D&D 5E Guns in your world, and in mine!

[Slit518]

My campaign world has guns, though the earlier ones made by man, such as a flintlock pistol/rifle or a blunderbuss.

What I am wondering is how you would stat them.
Here are my thoughts,

Flintlock Pistol - 3 lbs
1d8 piercing damage
40/60 range (or further to give the pistol advantage over slings, crossbows, and bows, perhaps a 40/600, or perhaps not because it's one-handed).

Flintlock Rifle - 8 lbs
1d10 piercing damage
60/120 range (or further like 60/600).

Blunderbuss/Dragon (the Dragon is a one-handed Blunderbuss) - 8/4 lbs
1d12; 1d10; 1d8
10/20/60
The different ranges and damage have to do with the gun's spread. If the target is within 10 feet the roll is at Advantage, for any target after 10 feet up to 20 feet it's a normal roll, and can hit up to 3 enemies in a cone. Anywhere over 20 feet to a max range of 60 feet, the attacker can hit up to 5 targets in a spread cone, that roll comes at Disadvantage. A Blunderbuss must make a separate attack roll for each target.

What are your thoughts on this? How would you rule these guns, aside from what is in the DMG?

 

[Xeviat]

Back in 3E, guns were effectively "martial crossbows".

If guns are going to have the loading property, I'd want them to deal extra damage when you have the extra attack feature (you take extra time to aim).

 

[was]

..Although a couple of people objected to them at first, in my fantasy home campaign we eventually settled on:

Flintlock Pistol
DMG: 1d12 CRIT: x3 RELOAD: 3 rounds Range: 10'/20' WGT: 4 lbs.

Flintlock Musket
DMG: 2d8 CRIT: x4 RELOAD: 4 rounds Range: 20'/40' WGT: 8 lbs.

...They have worked well so far. We also use feats, many from previous editions, which affect these.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Most smoothbore muzzleloaders have shorter effective ranges than crossbows, and have a far slower rate of fire that bows. On the other hand they are very easy to master compared to bows.

I don't know how to implement that other than making all firearms simple weapons.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Last time I used guns in D&D I portrayed them as alchemical contrivances: you loaded them with 'reagents' outside of combat, and touched them off in combat, inflicting thunder & fire damage. It was cute, they weren't even called pistols but "Thunderfire Rods." I used images of wheel-locks (which are earlier than flintlocks but can be pretty baroque) for them.


One thing I like to capture with firearms is that they could often defeat armor and required little training to use effectively (rather like crossbows, but moreso, they were an 'equalizer'). In 5e that could be a matter of making them simple weapons, or, if you want to keep them unique and unusual, making them magic items that force a REF save from the target, rather than the person firing them making any difference.

 

[Derren]

You should decide on what role you want guns to fill. The most common are:

Pulp guns:
Guns being super awesome armor piercing weapons but take long to reload.

Historical guns:
Guns are simple weapon for the masses (and cheap in upkeep) but less effective than bows.

 

[BookBarbarian]

You should decide on what role you want guns to fill. The most common are:

Pulp guns:
Guns being super awesome armor piercing weapons but take long to reload.

Historical guns:
Guns are simple weapon for the masses (and cheap in upkeep) but less effective than bows.

This is a good point. We play after all not to experience "Realism", but Fantasy. If you'd like firearms to portray a certain archetype or trope at the cost of "realism" go right ahead.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

One thing I like to capture with firearms is that they could often defeat armor...

I wouldn't do this unless I wanted to underscore a major campaign theme to the effect that the new ways are destroying the old ways or whatever. Especially in 5E, where there's no touch AC or Reflex defense, you would have to write a special rule to describe how guns are armor-piercing. And considering that historical early guns weren't that good at piercing armor, we've got more than ample justification for keeping it simple and using the standard AC rules in any campaign where you don't want to make a big thing about it.

I haven't used guns in 5E yet, but in 4E I balanced them as an effective "encounter power": they take over a minute to reload, so you're basically going to fire your gun once per fight and then get on with your other weapons. It raises the question of why heavy crossbows aren't also this way, but... meh.

 

[KahlessNestor]

There are gun stats in the DMG. Matt Mercer's Gunslinger archetype also has them.

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[Slit518]

Or should I do,

Flintlock Pistol - 2d4

Flintlock Rifle - 2d6

Blunderbuss/Dragon - 2d8/2d6/2d4

?

There are gun stats in the DMG. Matt Mercer's Gunslinger archetype also has them.

My original post stated other than what is in the DMG.