Firearms in D&D

[Desdichado]

No, rather, no weapon should get any equivalent to that "mechanical strength" bonus. It's a poor implementation of the prevalent myth that getting hit with a bullet is so much worse than getting hit with a sword, or what have you. It doesn't make sense from a real-life standpoint (verisimilitude) and it certainly doesn't make sense from a game mechanics standpoint.

I wouldn't have anything to do with it at all.

 

[mmadsen]

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. [...] The downside of course is cost.

The chief advantages of the arquebus over the crossbow are (a) cost, and (b) intimidation. An arquebus that costs much, much more than a crossbow isn't likely to catch on -- especially if it's going to be used against troops already used to magical fireballs, giants, dragons, etc.

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

Like the wheellock.

 

[mmadsen]

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 was under the same impression.

Early rifles took a very long time to load. The perfectly fitted ball had to be hammered into the barrel with a mallet before it could be rammed down into place. Later rifles used a patch of greased cloth to complete the seal, so they could use a smaller ball that wasn't so tedious to load. The Minie ball took that idea a step further, with a smaller-than-the-barrel bullet that could expand on its own.

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?

I think his point was that the smaller Minie ball didn't jam as often and was easier to load despite the same amount of fouling.

 

[mmadsen]

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).

A pistol should definitely be small, and a musket should definitely be large -- it's six feet long. I guess that leaves a four-foot arquebus as medium, in the same sense that a heavy crossbow is medium.

 

[mmadsen]

Oh, did I mention I have an OGL-legal document on my website that essentially reproduces the Freeport gun rules (since I use them in my campaign?) That's right here.

Looks good:

Reloading a firearm is a slow process. Powder must be poured down the barrel and the lead shot rammed home. It take three full-round actions to reload a firearm, and the reload action provokes attacks of opportunity.

Characters with multiple attacks per round can use them only if they have several firearms ready to fire. In other words, a 7-th level fighter can take his two attacks only if he has two loaded pistols at the ready. This limitation also applies to characters with the Firearms Drill feat.

Firearms are still in their infancy, and are not always reliable. Whenever a 1 is rolled on a firearms attack roll, roll another d20 and consult the Firearms Misfire table.

Firearms Misfire Table
D20 Result
1-3 Kaboom! Weapon explodes, inflicting normal damage to the user.
4-8 Fouled. The barrel becomes fouled. An hour must be spent cleaning it out before the weapon can be used again.
9-12 Jammed. The clockwork firing mechanism jams. Clearing the jam requires 1d6 full-round actions. It may fire the round after clearing.
13-16 Weak charge. Too little powder was used to prime the weapon, so the shot is fired to no effect. Reload as normal.
17-20 Failed ignition. Either the firing mechanism fails to produce a spark or the powder simply fails to ignite. The weapon doesn't go off, but it can be fired again next round without having to reload.

New Feat

Firearms Drill [General]
You have spent long hours drilling with firearms, making loading second nature.
Prerequisite: Dex 13+
Benefit: Each time you take this feat you can reduce your reload time by one full-round action. You cannot reduce the reload time to less than one full-round, however.
Normal: It usually takes three full-round actions to reload a firearm.​

I'd probably have them fail more often than one shot in 20 though -- maybe a wide fumble "threat" range (1-10) with a fumble confirmation roll against AC 10 or 15. That way, "green" conscripts misfire every fourth shot, and our heroes misfire...rarely.

 

[David Howery]

as someone who shoots replica muzzleloaders for fun, here are some 'fumbles' I've committed:
forgot priming powder... ignition fails 'cuz there's nothing to ignite.
forgot powder charge.... now, you get the joy and fun of attaching a ball puller to the ramrod and trying to line it up just right so you can screw it into the ball and then pull it out of the barrel.
broken ramrod... only happens to wooden ones, which led me to buy all brass ramrods, which led to...
bent ramrod... happens when the barrel is heavily fouled. Note that if you bent/break/lose the ramrod and don't have a spare, you're done shooting.
clogged vent... too much priming powder, and the touch hole gets clogged and you can't ignite the main charge.. easy to fix though.

 

[Andor]

as someone who shoots replica muzzleloaders for fun, here are some 'fumbles' I've committed:

Hah. Another one famous for occuring regularly in the heat of battle was to forget to remove the ramrod before firing. I seem to recall one game handled that one as a double damage shot, but you were done firing untill you got another one.

I think his point was that the smaller Minie ball didn't jam as often and was easier to load despite the same amount of fouling.

Yup that's it exactly.

Side note: A patch doesn't make a gas seal around a bullet although that was probably the idea behind it's use and a musketman would have told you it did. Modern testing shows that what a patch actually does is transfer spin from the rifling to the bullet.

 

[ledded]

I was under the same impression.

Early rifles took a very long time to load. The perfectly fitted ball had to be hammered into the barrel with a mallet before it could be rammed down into place.

Which is one reason why they were rarely, if ever, issued to line soldiers.

Later rifles used a patch of greased cloth to complete the seal, so they could use a smaller ball that wasn't so tedious to load.

Which helped, but really only in reload times and was greatly dependent on the firer loading correctly to get a decent seal.

The Minie ball took that idea a step further, with a smaller-than-the-barrel bullet that could expand on its own.

I think his point was that the smaller Minie ball didn't jam as often and was easier to load despite the same amount of fouling.

Right, I think I get what you were saying. The Minie ball wasnt as *susceptible* to fouling as a rifled musket ball. Fouling was, however, still an issue until smokeless powder (although less with firing minie balls than with an older rifled musket, but still similar to an unrifled musket). I think we both agree that the Minie ball was a great improvement over the musket of the time .


JD, those rules look pretty good, though I'm not quite sure what all the different firearms actually are with the terminology you used. But it looks good for a fantasy game, and I bet it plays quite well.

 

[Desdichado]

JD, those rules look pretty good, though I'm not quite sure what all the different firearms actually are with the terminology you used. But it looks good for a fantasy game, and I bet it plays quite well.

As it should be, IMO. Although it's not like I made the rules up; those are courtesy of Green Ronin via the Freeport setting (and the d20 Special Dragon magazine Annual from a few years ago.)

I like that the history of firearms afficionados can't peg an exact type to each of these guns. After all, this is a ruleset that has double-bladed swords and other nonsense, so I want my firearms to be similarly abstract.

 

[Lars Porsenna]

as someone who shoots replica muzzleloaders for fun, here are some 'fumbles' I've committed:

You could probably add another:

Powder charge goes off while trying to ram the ball down. This happened to one of the Perry brothers (Michael or Alan, don't remember which) at a reenactment of IIRC Crecy. Loading a bombard, it went of prematurely while swabbing the bore, and the discharge took his arm off. The real kicker is that this guy is STILL one of the top sculptors for Games Workshop (as well as historicals). He has ONE ARM!

BTW, they also had bit parts in the LotR: http://www.perry-miniatures.com/index2.html

Damon.