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Re4XN
2016-06-05, 06:55 AM
Hey all, first post here. I've been building a world for the past few weeks and designing some quests & NPCs and this idea came to me the other day. Just to give you some context, this is going to be a Steampunk Campaign (IRL period 1890's - 1920's range), most likely played in 2E AD&D. Here's the item:

The Midnight Revolver - Magic Revolver that deals 1d4 damage per shot, up to 6d4 (6 chambers).

Special I (Wild Fire): After a player fires the first round, they may choose to 'wild fire' the other 5, emptying the revolver's barrel in a single round at the cost of each additional shot after the first suffering a -4 penalty To Hit.

(this special will most likely be applicable to other guns with more than one chamber)

Special II (The Midnight Bullet): Between 00:00 and 00:01, the first shot fired from the revolver instantly kills whoever (or whatever) it hit (with several exception, which suffer additional damage).

So, my questions are, is this retarded OP? It will be my first time DM'ing, and players might find exploits in this. Second question is, should I allow "multiple shots multiple kills" or leave it be as it is? If a player were to miraculously connect all 6 shots, it could result in a very easy encounter. Third question, not directly related to this, but how do you handle multi-chambered weapons? Is the way I did it decent (called shots for 5 of the bullets)? Thanks in advance for any input.

VoodooPaladin
2016-06-05, 04:57 PM
Hi there! Welcome aboard, my [adjective] [noun].

First question is, what kind of guns rules are you using? The easier it is to hit something with this gun, the more powerful its effects are.

But from a flavor point of view, The Midnight Bullet looks pretty cool as written. If it only functions once per round, and only for one specific minute at a time, it's pretty much only useful for mid-range assassinations. Which will probably requiring a non-insignificant amount of stealth and planning to set up. Combined with the text that implies some beings (which are undefined and can thus be as relevant or otherwise as desired) are immune to it, it seems almost conservative for a powerful magical weapon.

Wait! I just realized, how are you determining absolute time? How will you keep track of that?

Re4XN
2016-06-05, 06:50 PM
Hey there, thanks for the reply! I took a look at the 3.5E gun rules (as a base) but I was hoping to find something more AD&D-ish (since this will be a 2E game after all). I've heard of the Savage Coast setting, though I've had some trouble finding gun-related rules. I can tell you guns will play a very important role in my campaign and they are quite common in the world. Heavy armour will play a very minor part in this game (or so I think, I might change ideas).



But from a flavor point of view, The Midnight Bullet looks pretty cool as written. If it only functions once per round, and only for one specific minute at a time, it's pretty much only useful for mid-range assassinations.

This is actually my main issue regarding the gun. The revolver has 6 shots available, all of them can be fired in a single round (using 'wild fire'). Imagine that the time was 00:00 and a player fired all 6 shots at 6 bandits. If I allowed "multiple shots multiple kills", all 6 would instantly die. Is this an issue? I could potentially balance encounters if I see midnight is closing in and the players are cheesing in order to use the gun.

Timing will be of essence, yes. Assassination is one of the things they could achieve with it. The purpose of the gun was supposed to be left to the players to figure out :P They might come up with some ingenious use (or broken).


implies some beings

Yes, I mean, how retarded would it be for a party to find a green dragon and go: "My my, would you look at the time? Midnight! *takes out revolver and one-shots the beast*"
It's mainly to prevent these kind of encounters. I mean, the thing getting shot would take a ridiculous amount of damage (and probably some sort of debuff) anyway, the revolver just isn't THAT powerful. Should I change this to include all creatures?


How will you keep track of that?

I will not keep track of ABSOLUTE time. Watches are a thing in the game, players will most likely run to the nearby shop and get a whole box of them once the find the revolver, but none of them gives the exact time (a few seconds off, but they will know when they are in the 00:00-00:01 range). Either way, the idea is to give the players an approximation.

If you have any other questions, I'd love to answer them ^^