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Message: <blockquote data-quote="trav_laney" data-source="post: 3373259" data-attributes="member: 46508">Wow...I go away on business for a couple of days, and my thread has taken on a life of its own.  I love it!  Based on everyone's feedback, I have hammered out this rough draft of rules that I think I might use.  Please feel free to critique them and offer suggestions; there is a lot of room for improvment here.The weapons that I am planning on introducing are most similar to the muzzle-loading muskets of the 15th century.  They have a matchlock firing mechanism (where a smoldering piece of rope is attached to the hammer, and provides the ignition spark), which means they are useless if they ever get wet, and are extremely difficult to operate in humid or rainy environments.The rules:1.  This particular musket is considered to be a large (two-handed) simple weapon that deals 1d12 points of piercing damage (x3 on a crit), has a range increment of 100 feet, weighs 10 pounds, and costs 500 gp.  Masterworked muskets are available, at +300 gp. cost.  At this time, I have no interest in introducing pistols or cannons.2.  The muzzleloader takes 4 rounds to load, but a highly-trained soldier (i.e., one with the Rapid Reload feat) can reload it in half that time (2 rounds.)  10 shots' worth of powder, bullets, patches, match rope, and grease weighs 1 pound and costs 50 gp.3.  The smoldering match rope is considered to be a normal, open flame for the purpose of certain spells and magical effects (such as gust of wind, quench, and pyrotechnics), and for certain hazardous environments (such as vacuums or areas containing flammable or explosive gasses).  The pungent smell of a burning match rope is easily tracked by creatures with the Scent ability.4.  Bulk gunpowder costs 50gp/pound.  Creating gunpowder or match rope requires a Craft (alchemy) check against DC 20, the same DC for making tindertwigs.5.  Bombs, grenades, claymores, etc. created from gunpowder create an effect identical to the fireball spell, and require a minimum of 5 pounds of gunpowder.  A Craft (explosives) check is required against DC15; the DM makes this roll and does not announce the result to the player.*  Adding shrapnel, using special casing, shaping the charge, etc. might grant a +2 competence bonus to this Craft check, but these actions do not change the damage, area of effect, or behavior of the device.**The successful Craft check result divided by 3 is the effective caster level of the effect, to a maximum of 10.  (For example, a character who gets a result of 20 on his check will create a bomb that functions like a caster level 6 fireball spell, reflex DC 13 for half damage).  If the check fails by 5 or less, the bomb is a "dud" (fails to detonate, but the ingredients may be reused).  If the check fails by more than 5, the bomb burns rather than explodes, consuming all materials used but dealing no damage.6.  A character with 5 or more ranks in Craft (alchemy) or Knowledge (engineering) gains a +2 synergy bonus on Craft (explosives) checks.-----*This helps demonstrate the unpredictable nature of primitive explosives.  I don't suppose this needs to be a "hard rule;" it would depend on the attitudes and personalities of your particular gaming group.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> **Some might have a problem with this, but it is the only way I can abate the plethora of "what if" statements that will spew forth from my chemistry-savvy players.  :\  It was either this, or ban them altogether.  I don't have a problem with "cheap fireballs," since everyone in the party is between 10th and 13th level...but I do have a problem with every fighter, bard, and cleric behaving like Special Ops.-----So what do you guys think?</blockquote>

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