New ranged weapons (from bolt pistols to long las).New martial weapons (chainswords, power swords, lightning claw, power fist, power maul).Suffice it to say that there is no established market in my campaign for firearms, and while you might find a night pistol in an alchemist's shop for 100 gp, you could find a retired soldier offering to sell theirs down the street for 500 gp.Welcome to the second post for Warhammer 40k D&D 5E Hack, my (what was originally meant to be rather quick) exploration into how we can bring the darkness of the far future into the d20 world.
You may notice below item's have a rarity rating and a huge range for prices - I'll get into that in a future article. So, the next problem - guns in a fantasy world are expensive! How do you justify it? Well, if you follow the pneumatic steam/engineered/rare approach, and also state that firesmiths carefully guard their craft or it's a lost art from when civilization was stronger (before the Verdraaken Empire fell, in my game), then it makes sense that not everyone can just go buy a rifle, and that a few days or a week might be needed to craft some bullets. However, the firearm will eventually jam, or they will need more ammunition, so a tool set can be acquired by characters, and used with or without proficiency. So I created a tool set called a firesmith's kit, which can be used to repair or craft firearms and ammunition - it created a bit of a skill bump without rendering a gun unusable to a character, when in fact all they have to do in combat is pull the trigger. I also decided to give all guns the loading quality, so they can't be fired 2-4 times a round (unless someone wades in with two pistols, or takes the Crossbow Expert feat with a generous DM - I wouldn't). Some rule sets require a special firearms proficiency or a special skill to load the weapon, which can be cumbersome when the core 5E rule set just has simple and martial proficiencies, so I added a somewhat dangerous misfire option on rolling a 1 causing the user 3d6 fire damage (with the option of expensive ammunition that can be purchased that won't misfire), or will jam on an attack roll of 2-3.
On the flip side, there needs to be a balancing act - just charging up to 500 gp for a pistol doesn't alleviate the fact it does as much as a battleaxe but at extreme range. And like any ranged weapon, Dexterity modifiers are added to attack and damage rolls, so this is pretty deadly. I don't think the DMG version of firearms is attractive enough.įor a pistol, 1d12 is definitely attractive, and a rifle 2d10 is also attractive - it's significantly better than a crossbow or longbow, so players may covet one for effectiveness as well as a stylish image. The next thing is to make guns attractive - for someone to want to use them over a crossbow, especially when in-game you are charging 10 times the amount a crossbow costs in gp, there needs to be an upshot to getting one of these weapons. Make Guns Attractive To Players, But Not Too Attractive So the first thing I did was keep it mysterious, and magical (small m, it's technology not magic, but it doesn't need to be explained).īy stating that firearms operate in my game under a system of pneumatic steam power and flammable powder, I can make weapons as complex or rare or expensive as I want, and I don't have to worry about some player gathering seagull guano to blow something up. So, if you use gunpowder, you may end up in arguments about guns evolving to replace medieval weapons, changing the way warfare is conducted, the lack of expense of bullets and shot, and all the modern arguments for how or how not to have firearms work under various environments and circumstances. My rule set has evolved from 3E to Pathfinder to 5E, and I think I've maintained good game balance along the way. I've read the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide and that take on firearms, 3.5E Ptolus' approach, and even the Pathfinder rules for guns, and I decided while I liked some of their ideas, I decided to craft my own set of weapons and rules around them. But before I passed around the ammunition, I put some thought and debated with my players on the best way to include guns in the campaign world.
I wanted a European flavour game with pistols and rifles, swashbuckling rogues with blade and shot, and all manner of contraptions that would make DaVinci proud. I've got a 5E Dungeons and Dragons fantasy campaign world, and it's renaissance-ish in feel, so I wanted guns.