Superior Ranged Weapons
One Handed
Handgun
Proficiency +0
Damage 1d8
Range 10/20
Price 50 gp
Weight 4 lb.
Group Firearm
Properties High Crit, Load move, Puncturing, Slow Loader
Two Handed
Arquebus
Proficiency +0
Damage 1d10
Range 20/40
Price 50 gp
Weight 12 lb.
Group Firearm
Properties High Crit, Load move, Puncturing, Slow Loader
Blunderbuss
Proficiency +0
Damage 1d6
Area Close blast 3
Price 50 gp
Weight 8 lb.
Group Firearm
Properties High Crit, Load move, Puncturing, Slow Loader
Puncturing: Attacks made with weapons with this keyword are rolled against Reflex rather than AC.
Slow Loader: Characters who do not have proficiency with weapons with this keyword load them with a longer action rather than normal. For example if a slow loader weapon is normally loaded with a move action, a character without proficiency in that weapon loads it as a standard action instead.
TS
PS Sorry for that horrible pun!
This is a good place to start if you want the historical capabilities of early firearms vis a vis bows and crossbows. In a nutshell, the arquebus was on par with the steel crossbow in almost every regard, the difference being it was a) more rugged and simplistic in design making malfunction a rarer occurrence and b) made a better club in a pinch. Gamewise that would translate into the arquebus being a crossbow that gets a proficiency bonus when used as an improvised weapon and perhaps the Brutal weapon trait. In my own campaign, crossbows and firearms are encounter powers with the recharge ability; high damage upon discharge but you'd better have either a good distance between you and your target or a backup weapon once melee begins.
Hm, all I get from the link is a blank page. But that's okay, I'm not trying to make detailed stats for exact historical accuracy here; just a few simple sets of stats that roughly reflect renaissance weapons. What's the recharge ability btw?
TS
Further don't confuse the power of present day firearms with those of an arquebus. Armour was still able to protect you.
I suggest to make the firearms a once an encounter weapon, drop Load move, Slow Loader.
Maybe increase the damage a little bit to make up for this change.
Keep the Proficiency Bonus at +0. Or at max +1.
I would change Puncturing as follows:
Puncturing: Attacks made with weapons with this keyword against AC, add a +5 item Bonus.
So your firearm is very useful against Armor and even an untrained soldier with a rifle is a thread for a Knight, due to puncturing and the low relevance of the Proficiency Bonus.
Making them a once an Encounter weapon helps to make them distinct from weapons like the crossbow.
Hm, all I get from the link is a blank page. But that's okay, I'm not trying to make detailed stats for exact historical accuracy here; just a few simple sets of stats that roughly reflect renaissance weapons. What's the recharge ability btw?
That's strange, the link works fine from this end.
Eh. I use a modified version of the recharge ability that monsters use. Whoever uses a firearm spends a move action sometime during their turn; they roll a d6 and if the target number (initially 6) turns up, the firearm is reloaded. If they fail to hit the target number they may spend another move action to recharge and this time the target number is 5 and 6, representing the progress they made in reloading their weapon. The number increases by one each time they attempt a reload, so you have a good chance of succeeding in a relatively short time. So it might look something like this:Arquebus
Proficiency: +2 (+0 melee)
Damage: 2d8 Ranged Standard, Encounter, 1d8 Melee
Range: 15/30
Price: 30 gp
Weight: 12 lb.
Group: Firearm
Properties: Progressive Recharge 6, Move
the early Firearms were really difficult to reload. It wasn't unusal for someone to carry about 3 pistols, fire each of them and then go into melee instead of bothering with reloading.
Early firearms actually had a simpler mechanism for reloading than contemporary crossbows. People carried around multiple pistols because they were able to carry around multiple pistols; it's slightly more difficult to do the same with crossbows.
Arquebus Gadget Gun
Two handed Two handed
Proficiency: +1 Proficiency: +1
Damage: 1d12 Damage: 1d8
Range: 15/30 Range: 10/20
Price: 35gp Price: 50gp
Weight: 5 lbs Weight: 8 lbs
Group: firearms (simple) Group: firearms (simple)
Properties: brutal 1 Properties: Gadget
Load: move action Load: Free action
Gun Glaive Pistol Blade
Two handed One handed
Proficiency: +1/+1 Proficiency: +1/+2
Damage: 1d10 Ranged/2d4 Melee Damage: 1d8 Ranged/ 1d6 Melee
Range: 15/30 Range: 10/20
Price: 50gp Price: 50gp
Weight: 12 lbs Weight: 3 lbs
Group: firearms (hybrid polearm) Group: firearms (hybrid light blade)
Properties: Reach, brutal 1 (ranged only) Properties: Off-hand, brutal 1 (ranged only)
Load: minor action Load: minor action
Starwheel pistol Starwheel rifle
One handed Two handed
Proficiency: +1 Proficiency: +1
Damage: 1d8 Damage: 1d12
Range: 10/20 Range: 15/30
Price: 40gp Price: 45gp
Weight: 3 lbs Weight: 5 lbs
Group: firearms (simple) Group: firearms (simple)
Properties: brutal 1 Properties: brutal 1
Load: minor action Load: minor action
The only thing i havent really worked on completely is cost
Hope any of this helps
edit: Hmmm for some reason it mushed em together, hope its still legible, two columns
Even +1 probably isn't worth spending a feat for. Use +2 for most weapons and +3 for particularly accurate weapons.
Slow Loader: Characters who do not have proficiency with weapons with this keyword load them with a longer action rather than normal. For example if a slow loader weapon is normally loaded with a move action, a character without proficiency in that weapon loads it as a standard action instead.
I actually think they look fun, aside from the quoted bit. This mechanic, and the wording it uses seem clunky to me. I understand the goal, (Proficency grants quicker reload times not a bonus to hit) but it seems like an awkward way of implimenting it.
Perhapse isntead of creating a 4th keyword for these new sets of weapons, simply include a blurb before them explaining that "If you are using a firearm, it takes a standard action to reload. Proficient characters can do this in a move action" and then include things like "Firearms in this setting fit like X, they can do Y, and they are favored by Z"
Also, this is a personal preference thing. I would bump the damage up a die, and then increase the reload time as well to standard or full round action.
I use a modified version of the recharge ability that monsters use. Whoever uses a firearm spends a move action sometime during their turn; they roll a d6 and if the target number (initially 6) turns up, the firearm is reloaded. If they fail to hit the target number they may spend another move action to recharge and this time the target number is 5 and 6, representing the progress they made in reloading their weapon. The number increases by one each time they attempt a reload, so you have a good chance of succeeding in a relatively short time.
That's a pretty creative idea! Personally I don't like to add extra die rolls to combat, but it is relatively simple.
The only thing i havent really worked on completely is cost
I decided on 50 gp just because it's more costly than a crossbow but still within the realm of a 1st level character's means. And yeah, tabs don't work on the forums; if you use the (quote)(/quote) tags around your tables it'll honor spaces but it still looks funky.
There's no point in having a weapon with a +0 proficiency bonus. There would be no incentive to be proficient with it, as all prociciency does in 4e is allow you to use the weapon's proficiency bonus. You can still use weapons you aren't proficient with, you just don't get the proficiency bonus.
Yeah I know; see my Slow Loader property for the difference between a proficient user and a non-proficient user.
I actually think they look fun, aside from the quoted bit. This mechanic, and the wording it uses seem clunky to me. I understand the goal, (Proficency grants quicker reload times not a bonus to hit) but it seems like an awkward way of implimenting it.
I'll work on the wording. Originally I did just what you suggest, but someone else suggested creating new keywords so that other mechanics could more easily reference them, if I ever make firearm feats and such.
TS
I basically see the +0/+1 proficiencies as really crippling the firearm's usefulness, unless they target either something other than AC, or AC is in general lower.
Keep in mind that proficiency bonuses are related to AC (or rather, I suppose the way to put it is that as I understand it, weapons have proficiencies in the +2/+3 range, while implements do not, because weapons generally target AC while implements are usually for powers that target other, lower defenses).
I basically see the +0/+1 proficiencies as really crippling the firearm's usefulness, unless they target either something other than AC, or AC is in general lower.
Exactly; weapons normally have a +2 or +3 bonus because AC is generally two or three bonuses higher than other defenses.
TS
I'll work on the wording. Originally I did just what you suggest, but someone else suggested creating new keywords so that other mechanics could more easily reference them, if I ever make firearm feats and such.
Of couse, as is the realm of homebrew. "I suggest X to fix Y", "X is stupid do Y."
Squarecircle and Mock, these weapons don't need a prof bonus to hit. They, like impliments, attack reflex defense.