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

[mmadsen]

The easiest thing to do would be to use the stats for the heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and hand crossbow for the matchlock musket, arquebus, and pistol. Soldiers at the time considered crossbows and matchlocks roughly equivalent.

 

[Lackhand]

Fact: Just saying "3 actions in a row" is unlike 4e.
Fact: Players like rolling dice.
Fact: DMs don't.

Conclusion: Recharge mechanic? Rather than requiring spending 3 standard actions in a row, let them spend a standard action to roll a recharge die. Gives them something to roll each round, anyway -- either a dex-y check, or just the straight d6 (recharge on a ?)

You want it to take 3ish rounds, so say a two stage process -- one to clean the gun, one to load the gun?

It is automatic if they take a short rest.

This means that on rounds where the player is reloading (if they're doing this in combat -- you might also just take a bow to verisimilit-cough and let them reload their muskets while they're changing armor), they still get to touch dice.

 

[TerraDave]

How about lowering proficiency to 1, but allowing attacks vs. reflex (the whole blasting through armor thing)?

This would make them distinctive. Also be another way to work in the whole "used by peasents". Weather or not you have formal training won't matter that much.

You could also allow improved damage on crits (I think that is a standard property). Actually, with all that, I would make them real slow.

ALSO, the forthcoming Adventurers' Vault is supposed to have alchemical items (made with rituals) and this is supposed to include smoke bombs...probably a way to link, but you would have to wait for that book.

 

[Andur]

My suggestions:

For Flintlocks, Matchlocks, Blunderbuss etc. make them an encounter power, nice and simple, even if a tad "slow on the reload" for a 5 minute encounter. You can add a feat like "Brace of Pistols" to allow an extra use of the Power each encounter.

For more modern firearms (postbellum) simply make them an at will ranged power, so it will draw AoO if used adjacent to an enemy. You can then add encounter powers like "Suppressive Fire", "Double Barrel Whammy", "Bump Fire", "Speed Fire", etc.

For spectacular firearm feats you could turn it into daily powers, things like "Sniper Shot", reason it is a daily is everything has to be cleaned and matched back up in order to get the precision bonus again, or Gatling Gun in which the barrels have to be rerifled after each use.

As long as you make getting into close combat not too deadly, and make firearms sub-optimal in close combat, everything should turn out fine.

I'd fo with encounter type powers for your volley and then hand to hand scenario...

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I tend to go towards firearms that work much like the ones in D20 Past, where they all do 2d4 or 2d6 for pistols, and 2d6, 2d8 and possibly even 2d10 for rifles (I'll probably limit the amount of 2d10 rifles, and just make 2d8 the upper limit). Because generally they've been one of the more reliable rules on firearms I've seen, without going into too much complexity...

Yes I know that all firearms did 2 die damage in D20 Modern because of feats like double-tap and burst fire which you can't do with pre-WWI firearms, as the 19th century is the limit in what I want to do.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

And I'd have most firearms do Dex vs. Reflex as the roll, with + dex mod damage.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

And I'd have most firearms do Dex vs. Reflex as the roll, with + dex mod damage.

That makes sense

Shotgun like weapons, cone 60' long 10' wide at end (no idea on how 4th ed handles cones, sorry), or simply a 60' x 10' line. Shotguns don't spread out a smuch as folk think, but more than some assume (6' spread at 30 yards iirc on an Open Choke, typically?)

I'd give all of those types of weapon the massive critical ability from 4th ed (iirc, I'm a 4th ed noob, lol).
Those things hit HARD, seriously, big lead shot, huge stopping power.
Inaccurate as hell, though. Hence, fine pistols & hunting rifles were extremely desirable/costly.

Simple weapons, for any culture or people who get used to them, exotic otherwise.

brace of pistols, aye great idea, that is indeed, how many folk used them. Cavalry troopers often carried two heavy "dragoon" style pistols (and used as clubs, check the end caps, lol), and a sort of carbine or shotgun carbine.

 

[Sadrik]

Here is an idea for your firearms too:

Firearms (firearms group, martial weapons)

[B]Firearm	Proficiency	Damage	Range	Properties[/B]
Pistol		2		1d8		10/20	High-Crit, Reloadable, 1/encounter
Lt Musket	2		1d10		15/30	High-Crit, Reloadable, 1/encounter
Hvy Musket	2		1d12		20/40	High-Crit, Reloadable, 1/encounter
Blunderbuss	2		1d12		-	Blast 3, Reloadable, 1/encounter

Reloadable: can be reloaded during an encounter but takes 4 move actions to accomplish.

 

[Will]

Muskets:
(From Wikipedia. Yeah, I know. Feel free to find better sources, but this fits other stuff I've read)
A skilled unit of musketeers was able to fire three rounds per minute. This was the limit whilst loading to order as above, however an experienced individual could manage four rounds a minute if firing at will, such as in a skirmish situation.

How I'd do this? Reloading if you have simple proficiency takes 5 rounds for a musket. With martial proficiency, 4 rounds. With rapid reload (or something similar), 2 rounds. Range increment of 60 feet (generally muskets 'were accurate to about 70 yards, could hit a man's torso out to 218 yards).

As for rifles, 30 round load time with simple proficiency, 20 rounds with martial, 10 rounds with rapid reload, range increment of something like 300 feet.

 

[kasin]

Muskets:
(From Wikipedia. Yeah, I know. Feel free to find better sources, but this fits other stuff I've read)
A skilled unit of musketeers was able to fire three rounds per minute. This was the limit whilst loading to order as above, however an experienced individual could manage four rounds a minute if firing at will, such as in a skirmish situation.

Don't forget these are under battlefield conditions, at a sustained rate. The sustained rate of fire for a longbow is around 2 arrows per minute, up to 6 in short bursts. A 1st level 3.5e longbowman can fire at 20 arrows per minute - quite a difference. I'd suggest muskets have a similar 'fantasy' modifier applied to the rate of fire.

Source: http://www.strategypage.com/cic/reader.asp?target=CIC02