W • Path of the Loner

Path of the Loner Barbarians walk a difficult road, honing their focus and rage to a fine point that guides their aim.  While most barbarians prefer melee attacks, the sheer booming ferocity gifted by gunpowder is more than enough to light a fire in anyone's heart.

The majority of Loners embark on their path not out of a conscious desire to become a sharpshooter, but rather out of coincidence, happening upon such a rare weapon while scouring a battlefield for salvage, and slowly coming to rely on its power as life shifts ever greater challenges the Loner's way.  Because few Loners are actually gunsmiths, they treasure their weapons and spare them from excessive use, preferring to end things without firing a shot.  This unique relationship of service to the weapon shapes the way Loners think, building an internalized sense of integrity and personal value system, all in the name of knowing when its time to draw the line and draw their gun.

While the mixture of posturing, pistol whipping, and a few choice words is usually enough to keep things from going awry, those who force a Loner's hand are quick to learn that Loners are neither trickshots nor showmen.  When they shoot, they shoot to kill.

The majority of Loners can be found up north around Nomad lands, where firearms, ammunition, and people who can service them are more common than in many other parts of the world.  They uphold their own values, protect their rare allies, and through their actions become the change they wish to see.

Path of the Loner Features

Firearm Proficiency

Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with firearms, allowing you to add your proficiency bonus to attacks made with firearms.  You also gain proficiency with Tinker's Tools.  Finally, you gain proficiency using firearms as an improvised weapon for melee weapon attacks.

Firearm Properties

Firearms are a new and volatile technology, and as such bring their own unique set of weapon properties. Some properties are followed by a number, and this number signifies an element of that property (outlined below). These properties replace the optional ones presented in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Firearms are ranged weapons.

Loading. Because of the time required to load this weapon, you can fire only one piece of ammunition from it when you use an action, bonus action, or reaction to fire it, regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make.

Reload. A limited number of shots can be made with a weapon that has the reload property. A character must then reload it using an action or a bonus action (the character’s choice). You must have one free hand to reload a firearm.

Misfire. Whenever you make an attack roll with a firearm, and the dice roll is equal to or lower than the weapon’s Misfire score, the weapon misfires. The attack misses, and the weapon cannot be used again until you spend an action to try and repair it. To repair your firearm, you must make a successful Tinker’s Tools check (DC equal to 8 + misfire score). If your check fails, the weapon is broken and must be mended out of combat at a quarter of the cost of the firearm. Creatures who use a firearm without being proficient increase the weapon’s misfire score by 1.

Explosive. Upon a hit, everything within 5 ft of the target must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier) or suffer 1d8 fire damage. If the weapon misses, the ammunition fails to detonate, or bounces away harmlessly before doing so. You may spend 3 times the typical gold cost of crafting a batch of ammunition to craft a single piece of explosive ammunition for that weapon which confers the explosive property upon the weapon when it is expended.

Ammunition

All firearms require ammunition to make an attack, and due to their rare nature, ammunition may be near impossible to find or purchase. However, if materials are gathered, you can craft ammunition yourself using your Tinker’s Tools at half the cost. Each firearm uses its own unique ammunition and is generally sold or crafted in batches listed below next to the price.

Firearms

NAME	COST	AMMO	DAMAGE	WEIGHT	RANGE	PROPERTIES
Pistol	250g	3g (10)	1d10 piercing	3 lb.	(30/90)	loading, misfire 1
Musket	500g	3g (10)	1d12 piercing	10 lb.	(40/120)	two-handed, loading, misfire 2
Revolver	350g	6g (6)	2d8 piercing	3 lb.	(40/120)	reload 6, misfire 2
Shotgun	600g	20g (10)	2d8 piercing	7 lb.	(30/90)	two-handed, reload 2, misfire 2

Silent Speaker

Upon choosing this path at 3rd level, you learn to let actions speak louder than words.  Whenever you make a Charisma (Intimidation) check that does not require verbal communication, you may add your Strength modifier to the check.

Standoff

Upon choosing this path at 3rd level, you learn to focus your rage to a fine edge while in battle, allowing you to enter a standoff instead. On your turn, you can enter a standoff as a bonus action, expending one use of your barbarian rage feature.

While in a standoff, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor:

• You have advantage on Wisdom checks and Wisdom saving throws.
• When you make a ranged weapon attack using firearms, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
• You ignore the loading and reload property of firearms.
• When your firearm misfires you regain one use of the rage feature.

If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while in a standoff.

You cannot be in a standoff and be raging at the same time.  You must first end one to begin the other.

Your standoff lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven’t performed a ranged weapon attack with a firearm since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your standoff on your turn as a bonus action.

If you have no remaining uses of the rage feature, you must finish a long rest to regain them before you can enter a standoff again.

Few Words

Beginning at 6th level, walking the path of the Loner shapes your sense of character and self, adding conviction to your words.  Whether you stand for good, neutrality, or evil, you're now ready to speak up and stand firm in the name of those beliefs.

You gain the ability to cast command at will as a 1st level spell.  Creatures will automatically succeed on their saving throw against this spell if they share the same alignment as you, in regard to the aspects of Good, Neutral, or Evil alignments.  Wisdom is your spellcasting ability modifier for this spell.

Dead Aim

At 10th level, you can shoot with the finality of frontier mercy.  You can take Dead Aim as a bonus action on your turn.

When taking Dead Aim, your ranged weapon attacks using firearms gain the following changes until the start of your next turn:

• You can add your choice of your Wisdom modifier or Strength modifier to the damage of your ranged weapon attacks using firearms.
• The Brutal Critical class feature functions with ranged weapon attacks using firearms.
• Creatures you hit can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn.
• Creatures you reduce to 0 hit points are dead and unable to be reanimated or resurrected for one week.
  
  Once you use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Vendetta

At 14th level, a Loner learns that sometimes standing for something comes at a price, and vengeance is the one currency fit for paying it.  When a creature you can see within 300 feet that is friendly to you is reduced to 0 hit points, you can choose to declare a Vendetta against the creature which reduced your ally to 0 hit points. Using your reaction, immediately take one turn. During this turn every hit that you successfully land on the target of your Vendetta is a critical hit.