially ones that give out magic items - a single +1 bow is better than using a wagon of muskets for the majority of weapon-users.

Maybe one of these?

Pepper-box - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The pepperbox in my campaign can fire 6 times before it needs reloading (reloading takes 10 minutes, the character usually does it over a short or long rest.)

Two of those, with a cutlass for close quarters, and you're all set.

 

[500 Toads]

Doesn't the Artificer still have access to the Repeating Shot infusion? It's somewhat limited in that it requires attunement and doesn't scale past +1, but it does bypass both the Loading property and the need for basic ammunition.