Artificer creates magic ammunition when the gun is empty, but an artificer will only be able to fire two shots. Any other class can buy a clip modification for a gun to only need to reload once every 6 shots.
Tasha's Gunner feat ignores the loading property, but Zeitgeist guns specifically have a different property called muzzle loading which requires an action or bonus action to reload.
Yup the design intent seems clear that guns should be cumbersome to use, rather than half my party looking at going vHuman to bypass this. Artificer magic reload looks like it might be good to go, but the player looking at the feat version is making a sniper focused build so I'm wary of the action economy between reload action and bonus action to hide to give sneak attack.
I noticed the bit about rules for crossbows being fine for guns too, and the crossbow expert feat is intended to ignore the reloading property but agree it's not the muzzle-loading one.
I was thinking with these I could use a stepping stone system of muzzle-loading > loading > auto. So if the player gets a feat that applies to loading, it could reduce the time for muzzle-loading from an action/bonus to an interaction, and anything with loading to auto. How's this sound? Think this gives some progression and they can invest if they want it?
I guess I'm looking for a sense check from existing DMs: are guns something to manage tightly, or am I being a stick in the mud and should just let the party get blastin' if they wanna? Any of the prestige classes rely on muzzle-loading to keep power in check?
Magic system:
I'm a little confused with the magic item system haha, players get rep and can rent out (or buy? or just ask for?) magic gear within the constraints on the "tools of the mission section".
It says that all gear must be handed in, but it also says that items given as gifts are the parties to keep? I think I've found some threads which explain the latter half of it, but for the former - do the players just get to say "i want to requisition XXX" from sourcebooks/google? Do I create (/is there a list somewhere) of the quartermasters inventory? Obviously as DM I could veto things like a deck of many things, but is it pretty much open season for requests? How have other DM's handled this?
Thanks so much for your help everyone, getting hyped for this games first session!