Friday, January 24, 2014

Firearms in Skull and Shackles

My "Very Early" firearms rules for Skull and Shackles. Enjoy listening to "Pirates" by Bullets and Octane while reading (video below, of course).

One Hand
Damage (small)
Damage (medium)
Critical
Range
Misfire
Type
Price
Dragoon Pistol
D6
D8
X4
20 ft.
1 (5 ft.)
B and P
1,000gp


Two Hand
Damage (small)
Damage (medium)
Critical
Range
Misfire
Type
Price
Musket
D10
D12
X4
40ft.
1-2 (5 ft.)
B and P
1,500gp

Item
Cost
Bullet
1 gp
Dose of Black Powder (each dose is one shot)
10gp
Silver bullet
25gp
Gunsmith’s Kit
15gp
Powder Flask or Horn (+5 to dryness rolls, holds 5 doses)
30gp

Amazing dragoon pistol done by the cool artists at Johnson Arms

Proficiency: Using a firearm well requires training, but many decide to use them anyways. When using a firearm, users suffer a -2 to hit and misfire ranges are doubled (so 1-2 for the dragoon pistol and 1-4 for the musket). Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) removes these penalties.

Armor Penetration and Range: Classical armor is of little use against a firearm. When firing, the attack resolves against the target's touch AC when the target is within the first range increment of the weapon. This type of attack is not consider a touch for purposes of feats and abilities such as Deadly Aim. Outside of that range, use AC as normal and apply range increment penalties. Also note that maximum range for a firearm is five increments. 

Misfires and Very Early Firearms: If the dice result on the attack roll with the weapon is within the numbers of the misfire result, the firearm explodes. Pick a corner of your square to be the origin of the burst explosion, with the size listed in parenthesis after the misfire value. Any creature inside this burst (including the wielder of the firearm) takes damage as if they had been hit by the weapon—a DC 12 Reflex save halves this damage.

Reloading:  From what I’ve read about the era, preparation takes about 30 seconds from an experienced shooter for a flintlock pistol or musket. In game terms, that’s five rounds. To be a little more dynamic, we’ll say that the reload time for a firearm is six full rounds—three full rounds if you have the Rapid Reload feat for that weapon.

After Shooting: Given the “shoot once then club” nature of early firearms, note that each counts as a partially improvised club when used in melee. The Dragoon Pistol inflicts a d4, the musket a d6. There is a -2 penalty to using them in this way, but they do not provoke attacks of opportunity like other improvised weapons. Use the same misfire numbers, if a misfire is rolled the weapon’s firing is permanently ruined (bent barrel, smashed mechanism, etc.).

Dryness: Water is an early marksman’s worst foe, and pirate ships are surrounded by water. Each time that water would contaminate a weapon’s powder, you must do a dryness check. The check is DC is 10 for incidental contact, DC 15 for getting doused, and DC 20 for being submerged. The check is a straight D20 roll, with modifiers for circumstance and a powder flask/horn. 

Much of this is taken directly for the Pathfinder SRD ruleset and adjusted to my own game. Seems like fair use via the Open Game License.

2 comments:

  1. I fear the prices are prohibitive. You'd never buy one, and if you found one, why would you use it instead of selling it?

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    1. Those are the exact prices that the main Pathfinder rules for firearms use, so I just took them as-is. I agree they're expensive, but guns likely were very expensive status symbols and fear-generating weapons at the time. Tho I did forget the one essential rule in these! They go against Touch AC when in the first range increment. I updated the post to reflect that.

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