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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Strithe" data-source="post: 6554812" data-attributes="member: 18813">Gunpowder weapons are really more of an advantage in mass combat. As Darren points  out, they historically were very cheap, especially on the ammunition side. Plus, you didn't need much physical effort to load, aim, and fire one compared with bows or crossbows. With muzzle-loaders, you couldn't even over-heat the barrels like you can with modern automatic weapons.Smoothbore muskets & pistols are actually very cheap to make compared to a bow or crossbow, and as Darren said the ammo is even cheaper to produce.You can train your peasant levies to shoot, load, and maintain their gunpowder weapons in a manner of weeks, which means that you can field a LOT more missile troops than your enemies. Sure, individually they aren't any more effective and are less accurate than a trained bowmen, but you can field a lot more of them. Plus massed gunfire can panic even trained mounts in a way that bows & crossbows can't do. Also remember that a mounted knight is much less effective when dismounted, and horses usually aren't as well armored as their riders.True, your peasant conscripts aren't going to stand as well in a close combat, which is why you space your pikeman & cavalry in blocks between the groups of musket-troops. It's the early version of "combined arms."Also, since gunpowder weapons are relatively easy train on, your existing professional troops can add them to their repitoire of killing. For instance, one popular early gunpowder-age tactic was to give cavalry braces of 4-6 pistols. If there was a tough (non-musket) infantry formation they were facing off against, they'd ride in loose columns. The lead rank would fire a pistol, wheel about, and ride to the back of the column to draw the next loaded weapon. The next rank would fire and repeat. When all the pistols were exhausted they'd draw broadswords & charge the infantry they'd just spent the last few minutes peppering with pistol fire.There's really nothing that wrong with the rules other than the prices for early firearms are at least 10 times too high (the prices for bows & crossbows are also too high, but that's a whole different discussion). The main problem is that it's really a mass-combat weapon and D&D combat is skirmish combat. One on one a musketeer is dead meat if they face off against an armored knight or an expert archer, and that's as it should be in a skirmish.What I'd do if you wanted to make things a bit more realistic:1) Divide the prices of the early gunpowder weapons & their ammunition by 10 (or whatever gets powder & shot cheaper than arrows, I don't have the book in front of me).2) Reduce the ranges of gunpowder weapons significantly if they're equivalent to bows or crossobws (or worse, longer). Again I don't have the books in front of me.3) Add a heavy musket, this has the Heavy property, the same range as the regular musket, and does more damage (increase the dice one step, 2d12 I think?).4) Any class proficient in crossbows is proficient in equivalent firearms.5) Add a "Musketeer" feat. It requires proficiency and Dexterity 12 or higher. You can Reload a musket as a bonus action but still can't fire the weapon more than once a round.6) Add rifled weapons. These are priced higher, have longer ranges, and and don't get the benefits of the Musketeer feat.If there's any interest, I'll throw up some actual stat ideas when I get home tonight & can reference the books.</blockquote>

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