New Spell Idea: Grifton's Silent Gun

[Grifton]

Hi again everyone,

In a weekly D&D game I play in, I have a wizard that totes around a flintlock pistol (yep, straight from the back of the DMG, nothing special). In that game, my DM tends to apply game mechanics to the loud boom that these guns can make. For example, in narrow caverns, the gun deafens all around who fail a fort save.

This mechanic has become a hinderance to my character, to say the least. And since I doubt I can change the DM's mind about the added mechanic, I decided to do the next best thing... create a spell to beat it! So, without further ado, please tell me what you guys think...

Grifton's Silent Gun
Illusion (Glamer)
Level: Brd 0, Wiz/Sor 0
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Caster
Target: 1 Object (Personal Firearm Only)
Duration: 1 hour/level

Tired of being unable to fire his "boom stick" on many adventures (or "mountain bringer" as his gun began being called after one particular memorable journey into a snowcapped mountains), because of the loud bang it made, Grifton invented this spell. After casting this spell on a firearm carried by the caster, during the duration of the spell the loud boom of the gun will be muted. And as a bonus, any flash effect will also be dampened. However nearby creatures can still make a spot or listen check vrs the spells DC to detect it.

Material Component: cotton, a bit of machine grease

Grifton

 

[airwalkrr]

Poo poo on the DM trying to spoil your fun with a perfectly balanced weapon. If he doesn't like firearms he simply shouldn't allow them in his campaign. But that is neither here nor there. A cantrip seems like a fair cost for a "silencer," but 1 hour/level seems a bit long. I would think 1 minute/level at the most, mostly because it is a cantrip after all. Another option is to make the duration 1 round but make it a swift action.

 

[Nifft]

Yeah, like Airwalkrr says, that's quite a long duration for a cantrip.

As a 1st level spell it would be perfect. Heck, as a 1st level spell, you could just specify "Duration: 24 hours" and be done.

-- N

 

[Cheiromancer]

I've never seen a spell designate a target so specifically. That puts it outside the pale, in my view of things. I'd make it range: touch, target: object touched.

A cantrip normally has a flat duration, and it is normally very short. 1 minute would be fine. You could use it on a door (with squeaky hinges) on a window (that you are going to break) and so on. That would be a nice cantrip.

Hours per level is a long duration for a glamer; low level glamers are usually minutes/level. Make it an abjuration or transmutation instead; there are various low level spells in those schools that last that long: pass without trace and endure elements, say. A variant pass without trace should allow quiet movement- it's not a stretch to say that a similar spell could quiet a gun (or other object). Likewise a variant endure elements that is turned inward and tuned to sonic energy could do the same thing. Of course if the spell is not a glamer you won't get complete silence, but the sound should be muffled greatly. Firing the gun makes a sound like tearing a piece of paper. Or make it -10 to listen checks to hear it, or something. It shouldn't make more noise than a sword hitting a shield or something; make the modifier such that the sound of gun is reduced to that level.

That would be enough so that you won't have to worry about deafening people or causing avalanches, anyway.

 

[Grifton]

Thanks for the ideas!

Hey all,

Thanks for the feeback. I'm going to keep this a spell as a cantrip, mostly because in this particular campaign, gold is hard to come buy. So the lower the level of the spell, the better the odds of me being able to research it sometime in the near future.

There are a couple cantrips which last longer than a few minutes (ex. prestigidation & arcane mark), so I'm going to probably leave the durations as is. However I like Cheiromancer's idea of making the target less specific. And as such, I'll probably drop the bonus ability of dimming the flash as well.

Poo poo on the DM trying to spoil your fun with a perfectly balanced weapon. If he doesn't like firearms he simply shouldn't allow them in his campaign.

I'm afraid you hit the nail on the head. Firearms in his campaign are already more expensive than in the DMG and very hard to come by. So it seems like I'm getting more than my fair share of the short end of the stick. Oh well. Worst come to worst I may just start throwing the gun at the enemies instead of firing it ("Look out! He's got a gun! *Thunk* Owww! He threw it at me!")!

Grifton

 

[Thurbane]

I've never seen a spell designate a target so specifically. That puts it outside the pale, in my view of things. I'd make it range: touch, target: object touched.

A cantrip normally has a flat duration, and it is normally very short. 1 minute would be fine. You could use it on a door (with squeaky hinges) on a window (that you are going to break) and so on. That would be a nice cantrip.

I like the way you think, that would be quite a nice little homebrew cantrip!