Author Topic: [Equipment] Firearms of the Demiplane of Dread  (Read 2220 times)

Offline Skyrock

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[Equipment] Firearms of the Demiplane of Dread
« on: October 16, 2018, 05:27:25 PM »
Simple Ranged Weapons
BlunderbussCL825gp1d121d12--20ft cone4lbBludgeoning or Piercing
Flintlock PistolCL920gp2d42d419-20/x240ft4lbPiercing
Flintlock MusketCL825gp2d62d619-20/x260ft8lbPiercing
HandgonneCL715gp1d101d1019-20/x240ft8lbPiercing
Volley GunCL9150gp1d121d12--40ft cone32lbPiercing
Bullets & Powder (10)CL75sp--------1lb--

Special Note for all Firearms:
Masterwork firearms (except for Volley Guns and Handgonnes) are considered to be breech-loaders, only requiring a single move action to be reloaded. Masterwork ammunition is considered to be a paper cartridge, reducing the reload time to a swift action if used with a masterwork firearm (except for Volley Guns and Handgonnes).

Notes on existing Weapon Enhancements: Quick Loading
(MIC, p.41f)
The enhancement may also be placed on a firearm, storing up to 100 units of bullets & powder in an extradimensional space. Reloading a firearm this way is a free action regardless of type. Note that Blunderbuss and Volley Gun still need multiple units of bullets & powder per shot. While they still draw the 3 (10) required units as a single free action, they all must all be of the same type (regular, silvered, +1 etc.), and occupy more space in the extra-dimensional space, effectively reducing the stored ammunition to 33 (10) shots compared to the 100 shots for firearms only using one unit of bullets & powder per shot

Blunderbuss
The blunderbuss is the black powder precursor of the modern shotgun, usually used by cavalry.
Instead of making an attack roll, everyone within a 20ft cone originating from you suffers the weapon damage (Reflex save with a DC 10 + 1/2 your BAB + your Dexterity bonus halves.) It takes 15 full-round actions to reload a blunderbuss, using up three units of bullets & powder. Reloading provokes attacks of opportunity.

Flintlock Pistol
The flintlock pistol has become the default weapon for travellers, merchants and other civilians in the most developed parts of the Demiplane of Dread. Professional combatants often carry an entire belt of them with them to work around the time-consuming reloading process.
When you shoot a flintlock pistol, you make a ranged touch attack. It takes 4 full-round actions to reload a flintlock pistol. Reloading provokes attacks of opportunity.

Flintlock Musket
The flintlock musket is the backbone of the armies of the most developed parts of the Demiplane of Dread, used by conscripted peasants and officers alike.
When you shoot a flintlock musket, you make a ranged touch attack. It takes 5 full-round actions to reload a flintlock musket. Reloading provokes attacks of opportunity.

Handgonne
The handgonne is a very primitive black powder weapon the size of a rifle and the combat value of a pistol, and also very slow to fire with its matchlock mechanism. It is only found in medieval domains where gunsmithing is still in its infancy.
When you shoot a handgonne musket, you use a full-round action to make a ranged touch attack. It takes 5 full-round actions to reload a handgonne. Reloading provokes attacks of opportunity.

Volley Gun
The volley gun is a very heavy experimental weapon bristling with barrels into all directions, all activated at a single pull of the trigger. It's expensive price, heavy weight and very short range make it a rare sight, usually only used for boarding actions and other close quarters.
Instead of making an attack roll, everyone within a 40ft cone originating from you suffers the weapon damage (Reflex save with a DC 10 + 1/2 your BAB + your Dexterity bonus halves.) It takes 50 full-round actions to reload a volley gun, using up ten units of bullets & powder. Reloading provokes attacks of opportunity.

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« Last Edit: July 09, 2020, 05:44:31 PM by Skyrock »

Offline Skyrock

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Re: [Equipment] Firearms of the Demiplane of Dread
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2018, 04:25:19 PM »
Addendum after this received a lot of flak on the MMX discord:
Quote
*Special Notes for all Firearms
Firearms add the number of Hit Dice of their user to their total damage.
This partially compensates the lack of multi-attacks and weapon enchantments, and re-inforces firearms as a grand equalizer. It makes firearms especially useful for NPCs with NPC classes (since they gain a lot of more HD per CR than PC classes), and for low-BAB classes (who profit less off multi-attacks).

Bows and crossbows are still around on the Demiplane of Dread, and for good reason. Dedicated, highly trained archers get more mileage out of them - firearms are weapons of mass battle mostly thriving for logistical reasons, the thing that gets put into the hands of Commoner and Warrior conscripts, not something you will find used by a mid- to high-level Swift Hunter or other dedicated archer builds.

Offline SorO_Lost

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Re: [Equipment] Firearms of the Demiplane of Dread
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2018, 08:35:52 PM »
Addendum after this received a lot of flak on the MMX discord:
Quote
*Special Notes for all Firearms
Firearms add the number of Hit Dice of their user to their total damage.
firearms are weapons of mass battle mostly thriving for logistical reasons, the thing that gets put into the hands of Commoner and Warrior conscripts, not something you will find used by a mid- to high-level Swift Hunter or other dedicated archer builds.
And I suspect it'll continue. Like I'll just take the Quick Draw Feat and spend 800gp on Flintlock Pistols to deal up to 2d4+10 (15 avg) using Touch AC per Attack Action half way through the game. Why would anyone use a bow unless their Strength is over 30?
Quote
Flintlock weapons take two Full Round Actions to reload (rapid reload reduces this to one).
NameRange/DamageYear
Snaplock Pistol10ft/2d41580
Blunderbuss Pistol5ft/2d81680
Dueling Pistol (.50 cal)20ft/2d61775
Snaplock Musket30ft/2d81570
Blunderbuss Musket5ft/2d101654
Brown Bess (.75 cal)5ft/2d101690
On a Natural 1, if it's raining, it misfires and needs to be cleaned (10 minutes).
There, instead of 6th level Fighters with ITWF dealing an average of 52 damage against Touch ACs he's lucky to do half of his 44 average potential by missing normal AC. With Rapid Reload a good pistol or poor rifle can deal the same as a normal longbow too (2d8 every 2 rounds vs 1d8 per round), but it's when you get to using multiple guns their 2d8+ base damage allows them to significantly outpace all but really expensive composite longbows in the hands of great archers.
« Last Edit: November 01, 2018, 08:41:55 PM by SorO_Lost »

Offline Skyrock

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Re: [Equipment] Firearms of the Demiplane of Dread
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2018, 10:04:06 PM »
The thing that screws firearms at higher levels are weapon enchantments. Where easily reloaded bows and x-bows make it easy to double-dip weapon enchantments + ammo enchantments, the draw, fire & drop routine of firearms necessitated by the long reloading times makes only ammo enchantments feasible.

Manyshot, Rapid Shot and other RoF-enhancing archery feats are also only really feasible with an easily reloaded weapon.

Offline SorO_Lost

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Re: [Equipment] Firearms of the Demiplane of Dread
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2018, 11:44:39 PM »
firearms are weapons of mass battle mostly thriving for logistical reasons, the thing that gets put into the hands of Commoner and Warrior conscripts, not something you will find used by a mid- to high-level Swift Hunter or other dedicated archer builds.
And I suspect it'll continue.
The thing that screws firearms at higher levels are weapon enchantments. Where easily reloaded bows and x-bows make it easy to double-dip weapon enchantments + ammo enchantments, the draw, fire & drop routine of firearms necessitated by the long reloading times makes only ammo enchantments feasible.
So you mean they are doing exactly what you want and being over shadowed at higher levels thanks to people not using Wands of Magic Weapon or Weapon Augments and you not wanting to adept Quick Loading to work with firearms? :huh

Ok, to each their own. Shrugs
« Last Edit: November 01, 2018, 11:48:14 PM by SorO_Lost »

Offline Skyrock

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Re: [Equipment] Firearms of the Demiplane of Dread
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2018, 09:32:53 PM »
I just have remembered the Quick Loading weapon enhancement, which allows me to both have ass-slow mundane firearms for commoners and quickly reloaded magical firearms for adventurers within the same game. Thus there is much less need to make the firearms base damage scale with level/HD, as there is a cheap enhancement to get full-attacks going.

In the same breath, I have added heavily reduced reloading times for masterwork firearms (fluffed as breech-loaders) and masterwork ammo (fluffed as paper cartridges), which pushes the presumed techlevel of Ravenloft a bit but not too much as far as I am concerned. For dedicated gunners they will probably only matter for a few levels before Quick Loading gets affordable, anyway, and still be too expensive for the grimey Commoner conscript NPC armies.

Also, both Blunderbusses and Volley Guns now fill a cone, with the latter just filling a bigger cone.