Firearms in D&D

[drnuncheon]

And I would think all the long arms should be large (needing two hands to fire).

I'd use the same rules for firing crossbows one-handed myself.

I use the Freeport rules as well - they seem to be the most realistic in terms of both power and reload time of anything outside of Skull & Bones. Despite the reload time issue, they still see plenty of use, both because they're pretty darn stylish and because the ability to whip out a 2d6 weapon (or two) from concealment can never be underestimated.

J

 

[Fenris]

I'd use the same rules for firing crossbows one-handed myself.

J

Heavy or light? (basically -4 or -2)

I absolutely agree with you about the rules, some of the best compromises I've seen.

 

[Kashell]

Thanks for this, I'm running firearms in my campaign and the DM's book firearms didn't make too much sense...

 

[Andor]

One more lock

Thanks to Relic for his writeup of ignition systems. He saved me a lot of typing.

However it should be pointed out that in any game world that uses standard item creation another sort would be developed almost instantly with the advent of guns.

The magelock. In other words a gun fired by use of a spark cantrip. If this cantrip can light a wood fire it can most certainly ignite black powder. This has several advantages over any mundane system short of a brass cartidge. The principle advantage lies in a sealed breach. This vastly improves the reliability of the firearm and reduces it's vulnerability to water and damp, especially over early touchpoint and matchlock guns. In fact the existance of such a clearly superior system might forestall the development of more sophisticated mundane systems.

Also you would reduce reloading time dramatically since you eliminate the need to Adjust the wick (matchlock)/ wind the spring (wheellock)/ prime the pan (flintlock)/ Replace the cap (percussioncap). With a paper cartridge a magelock should load at least as fast as a crossbow.

The downside of course is cost. An unlimited use cantrip wondrous item, whether shaped like a gun breach or a zippo is 1000gp. This triples the cost of the musket per dmg rules. Making it a keyword item saves 100gp. If a kingdom could use staff mages to produce them at cost a keyword magelock musket costs a little less than twice what a normal musket does and has some advantages over a normal musket in addition to reliable performace in the rain.

For example consider if each musket has a serial number and the keywords are kept in a book by serial number. Then if each keyword is known only to the soldier the musket is issued to captured muskets cannot be used against the kingdom unless the book is captured or at least until a mage can identify each one.

Probably line troops would be issued matchlocks and magelocks would be in the control of nobles, adventurers and elite troops.

-Andor

 

[Andor]

Bullets and rifleing

One of the big problems with black powder aside from dampness is the fact that it's only a little more than 50% efficient at converting to a gas when it burns. This means that almost half the weight of a charge of blackpowder stays solid when fired and a considerable amount of this tends to stay in the barrel. This fouling can cause a blackpowder weapon to become impossible to load after only a few rounds being fired. (It's also corrosive which is why it is vital to clean a black powder weapon as soon as possible after use.)

The big advance that helped reduce jamming rate was the minnee ball. The minnee ball is not actually a ball at all but an elongated bullet with a hollow base. It could be cast smaller than the bore of the musket to allow easy and jam free loading. Accuracy and velocity are retained inspite of the smaller bullet diameter because the hollow base expandes under the pressure of the combustion gasses to produce a good seal against the barrel.

Frankly before the minne ball is invented a blackpowder weapon should be usable no more than 2 + 1d6 times before it requires cleaning.

-Andor

 

[drnuncheon]

Heavy or light? (basically -4 or -2)

I'd base it on the the weapon. For something that was shorter, like a carbine (for the Freeport stuff, the Harpy and Medusa), the lesser penalty. For a longarm (like the Gorgon), the greater. I might go the other way on the Medusa, though.

Having just watched Sharpe's Rifles, I'm still deciding how to handle the introduction of the rifled barrel. It should probably increase both the range increment (effectively making the weapon more accurate) and the loading time (smoothbores are easier to force the ball down), bu I'm not certain in what proportions.

J

 

[Gort]

"What makes a good soldier?"

"The ability to stand and fire three rounds a minute in any weather, sir."

 

[ledded]

One of the big problems with black powder aside from dampness is the fact that it's only a little more than 50% efficient at converting to a gas when it burns. This means that almost half the weight of a charge of blackpowder stays solid when fired and a considerable amount of this tends to stay in the barrel. This fouling can cause a blackpowder weapon to become impossible to load after only a few rounds being fired. (It's also corrosive which is why it is vital to clean a black powder weapon as soon as possible after use.)

Yes, all quite true.

The big advance that helped reduce jamming rate was the minnee ball. The minnee ball is not actually a ball at all but an elongated bullet with a hollow base. It could be cast smaller than the bore of the musket to allow easy and jam free loading. Accuracy and velocity are retained inspite of the smaller bullet diameter because the hollow base expandes under the pressure of the combustion gasses to produce a good seal against the barrel.

Frankly before the minne ball is invented a blackpowder weapon should be usable no more than 2 + 1d6 times before it requires cleaning.

-Andor

Hmmm.

I was always under the impression that the minie ball was introduced to allow a rifled musket to be loaded at the same speed as a unrifled musket, as the hollow base (upon expansion) was very likely to catch the barrel's internal grooves. I wasnt aware that there was an effect on fouling, I always thought that the introduction of smokeless powder did more for that than anything else. How does that work with the minie ball? Is it because it catches the internal grooves for a better 'fit' that it helps remove previous fouling?

 

[Desdichado]

Joshua,
Way cool gun rules. Thanks for posting the link, they captured what I was looking for in a rules set for firearms as well. Simple but effective without being a no brainer to replace anything else. I had a couple of quick questions about them. I know they are from Freeport, but I didn't know how much you modified them. It seems the sizes are odd. A musket being Medium? Pistols being Small? It would seem that either pistols should be Medium with the Stinger being Small or at least the Arquebuss should be Medium. And I would think all the long arms should be large (needing two hands to fire). Maybe those are straight from Freeport and you can't answer them but I though I would ask and again thank you for solving my firearms dilema.

All I really did was change the names of the guns to make them a bit more generic.

Also, the size rules are from 3e, not 3.5.

 

[mmadsen]

That's why I suggest giving guns a "Mechanical Strength" value of some sort. A musket that does 1d6, with a +4 Mechanical bonus to Damage and Attack, should reflect the penetrative power of guns and the damage they can cause. The problem with this method is that you have a damage range of 5-10 for the weapon.

This also raises the broader question, shouldn't any weapon that does more damage get a to-hit bonus? Heavy crossbow vs. light crossbow, greataxe vs. handaxe, etc.