D&D 4E Rules for Firearms in 4e - what do you use?

[bbjore]

I have some playtest experience with my rules, and the campaign uses Fable for inspiration, so that gives you an idea of the feel of how it includes firearms. I just made them all superior variations of other ranged weapons including heavy thrown weapons, & used the regular things to do so. I focused on things like brutal, high crit., or heavy shot (really heavy thrown) to give them a firearms feel. This allowed them to easily be slotted into the standard game without breaking things. In my opinion this is the only way to go if you allow them to be used with powers. Plate armor and firearms existed side by side for over a hundred years, bullets didn't always pierce plate, especially in the beginning, and hit points aren't real injuries anyways. Just assume what's missing in damage is factored in by the fact that the strike, though more powerful and quite noisy, was less accurate, and therefore brought the imaginary target closer to his imaginary end by the same amount a much more accurate strike with a different, less powerful imaginary weapon would.

If you start increasing damage beyond that normally allowed by a power, you will end up with balance problems, even if you have something like load standard. Character will just use their 2d8 damage pistol with their highest [w] power, and switch to something else afterwards. If you want more damage, I'd just make them encounter use magic items.

I've found that most ranged characters wants something with multiple shots, so keep those weapons really close to par with other ranged weapons, and if you want single shot weapons, make them appeal to melee characters. I've found that that is where firearms really shine, as a back-up weapon for melee characters (heavy thrown). They're the sort of PCs you could give a higher damage weapon (2d6 with a load standard), because that's balanced when they're only using basic attacks. It also enforces the opening salvo with a ranged basic and draw a sword thematic really well, which I like.

What I found happening was a bow ranger using a +3, 1d8 (brutal 2, load move, 12 shot) rifle and a fighter using the +2, 2d6 (heavy thrown, load standard) pistol. Both were fun and seem balanced, although I do think there's a nice case to be made for firearms as magic items as well. I just prefer that PCs use their powers rather than item powers. It helps retain their class's and role & flavor.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

There actually ARE firearms in my setting, and I went with the easiest way to do them.

"Replace crossbow with gun, if you so desire. You can make bows into rifles, too, if you want."

Aaaaand that's about it.

I frankly don't see the need to give them a full separate ruleset. It's like making an entire new system of combat when someone wants to use axes instead of swords.

 

[Jhaelen]

That said, I wanted to ask around to see what others are using. What works? What doesn't?

Well, with 25+ years of playtest experience, here's the one firearms rule that I've found always works well:

There are no firearms. Period.

 

[Scribble]

Why not use the rules from Gamma World?

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Why not use the rules from Gamma World?

Where I live, I haven't even seen GW on a shelf yet. I will look into it when I do though.

(I also haven't seen Monster Vault, or HotFK either. Shameful for a town of 80,000 and two FLGSs)

 

[Morrus]

Incidentally, the Cowboy article went up today.

 

[RangerWickett]

A product I'm working on will eventually include the following rules for free (or variants of these rules, once we see how players respond).


Firearms
Firearms use explosive alchemicals to fire metal ammunition. These weapons take two standard actions to load. Normally powers that let you make multiple ranged attacks allow you to reload freely between these attacks, but you cannot freely reload firearms in this way. For that reason, a typical character characters might carry a loaded firearm to use as a once-per-encounter damage boost. A character who wants to use a firearm as a primary weapon should take the Firearm Expertise feat.

We understand that many gaming groups use Wizard of the Coast’s Character Builder, and that – barring revisions to the software – adding new items is impossible. For that reason, we have based each firearm on an existing crossbow. The firearms trade a slower reload time (two standard actions) for the brutal 2 and high crit properties.

To give your character a firearm, just equip the analogous weapon. When you print out your character sheet, you just need to remember or mark the different traits. To give your character Firearm Expertise, instead take the feat Crossbow Expertise. You gain the same attack bonus benefit, but use the firearm feat’s faster reloading in place of the secondary benefit of the crossbow feat. Feats, abilities, and powers that apply to crossbows also apply to firearms, and any character proficient in a crossbow is proficient in the equivalent firearm.

We admit this is a bit of a kludge, but it should let you take advantage of the Character Builder’s automatic calculations of attacks and damage, while giving firearms their own unique identity.

Pistol. This weapon is analogous to a hand crossbow.

Carbine. This weapon is analogous to a crossbow.

Rifle. This weapon is analogous to a superior crossbow, from the Adventurer’s Vault.


Combination Weapons and Bayonets
Some firearms integrate a bladed weapon into their designs, such as a dagger with a pistol that fires along the crosspiece, or a carbine that fires down the length of a longsword. Such weapons are almost always custom-built. Other firearms have attachments that let the wielder affix an existing weapon to the gun’s barrel. Typically this is to attach a dagger to a pistol, or a shortsword to a carbine or rifle.

Mechanically, these hybrid weapons function as two distinct weapons, and each would need to be enchanted separately. Their main benefit is to allow a wielder to switch between ranged and melee attacks without having to draw a new weapon.

The DM should use common sense to determine whether a combination is feasible, and if it should reduce the efficacy of a given power. You might be fine with a rogue using a shortsword-equipped rifle for his powers, but most would balk if he threw a pistol with an enchanted dagger bayonet, and expected it to return to his hand. Likewise, a carbine axe could theoretically work, but a pistol spear or spiked chain rifle is ridiculous. (Some groups might like ridiculous, though.)

[[Sidebar]]
Optional Firearm Rules
The firearm rules are designed to be easy to use while providing enough flavor to differentiate guns from crossbows. The default assumption for the campaign is that firearms have advanced so that they no longer release gouts of smoke or have significant risk of mishap, but you can retain these traits if you like the aesthetics of more primitive firearms.

Gunsmoke. Whenever you shoot a firearm, you creates smoke in close burst 1, including your own square. This smoke provides concealment, and lasts until the end of your next turn. Strong winds may disperse such smoke immediately, whereas very enclosed spaces might cause the smoke to linger additional rounds.

Mishaps. Whenever you roll a natural 1 on an attack roll with a firearm, you can choose to reroll the attack. If you do, the gun is damaged after the attack, and must be repaired during a short rest before it can be used again. Additionally, if the second roll is a 1, the weapon deals 1[w] damage to you.

If the gun is magical, it is only damaged if the second roll is a 1 to 5. Magical guns still damage you if the second roll is a natural 1.​

As a heroic adventure game, weapons of all varieties are less lethal in D&D than in reality. However, if you feel guns should be more dangerous than archaic melee weapons, the following options achieve that, albeit by wildly altering the balance of combat and the world’s aesthetic. If you use these rules, everyone will want guns, and fights will end much more quickly.

Killing Tool. Firearms lose the brutal property. Instead, pistols deal an extra two dice of damage. A 1[w] attack with a pistol does 3d6, 3d8 with a carbine, or 3d10 with a rifle. A 3[w] attack with a rifle does 5d10. On a critical hit, that attack would do 50 damage, plus 1d10 from high crit.

Threat of Force. The real danger of a firearm is that it can easily strike before an attacker can close the distance. A character wielding a firearm can make a ranged basic attack as an immediate interrupt whenever a creature within 6 squares moves or takes an action he is aware of. If he does so, on his next turn he acts as if he has already spent his standard action.​

[[End Sidebar]]


Firearm Expertise
You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with firearm weapons. This increases to +2 at 11th level, and to +3 at 21st level. You can load firearms as a minor action instead of by spending two standard actions. When you use a power that lets you make multiple ranged attacks, reloading between the attacks takes no action.