5e naval and firearm questions

[Corsair14]

I am looking to do a spelljammer campaign, so obviously I will need some converting from 2nd to 5th. On a PC level this isn't too difficult, races are easy to bring over as are classes. My problems are naval combat and fire arms.

1. Naval combat- I have two campaigns current in the works, both involve ships, although one is terrestrial and the other is fantasy in space. What is a source of 5e naval material? Has any been released as of yet even by 3rd party sources? A straight up spelljammer 5e portover would be great but I haven't fund any that over comes the naval hurdle.

2. While in all of my other campaigns I have eschewed the use of fire arms, but since this is a spelljammer campaign that wont work. I mean, how spelljammery can you be without a dual pistol wielding giff mercenary(in every encounter)? In 2e firearms were relatively underwhelming, pistols for example only did d4 damage, although on a max damage roll you rolled it again, and this repeated until you quit rolling max damage. Then again, on a 1 or 2 to hit you fouled your weapon and had to spend a half hour cleaning it. I think there was a chance it would blow up in your face too. So have there been any attempts to put firearms in 5e with rules? I could do 2e firearms in 5e with only minor changes, maybe just bump up damage dice a bit. But if there have been improvements I would like to see them. Again, 3rd party is fine.

[EvilAnagram]

The DMG has stats for firearms, as well as the HP of various ships. At the very least, it's a good starting point.

[Sir cryosin]

I just started a Sci-Fi fantasy game think Destiny, star wars, with high tech manipulating matter to produce spells in magic like effects.

I redid the guns from the DMG. Brought them down just a bit so there in more line in damage with the other weapons. For guns there are ballistic and energy. Ballistic firearms have a str requirement to use and can use str or Dex. We're energy blasters deal radiant damage and use Dex to attack with.

As for ship to ship combat I'm working on something right now. But if you like I can send you what I'm working on.

[Ninja_Prawn]

If you can bear to wait until the 1st of July, Mage Hand Press (http://mfov.magehandpress.com/) can help you! That's when we'll be publishing Dark Matter, our space-themed supplement (you'll need to be a Patron to get it on release day, but it only costs $1). It'll have stats for ships, blasters and space monsters, plus tons of other cool stuff like races, subclasses and spells.

If you'd prefer to use gunpowder-y guns, we already did them (much more thoroughly than WotC did), as part of our Weird West publication, and they're available for free (http://mfov.magehandpress.com/2016/12/firearm-rules.html)!

[Sir cryosin]

If you can bear to wait until the 1st of July, Mage Hand Press (http://mfov.magehandpress.com/) can help you! That's when we'll be publishing Dark Matter, our space-themed supplement (you'll need to be a Patron to get it on release day, but it only costs $1). It'll have stats for ships, blasters and space monsters, plus tons of other cool stuff like races, subclasses and spells.

If you'd prefer to use gunpowder-y guns, we already did them (much more thoroughly than WotC did), as part of our Weird West publication, and they're available for free (http://mfov.magehandpress.com/2016/12/firearm-rules.html)!

I just looked at your gun powered guns and they are to powerful. I simplify them and keep then with in the 12 max damage weapon dice. I can't post them right now I'm at work but I'll post later.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I just looked at your gun powered guns and they are to powerful.

That's a matter of taste. Introducing western/pirate era guns into a setting should result in them becoming the dominant weapon, in my opinion. As I understand it, that's the style of spelljammer, too. We also removed stat-to-damage from firearms in our rules, which means they're not much better than traditional weapons most of the time anyway.

[Gryndle]

That's a matter of taste. Introducing western/pirate era guns into a setting should result in them becoming the dominant weapon, in my opinion. As I understand it, that's the style of spelljammer, too. We also removed stat-to-damage from firearms in our rules, which means they're not much better than traditional weapons most of the time anyway.

I like what you've done with firearms and have totally snagged them for a future campaign. Like you, I think they should be more on the lethal side. IF I were to change anything at all for my game it would be to add ability mods back in.

[DragonSorcererX]

For guns there is Mercer's Gunslinger.

For naval combat, I don't know how well the mechanics translate for 5e but in 3.5 there was Stormwrack, a book about sea and underwater enviroments.

[Zorku]

This thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?524912-Pirate-Campaign&p=22033744) recently had a post that went into a lot of detail about historic naval battles. You would need to expand on that some if you expect to have things like giant beasts that fight a ship or such, but it's good insight for how ancient navies worked.

I have next to no sense of how Spelljammer handled ship combat, so this may simply not be applicable, or it may be super-applicable.

[zyggythorn]

Hey there, I'm actually running a spelljammer hack right now!

As far as guns, the players don't have access to them, more or less as a design choice by myself (the overall reason having to do with fluff and the origin of the party)

As far as ships and naval combat, however, I run an odd initiative that includes a "zero count" where all ships move. Each player can do a few things during their turn (such as manning a spellcannon, setting fire controls, damage control, or a regular ballista or harpoon gun, or even double timing the ship)
This gives more of a crew feel to these combats rather than a scaled up combat feel.

Let me dig up the stats for the "Golden Your Name Here" (that's what they named it)

HP 1200
AC 6
Move: 8 terrain (I didn't give it a solid number, for cinematic reasons- this is the number they use for any on ship combat, however)
Size: 4x2 terrain
Defensive options:
-Generated Shield (wind wall, protection from elements, etc- mechanically, this is resistance to elements and an anti poison buffer- can only be used for 3 rounds in a row during combat)
-SpellCannon (by spells cast into it)
Offensive options:
-Harpoon guns: 4d8+10 damage, sneak attack allowed, may pull on d20 roll of 10 or higher on subsequent turns
-Cannons: 8d6+40 damage, 10ft radius on deck (may kill enemy crew)
-SpellCannons: (by spells cast into it)

Let me know if you'd want anything further for that stuff.

I use a Hexgrid for most combats, also

[Cybren]

That's a matter of taste. Introducing western/pirate era guns into a setting should result in them becoming the dominant weapon, in my opinion. As I understand it, that's the style of spelljammer, too. We also removed stat-to-damage from firearms in our rules, which means they're not much better than traditional weapons most of the time anyway.

I mean, double barreled shot guns, lever-actions, and gatling guns are most certainly not "pirate-era" guns, though. Not that I think it's bad, the rules linked amalgamate about a century of firearm development the same way D&D does a few centuries worth of late medieval arms and armor

[Gryndle]

I mean, double barreled shot guns, lever-actions, and gatling guns are most certainly not "pirate-era" guns, though. Not that I think it's bad, the rules linked amalgamate about a century of firearm development the same way D&D does a few centuries worth of late medieval arms and armor

you are correct. but the document she linked us to was for Weird West... more western era weaponry. Still I think its a better starting point than the DMG's minimalist attempt at firearms.

Its not likely that my group will ever want to run a western themed campaign. but pirate/renaissance, modern & sci-fi are all likely. As a group we have decided that we want to keep just one gaming system to cover all themes. So we have decided to stick with 5th Ed. The Weird West guns give me a base for game mechanics to develop into what we would need. Fortunately, my group has enough real world knowledge that updating the weapons is super simple.

[CaptainSarathai]

Well, someone already linked my massive post on how I run naval combats.

As far as firearms, I really don't like messing with the damage. I recently found myself playing at a table that (unexpectedly) added firearms to the game, and it's just boring. Ranged combat is awful, and not everyone is even proficient or capable.

Personally, I'd either pull from (Merles'?) Gunslinger class, or I'd run them very similarly to crossbows. I'd do:

Powder Weapon:
Range and damage as Crossbows (Hand/Light/Heavy = Pistol/Carbine/Long)
Loading*
Roll a 1 and it jams, takes an Action to clear

*For multi-barreled guns, I'd just give it something like "loading X" so that you can fire X number of times per turn, where X is the barrel number.

To differentiate guns and crossbows, I'd look in to adding one or the other choices:
1. Improved Critical - have guns Crit on a 19-20 or even 18-20
2. "Touch AC" - this is tricky because you have to estimate this for 5e monsters, but 'Touch AC' basically ignores Armor and Shields, and is just 10+Dex. This makes guns VERY powerful, but realistically means that players will focus more on Dex for defense and wear Light/Medium armor rather than stuff like Plate. I would only apply this at close range though, to mitigate the effect somewhat.

I'd also rule that XBow Xpert feat doesn't apply to firearms. Instead, I'd add this feat:

Gunsmith - prerequisite: Proficiency with Firearms
Your skill with weaponry has made you a formidable gunman, capable of fast reloads and maintenance. If your gun jams, clearing the jam only requires a Bonus Action. When using the Attack Action with a firearm (or dual-wielding a melee weapon and pistol) you may use your Bonus Action to make an additional shooting attack.