(3.5) Firearms!

[Lilithgow]

A great man once said
"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun."

But the problem is this - I'm not him. I'm currently playing a 3.5 game and I'm currently enjoying the wonders of being an Artificer. However, for flavor, I'm trying to move 'up' from my crossbow to something with a bit more firepower.

Not to say I want more damage. If anything, that's not what I want. I want to use a gun, and I'm having trouble finding any rules for 3.5 that won't make me the end of all 'primitive' weaponry.

I've run it all past my GM, and he's all for it. But what would you recommend? Any good gun rules anywhere? Possibly with room for inscribing bullets? Should I just homebrew it?

I should mention, I currently have the Rapid Reload, Precise Shot and Point Blank Shot feats, and have been told that all of them would apply to a firearm should I happen upon one.

That's about it! I'd love for some help.

[Adumbration]

The rules for guns are in DMG, page 145, under Renaissance weapons. The pistol and the musket are there, and on the next page there are also rules for modern weapons, such as automatic pistol, revolver, etc.

[NEO|Phyte]

The back of the d20 Modern core rulebook claims that it is compatible with Dungeons and Dragons, maybe grab a gun (http://d20resources.com/modern.d20.srd/equipment/weapons.handguns.php) from there (http://d20resources.com/modern.d20.srd/equipment/weapons.longarms.php)?

[Lert, A.]

Simplest answer is to use the chart in the DMG p.145 Renaissance weapons.

If the damage is too high, just scale it back and increase the critical hit damage from x3 to x4. Since bullets should really hurt if you get a solid hit y'know.

[BRC]

1. Take a +x crossbow
2. Refluff it into a firearm
3. Go eat a taco.

[Lilithgow]

Goodness, I had completely forgotten about that section of the DMG. As for your suggestion of toning down damage but increasing critical, Lert, that sounds quite smart.

Fast and efficient, this forum...

[Hazkali]

I'm with everyone who's said to use the Renaissance Weapons Chart, with a minor exception- I would knock them down to Simple or Martial as opposed to Exotic weapons. One good reason reason that guns overtook bows and crossbows (which for a long, long time were both more accurate with equivalent power) is that they are simple to use. Point at the person you want dead. Pull the trigger.

[RTGoodman]

I'm with everyone who's said to use the Renaissance Weapons Chart, with a minor exception- I would knock them down to Simple or Martial as opposed to Exotic weapons. One good reason reason that guns overtook bows and crossbows (which for a long, long time were both more accurate with equivalent power) is that they are simple to use. Point at the person you want dead. Pull the trigger.

Yeah, but then there's no reason for EVERYONE in the game not to use them. The requirement of spending a feat to use one is what balances firearms (with higher damage and crit ranges than any other weapon, IIRC) with other weapons.

Personally, I'd go with why BRC said - you don't have to even worry about the firearms rules if you just re-fluff your crossbow as a pistol/whatever.

[Spiryt]

I'm with everyone who's said to use the Renaissance Weapons Chart, with a minor exception- I would knock them down to Simple or Martial as opposed to Exotic weapons. One good reason reason that guns overtook bows and crossbows (which for a long, long time were both more accurate with equivalent power) is that they are simple to use. Point at the person you want dead. Pull the trigger.

Well, reloading them were actually not so easy.



Yeah, but then there's no reason for EVERYONE in the game not to use them. The requirement of spending a feat to use one is what balances firearms (with higher damage and crit ranges than any other weapon, IIRC) with other weapons.

Personally, I'd go with why BRC said - you don't have to even worry about the firearms rules if you just re-fluff your crossbow as a pistol/whatever.

Add full round action reload (if it's not already in the rules) and you're done.
I would suggest boosting damage even further then, cause full round reload sucks.

This way you get sufficently realistic (for D&D uses) and fun weapon.

[Asbestos]

I'm pretty sure that there was a setting somewhere that had a lot of gun rules... what was it called...

Oh right, Iron Kingdoms! Check it out. (http://www.privateerpress.com/docs/privateer_firearms.pdf) You can probably find more updated rules somewhere as well.

[Neek]

It depends on the campaign setting, whatever category falls in. If only two firearms exist in the world, and they're both in your hands, it should be an exotic weapon feat. If farmers and farmers' mums are packing, then it should be a simple weapon.

When I ran a New World campaign, I played firearms like this:
Firearms are simple weapons. Took 3 rounds to reload (18 seconds, which is must faster than it should be).
A person with martial weapon proficiency (Firearms) can reload in 2 rounds. A hasty reload takes 1 round, but causes a -4 on the attack roll.
Rapid Reload lets you take off another step, so 1 round, move action for hasty reload if that's an option for you.

This seemed to work quite well for the campaign.

[Attilargh]

I'm pretty sure that there was a setting somewhere that had a lot of gun rules... what was it called...

Oh right, Iron Kingdoms! Check it out. (http://www.privateerpress.com/docs/privateer_firearms.pdf) You can probably find more updated rules somewhere as well.
Considering the OP doesn't want to outshine projectile weapons that are not powered by explosions... These are pretty much spot-on. Just fix the costs, for sanity's sake: Sling bullets made of melted silver pieces are actually cheaper than pistol charges.

More detailed rules can be found in the Iron Kingdoms Character Guide, which is sadly out of print.

[Inhuman Bot]

I'm pretty sure that there was a setting somewhere that had a lot of gun rules... what was it called...

Oh right, Iron Kingdoms! Check it out. (http://www.privateerpress.com/docs/privateer_firearms.pdf) You can probably find more updated rules somewhere as well.

Yes, this works VERY well.

Oh, and if you missed it, barbarians can't be proficent with guns at level 1.
It's like illieteracy.

[Prometheus]

Just for the record, you get nowhere if you consult how RL firearms were in terms of how they should be incorporated into D&D. Firearms are best incorporated as fits the mechancis and fluff you want.