I have an idea about creating a set of game rules using the basic d20 framework that are as strictly realistic as humanly possible. This is project is potentially dreadfully over complicated, and may end up being nothing but a novelty. That said I know that I cannot generate all the material on my own. I ask - for your help in finding as many "realism" variant rules as possible.
If you have one great! Type it up! If you know of one!? Link me!
thank you for your time,First of all:
All weapons deal 30% extra damage (3dx for most personal firearms). All weapons have a positive or negative Penetration value. Armour grants Damage Reduction and not Defense bonuses. Armours can be fitted with inserts, improving their DR againt various damage types.
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Unarmed Combat [addition to the nonlethal system]
For every successive consecutive hit, the attacker gains a stacking +1 to overcome the defender's MAS. An attacker loses one of these bonuses per round if he does not hit the character that round (this can only remove the bonuses already received for hitting the character).
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That way, fistfighting won't end up in a draw after 10 minutes of punching.
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Double Tap [now usable by anyone]
If a ranged weapon has a semi-automatic rate of fire, a character may attempt to rapidly squeeze off a weapon and fire two bullets with a single attack. (If the character does not have the Improved Double Tap feat, he or she takes a –4 penalty on the attack roll.) When firing a double tap, a character expends two bullets. When double tapping, if a character rolls 4 points over a target’s defense, the second bullet hits dealing extra damage dice equal to ½ the weapon’s base damage dice (rounded down); if a character rolls 8 points over a target’s defense, the second bullet hits dealing extra damage dice equal to the weapons base damage dice. Extra damage does not stack for the purpose of overcoming a target’s Hardness or Damage Reduction. Each bullet must overcome a target’s Hardness or Damage Reduction on its own. All the damage done does count as a single number of damage for the purpose of overcoming a target’s Massive Damage Threshold. A character may not attempt a Double Tap with a weapon that does not have at least two bullets loaded.
Autofire [replaces the old Autofire rules]
If a ranged weapon has an automatic rate of fire, a character may set it on autofire. Autofire affects an area and everyone in it, not a specific creature. The character targets a 10-foot-by-10-foot area and makes an attack roll; the targeted area has an effective Defense of 9 (10 minus 1 for attacking a "large" sized target area). If the character does not have the Advanced Firearms Proficiency feat, he or she takes a –4 penalty on the attack roll. If the attack succeeds, every creature within the affected area must make a Reflex save (DC equal to the modified attack roll) or take the weapon’s damage. Autofire shoots 6+2d4 bullets. Autofire cannot be attempted if the weapon has less than 8 bullets loaded. Automatic fire with less than 8 bullets is treated as Burst Fire (see below).
Autofire is not the same thing as burst fire, which involves firing a short well-aimed burst at a specific target. The attack, if successful, only deals normal damage—all the extra ammunition the character fired is wasted.
Some firearms—particularly machine guns—only have autofire settings and can’t normally fire single shots.
Burst Fire [now usable by anyone]
If a ranged weapon has an automatic rate of fire, a character may set it to autofire. While setting it to autofire, instead of affecting an area, or targeting a creature with a spray of bullets and praying the bullets hit him, a character may fire a short burst of well-aimed shots at a target creature. If the character does not have the Advanced Firearms Proficiency feat, he or she takes a –4 penalty on the attack roll. If the character does not have the Improved Burst Fire feat, he or she takes another –4 penalty on the attack roll. When firing a burst fire, a character expends 3+1d4 bullets. When a character is burst firing, for every 8 points a character rolls (on his attack) above a targets defense, 1 extra bullet hits the target (up to a maximum number of bullets shot). Each extra bullet does damage equal to the weapons base damage dice. A target creature may make a Reflex save (DC equal to the modified attack roll) to take half-damage from all extra bullets. Extra bullets’ damage dice are not multiplied on a critical hit. Extra damage does not stack for the purpose of overcoming a target’s Hardness or Damage Reduction. Each bullet must overcome a target’s Hardness or Damage Reduction on its own. All the damage done does count as a single number of damage for the purpose of overcoming a target’s Massive Damage Threshold. If a gun has less then 4 bullets loaded, it may still be used to make a Burst Fire attack, however one should remember that a Burst Fire can only hit a target with a total number of bullets equal to the number shot with a Burst Fire attack.
Note: If using these rules, guns with a "Burst Setting" (such as 3-round burst guns) always expend the number of bullets listed in their burst setting description. Furthermore, 2-round bursts are treated as Burst Fire's and NOT Double Taps (see below).
Full Autofire [new rule - usable in machineguns]
If using a weapon with the full auto designation, the required Reflex save is increased to by +2. If the shooter is proficient, the bonus increases to +4 for Light Machineguns, +6 for Medium Machineguns, and +10 for Heavy Machineguns. If a weapons is considered multiple types of Machineguns (such as the MG42), use the largest bonus (although proficiency still counts – a shooter proficient in Light Machineguns but not Medium/Heavy Machineguns firing an M1919 Light/Medium Machinegun only gets +4 bonus to the Reflex DC).
Using a weapon on full auto shoots 12+2d8 bullets and can only be used if the weapon has 14 bullets in it.
Suppressive Fire [new rule - usable in machineguns]
Weapons with the full auto designation can also be used for suppressive fire. When using suppressive fire, a normal autofire attack is made. If a successful attack is made, rather than forcing a Reflex save, any character in the target area must make a Willpower save against a DC equal to the modified attack roll or be Shaken for the next round. Further, any character who acts while within the area of a successful suppressive fire attack must make a Reflex save against a DC equal to the modified attack roll or take damage as per a single attack. The damage from a suppressive fire attack is not modified as per a full auto autofire attack. Therefore, if a character acted in the target area of a successful suppressive fire attack from an M2, and that character failed the Reflex save, the character would take 6d6 damage, not 10d6.
A character within the target area of a successful suppressive fire attack who does not act or move need not make a Reflex save and does not take damage.
Using a weapon on full auto for a suppressive fire attack shoots 12+2d8 bullets and can only be used if the weapon has 14 bullets in it.
Crossfire and Overpenetration [new rules]
In combat situations with firearms, there is always the possibility of being hit by a stray bullet. This becomes more true the more bullets in the air. In such cases, a Crossfire rule could be put into effect. If the Crossfire rule is used, any missed shot might hit another individual involved in the combat or in the vicinity of it.
Anytime an attack misses by 10 or more, the nearest character to the target in the general line of fire must make a Reflex save against DC 10 + the number of bullets fired. If the Reflex save is failed, the character takes 1/2 damage (rounded down – minimum 1) of a successful attack. General line of fire can be assumed to be any distance up to the maximum range of the firearm behind the target and 5 feet to the left or right of the target.
Example: Soldier A shoots his Colt M1911a1 at Enemy Soldier. Enemy Soldier has a Defence of 18. Soldier A’s modified attack roll is 7 (wow, bad roll!). Soldier B is 10 feet behind Enemy Soldier and 5 feet to the right. This is in the general line of fire, and so Soldier B must make a Reflex save against DC 10. Unfortunately, Soldier A’s bad luck with dice jinxes Soldier B (whoops!), and Soldier B fails the save. Soldier B takes 1/2 damage from the attack. Soldier A rolls 3d8 for 13. Soldier B takes 6 damage (13/2 = 6.5, rounded down to 6).
Whenever a character hits a Medium target with a weapon that deals 3d10 or more (3d12, 6d6, etc.), the nearest character in the same line of fire (draw a line from the attacker and through the target) within one range increment risks being hit. That character (if any) must make a Reflex DC 10 + the number of bullets fired. If the Reflex save is failed, the character receives 1/2 damage (rounded down – minimum 1) of the original target.
For Small targets, reduce the required damage to 3d8, 3d6 for Tiny, etc.
For larger targets, increase the required damage to 3d12.
Treat shotguns as 1 size category smaller (thus, can't overpenetrate Medium sized or larger targets) unless firing slug ammunition.
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Some of this stuff is modified from CyberDave's Realism ruleset. You should be able to find it with a quick search.
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Firing Larger Weapons One-Handed [new rules]
If firing Large weapons one-handed, the shooter takes a penalty to hit equal to the weight of the weapon (in lb.). The shooter gets to offset that penalty by having a high Strength score, as he can ignore a penalty equal to his Strength bonus multiplied by 1.5. Carbine weapons are treated as weighing 1 lb. less. That way, a character with Strength 16 (+3) could fire an MP40 with one hand at a -3 penalty (8 lb., minus 3x1.5, minus 1 for being Carbine) or an (non-scoped) FG42 at a -6 penalty. Even characters with Strength 18 would still get no penalty to hit with a 9x19mm Sten (7 lb., minus 4x1.5, minus 1 for being Carbine). The same rules apply if fireing a Huge weapon as a Large weapon or a Medium weapon as a Small weapon. It should be noted, however, than when firing a weapon one-handed, the shooter gets to feel the whole recoil penalty, as recoil can only be controlled when firing a weapon two handed. So if the Strength 16 character with the FG42 above burst fires his rifle from one hand, he'll take a -10 penalty (minus 10 due to weight, plus 4 One-Hand Control, minus 4 Recoil, no Recoil Control). Note that if the FG42 mounted a scope, the shooter would take an additional -2 penalty due to the weight of the scope. With this rule, keeping track of accessories like scopes, bipods, etc. becomes even more important, due to their weight.
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I've always enjoyed it in movies and games when you saw people firing their assault rifles one-handed because they were injured, or dragging a dying buddy to cover.
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Weapon Groups [new rule]
You will see the concept of weapon groups presented in the Feats section below. These represent the fact that people may train in various weapon, but rarely acquire proficiency in them all. Therefore, when a character takes the new Weapon Proficiency feat, he choose multiple weapon groups or types that he becomes proficient in. Thus, a hunter/woodsman could choose Rifle & Carbines, Bows and finally Axes to represent his training in rifles when hunting large game, his hobby as an bow hunter with smaller game, and his familiarity with axes due to wood chopping. With these new rules, he can achieve this with one feat, but he isn't proficient in handguns, assault rifles or swords.
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I personally really like this rule. It makes characters so much more interesting. All of a sudden, a character must choose what weapon he wants to be able to use, instead of just taking a feat and being able to use 95% of all guns.
One of the PCs in my campaign has taken the Weapon Proficiency feat 3 times, making him proficient in 9+ types of weapons.
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Range Penalties [new rule]
To represent projectiles losing velocity and momentum, this rule now applies. Instead of the standard -2 to hit per Range Increment, ranged weapons now take -1 to hit and -1 damage per Range Increment. This makes small-calibre firearms less useful at longer ranges, just as they are in reality. With this rule, abilities that allow characters to mitigate the -2 to hit due to R.I.s (such as the Marksmanship advanced training ability) should apply to both to hit and damage penalties.
Note: The -1 damage per R.I. doesn't apply to rockets, explosives, or flamethrowers.
Optional Rule: Have heavy projectiles, such as the .45 ACP, the .445, the .44 Magnum, etc... lose 1 damage die after 5 Range Increments, to represent their low velocity. If this rule is used, the rounds affected shouldn't take a -1 penalty to damage per Range Increment as well.
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This works best with Armour as Damage Reduction. This represents bullets loosing momentum and thus not penetrating as deep as they do point blank.
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Wound and Vitality:
EFFECTS OF DAMAGE:
Practically all damage affects Vitality Points, unless you are tired or just plain unlucky.
VITALITY POINTS [replaces hit points]
Represent a mixture of toughness, quickness, training, and pure luck that allows you to turn a potentially fatal blow into something you can shrug off and continue doing, well, whatever it was you were doing when you got hit (this would usually be fighting). A loss of vitality points represents bruising, black eyes, bloody noses, minor gashes and lacerations, being grazed by gunfire, and basically any injury that will only have a short term effect on your ability to stay standing and avoid injury.
Vitality points are calculated by your hit dice and your constitution bonus, just like Hit Points were. If converting a character over from one system or another, Hit Points exchange with Vitality Points directly.
Not everyone has Vitality Points. Only PCs and important NPCs have them, random cronies do not.
0 VITALITY POINTS
When your Vitality Points have been reduced to zero, you can no longer avoid physical damage. Any additional damage you receive is applied to Wound Points.
WOUND POINTS & MASSIVE DAMAGE
Wound Points represent your character's overall health and physical condition. The amount of Wound Points is equal to the character's Massive Damage Threshold. A creature's Massive Damage Threshold (and therefore Wound Points) is multiplied or divided by it's size modifier.
A loss of Wound Points represents broken ribs and other broken bones, gunshot wounds, major gashes and lacerations, and basically any injury that would conspire to ruin your day (or at least slow you down and be noticed the next day).
Creatures without a Constitution score should be given Vitality Points (which are treated like hit points, and often act like Wound Points when other rules apply). Note in many cases they are harder to kill.
Anytime a character takes damage exceeding his or her Massive Damage Threshold, the amount of damage above it is taken as Wound Points. For example, if a character has a MDT of 18, and takes 22 points of damage, he/she takes 18 points of Vitality damage, and 4 points of Wound damage.
The Fortitude save against Massive Damage is equal to the amount of damage received (if it exceeds your threshold). If you fail the save, you are dying (see Loss of Wound Points, below).
LOSS OF WOUND POINTS
When a character loses wounds points, he becomes Fatigued, as per the rules on page 140 in the d20 Modern Core Rulebook, except that the fatigued state lasts as long as you have Wound Damage, not until you get 8 hours of rest (this usually requires more than 8 hours of rest). The character must also succeed a Fortitude save with a DC equal to the amount of Wound Damage or receive an injury (this is in addition to the effects of MAS, so a character taking Wound damage exceeding his MDT must roll a MAS save, a MAS related injury save and a Wound related injury save). Additionally, the character's Massive Damage Threshold is lowered accordingly. Therefore, if you first start taking Wound Points, you are going to be getting more real soon.
In addition, whenever the character suffers Wound Point damage in a combat round, he must make a Fortitude save, the DC equaling the amount of Wound Damage suffered, or fall unconscious for 1d4+1 rounds (as being knocked out).
When your Wound Points reach 0 or lower, then:
At 0 Wound Points, you’re disabled.
At below 0 Wound Points, you're dying.
A dying character is unconscious and near death. Each round on his turn, a dying character must make a Fortitude save (DC 10, +1 per turn after the first) to become stable.
If the character fails the save, he dies.
If the character succeeds on the save by less than 5, he does not die but does not improve. He is still dying and must continue to make Fortitude saves every round.
If the character succeeds on the save by 5 or more but by less than 10, he becomes stable but remains unconscious.
If the character succeeds on the save by 10 or more, he becomes conscious and disabled.
Another character can make a dying character stable by succeeding on a DC 15 Treat Injury check as a standard action (which provokes attacks of opportunity) as per the standard rules.
A stable character is unconscious. Every hour, a stable character must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10, +1 per hour after the first) to remain stable.
If the character fails the save, he becomes dying.
If the character succeeds on the save by less than 5, he does not get any worse, but does not improve. He is still stable and unconscious, and must continue to make Fortitude saves every hour.
If the character succeeds on the save by 5 or more, he becomes conscious and has 1 Wound point.
Another character can grant a stable character a +2 bonus on his Fortitude save to remain stable by tending to him for at least 10 minutes during the hour between saves and by making a DC 15 Treat Injury check.
CRITICAL HITS
Scoring and confirming a critical hit bypasses vitality and is applied directly to Wound Points. A critical hit does not deal extra damage, but weapons with a large critical multiplier now have their threat range increased by 1 point for every multiplier point it is larger than x2 (so a 20/x3 is now 19-20 and applies directly to Wound Points).
SAVING THROWS
Any damage source that requires a save to avoid or halve the damage (such as falling, a grenade, a Fireball), applies its damage to Vitality Points as normal. However, if the target rolls a critical failure (i.e. a natural “1”) on his saving throw, he has to roll again (or “confirm the failure”). Upon a failure on the second roll (not necessarily a 1), the damage is applied to Wound Points. All other failures are applied to Vitality Points as usual.
NONLETHAL DAMAGE
For every successive hit after the first, the attacker gains +1 to overcome the Massive Damage Threshold. For every round where the attacker does not hit the target, he loses one +1 bonus. This means that eventually, someone is going to be rolling Fortitude saves or be knocked unconscious.
HEALING AND RECOVERY
Recovery from 0 or less Wound points is handled the same as it was for Hit Points, see page 142 of the d20 Modern core rulebook. Healing, however, is a bit different; for general healing effects (such as first aid, spells, etc.), healing affects Wounds first, and then Vitality (healing in effect is the reverse of damage).
Natural Healing and Vitality Points
Vitality Points are healed at the rate of 1 per character level per hour of rest/light activity. For example, if a high school kid gets into a fight on your way to school and loses 7 Vitality, he would heal 6 of it back (assuming school is still 6 hours long and he’s 1st level). If he were 2nd level, then all would heal (he’d heal a total of 12). Anything that would increase your healing rate under the hit point system has the same increase for Vitality, but per hour not per day (like bed rest, medical care, etc.)
Natural Healing and Wound Points
Your Wound points heal back at the rate of 1 per evening of rest. Any effect that heals hit points heals Wound Points as if you were a first level character (does not multiply by level). For example, a successful use of the Treat Injury skill on a healing character heals 3 points per night as opposed to 1 (or 3 times character level). Since Wound Points do not scale with level, neither does your recovery time. As with Vitality, and effect that affects your healing rate is the same as if you were a level 1 character healing Hit Points in the base system.
TEMPORARY HIT POINTS
Are now temporary Vitality Points. Otherwise, all information on page 142 of the d20 Modern core rulebook still applies.
INCREASE IN CONSTITUTION SCORE
An increase to a characters constitution affects both his Vitality Points and his Wound Points. Use the rules on page 142. Note that Wounds are calculated directly from your constitution score.
CLASS TALENTS AND FEATS
Any class talent or feat that adds to hit points now adds to Vitality.
COUP DE GRACE
A coup de grace functions normally in that it automatically hits and scores a critical hit (and thus the damage dealt is applied to the target’s wound points). If the defender survives the damage, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the amount of damage dealt) or die.
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This is my adapted version of Darin La Sota's Wounds & Vitality stuff. In my opinion, Wounds/Vitality points are the only way to allow realism when it comes to damage. If you take vitality damage, you were grazed, your armour took it, and so on. Wounds, however, are the real damage - taking Wound damage sucks, even for a PC.
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RECOIL
When using a full-attack action with a gun, a double tap, or automatic fire (Burst Fire, Autofire, Full AutoFire), a character may suffer the penalties of recoil. Weapons are given a recoil value based on their weapons damage die and size as noted on the table bellow. Increasing the size of a weapon while maintaining the same damage dice decreases the recoil value by 1 per weapon increase in size. Decreasing the size of a weapon while maintaining the same damage dice increases the recoil value by a rate of 1 per decrease in weapon size. IE: A large gun that deals 2d6 damage has a recoil of 1, and a small gun that deals 2d6 damage has a recoil value of 3. A weapon can never have its recoil value reduced bellow one.
Recoil Value by Gun Damage and Size (for standard PL 5 guns)
Damage Dice Weapon Size Recoil Value
2d4 Small 1
2d6 Medium 2
2d8 Large 3
2d10 Huge 4
2d12 Gargantuan 5
A character using a full attack action with a gun applies the weapons recoil value as a negative to his attack roll with every attack made with the gun after the first. A character making a Double Tap or any attack using an automatic rate of fire suffers recoil even if they are attacking with their first attack in a round. A characters strength bonus can be used to counter a weapon’s recoil.
A character using a weapon two handed reduces the weapon’s recoil penalty by one and ½ his strength bonus (rounded down). A character’s strength bonus can reduce the penalty to hit caused by recoil to zero. A character with a negative strength bonus adds one and ½ the penalty (rounded down) to the recoil penalty. A character using a weapon with more recoil than his strength score must succeed a Strength DC 13 everytime the weapon is fired or drop it. For every consecutive (at least 1 per round) shot, the DC increases by 1.
Note: Certain weapons, constructed in awkward manners (such as a rifle with its butt stock removed) may suffer an additional +1 penalty to their weapon’s recoil value at the GM’s discretion. Shotguns increase their recoil penalty by 1. Rifles & Carbines (but NOT Assault Rifles) reduce their recoil value by 1. Using a bipod reduces the penalties by 2, and using a tripod reduces it by 4 (stacks with kneeling or being prone).
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CyberDave's Recoil Rules. Modified a bit for my needs.
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GASMASKS
Donning a gasmaks takes a full round action.
The wearer suffers –2 to Spot, Search and Listen checks. If the gasmask is prone to fogging, the wearer suffer an additional –2 Spot and Search after 2d6 rounds. Characters trying to understand the wearer speak must succeed on a DC 12 Listen Check (modified by distance as usual - failure by more than 10 results in a misunderstanding). Swim checks to avoid becoming fatigued, Constitution checks to continue running, and Fortitude saves to avoid damage from hot environments must be made every 10 minutes instead of every hour (or every minute for extreme heat).
NIGHTVISION
The user gains Low-Light Vision, but –1 to Spot and Initiative. Bright light forces the user to make a Fortitude save with a DC depending on the size and brightness (DC 10 for small flashlights or muzzle flashes, DC 15 for standard flashlights or big calibre muzzle flashes, DC 20 for projectors, brightly lit rooms, fires or explosions). For every 10 feet the source is away from the optics, the save DC is reduced by 1.
Early Night Vision Devices (called Active N.V.D.s) need an integrated light source, as they cannot amplify the existing light well enough. These do not provide Low-Light Vision, but instead Darkvision out to 90 feet (although some, often vehicular mounted, go as far as 600 feet).
Early Passive N.V.D.s need a rather large amount of ambient light to function. A full moon, for example, would provide enough ambient light.
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Gasmasks suck to wear. And from my limited NVG experience, I know that your vision is restricted and it becomes harder to spot stuff because of the colour spectre. Also, as most of us know from movies (which are always realistic, no matter what! ), bright lights + NVGs =
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I'm still working on suitable shotgun rules. I've found something over at BG that really seems good, but I'm waiting for the other guys to comment on the realism and potential flaws before adopting it.
So, I hope you enjoyed this long read. I'd love to see more 'realistic' houserules.'
Oh, and before I leave, I give you the Firearm Fumble Table:
Firearm Fumble Table
A not Unreliable weapon rolls on Table 1: Firearm Fumbles when the character rolls a natural 1 on his attack roll.
An Unreliable weapon that rolls a natural 1 or 2 on the attack roll has a 50% chance of agravating the fumble to a Critical Fumble. Thus, a character who fumbles with an Unreliable weapon who rolls the Failure to Feed fumble must roll a d100 to see whether it becomes a Critical Failure to feed.
A Unreliable x2 weapon that rolls a natural 1, 2 or 3 on the attack roll, has a 50% chance of agravating the normal fumble to a Critical Fumble, and a 50% chance of agravating the Critical Fumble to an Improved Critical Fumble.
For every Unreliable drawback added to the weapon, the Fumble range increases by 1, so an Unreliable x4 weapon will have a Fumble range of 1-5. Very Unreliable weapons even risk destroying the entire weapon (see Table 4) on a fumble.
A character that rolls a natural 1 with a Reliable weapon must first roll a d100, results below 50% means that the weapon simply missed, and results above 51% means that the PC will now be rolling on Table 1: Firearm Fumbles. For every additional Reliable quality the weapon has, there's an additional 10% chance that nothing happens (thus, a Reliable x3 weapon will have a 70% chance of ignoring the fumble, and a Reliable x6 weapon will never need to roll on the following tables). It should be remembered that some things will cause a weapon to gain the Unreliable drawback (for every Unreliable drawback a Reliable weapon gets, simply substract 1 Reliable quality until there's none left, and then the weapon starts becoming Unreliable).
Notes: If certain parts of the weapon are damaged or destroyed (for example on Table 3), having another part (such as a new firing or feeding mechanism), will reduce the time by 75% and the DC by 8. For a result on Table 4, where the whole weapon has been damaged, each replacement part (either the feeding, the firing, or the ejecting mechanism) reduce the time by 25% and the DC by 3 (thus, having all the replacement parts will reduce the time required to a bit over one hour, and the DC to 20).
A character without the appropriate weapon proficiency takes -10 to any check relating to clearing or repairing the weapons.
Table 1: Firearm Fumbles
1-25% - Failure to Feed: Often due to a faulty magazine or a bad feeding mechanism, this requires a re-loading of the magazine, which follows the normal Reloading rules. If using an Unreliable weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes a Critical Failure to Feed (see Table 2).
26-50% - Failure to Fire: Often due to faulty or exotic ammunition, this requires a removal of the round in question, which is a move action and provokes attacks of opportunity. If using an Unreliable weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes a Critical Failure to Fire (see Table 2).
51-75% - Failure to Eject: Often due to the shell casing getting stuck in the ejection mechanism, this requires a full round action (which provokes attacks of opportunity) and a successful Dex check against a DC of 12. It should be noted that this is the only case where the weapon actually fires (except the Nothing Happens case, below). If using an Unreliable weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes a Critical Failure to Eject (see Table 2).
76-100% - Nothing Happens: You're were lucky, you simply missed your target. If using an Unreliable weapon, reroll on Table 2 instead. If using an Unreliable x2 weapon, reroll on Table 3 instead. If using an Unreliable x3 or more weapon, you get the result of Table 4.
Table 2: Critical Firearm Fumbles
1-33% - Critical Failure to Feed: Magazine is unusable and must be replaced, either due to a production fault, or weapon abuse. If using an Unreliable x2 weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Improved Critical Failure to Feed (see Table 3).
34-66% - Critical Failure to Fire: The round has jammed in the firing mechanism, and cannot be cleared without an hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check against a DC of 14. If using an Unreliable x2 weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Improved Critical Failure to Feed (see Table 3).
67-100% - Critical Failure to Eject: The round has jammed in the ejection mechanism, and cannot be cleared without an hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check against a DC of 17. If using an Unreliable x2 weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Improved Critical Failure to Feed (see Table 3).
Table 3: Improved Critical Firearms Fumbles
1-33% - Improved Failure to Feed: The feeding mechanism is destroyed, and cannot be repaired without two hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check DC 20. If using an Unreliable x3 or more weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Advanced Critical Failure (see Table 4).
34-66% - Improved Failure to Fire: The firing mechanism is destroyed, and cannot be repaired without two hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check DC 22. If using an Unreliable x3 or more weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Advanced Critical Failure (see Table 4).
67-100% - Improved Failure to Eject: The ejection mechanism is destroyed, and cannot be repaired without two hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check DC 24. If using an Unreliable x3 or more weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Advanced Critical Failure (see Table 4).
Table 4: Advanced Critical Firearms Fumbles
1-100% - Total Failure: The whole weapon is damaged, and the user must succeed a DC 18 Reflex or take 1d6 points of damage (the GM decides what kind) as parts may fly off. Five hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check DC 29 is required to make it usable again.
A not Unreliable weapon rolls on Table 1: Firearm Fumbles when the character rolls a natural 1 on his attack roll.
An Unreliable weapon that rolls a natural 1 or 2 on the attack roll has a 50% chance of agravating the fumble to a Critical Fumble. Thus, a character who fumbles with an Unreliable weapon who rolls the Failure to Feed fumble must roll a d100 to see whether it becomes a Critical Failure to feed.
A Unreliable x2 weapon that rolls a natural 1, 2 or 3 on the attack roll, has a 50% chance of agravating the normal fumble to a Critical Fumble, and a 50% chance of agravating the Critical Fumble to an Improved Critical Fumble.
For every Unreliable drawback added to the weapon, the Fumble range increases by 1, so an Unreliable x4 weapon will have a Fumble range of 1-5. Very Unreliable weapons even risk destroying the entire weapon (see Table 4) on a fumble.
A character that rolls a natural 1 with a Reliable weapon must first roll a d100, results below 50% means that the weapon simply missed, and results above 51% means that the PC will now be rolling on Table 1: Firearm Fumbles. For every additional Reliable quality the weapon has, there's an additional 10% chance that nothing happens (thus, a Reliable x3 weapon will have a 70% chance of ignoring the fumble, and a Reliable x6 weapon will never need to roll on the following tables). It should be remembered that some things will cause a weapon to gain the Unreliable drawback (for every Unreliable drawback a Reliable weapon gets, simply substract 1 Reliable quality until there's none left, and then the weapon starts becoming Unreliable).
Notes: If certain parts of the weapon are damaged or destroyed (for example on Table 3), having another part (such as a new firing or feeding mechanism), will reduce the time by 75% and the DC by 8. For a result on Table 4, where the whole weapon has been damaged, each replacement part (either the feeding, the firing, or the ejecting mechanism) reduce the time by 25% and the DC by 3 (thus, having all the replacement parts will reduce the time required to a bit over one hour, and the DC to 20).
A character without the appropriate weapon proficiency takes -10 to any check relating to clearing or repairing the weapons.
Table 1: Firearm Fumbles
1-25% - Failure to Feed: Often due to a faulty magazine or a bad feeding mechanism, this requires a re-loading of the magazine, which follows the normal Reloading rules. If using an Unreliable weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes a Critical Failure to Feed (see Table 2).
26-50% - Failure to Fire: Often due to faulty or exotic ammunition, this requires a removal of the round in question, which is a move action and provokes attacks of opportunity. If using an Unreliable weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes a Critical Failure to Fire (see Table 2).
51-75% - Failure to Eject: Often due to the shell casing getting stuck in the ejection mechanism, this requires a full round action (which provokes attacks of opportunity) and a successful Dex check against a DC of 12. It should be noted that this is the only case where the weapon actually fires (except the Nothing Happens case, below). If using an Unreliable weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes a Critical Failure to Eject (see Table 2).
76-100% - Nothing Happens: You're were lucky, you simply missed your target. If using an Unreliable weapon, reroll on Table 2 instead. If using an Unreliable x2 weapon, reroll on Table 3 instead. If using an Unreliable x3 or more weapon, you get the result of Table 4.
Table 2: Critical Firearm Fumbles
1-33% - Critical Failure to Feed: Magazine is unusable and must be replaced, either due to a production fault, or weapon abuse. If using an Unreliable x2 weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Improved Critical Failure to Feed (see Table 3).
34-66% - Critical Failure to Fire: The round has jammed in the firing mechanism, and cannot be cleared without an hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check against a DC of 14. If using an Unreliable x2 weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Improved Critical Failure to Feed (see Table 3).
67-100% - Critical Failure to Eject: The round has jammed in the ejection mechanism, and cannot be cleared without an hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check against a DC of 17. If using an Unreliable x2 weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Improved Critical Failure to Feed (see Table 3).
Table 3: Improved Critical Firearms Fumbles
1-33% - Improved Failure to Feed: The feeding mechanism is destroyed, and cannot be repaired without two hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check DC 20. If using an Unreliable x3 or more weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Advanced Critical Failure (see Table 4).
34-66% - Improved Failure to Fire: The firing mechanism is destroyed, and cannot be repaired without two hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check DC 22. If using an Unreliable x3 or more weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Advanced Critical Failure (see Table 4).
67-100% - Improved Failure to Eject: The ejection mechanism is destroyed, and cannot be repaired without two hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check DC 24. If using an Unreliable x3 or more weapon, there's a 50% chance that it becomes an Advanced Critical Failure (see Table 4).
Table 4: Advanced Critical Firearms Fumbles
1-100% - Total Failure: The whole weapon is damaged, and the user must succeed a DC 18 Reflex or take 1d6 points of damage (the GM decides what kind) as parts may fly off. Five hour's work and a successful Engineering Skill check DC 29 is required to make it usable again.
Anyhow, Backstabbist and I made something similar to the unarmed combat system, but instead making characters injured with ballistic weapons save every time they are struck. Each time they are shot, they must roll a will save against the ballistic damage +1 for every consecutive round they've been hit. If they fail the save, they enter shock (shaken), and must now make saves to keep conscious every time they are shot.
It'll definitely bog down a game, but it makes guns lethally realistic.
*An entirely different story altogether - readable over at BG.
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Yea, I've considered using something like that for firearms too, but with all the other rules, I was affraid that it might bog down combat even more, to a point where I'd have to remember exactly how many times each character/NPC had been hit.