Glade Riven
Adventurer
Guns are controversial in role playing, despite their historical roles. The mechanics never seem to satisfy fans of firearms, and create more arguments over realism than anything else I've seen. But I got to thinking...how or why would a magical society even begin to develope guns? Would they even be the same as "real world" firearms?
In D&D/Pathfinder...there is no need to develope guns because wizards are very good at blowing stuff up. Why buy a cannon when you can buy a wand of fireballs? Faster attack times, got a "clip" of 50 until you run out, and you don't have to carry the volitile alchemical compound known as gunpowder. But then a phrase came to mind: I have prepared explosive runes.
In the next step of fantasy world developement, "normal" guns would have bullets propelled by explosive runes instead of gunpowder. Okay, wacky gunpowder mechanics ditched. Smooth bore reduces accuracy but increases crit, so 20/x3 on die of damage and guns are always masterwork. So you don't have d20 Modern 2 dice damages. Make ammo more expensive (a bit like a set of masterwork bolts). It's a "rich people's" weapon, now.
Then you get special "trick bullets" that cast spells, maybe in a more expensive type of gun. Price as a scroll, as they are one-time-used-and-consumed.
Please do not respond with "I hate guns in all forms in my fantasy" without contributing constructive critisism.
In D&D/Pathfinder...there is no need to develope guns because wizards are very good at blowing stuff up. Why buy a cannon when you can buy a wand of fireballs? Faster attack times, got a "clip" of 50 until you run out, and you don't have to carry the volitile alchemical compound known as gunpowder. But then a phrase came to mind: I have prepared explosive runes.
In the next step of fantasy world developement, "normal" guns would have bullets propelled by explosive runes instead of gunpowder. Okay, wacky gunpowder mechanics ditched. Smooth bore reduces accuracy but increases crit, so 20/x3 on die of damage and guns are always masterwork. So you don't have d20 Modern 2 dice damages. Make ammo more expensive (a bit like a set of masterwork bolts). It's a "rich people's" weapon, now.
Then you get special "trick bullets" that cast spells, maybe in a more expensive type of gun. Price as a scroll, as they are one-time-used-and-consumed.
Please do not respond with "I hate guns in all forms in my fantasy" without contributing constructive critisism.