Dueling in D20...

[Kid Charlemagne]

In one of the No Quarter magazines, Privateer Press has a pistol dueling system - it basically adds a sneak attack-like mechanic to make single shots potentially deadly.

 

[Tetsubo]

If I was trying to model a classic gun duel using D&D mechanics, I would do the following:

1. Each participant stands 10 paces apart.
2. Roll for Initiative as normal.
3. Each participant, in order of Initiative, take a full round action to take a shot.
4. If you are struck by a bullet, follow the coup de grace rules.

It's quick and dirty but that might work...

Though ten paces isn't very far... even I could hit a human at that range...

It is however fairly realistic as far as urban fire fights are concerned. The average range for them is 30'...

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Though ten paces isn't very far... even I could hit a human at that range...

It is however fairly realistic as far as urban fire fights are concerned. The average range for them is 30'...

You'd be amazed how tough it is to hit a person. Here in Chicago a few years back, we had a guy who got shot by the police in the alley; it turned out that the policemen were investigating a crime in a nearby house, forced their way in, and were set upon by a dog.

They shot 37 times, and the guy down the alley took a bullet.

The dog survived unharmed.

 

[Tetsubo]

You'd be amazed how tough it is to hit a person. Here in Chicago a few years back, we had a guy who got shot by the police in the alley; it turned out that the policemen were investigating a crime in a nearby house, forced their way in, and were set upon by a dog.

They shot 37 times, and the guy down the alley took a bullet.

The dog survived unharmed.

My favorite story (based on an actual article) took place inside a home. The homeowner was home and armed with a .22 pistol. An intruder broke and was carrying a .45 pistol. Within the confines of the house a gun battle ensued. The homeowner hit the intruder once with a .22 round. The intruder was killed. Prior to dying the intruder hit the homeowner *six* times in the torso with .45 rounds. The homeowner changed his shirt, got in his car and drove himself to the hospital. He lived. The fact that he changed his shirt just cracks me up. He was obviously in shock and mentally confused. But it still cracks me up... That guy had the Toughness, Endurance and Die Hard Feats...

 

[Arkhandus]

Could use a slightly tweaked version of the Oriental Adventures rules for Iaijutsu Duels. Make a clone of the Iaijutsu Focus skill that is Dexterity-based instead of Charisma-based, with a different name and useable with ranged attacks (at least out to a certain distance, like 60 feet or whatever).

And use the Iaijutsu Duel rules for handling the duels; just remove the need for Quick Draw and a katana, and swap out Iaijutsu Focus for the new skill (Dueling Focus? Sniper Focus?). Might need just a bit of further modification, but it basically works.

Another EN Worlder made a variant of Iaijutsu Focus called Sniper Focus for something similar, in one of the houserules or D&D rules threads.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

My favorite story (based on an actual article) took place inside a home. The homeowner was home and armed with a .22 pistol. An intruder broke and was carrying a .45 pistol. Within the confines of the house a gun battle ensued. The homeowner hit the intruder once with a .22 round. The intruder was killed. Prior to dying the intruder hit the homeowner *six* times in the torso with .45 rounds. The homeowner changed his shirt, got in his car and drove himself to the hospital. He lived. The fact that he changed his shirt just cracks me up. He was obviously in shock and mentally confused. But it still cracks me up... That guy had the Toughness, Endurance and Die Hard Feats...

He had Tough levels, Remain Conscious, and Second Wind... he used the latter to boost his hit points above 0.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

For starters, you probably need to decide what firearms rules you are using. For general D&D, I like Arcanis' rules for Altherian flintlocks. They are usable and the high crit multiplier combined with their increased threat range gives them one-shot kill potential at least for relatively low level characters.

If you are going to do dueling, you should also incorporate some kind of a sense motive/bluff mechanic to see whether your opponent is shooting to kill or shooting to miss. In many duels--particularly in the 18th century, people intentionally shot wide. William Pitt's famous duel was such an occasion and some historians I've read (well, Winston Churchill at least) suggest that Alexander Hamilton had that intention when he fought Aaron Burr. (Burr did not have the same intention and shot Hamilton dead). The general reason for such behavior seems to have been that they felt that honor demanded a duel and that, if challenged, they could not refuse the challenge. On the other hand, they didn't want to kill their opponents. So, if they shot wide, they managed to satisfy both their honor and their conscience because they demonstrated that they weren't going to back down from a fight but still didn't end up killing anyone. Of course, as Aaron Burr (and later Andrew Jackson) demonstrated everyone didn't share that view.

I understand that firearms are not "wands of death" but they can kill with a single shot. That isn't reflected well in D&D and I'm not sure it is in D20 Modern.

When dueling with swords I can picture how high HP could be justified. Dodging, parries, blocks, etc. But that doesn't work as well with a gunshot wound. Either you hit or you don't. And many parts of the body can be take down wounds...