Help making a "Big Iron" magic item

[moonfly7]

Running a 5e game, and one of my players is a Mousefolk Gunslinger. I'm wanting to surprise him with the magical revolver "Big Iron" bane of Texas Red, legendary weapon of the Ranger Texx Ahz. Besides it being a really big six shooter, I really don't know what to do with it. Any ideas?

[bramblefoot]

maybe the gun takes an hp to fire it? just thinking that it could require a blood sacrifice or the like

[gloryblaze]

Here's a legendary revolver I'm using in my Wild West setting:

Equalizer
Weapon (revolver), legendary (requires attunement

This original-model single action army revolver with gold and platinum detailing bears the following inscription in Celestial along the barrel:

"Be not afraid of any foe, no matter what its size. When danger threatens, call on me, and I will equalize."

You have a +3 bonus to attack rolls with this magic weapon. If you attack a creature that is larger than you with this weapon and hit, you deal an additional 1d8 damage for each size category larger than you the target is.

[GalacticAxekick]

It's a six shooter. Let the user make six (weak) attacks per turn.

Let the user ready not just one, but up to six attacks, and fire them off without a specific trigger to simulate quick-draw.

Let these readied attacks do unique things like disarm attackers mid-swing, break the concentration for spells mid-cast, and stop movement on hit.

Let the six shooter perform trick shots against unattended objects, no attack roll or ability check required. Light matches, snuff torches, cut ropes, break locks, etc

[aimlessPolymath]

I've got something in my head about counting bullets. Maybe a standard +X revolver, but the sixth shot is upgraded to an automatic critical hit, or gains +X damage?
Another concept would be a conditional bonus- boosted damage on the first shot against each foe, after hitting a foe, or after missing a foe.

[Frozenstep]

Well, the song says Texas Red hadn't cleared leather, so maybe something dealing with initiative?

Something like "once per day when rolling initiative, gain a +5 bonus to initiative and have advantage on your attack rolls with this weapon against any creature that hasn't taken a turn in combat yet."?

[Amechra]

Here's a legendary revolver I'm using in my Wild West setting:

I'm a little sad you didn't use some variation on "God made men, but Sam Colt made them equal" as the inscription.

[gloryblaze]

I'm a little sad you didn't use some variation on "God made men, but Sam Colt made them equal" as the inscription.

That would also be a great inscription! I don't have a famous gun manufacturer NPCs who factor into the campaign yet, though. I could maybe just make an NPC who happens to be named Sam Colt, haha.

[moonfly7]

It's a six shooter. Let the user make six (weak) attacks per turn.

Let the user ready not just one, but up to six attacks, and fire them off without a specific trigger to simulate quick-draw.

Let these readied attacks do unique things like disarm attackers mid-swing, break the concentration for spells mid-cast, and stop movement on hit.

Let the six shooter perform trick shots against unattended objects, no attack roll or ability check required. Light matches, snuff torches, cut ropes, break locks, etc
I like the concept, although i don't want to give him 6 attacks. It doesn't really fit the theme of the item. It was a big revolver quick drawn and fired once. As for the tricks, a lot of them can already be done via his class. He's using the Gunslinger in Valdas spire of secrets. But I like the extra readied action quick draw. Might have to use that.

I've got something in my head about counting bullets. Maybe a standard +X revolver, but the sixth shot is upgraded to an automatic critical hit, or gains +X damage?
Another concept would be a conditional bonus- boosted damage on the first shot against each foe, after hitting a foe, or after missing a foe.

Well, the song says Texas Red hadn't cleared leather, so maybe something dealing with initiative?

Something like "once per day when rolling initiative, gain a +5 bonus to initiative and have advantage on your attack rolls with this weapon against any creature that hasn't taken a turn in combat yet."?
Hmmmm. I like Both of these. Ok, here me out: The gun makes the users Dex modifier equal to the number of bullets left in the gun. So when the fight starts, initiative and to hit get boosted to +6, but each time the gun is fired the Dex mod goes down, making the fight progressing longer a detriment to the character. Add in the advantage and maybe an extra damage die on any creature that hasn't taken it's turn yet, and we would have a pretty potent weapon that fits the theme.

I'm a little sad you didn't use some variation on "God made men, but Sam Colt made them equal" as the inscription.
I'm totally putting that on the gun.

[Heavenblade]

Another suggestion - maybe the gun allows the wielder,DEX modifier times/rest, to make a reaction attack against any creature of choice within his gun's range? Ranged characters dont have a ton to do eith their reaction anyhow, and since reactions happen before the triggering event, it captures.the theme of "fastest draw in the west" quite nicely

[moonfly7]

Another suggestion - maybe the gun allows the wielder,DEX modifier times/rest, to make a reaction attack against any creature of choice within his gun's range? Ranged characters dont have a ton to do eith their reaction anyhow, and since reactions happen before the triggering event, it captures.the theme of "fastest draw in the west" quite nicely

Hmmmm.....I do quite like that, yes.

[GalacticAxekick]

Another suggestion - maybe the gun allows the wielder,DEX modifier times/rest, to make a reaction attack against any creature of choice within his gun's range? Ranged characters dont have a ton to do eith their reaction anyhow, and since reactions happen before the triggering event, it captures.the theme of "fastest draw in the west" quite nicely
"If you’re unsure when a reaction occurs in relation to its trigger, here’s the rule: the reaction happens after its trigger completes, unless the description of the reaction explicitly says otherwise."

~Xanathar's Guide to Everything

You'll need to say, in the feature, that the Big Iron reaction happens before the triggering event.

[BerzerkerUnit]

Not familiar with the song/rhyme, but for a quick draw:

Starhammer Six Shooter (or your preferred name)
Very Rare
This six shot revolver is (flavor text). This weapon's damage die is one step larger than the norm for its type. Its supreme balance confers the following special benefit to a wielder proficient with a weapon of its type:
When you roll initiative and are not incapacitated, you can draw this weapon and make an attack with advantage against a target you can see.
__________________
So this is a handcannon of some sort that any goober can pick up and shoot bigger bullets out of, but it's so well balanced a skilled gunman can be draw it "without effort and fired as a reflex." It may seem strong bc it leans on action economy but it averages about +1.5 damage per rd (depending on the damage die of your pistols, I usually use d8 as a base).

[Breccia]

Bit of an in-joke on this one.

The handle has the following runes:

https://i.imgur.com/kiiRb3v.jpg

With each kill of a sentient, armed creature of CL of the user's level or higher with the weapon, one of the black marks starts glowing red. Swapping the gun to another user wipes out all red marks.

Add powers as the number of marks turn. Since as the DM, you're partially in control of how fast that happens (and also, assuming the other PCs don't pass on their turn so the gunslinger gets all the kills) you can control what powers the gun gets over time. Also, you can decide what they are as they happen if they activate faster/slower than you'd thought.

There was an old 4th Ed DMG table/desc which I'm struggling to remember, but it was along the lines of "PCs have 10 encounters to level up, of those, 6 are are their level or higher". Assuming a standard party of four, the gunslinger will only get one or two marks per level. If that's the case, you can make the benchmarks poweful, like "at 5 red marks, weapon goes from +1 to +2, at 12 bullets are hot lead doing +1d6 fire damage" etc. If the gunslinger is getting kills faster than that (for example, you don't use that encounter table or the gunslinger just does a ton of damage) you can make the effects weaker or push the benchmarks back.

Or, if you want a sliding scale, you could have "once/long rest, when the attuned user makes an Initiative Roll or Attack Roll with the weapon that's lower than the number of red marks, they can reroll".

Or, if you have a more frantic playstyle, you could make it even faster. "For each Attack Roll made with the weapon, one black mark turns red. If all marks are red when the weapon is fired, they all turn black during a Short Rest" Then have a neat one-shot power when they are all red, such as "when fired when all marks are red, they all turn black again, the attack has Advantage, and if it hits is a Critical Hit. Resets with a Short Rest" or "If the gun is fired while empty, one red mark turns black instead, and a +1 (material?) bullet fills the empty chamber which vanishes in six seconds".