Werewhale
2012-08-15, 09:25 AM
So I'm nearly ready to put up a recruitment post for an adventure in my homebrew world, but the fluff really took off and I found myself with a slew of houserules that I don't have the experience to see if they are balanced or not. So I'm posting them here to look for critique and advice. The variant races are very setting-specific but the firearms and anathema rules could certainly be used elsewhere, if you like them.
Feel free to only read and comment on one of the three parts rather than feel intimidated by the wall of text and go away without reading anything.
Races
No subrace has been created from scratch, but rather based off the traits of published races and then I replaced qualities with what I hoped to be equally powerful qualities. So I'll be presenting the races by comparing them to the standard iterations.
Sun Dwarf - Based mostly on the standard SRD Dwarf, and are not much different fluff-wise, except that they are more social.
{table=head]Sun Dwarf | SRD Dwarf
+2 CON -2 DEX | +2 CON -2 CHA
Medium Size | Medium Size
Speed 20'1 | Speed 20'1
Low-Light Vision | Darkvision 60''
Stonecunning | Stonecunning
Weapon Familiarity dw.waraxes and dw.urgroshes | Weapon Familiarity dw.waraxes and dw.urgroshes
Stability | Stability
+2 save vs. poison | +2 save vs. poison
+2 save vs. spells | +2 save vs. spells
+1 attack bonus vs. undead and goblinoids | +1 attack bonus vs. orcs and goblinoids
+4 AC vs. Giantkin | +4 AC vs. Giantkin
+2 Appraise rel. to metal or stone | +2 Appraise rel. to metal or stone
+2 Craft rel. to metal or stone | +2 Craft rel. to metal or stone
Cold Endurance | -
Favoured Class: Fighter | Favoured Class: Fighter
[/table]
1 Can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.
Ghost Dwarf - Based on the Duergar, but stripped of all psionic-related traits because there are no psionics in the setting. They are supposed to be rare, so I want to keep a Level Adjustment of one or two. Fluff-wise, they are cave-adapted Sun Dwarves(like Dwarf Fortress adaption), so they get darkvision and some magical powers.
{table=head]Ghost Dwarf | SRD Duergar
+2 CON | +2 CON -4 CHA
Medium Size | Medium Size
Speed 20'1 | Speed 20'1
Darkvision 120'' | Darkvision 120''
Stonecunning | Stonecunning
Weapon Familiarity dw.waraxes and dw.urgroshes | -
Stability | Stability
Immunity to paralysis, phantasms, and poison. | Immunity to paralysis, phantasms, and poison.
+2 save vs. spells | +2 save vs. spells
Spell-Like Abilities 1/day: mending, darkness, unseen servant | Psi-Like Abilities 1/day: expansion, invisibility.
- | +3 psi power points
+1 attack bonus vs. undead and goblinoids | +1 attack bonus vs. orcs and goblinoids
+4 AC vs. Giantkin | +4 AC vs. Giantkin
Sickened in sunlight | Dazzled in sunlight
+2 Appraise and Craft rel. to metal or stone | +2 Appraise and Craft rel. to metal or stone
- | +4 Move Silently, +1 Listen and Spot
Cold Endurance | -
Favoured Class Fighter | Favoured Class Fighter
Level Adjustment +2 | Level Adjustment +1
[/table]
1 Can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.
Wildelf - Based mechanically on the standard SRD Elf, but are a more nomadic folk in this setting, and tweaked for that purpose. Fluff-wise, they split from the other elves after a supernatural plague destroyed the old elven world-spanning civilization.
{table=head]Wildelf | SRD Elf
+2 DEX -2 CON | +2 DEX -2 CON
Medium Size | Medium Size
Speed 30' | Speed 30'
Low-Light Vision | Low-Light Vision
Immune to diseases | Trance
+2 save vs. enchantment | +2 save vs. enchantment
Weapon Prof.(scimitar, lance, longbow, shortbow) | Weapon Prof.(longsword, rapier, longbow, shortbow)
+2 to Listen, Search, Spot | +2 to Listen, Search, Spot
- | Auto-Search for secret doors
+2 to Ride and Handle Animal. Ride is always a class skill | -
Favoured Class Ranger | Favoured Class Wizard
[/table]
Songelf - Based mechanically on the SRD Elf, but these are jungle-dwelling self-perfectionists and culturally very distant from the other races. Fluff-wise, they are what remains of the old elven empire, magically advanced and talented, but technologically and culturally crippled by fear of the plague that brought them to ruin.
{table=head]Songelf | SRD Elf
+2 INT -2 CON | +2 DEX -2 CON
Medium Size | Medium Size
Speed 30' | Speed 30'
- | Low-Light Vision
Trance | Trance
+2 save vs. enchantment | +2 save vs. enchantment
Immune to diseases | -
Weapon Familiarity(katana)1 | Weapon Prof.(longsword, rapier, longbow, shortbow)
+2 to Listen, Search, Spot | +2 to Listen, Search, Spot
Auto-Search for secret doors | Auto-Search for secret doors
Spell-Like Abilities 1/day: arcane mark, detect magic, mage hand | -
Heat Endurance | -
Favoured Class Wizard | Favoured Class Wizard
[/table]
1A songelf may wield a katana in one hand as a martial weapon, and is always proficient with a katana wielded as a two-handed weapon.
Gnome - Gnomes are more militaristic and organized in this setting, but mechanically based off the standard SRD Gnome.
{table=head] 'Brew Gnome | SRD Gnome
+2 CON -2 STR | +2 CON -2 STR
Small Size | Small Size
Speed 20' | Speed 20'
- | Low-Light Vision
+1 to attack rolls when using firearms | Weapon Familiarity(gnome hooked hammer)
+2 save vs. illusions | +2 save vs. illusions
+1 to DC of illusions cast | +1 to DC of illusions cast
+1 attack bonus vs. kobolds and goblinoids | +1 attack bonus vs. kobolds and goblinoids
- | +4 AC vs. Giantkin
+2 to Listen | +2 to Listen
+2 to either Craft(alchemy) or Craft(firearms), chosen at character creation | +2 to Craft(alchemy)
Spell-Like Abilities 1/day: Silent Image, ghost sound, prestidigitation, light | Spell-Like Abilities 1/day: Speak with animals, dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation
Favoured Class Wizard | Favoured Class Bard
[/table]
Halfling - Halflings are downtrodden second-class citizens in the predominantly human empire, based off the standard SRD halfling. Still very similar to the original. I might skip the brewlings entirely, or at least allow interested players to play standard halflings if they prefer.
{table=head]'Brew Halfling | SRD Halfling
+2 DEX -2 STR | +2 DEX -2 STR
Small Size | Small Size
Speed 20' | Speed 20'
+2 to Bluff, Hide, Move Silently, Sense Motive | +2 to Climb, Jump, Listen, Move Silently
+1 to all saves | +1 to all saves
+2 to saves vs. fear | +2 to saves vs. fear
Penalty for improvised weaponry reduced to -1 | +1 to attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings
Favoured Class Rogue | Favoured Class Rogue
[/table]
Orcs - In this setting, Orcs are not evil savages ripe for xp-hunting, but have a continent-spanning empire of their own to rival that of the humans in both military and cultural terms. Pretty much built from scratch, but I present the SRD Orc for comparison anyway.
{table=head] 'Brew Orc | SRD Orc
+2 STR -2 DEX | +4 STR -2 INT -2 WIS -2 CHA
Speed 30' | Speed 30'
- | Darkvision 60'
- | Light Sensitivity
Weapon Familiarity(bastard sword)| -
+2 to Swim and Intimidate | -
+2 to Grapple Checks | -
Immunity to gaze attacks | -
+1 to attack rolls with thrown weapons | -
Favoured Class Cleric | Favoured Class Barbarian
[/table]
Half-races may be added sometime later, if I feel the need, as well as other normally savage races such as goblins and gnolls. But for now I'm focusing on these.
Do any of these races strike you as terribly unbalanced(whether they are overpowered or underpowered)? I'm not going for perfect balance here, just enough.
Firearms
In this setting, warfare has just advanced to the real-world equivalent of pike-and-shot tactics, so I want to make firearms viable weapons as wielded by a mass of barely-trained peasants, but not overpowering in the hands of skilled adventurers. In fact, they should benefit less from personal skill than bows and crossbows, due to the inherent inaccuracy of smoothbore guns, not to mention the long reload times. But I also want them to be more effective in piercing light-to-medium armor and thick hide. Finally, I want them to pack a hard punch and be slow to reload, but avoid the rather silly scenario of adventurers running around with twenty pistols on their belts(carrying extra guns is not ahistorical, but we have to be reasonable).
So! For revision, here are the stats for firearms lifted from the DMG:
{table=head] Exotic Weapons(Firearms) | Cost | Dmg(S) | Dmg(M) | Critical | Range Increment | Weight | Damage Type
{colsp=8}One-Handed Ranged Weapons |
Pistol | 250 gp | 1d8 | 1d10 | x3 | 50 ft. | 3 lb. | Piercing |
{colsp=8}Two-Handed Ranged Weapons |
Musket | 500 gp | 1d10 | 1d12 | x3 | 150 ft. | 10 lb. | Piercing |
[/table]
The Pistol and Musket both take a standard action to reload.
Here is how I would stat them:
{table=head] Martial Weapons(Firearms) | Cost | Dmg(S) | Dmg(M) | Critical | Range Increment | Weight | Damage Type
{colsp=8}One-Handed Ranged Weapons |
Pistol | 50 gp | 1d8 | 1d10 | x3 | 40 ft. | 3 lb. | Piercing |
{colsp=8}Two-Handed Ranged Weapons |
Arquebus | 75 gp | 1d10 | 1d12 | x3 | 80 ft. | 7 lb. | Piercing |
Musket | 100 gp | 2d6 | 2d8 | x3 | 100 ft. | 10 lb. | Piercing |
[/table]
Pistol: Standard action to reload, requires both hands to do so, and provokes an attack of opportunity. May be shot from one hand without penalties.
Arquebus:Full-round action to reload, requires both hands to do so, and provokes an attack of opportunity. This action may be split into a move action and a standard action, performed in separate rounds, but each action provokes an attack of opportunity. May be shot from one hand at a -2 penalty to attack rolls.
Musket:Full-round action to reload, requires both hands to do so, and provokes an attack of opportunity. This action may be split into a move action and a standard action, performed in separate rounds, but each action provokes an attack of opportunity. May be shot from one hand at a -4 penalty to attack rolls. Too unwieldy to reload from horseback, but can still be fired from a mount.
The Pistol still takes a standard action to reload, but the musket takes a full-round action. In addition, both weapons possess the firearm quality, which is a catch-all for several special rules governing their use.
The musket can not be reloaded from horseback.
Firearms are powerful but unpredictable weapons. Whenever one is fired, a d% is cast to determine if the weapon discharges successfully, wobbles, jams, fizzles, or explodes.
{table=head]Weapon | Explodes | Jams | Fizzles | Wobbles | Discharges Successfully
Standard Firearm | 1 | 2-4 | 5-9 | 10-15 | 16-100
Crappy Firearm | 1-2 | 3-7 | 8-15 | 16-25 | 26-100
Masterwork Firearm | 1* | 2 | 3 | 4-5 | 6-100
[/table]
*When a 1 is rolled, roll again. If it is a 1 again, an explosion occurs, otherwise it is just a fizzle.
Successful Discharge: The firearm operates as designed, and the attack proceeds normally.
Wobble: The bullet bounces around in the barrel and veers off course as it exits. It ends up in a square adjacent to the target, determined by throwing a d8, and makes an attack roll at +0 against whatever creature occupies that square. If nothing occupies that square, the bullet continues on in a straight line for d10 range increments until it finds something or if not, strikes the ground.
Fizzle: The bullet exits the weapon without enough force to damage anything, falling harmlessly at the shooter's feet. The attack is negated and the firearm must be reloaded before the next shot.
Jam: The bullet fails to exit the barrel, negating the attack. The bullet must be cleared before the weapon may be used again. Attempting to clear the barrel is a full-round action that demands a Dexterity Check against DC 8 for pistols and DC 10 for muskets. Failure expends the action without clearing the weapon for use. A successful check means the firearm is cleared and may be reloaded with the next action. When not under duress, the barrel can be cleared in a minute without making a Dexterity check.
Explosion: The firearm misfires catastrophically and explodes in the shooter's hands. The attack is negated. Muskets and pistols affect the user differently.
Pistol: The shooter takes 1d4 points of fire damage and a -1 penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks involving the hand grasping the gun. If the hit point damage is negated somehow, due to damage resistance or immunity, the penalty is also negated. The penalty lasts until the gunman heals at least one hit point, either naturally or through magical healing.
Musket: The shooter takes 1d6 points of fire damage and a -1 penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks involving the hand grasping the gun. If the hit point damage is negated somehow, due to damage resistance or immunity, the penalty is also negated. The penalty lasts until the gunman heals at least one hit point, either naturally or through magical healing.
Furthermore, the shooter must make a DC 13 Reflex check or become blinded for ten rounds, or until he receives magical healing. He must also make a DC 13 Fortitude check or become deafened for ten rounds, or until he receives magical healing.
A firearm ignores any armor bonus provided by armor that does not have the bulletproof modifier. Normal breastplates, half-plates and full plates are bulletproof, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Other suits can be made bulletproof at the cost of 100gp and a -1 modifier to Armor Check Penalties and Maximum Dexterity.
A firearm ignores any armor bonus provided by Dexterity unless the target has moved its speed in that round or performed a Total Defense action, or has the uncanny dodge feat.
If a character carries a loaded firearm without grasping it and performs an action that involves significant movement(such as moving their speed, fighting in melee) or is otherwise forced to move about(being attacked in melee), there is a 10% chance per round of that firearm firing off. All normal checks are made to determine whether the weapon misfired. Depending on the location, there is a chance(50% if carried in a belt) that the character is hit by the bullet, in which case the weapon makes an attack roll of +0 against their flat-footed AC.
(The arquebus was added almost like an afterthought as an intermediate step between pistol and musket. Right now its only benefit over the musket is a lower cost and the ability to be reloaded from horseback. Further improvements are under consideration.)
Your thoughts on this please? Are the rules too complex? Are the drawbacks too heavy or the benefits too great? Would you consider using a firearm like this? Would you consider using any other ranged weapon when you could have a firearm like this?
Anathema, or How to Deal with Good/Evil Spells and Abilities in a Non-Objective Setting
Problem: I wanted to make a world without Good and Evil, where everyone is the "hero" of their own story and realpolitik outweighs idealism, you know, like the real world. On the other hand, I just really like paladins, but without any Evil for their abilities to target, how do they work?
Solution: So I came up, probably not the first to do so, with the idea of Anathema. Basically, any paladin ability that mentions Evil replaces that word with anathema(Detect Anathema, Smite Anathema), and so do any alignment-specific spells(Protect Against ALIGNMENT, Bless Weapon).
So what is Anathema? Anything that is in direct opposition to the deity granting the spell or power, or an affront to what they stand for. A god of happiness and growth may have undead and murderous psychopaths as an anathema, among other things. This system will require an extensive list of anathemas for every relevant god, and since not every circumstance can be prepared for, a Knowledge(religion) check* could be called for to determine whether something qualifies as anathema or not(the DM would rule on this and inform the player according to the Knowledge Check).
What could be an Anathema? Pretty much anything imaginable. Common anathemas include creature types, such as undead, outsiders, and vermin. Types of people could also be anathemas, such as murderers, thieves, or even seemingly innocent vocations such as moneylenders or hunters. Care must be taken not to make anathemas too expansive or unfocused. Foreigners, for example, will include nearly everyone in the world, but a xenophobic or patriotic god might instead define those working directly against the interest of their nation to be anathema. Socialists is difficult to determine. What one man may consider a socialist may be a centrist from another's perspective. A capitalist god may instead define members of a socialist party as anathema, or leftist extremists.
In the end, the DM will have to carry the final word on whether something qualifies as anathema, consulting the available info of the deity in question.
*Possibly replace Knowledge(religion) with Wisdom since the Paladin is already strapped for skill points as is.
I'm wondering if anyone has any experience using a system like this or similar, or if not, if it sounds workable?
Feel free to only read and comment on one of the three parts rather than feel intimidated by the wall of text and go away without reading anything.
Races
No subrace has been created from scratch, but rather based off the traits of published races and then I replaced qualities with what I hoped to be equally powerful qualities. So I'll be presenting the races by comparing them to the standard iterations.
Sun Dwarf - Based mostly on the standard SRD Dwarf, and are not much different fluff-wise, except that they are more social.
{table=head]Sun Dwarf | SRD Dwarf
+2 CON -2 DEX | +2 CON -2 CHA
Medium Size | Medium Size
Speed 20'1 | Speed 20'1
Low-Light Vision | Darkvision 60''
Stonecunning | Stonecunning
Weapon Familiarity dw.waraxes and dw.urgroshes | Weapon Familiarity dw.waraxes and dw.urgroshes
Stability | Stability
+2 save vs. poison | +2 save vs. poison
+2 save vs. spells | +2 save vs. spells
+1 attack bonus vs. undead and goblinoids | +1 attack bonus vs. orcs and goblinoids
+4 AC vs. Giantkin | +4 AC vs. Giantkin
+2 Appraise rel. to metal or stone | +2 Appraise rel. to metal or stone
+2 Craft rel. to metal or stone | +2 Craft rel. to metal or stone
Cold Endurance | -
Favoured Class: Fighter | Favoured Class: Fighter
[/table]
1 Can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.
Ghost Dwarf - Based on the Duergar, but stripped of all psionic-related traits because there are no psionics in the setting. They are supposed to be rare, so I want to keep a Level Adjustment of one or two. Fluff-wise, they are cave-adapted Sun Dwarves(like Dwarf Fortress adaption), so they get darkvision and some magical powers.
{table=head]Ghost Dwarf | SRD Duergar
+2 CON | +2 CON -4 CHA
Medium Size | Medium Size
Speed 20'1 | Speed 20'1
Darkvision 120'' | Darkvision 120''
Stonecunning | Stonecunning
Weapon Familiarity dw.waraxes and dw.urgroshes | -
Stability | Stability
Immunity to paralysis, phantasms, and poison. | Immunity to paralysis, phantasms, and poison.
+2 save vs. spells | +2 save vs. spells
Spell-Like Abilities 1/day: mending, darkness, unseen servant | Psi-Like Abilities 1/day: expansion, invisibility.
- | +3 psi power points
+1 attack bonus vs. undead and goblinoids | +1 attack bonus vs. orcs and goblinoids
+4 AC vs. Giantkin | +4 AC vs. Giantkin
Sickened in sunlight | Dazzled in sunlight
+2 Appraise and Craft rel. to metal or stone | +2 Appraise and Craft rel. to metal or stone
- | +4 Move Silently, +1 Listen and Spot
Cold Endurance | -
Favoured Class Fighter | Favoured Class Fighter
Level Adjustment +2 | Level Adjustment +1
[/table]
1 Can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.
Wildelf - Based mechanically on the standard SRD Elf, but are a more nomadic folk in this setting, and tweaked for that purpose. Fluff-wise, they split from the other elves after a supernatural plague destroyed the old elven world-spanning civilization.
{table=head]Wildelf | SRD Elf
+2 DEX -2 CON | +2 DEX -2 CON
Medium Size | Medium Size
Speed 30' | Speed 30'
Low-Light Vision | Low-Light Vision
Immune to diseases | Trance
+2 save vs. enchantment | +2 save vs. enchantment
Weapon Prof.(scimitar, lance, longbow, shortbow) | Weapon Prof.(longsword, rapier, longbow, shortbow)
+2 to Listen, Search, Spot | +2 to Listen, Search, Spot
- | Auto-Search for secret doors
+2 to Ride and Handle Animal. Ride is always a class skill | -
Favoured Class Ranger | Favoured Class Wizard
[/table]
Songelf - Based mechanically on the SRD Elf, but these are jungle-dwelling self-perfectionists and culturally very distant from the other races. Fluff-wise, they are what remains of the old elven empire, magically advanced and talented, but technologically and culturally crippled by fear of the plague that brought them to ruin.
{table=head]Songelf | SRD Elf
+2 INT -2 CON | +2 DEX -2 CON
Medium Size | Medium Size
Speed 30' | Speed 30'
- | Low-Light Vision
Trance | Trance
+2 save vs. enchantment | +2 save vs. enchantment
Immune to diseases | -
Weapon Familiarity(katana)1 | Weapon Prof.(longsword, rapier, longbow, shortbow)
+2 to Listen, Search, Spot | +2 to Listen, Search, Spot
Auto-Search for secret doors | Auto-Search for secret doors
Spell-Like Abilities 1/day: arcane mark, detect magic, mage hand | -
Heat Endurance | -
Favoured Class Wizard | Favoured Class Wizard
[/table]
1A songelf may wield a katana in one hand as a martial weapon, and is always proficient with a katana wielded as a two-handed weapon.
Gnome - Gnomes are more militaristic and organized in this setting, but mechanically based off the standard SRD Gnome.
{table=head] 'Brew Gnome | SRD Gnome
+2 CON -2 STR | +2 CON -2 STR
Small Size | Small Size
Speed 20' | Speed 20'
- | Low-Light Vision
+1 to attack rolls when using firearms | Weapon Familiarity(gnome hooked hammer)
+2 save vs. illusions | +2 save vs. illusions
+1 to DC of illusions cast | +1 to DC of illusions cast
+1 attack bonus vs. kobolds and goblinoids | +1 attack bonus vs. kobolds and goblinoids
- | +4 AC vs. Giantkin
+2 to Listen | +2 to Listen
+2 to either Craft(alchemy) or Craft(firearms), chosen at character creation | +2 to Craft(alchemy)
Spell-Like Abilities 1/day: Silent Image, ghost sound, prestidigitation, light | Spell-Like Abilities 1/day: Speak with animals, dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation
Favoured Class Wizard | Favoured Class Bard
[/table]
Halfling - Halflings are downtrodden second-class citizens in the predominantly human empire, based off the standard SRD halfling. Still very similar to the original. I might skip the brewlings entirely, or at least allow interested players to play standard halflings if they prefer.
{table=head]'Brew Halfling | SRD Halfling
+2 DEX -2 STR | +2 DEX -2 STR
Small Size | Small Size
Speed 20' | Speed 20'
+2 to Bluff, Hide, Move Silently, Sense Motive | +2 to Climb, Jump, Listen, Move Silently
+1 to all saves | +1 to all saves
+2 to saves vs. fear | +2 to saves vs. fear
Penalty for improvised weaponry reduced to -1 | +1 to attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings
Favoured Class Rogue | Favoured Class Rogue
[/table]
Orcs - In this setting, Orcs are not evil savages ripe for xp-hunting, but have a continent-spanning empire of their own to rival that of the humans in both military and cultural terms. Pretty much built from scratch, but I present the SRD Orc for comparison anyway.
{table=head] 'Brew Orc | SRD Orc
+2 STR -2 DEX | +4 STR -2 INT -2 WIS -2 CHA
Speed 30' | Speed 30'
- | Darkvision 60'
- | Light Sensitivity
Weapon Familiarity(bastard sword)| -
+2 to Swim and Intimidate | -
+2 to Grapple Checks | -
Immunity to gaze attacks | -
+1 to attack rolls with thrown weapons | -
Favoured Class Cleric | Favoured Class Barbarian
[/table]
Half-races may be added sometime later, if I feel the need, as well as other normally savage races such as goblins and gnolls. But for now I'm focusing on these.
Do any of these races strike you as terribly unbalanced(whether they are overpowered or underpowered)? I'm not going for perfect balance here, just enough.
Firearms
In this setting, warfare has just advanced to the real-world equivalent of pike-and-shot tactics, so I want to make firearms viable weapons as wielded by a mass of barely-trained peasants, but not overpowering in the hands of skilled adventurers. In fact, they should benefit less from personal skill than bows and crossbows, due to the inherent inaccuracy of smoothbore guns, not to mention the long reload times. But I also want them to be more effective in piercing light-to-medium armor and thick hide. Finally, I want them to pack a hard punch and be slow to reload, but avoid the rather silly scenario of adventurers running around with twenty pistols on their belts(carrying extra guns is not ahistorical, but we have to be reasonable).
So! For revision, here are the stats for firearms lifted from the DMG:
{table=head] Exotic Weapons(Firearms) | Cost | Dmg(S) | Dmg(M) | Critical | Range Increment | Weight | Damage Type
{colsp=8}One-Handed Ranged Weapons |
Pistol | 250 gp | 1d8 | 1d10 | x3 | 50 ft. | 3 lb. | Piercing |
{colsp=8}Two-Handed Ranged Weapons |
Musket | 500 gp | 1d10 | 1d12 | x3 | 150 ft. | 10 lb. | Piercing |
[/table]
The Pistol and Musket both take a standard action to reload.
Here is how I would stat them:
{table=head] Martial Weapons(Firearms) | Cost | Dmg(S) | Dmg(M) | Critical | Range Increment | Weight | Damage Type
{colsp=8}One-Handed Ranged Weapons |
Pistol | 50 gp | 1d8 | 1d10 | x3 | 40 ft. | 3 lb. | Piercing |
{colsp=8}Two-Handed Ranged Weapons |
Arquebus | 75 gp | 1d10 | 1d12 | x3 | 80 ft. | 7 lb. | Piercing |
Musket | 100 gp | 2d6 | 2d8 | x3 | 100 ft. | 10 lb. | Piercing |
[/table]
Pistol: Standard action to reload, requires both hands to do so, and provokes an attack of opportunity. May be shot from one hand without penalties.
Arquebus:Full-round action to reload, requires both hands to do so, and provokes an attack of opportunity. This action may be split into a move action and a standard action, performed in separate rounds, but each action provokes an attack of opportunity. May be shot from one hand at a -2 penalty to attack rolls.
Musket:Full-round action to reload, requires both hands to do so, and provokes an attack of opportunity. This action may be split into a move action and a standard action, performed in separate rounds, but each action provokes an attack of opportunity. May be shot from one hand at a -4 penalty to attack rolls. Too unwieldy to reload from horseback, but can still be fired from a mount.
The Pistol still takes a standard action to reload, but the musket takes a full-round action. In addition, both weapons possess the firearm quality, which is a catch-all for several special rules governing their use.
The musket can not be reloaded from horseback.
Firearms are powerful but unpredictable weapons. Whenever one is fired, a d% is cast to determine if the weapon discharges successfully, wobbles, jams, fizzles, or explodes.
{table=head]Weapon | Explodes | Jams | Fizzles | Wobbles | Discharges Successfully
Standard Firearm | 1 | 2-4 | 5-9 | 10-15 | 16-100
Crappy Firearm | 1-2 | 3-7 | 8-15 | 16-25 | 26-100
Masterwork Firearm | 1* | 2 | 3 | 4-5 | 6-100
[/table]
*When a 1 is rolled, roll again. If it is a 1 again, an explosion occurs, otherwise it is just a fizzle.
Successful Discharge: The firearm operates as designed, and the attack proceeds normally.
Wobble: The bullet bounces around in the barrel and veers off course as it exits. It ends up in a square adjacent to the target, determined by throwing a d8, and makes an attack roll at +0 against whatever creature occupies that square. If nothing occupies that square, the bullet continues on in a straight line for d10 range increments until it finds something or if not, strikes the ground.
Fizzle: The bullet exits the weapon without enough force to damage anything, falling harmlessly at the shooter's feet. The attack is negated and the firearm must be reloaded before the next shot.
Jam: The bullet fails to exit the barrel, negating the attack. The bullet must be cleared before the weapon may be used again. Attempting to clear the barrel is a full-round action that demands a Dexterity Check against DC 8 for pistols and DC 10 for muskets. Failure expends the action without clearing the weapon for use. A successful check means the firearm is cleared and may be reloaded with the next action. When not under duress, the barrel can be cleared in a minute without making a Dexterity check.
Explosion: The firearm misfires catastrophically and explodes in the shooter's hands. The attack is negated. Muskets and pistols affect the user differently.
Pistol: The shooter takes 1d4 points of fire damage and a -1 penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks involving the hand grasping the gun. If the hit point damage is negated somehow, due to damage resistance or immunity, the penalty is also negated. The penalty lasts until the gunman heals at least one hit point, either naturally or through magical healing.
Musket: The shooter takes 1d6 points of fire damage and a -1 penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks involving the hand grasping the gun. If the hit point damage is negated somehow, due to damage resistance or immunity, the penalty is also negated. The penalty lasts until the gunman heals at least one hit point, either naturally or through magical healing.
Furthermore, the shooter must make a DC 13 Reflex check or become blinded for ten rounds, or until he receives magical healing. He must also make a DC 13 Fortitude check or become deafened for ten rounds, or until he receives magical healing.
A firearm ignores any armor bonus provided by armor that does not have the bulletproof modifier. Normal breastplates, half-plates and full plates are bulletproof, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Other suits can be made bulletproof at the cost of 100gp and a -1 modifier to Armor Check Penalties and Maximum Dexterity.
A firearm ignores any armor bonus provided by Dexterity unless the target has moved its speed in that round or performed a Total Defense action, or has the uncanny dodge feat.
If a character carries a loaded firearm without grasping it and performs an action that involves significant movement(such as moving their speed, fighting in melee) or is otherwise forced to move about(being attacked in melee), there is a 10% chance per round of that firearm firing off. All normal checks are made to determine whether the weapon misfired. Depending on the location, there is a chance(50% if carried in a belt) that the character is hit by the bullet, in which case the weapon makes an attack roll of +0 against their flat-footed AC.
(The arquebus was added almost like an afterthought as an intermediate step between pistol and musket. Right now its only benefit over the musket is a lower cost and the ability to be reloaded from horseback. Further improvements are under consideration.)
Your thoughts on this please? Are the rules too complex? Are the drawbacks too heavy or the benefits too great? Would you consider using a firearm like this? Would you consider using any other ranged weapon when you could have a firearm like this?
Anathema, or How to Deal with Good/Evil Spells and Abilities in a Non-Objective Setting
Problem: I wanted to make a world without Good and Evil, where everyone is the "hero" of their own story and realpolitik outweighs idealism, you know, like the real world. On the other hand, I just really like paladins, but without any Evil for their abilities to target, how do they work?
Solution: So I came up, probably not the first to do so, with the idea of Anathema. Basically, any paladin ability that mentions Evil replaces that word with anathema(Detect Anathema, Smite Anathema), and so do any alignment-specific spells(Protect Against ALIGNMENT, Bless Weapon).
So what is Anathema? Anything that is in direct opposition to the deity granting the spell or power, or an affront to what they stand for. A god of happiness and growth may have undead and murderous psychopaths as an anathema, among other things. This system will require an extensive list of anathemas for every relevant god, and since not every circumstance can be prepared for, a Knowledge(religion) check* could be called for to determine whether something qualifies as anathema or not(the DM would rule on this and inform the player according to the Knowledge Check).
What could be an Anathema? Pretty much anything imaginable. Common anathemas include creature types, such as undead, outsiders, and vermin. Types of people could also be anathemas, such as murderers, thieves, or even seemingly innocent vocations such as moneylenders or hunters. Care must be taken not to make anathemas too expansive or unfocused. Foreigners, for example, will include nearly everyone in the world, but a xenophobic or patriotic god might instead define those working directly against the interest of their nation to be anathema. Socialists is difficult to determine. What one man may consider a socialist may be a centrist from another's perspective. A capitalist god may instead define members of a socialist party as anathema, or leftist extremists.
In the end, the DM will have to carry the final word on whether something qualifies as anathema, consulting the available info of the deity in question.
*Possibly replace Knowledge(religion) with Wisdom since the Paladin is already strapped for skill points as is.
I'm wondering if anyone has any experience using a system like this or similar, or if not, if it sounds workable?