Firearms

The complex nature of a firearm combined with their somewhat unreliability has made them uncommon in most kingdoms, while some places shun their use outright. These firearms are not quite to the level of firearms that would be seen in the early 1800's or the "Wild West", but that a slightly more complex than the flintlock pistols and wheellock pistols in the early 1700's as seen in many pirate movies. the Pistol and Pepperbox design is such that the barrels of the guns break away to be reloaded. Many gunslingers will instead carry multiple cylinders with ammunition pre-loaded to make reloading the weapon faster. Extra cylinders can be purchased at 1/10 the cost of the weapon.

Damage Rolls with Firearms

Firearms use chemicals, most generally in the form of black powder, to propel their ammunition. Because of this, the weapons are able to hit harder than conventional weapons, but are unaffected by physical attributes. Like Crossbows, you don’t add your attribute to the damage roll of a firearm unless otherwise stated.

Dual Wielding

Firearms have a large amount of recoil and are difficult to aim accurately. They follow the same rules as Loading weapons when using two weapons.

Reloading

If you have aptitude with a Firearm it takes 1 less Action Point to use (similar to Loading weapons), but it takes 2 Action Points to reload it plus 1 for each piece of ammunition (minimum 3 Action Points). If you do not have aptitude with a Firearm, it takes 4 Action Points to reload it per 3 pieces of ammunition. You must reload at least 1 piece of ammunition before the weapon can be fired again, but you do not need to fully reload the weapon before you use it again.

Special Firearms

Dragon Rifle. This weapon doesn’t use normal ammunition. It uses black-powder-packed cartridges that release a gout of flame in a line. You make an attack against all creatures within the line. A dragon rile has no long range.

Firearm Properties

All firearms produce a loud boom, audible out to half a mile. When you roll a critical failure on a firearm attack roll, that firearm jams. A jammed firearm can’t be used to make an attack until you use your action to clear the weapon malfunction. In addition, firearms require special ammunition and some of them have additional special properties.

Ammunition. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. The ammunition of a firearm is destroyed upon use. Firearms use bullets, scatter firearms use shells, and cannons use cannonballs.

Dry. If this weapon is ever submerged in water or doused with a significant quantity of water, it jams. A jammed firearm can’t be used to make an attack until you spend 4 Action Points to clear the malfunction.

Explosive. When this weapon’s projectile hits a target, it explodes in a 5-foot radius. The projectile can be fired at an unoccupied space within its range. Each creature other than the target within the blast radius must make a Dodge roll against a target 14 attack.

Foregrip. This weapon can be used with one or two hands. If used in two hands, its normal and long ranges double, in addition, the Action Point cost of using the weapon two-handed is only increased by 1 instead of 2.

Mounted. This weapon is normally used while attached to a tripod, vehicle, or other bracing mount. While it is mounted, it can’t be moved. You can mount or unmount this weapon for 5 Action Points. It can only be used to make an attack while unmounted if held by a Medium or larger creature in two hands with a Strength of at least 3. You move at half your movement while holding this weapon. 

Range. The value listed in the range column shows the range a weapon is effective at. The first is the weapon’s normal range, and the second indicates the weapon’s long range. Firearms and siege weapons long range is 3 times the short range. When attacking a target at long range, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. You can’t attack a target beyond the weapon’s long range. You have disadvantage when attempting to parry with a ranged weapon.

Reload. This weapon can be used to make a number of attacks before it must be reloaded. Reloading takes two hands. Reload weapons do not add your Strength to the damage roll.

Scatter. If you make an attack against a target that is within half this weapon’s normal range, the value in parentheses is applied to the weapon. If a number is listed, the weapon uses the value listed instead of its base value.

Siege. This weapon takes 10 Action Points to reload per 2 dice of damage. You can cut the reload time in half per person helping to a minimum of 5 Action Points. Siege weapons deal double damage to objects and structures. Siege weapons do not add your Strength to the damage roll.

Sighted. This weapon has disadvantage on attack rolls made against targets within 20 feet. The Action Point cost of aiming is reduced by 2 Action Points.

Twinshot. Once on your turn when you make an attack with this weapon, you may spend 3 extra Action Points to fire twice, doubling the dice rolled.

Firearm Descriptions

Dragon rifle. This weapon is designed to use the more explosive properties of black powder. Using packed cartridges of black powder, this weapon fires a gout of flame in a line at the target. The barrel of the weapon is often decorated to look like a dragons head.

Light cannon. This boils down to a large pipe mounted on a pole. This small sized cannon is just small enough that a creature with sufficient strength could carry and fire the weapon if needed.

Pepperbox. This gun gets its name from the shape of the six barrels at the end making it look similar to pepperboxes used by some nobles. The six barrels come free to reload the weapon.

Pepperbox, heavy. Similar in design to the standard pepperbox, this weapon only has 4 reinforced barrels that allows for more powder to be used for a larger explosion.

Pepperbox, light. This gun is a slightly smaller version of the pepperbox. Using thinner material and only using 5 barrels allows the gun to be lighter, but less powder can be used meaning the weapon does less damage than larger variations.

Pocket pistol. This small firearm is designed with concealment in mind. The barrel barely sticks past the fingers and the stock is completely hidden when a fist is closed around it.

Rifle, heavy. This weapon uses a long rifled barrel to allow the bullet inside to be shot down at incredible speeds. It uses a bolt system to load ammunition but can only have one bullet loaded at a time.

Rifle, hunting. This long barreled weapon uses a hopper system to let prepared bullets fall into place, with a bolt system to load the next bullet into the gun. Due to the ease of use and large amount of bullets it can fire before being reloaded has made this weapon popular with hunters, hence the name.

Shotgun. This firearm features two long bore barrels side by side where special scatter shots are loaded. The gun can fire one shell at a time, or can be set to shoot both barrels at the same time.

Shotgun, short. This is the same design as the standard shotgun, but with a reduced barrel length. This reduced length makes this weapon easier to use at the cost of effective range.

Attachments

Firearms and crossbows can be modified even further to stretch their adaptability to the limit. Unless otherwise stated, a weapon can have only one attachment at a time.

Telescopic Sight For 1,000 gp, this brass spyglass can be attached to any two-handed crossbow or firearm without the Scatter property. It takes 10 minutes of adjustments to align the telescopic sight once it is attached, and the weapon gains the sighted property.

When you take the aim action on a weapon equipped with this sight, that weapon’s normal range is doubled for the next attack you make with it.

Bayonet For 100 gp, a bayonet can be attached to most crossbows or firearms. Once attached, the bayonet allows you to use the crossbow or firearms to make a melee attack. Weapons with the two-handed property do 1d8 damage while weapons without the two-handed property do 1d4 damage. A bayonet does either piercing or slashing damage, chosen when it is attached.