Yes, getting hit is much more like save-or-die than take 1d8 points of damage.The thing to bear in mind, and this is important, is that any weapon can kill you with a single strike.
I believe it's a knife assault that's more dangerous than a typical gun assault, not a knife wound vs. a gun-shot wound. A knife assault is always at close range, where the attacker can grab with one hand and deliver dozens of thrusts with the other. Many gun assaults only involve a single hit. Also lumping small-caliber pistols in with rifles and shotguns (with buckshot) is a bit like lumping knives, swords, and axes together.Ask an emergency room medico which kills more often -- a knife wound or a gunshot? You may be surprised that knife wounds are more lethal by a large percentage. You know, the standard d4 dagger?
The key strength of guns is not the super-lethality of gun-shot wounds, but they are more dangerous in the sense that they often can bypass shields, armor, and skill at arms. You don't accumulate defensive wounds while fending off gun-shots, and you don't typically get battered and bruised in a gun-fight until you finally succumb.Guns are not more lethal -- they merely allow the application of force at an increased range.
I believe it's a knife assault that's more dangerous than a typical gun assault, not a knife wound vs. a gun-shot wound.
When we think of guns, we tend to think of small arms, but gunpowder made its biggest splash early on as a way to knock down enormous walls with ease. Once the big, heavy siege cannon demonstrated its power, then lighter field artillery proved itself against infantry and cavalry. The arquebus was just a loud, smokey alternative to the crossbow.How or why would a magical society even begin to develop guns? Would they even be the same as "real world" firearms?
How or why would a magical society even begin to develop guns?
His point is that there is no reason to make guns the deadliest weapons in D&D...or any other FRPG.
My counterpoint to that is, if guns are so expensive to create, so dangerous to operate and no more lethal than anything else you already have, then why make them?
Slightly - you don't want to keep either loaded in damp weather. One warps, and damp powder can etch the inside of the barrel.Nearly every period crossbow requires some physical strength to reload; no gun does. A trained child could reload an arquebus, but would be physically incapable of reloading a 150lb pull crossbow. That means you have a bigger pool of people who can be made into a credible threat.
Others have already pointed out the superior penetration guns had, which means you can affect more targets- even if the wounds crossbows and bows are just as deadly, that makes the gun a Better weapon in certain situations.
Also (experts, correct me if I'm wrong), but it is easier to keep a period gun operational in wet weather than it is for a crossbow.