D&D 5E (2024) Firearms in the Forgotten Realms (+)

[Zardnaar]

Because if they're simple weapons they interact with Monk and Rogue in bizarre ways that don't fit most of the narratives around Appendix N style stories (excepting the Grishaverse)

Personally I think if you're adding firearms simple is where they belong.

2014 let's DM decide what they are.

Sone if them are better but you're deciding to add guns you're opting into it.

Blackpowder ones are glorified crossbows more advanced ones should be DM specials. You don't have to provide the ammunition so here's your bolt action rifle. It has 5 cartridges.
Barrier peaks here's your anti matter rifle. 2 shots left.

 

[bedir than]

Personally I think if you're adding firearms simple is where they belong.

2014 let's DM decide what they are.

Sone if them are better but you're deciding to add guns you're opting into it.

Blackpowder ones are glorified crossbows more advanced ones should be DM specials. You don't have to provide the ammunition so here's your bolt action rifle. It has 5 cartridges.
Barrier peaks here's your anti matter rifle. 2 shots left.

Does the fantasy story you're telling involve a monk shooting a shot (or more) and then punching/kicking twice in six seconds? If so, simple is right for you

Does it involve rogues sneak attacking with a thunderstick that's four feet long? Sure, have them simple.

 

[GnomeWorks]

Appendix N

Thor's nuts, I am sick and tired of "appendix N" being an argument for anything.

I am nearly 40 years old. Of the authors listed in appendix N, I recognize six names, and of those six authors, I have only actually read anything written by two of them (Lovecraft and Tolkien). Howard, Moorcock, and Vance I only recognize explicitly because of discussions about TTRPGs, while Burroughs I've had exposure to elsewise.

I have at least one player in my current D&D 5e game that has never heard of Vance before joining my table, and that was because I had to explain to him what I meant by the phrase "Vancian casting."

I have never read a Conan story. I'm never going to read a Conan story. If D&D wants to continue to insist that it is designed for characters and narratives I've only ever heard about second-hand from nearly a century ago, I don't see why anyone born in this century would be interested in it.

Because if they're simple weapons they interact with Monk and Rogue in bizarre ways

A monk with guns is doing some Matrix or Equilibrium stuff, and if you don't think that's a cool image, I don't know what to tell you.

A rogue with a gun is fine. Pirates of the Caribbean, eh? Or maybe a more modernish sniper flavor would be appropriate, I could see the protagonist in Enemy at the Gates being a rogue.

 

[Zardnaar]

Does the fantasy story you're telling involve a monk shooting a shot (or more) and then punching/kicking twice in six seconds? If so, simple is right for you

Does it involve rogues sneak attacking with a thunderstick that's four feet long? Sure, have them simple.

Depends. Generally I don't use guns. I did add them here and there at least the more advanced ones. Ammo was an issue though. Can't buy cartridges.

Artificer using a contemporary blackpowder one with infusions is about the worst you can do. They're a glorified crossbow in that situation. Downside you're an Artificer.

Mechanically they're not that good. I'll leave it up to the DMs on adding them or not.

 

[bedir than]

Thor's nuts, I am sick and tired of "appendix N" being an argument for anything.

This is why I used Appendix N style, because it's not about that specific document, but about the fiction that inspires your table.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yeah, maybe appendix N needed to be updated to step boldly into at least the 1980's where the rest of pop culture is trapped?

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Yeah, maybe appendix N needed to be updated to step boldly into at least the 1980's where the rest of pop culture is trapped?

Uh, can't have muskets next to my chainmail bikinis!

 

[GnomeWorks]

This is why I used Appendix N style, because it's not about that specific document, but about the fiction that inspires your table.

I'm going to assume you're considerably older than me, then.

This isn't about any kind of objective qualities of the contents of appendix N. As I said, I haven't and never will read Conan, but that's more of a personal thing at this point -- given the fact that we are even still talking about it implies to me that Howard's work is probably solid.

The thing is that that kind of story is no longer culturally relevant to a modern audience. It can't be. The sorts of narratives people enjoy changes based upon the state of the cultural context they exist in, and the world of 2024 looks ridiculously different from even just twenty years ago, much less a century in the past. I picked a random work by Howard that is now in the public domain -- it was published in 1934.

A man who published a story in 1934 has an entirely different worldview and context from anyone born after 2001, and given that, it is entirely sensible to claim that the kinds of stories people wanted in 1934 are different from the kinds of stories people want in 2024.

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[Vaalingrade]

Uh, can't have muskets next to my chainmail bikinis!

What if it's a lady in a chainmail bikini holding a musket?

 

[MGibster]

So, I submit to you my first draft. I’m very much open to suggestions to make these weapons worthwhile as options, but not too good.

Why are they so expensive? I realize the economics in D&D is a bit wonky no matter how you read it, but 450 gp for a blunderbuss seems like a deliberate decision to make firearms unavailable to most people.

Firearms dealing absurd damage compared to swords and bows has always confused me.

Why is getting shot with a bullet potentially more lethal than being stabbed with a sword or getting an axe hewn into your stomach?

This is a + thread, so I'm attempting to answer your question but I'm not arguing against firearms in D&D. The long and short of it is that I think firearms takes people out of the fantasy mileu. We can imagine people people getting into a swordfight, maybe getting nicked, punched in the face, etc., etc. but when it comes to firearms people typically get shot and just go straight down. And then there's how we view hit points as working. If someone takes 11 points of damage from a longsword, does that mean they were run through the gut? It just depends on how you look at at hit points as well as how many the target has when they're hit.