Level Up (A5E) Rules about technology

[Micah Sweet]

I guess the bottom line is I think guns are cool and should be an option in D&D, and cool things are less cool when they have restrictions like long reload times. I think classic D&D pseudo-medieval sensibilities can get in the way of fun, and therefore firearms should receive the same historical handwave we give other weapons.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I guess the bottom line is I think guns are cool and should be an option in D&D, and cool things are less cool when they have restrictions like long reload times. I think classic D&D pseudo-medieval sensibilities can get in the way of fun, and therefore firearms should receive the same historical handwave we give other weapons.

I . . . don't share your opinion on guns, but that could be a cultural thing.

In practical terms, I think that they should be treated like crossbows: the long reload time reduced to allow a player to actually do something every round rather than send multiple rounds reloading.
However, the historical handwave cuts both ways: would it actually be necessary to give firearms different stats than crossbows? Or just make the distinction like that of battleaxes and longswords?

 

[bedir than]

My siege weapon solve was to treat them as Tools. Because, similar to a boat, they take a crew and there are different attributes connected to various activities.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I . . . don't share your opinion on guns, but that could be a cultural thing.

In practical terms, I think that they should be treated like crossbows: the long reload time reduced to allow a player to actually do something every round rather than send multiple rounds reloading.
However, the historical handwave cuts both ways: would it actually be necessary to give firearms different stats than crossbows? Or just make the distinction like that of battleaxes and longswords?

To be fair, I don't care for modern handguns, at all. I like black powder, old west style revolvers, and anything gatling. Shotguns are ok too.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I . . . don't share your opinion on guns, but that could be a cultural thing.

In practical terms, I think that they should be treated like crossbows: the long reload time reduced to allow a player to actually do something every round rather than send multiple rounds reloading.
However, the historical handwave cuts both ways: would it actually be necessary to give firearms different stats than crossbows? Or just make the distinction like that of battleaxes and longswords?

I do think firearms don't necessarily need a lot of special rules. They should certainly have their own entries on the weapon chart, but it doesn't have to be a big deal. Mage Hand Press has some great 3rd party rules that work just fine for me. Or that Gunner feat from the recent UA that removes the loading property.

 

[pnewman]

What about material rules? How much worse is a fire hardened wood spear than an iron spear? A stone spear? A bronze spear?

How much better is a steel spear than an iron spear? A damascus steel spear? A mono-molecular edge spear?

How much different is this for long-swords than for spears?

How different would it be for armor?

People should be able to play D&D settings that are in the stone age, the bronze age, the medieval age, the (apparent default) renaissance age, the modern age, and the future.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What about material rules? How much worse is a fire hardened wood spear than an iron spear? A stone spear? A bronze spear?

How much better is a steel spear than an iron spear? A damascus steel spear? A mono-molecular edge spear?

How much different is this for long-swords than for spears?

How different would it be for armor?

People should be able to play D&D settings that are in the stone age, the bronze age, the medieval age, the (apparent default) renaissance age, the modern age, and the future.

If we go that way, I'd also want rules on enchanted materials like magical obsidian (sharper than anything short of modern high quality scalpels) with enchanted hardiness.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm also interested in what we can do about armor. I'd love to see more damage reduction in the game. It would help balance the heavier armors against high Dex characters.

 

[Derren]

I'm also interested in what we can do about armor. I'd love to see more damage reduction in the game. It would help balance the heavier armors against high Dex characters.

Different, more advanced armor rules would certainly be interesting and fit the theme of "advanced" as D&D traditionally ignored the effect of armor a lot. But I have no idea what would be appropriate. Have armor provide DR? Maybe even different values depending on damage type (slashing, etc.)? Would that be too "advanced"?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Different, more advanced armor rules would certainly be interesting and fit the theme of "advanced" as D&D traditionally ignored the effect of armor a lot. But I have no idea what would be appropriate. Have armor provide DR? Maybe even different values depending on damage type (slashing, etc.)? Would that be too "advanced"?

There’s something similar in the Rules Cyclopedia, so it’s not unprecedented.