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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 8295201" data-attributes="member: 6677017">As others have said, I think it's a game reason. As no one addressed on the first couple pages (someone probably has on a later page but I'm not going to read them all to see), I'm going to address what I think that reason is.In the case of the Renaissance era firearms, the rules are presumably designed to encourage swashbuckling adventures where guns are the ranged weapons of choice. At the same time, they are also present in places like the Forgotten Realms or Spelljammer where using them instead of bows is an exception rather than the rule.Guns appear at a higher than average tech level, are significantly more expensive to use given the costs of ammunition and especially gunpowder/smokepowder, have inferior range, but do more damage.Making them more expensive with low ammunition availability explains why few people use them in a place like the Forgotten Realms. Just giving them the same stats as crossbows with those drawbacks would guarantee that nobody uses them.Giving them higher damage potential explains why they are more common than crossbows in a Renaissance setting where they remain expensive but are easily available. In such a setting you also consider NPC troops to be proficient and apparently nobles are rich enough to outfit at least elite squads with them. The cost is still an issue and might be better reduced in a Renaissance setting, but PCs are rich enough that they are likely to pay it anyway so they can fit the theme by wielding a pistol and get damage in exchange for the drawbacks. If you simply refluffed crossbows into firearms then pistols would rarely get used because hand crossbows are only good for specialized builds, and we want most dashing adventures sporting a pistol as backup for their rapier.In short, the stats are designed to encourage or discourage using weapons most appropriate for a setting, just like all the weapon stats are. For me, that's actually a bigger concern than accuracy.</blockquote>

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