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View Full Version : Good gun rules for 3.5e D&D?



Maho-Tsukai
2010-11-18, 04:36 PM
As the title says, I am looking for some good gun rules for D&D campaigns with a "magi-tech" element. However, I DO NOT want the D20 Modern rules. In D20 Modern guns are rather lackluster and at times sucky and thus I am looking for better rules for firearms. I would LOVE it if the said guns had a "magi-tech" feel to them and perhaps used arcane energy bullets instead of your basic rounds and stuff like that. If no such rules exist that's fine as I can adapt more "mundane" guns to have a magi-tech feel. However, I am not looking for old school guns such as muskets and such. I am looking for something more magi-tech but steampunk weapons may work as well provided there are good rules for those. Just no D20 Modern(unless it's fixed) and no ye old fashion style guns.

BRC
2010-11-18, 04:50 PM
How common do you want these Guns to be? Do you want them to be powerful, expensive weapons used by a rare few, or Should they be standard equipment for adventurers, soldiers, and bandits.

Do you want to treat them like standard weapons, one stat for Pistols for example, and Enchantments handle the rest.
OR do you want a wide variety of weapons under similar rules, everything from "Uses Magic to propel a small object really fast" to " Fires a volley of Magic Missiles, followed by a beam of lightning, then Fireballs the area just to be sure"

Person_Man
2010-11-18, 05:10 PM
Not guns specifically, but I just updated and posted the newest version of my Magitech Templar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176276), which is essentially a magical/steampunk Iron Man (or most any other armored super hero you can think of). It has plenty of fun blasty gun like options.

playswithfire
2010-11-18, 07:10 PM
I think these (http://www.ptolus.com/images/Technology.pdf) are pretty good.

dsmiles
2010-11-18, 07:33 PM
The Iron Kingdoms book by Privateer Press has some pretty awesome rules for firearms. Plus the classes and PrCs are pretty awesomesauce, too. I'll never stop plugging this game, it's so awesome. :smallbiggrin:

Maho-Tsukai
2010-11-18, 07:55 PM
"OR do you want a wide variety of weapons under similar rules, everything from "Uses Magic to propel a small object really fast" to " Fires a volley of Magic Missiles, followed by a beam of lightning, then Fireballs the area just to be sure"

That's just what I was looking for concept wise. Crazy magical guns that can mimic spells and such. If anybody knows a good set of rules for stuff like that I would be ecstatic.

Gavinfoxx
2010-11-18, 07:55 PM
I'd say that anything that has armor piercing capability should target Touch AC, maybe?

Maho-Tsukai
2010-11-18, 08:31 PM
I am looking more for existing homebrew or 3rd party material rather then tips for homebrewing. I thank you for your efforts but I am looking for an already existing rule-set that I can simply adopt because I am not the best homebrewer in the world. If nothing exists like what I want I understand but I was HOPING there was something out there already.

dsmiles
2010-11-18, 08:40 PM
That's just what I was looking for concept wise. Crazy magical guns that can mimic spells and such. If anybody knows a good set of rules for stuff like that I would be ecstatic.

You don't need crazy magical guns that can mimic spells. The Gun Mage class in Iron Kingdoms (by Privateer Press) does that. 2/3 BAB, proficient in simple weapons and pistols, casts like a Bard (6 spell levels), and can bond with his/her pistols. This is exactly what you're looking for, in a class (http://www.scribd.com/doc/39804028/IK-Gun-Mage) rather than a bunch of guns. Bang! There it is. The skill set needs to be updated, but that's really all.

Maho-Tsukai
2010-11-18, 09:46 PM
I see, I will have to check it out, then. However I was hopeing for something more stylish then pistols gun-wise(Think anime guns of doom), but I suppose I can make due with the less flashy pistol if the rest of the class is as awesome as you make it sound.

CodeRed
2010-11-19, 12:26 AM
I see, I will have to check it out, then. However I was hopeing for something more stylish then pistols gun-wise(Think anime guns of doom), but I suppose I can make due with the less flashy pistol if the rest of the class is as awesome as you make it sound.

You cast spells out of your guns which in turn makes them better. You craft magic bullets which when infused with spells do more damage. PP's 3.5 setting in their world is awesome. As well, you could always refluff the class to be a rifle-mage or shotgun-mage instead of pistols.

Nanoblack
2010-11-19, 12:41 AM
Well you said no to D20 modern because the guns were lackluster, but you might wanna check out D20 futures for some good examples of high tech weaponry. I wouldn't even know where to begin though.

Bayar
2010-11-19, 01:38 AM
"OR do you want a wide variety of weapons under similar rules, everything from "Uses Magic to propel a small object really fast" to " Fires a volley of Magic Missiles, followed by a beam of lightning, then Fireballs the area just to be sure"

That's just what I was looking for concept wise. Crazy magical guns that can mimic spells and such. If anybody knows a good set of rules for stuff like that I would be ecstatic.

Umm...stick a wand of magic missile, a wand of lightning bolt and a wand of fireball into a rod of many wands ?

You could use wands crafted into the shape of long crystal shards and a gun-like device that uses them as loaders, and just give a bonus to umd when activating one.

grimbold
2010-11-19, 03:55 AM
the dmg has rules for guns i believe, you could probably fiddle with those. Doubtless in dmg 2 there are more such rules.

off topic
bayar your sig became my motto

dsmiles
2010-11-19, 05:17 AM
Doubtless in dmg 2 there are more such rules.

Unfortunately, not.

grimbold
2010-11-19, 08:11 AM
Unfortunately, not.

:smalleek:

Maho-Tsukai
2010-11-19, 08:37 AM
I don't have the money for the Iron Kingdoms sourcebook at the moment, but I was able to find the gunmage class online as well. It's actually just about what I am looking for, and as others have mentioned it's easy to refluff the pistol to another style of gun so the class works.

As for D20 future/Modern it's not the guns themselves that are lackluster but rather the rules for them. Everybody knows that at later levels in D20 modern guns will be doing less damage then they should and fall behind melee. So, it's not the fluff but the crunch of D20 Modern's guns that's the issue.

Sir Swindle89
2010-11-19, 01:04 PM
Rod of wands sounds like what you want. it's a rod, you put up to 3 wands in the end. when you press the butting all 3 wands go off. easy.

faceroll
2010-11-19, 03:23 PM
"OR do you want a wide variety of weapons under similar rules, everything from "Uses Magic to propel a small object really fast" to " Fires a volley of Magic Missiles, followed by a beam of lightning, then Fireballs the area just to be sure"

That's just what I was looking for concept wise. Crazy magical guns that can mimic spells and such. If anybody knows a good set of rules for stuff like that I would be ecstatic.

Wands and staves in the shape of guns, and everyone gets UMD as a class skill? Or a feat that lets you use them?

Just tweak it a little bit, I guess. Maybe use the class feature that Spellwarp Snipers get to turn some effect spells into rays.

Nanoblack
2010-11-19, 03:31 PM
As for D20 future/Modern it's not the guns themselves that are lackluster but rather the rules for them. Everybody knows that at later levels in D20 modern guns will be doing less damage then they should and fall behind melee. So, it's not the fluff but the crunch of D20 Modern's guns that's the issue.

Well other than the guns that do like 6d8 per shot, there are all manner of mods they have available to guns that can do very cool things crunch-wise. Thats not even getting into the alternate ammo types...

Zeful
2010-11-19, 03:54 PM
As the title says, I am looking for some good gun rules for D&D campaigns with a "magi-tech" element.

There are none. There are simply no good rules for ranged combat in D&D at all for that matter as well. If you introduce guns that work as you want, no one will actually pick up any other ranged weapon because they suck. Given the overall lack of support for ranged attacks at level 20 the best gunman in the world will still fail to slay the best swordsman in the world before he's one-shotted into the negatives with one attack.

Tyndmyr
2010-11-19, 04:09 PM
As the title says, I am looking for some good gun rules for D&D campaigns with a "magi-tech" element. However, I DO NOT want the D20 Modern rules. In D20 Modern guns are rather lackluster and at times sucky and thus I am looking for better rules for firearms.

What? They're like crossbows without the reloading problem and with a fat damage dice. That can also fire in full-automatic. That frequently cause massive damage rules to trigger(actually relevant in D20). How are they lackluster?

Consider if you will, a noob character in d20 with firearms proficiency(stupid easy to get) and the double tap feat. No other bonuses whatsoever. He grabs himself a big gun, because...why not? He deals 3d12 damage per attack now. Yay. Without even getting into all the tactical options, that's pretty respectable without a ridiculous investment, and is accessible to even noob characters.

Magic guns work just like other magic projectile weapons as well. So, if it's a flaming .50 cal, well...it's gonna be awesome.

Zen Monkey
2010-11-19, 04:29 PM
The Final Fantasy video games have had a number of varations on this for a while, and I'd bet some of them have been converted into d20 rules. FF7 and FF-Tactics both featured guns that had more effects than just projectiles.

Tesla weaponry has been featured in some steampunk and sci-fi settings, if you want a gadget that shoots lightning at people.

Also, try open-ended or 'exploding' dice to represent the potential lethality of a gun. If you roll a ten on your d10, roll again and add it. If you roll another ten, keep both and roll again, etc. Armor could largely be ignored, or provide for special armors more suited to the purpose. Critical failures could also result in various manners of backfire or other negative consequences for the wielder.