I've done some research but not having great luck trying to solve this.
Looking to create a homebrew flintlock pistol. I'd like to keep it like the regular "pistol" but have it be 1d8 instead and then have a bonus +1 to hit and damage. Can someone explain how i'd go about doing this?
Is there a reason you can't just use the basic pistol? Going from a d10 to a d8 is only a difference of 1 damage on average, so it may not be worth it.
The reason being that there's currently no way to change the base damage of a weapon, so to get a d8 you'd need to use a crossbow, light as the base instead but we also have no way to override the range so that isn't pretty either.
Personally I'd just use the standard pistol to keep things simple. As for how to do the +1 to hit and damage, you'd create a magic item with weapon as the type, and pistol as the base weapon, once saved you'd then add a Modifier, the one you want is Bonus -> Magic then put 1 for the fixed value.
This means the pistol will be slightly stronger than you intended, but it's probably the simplest option; there's no way to only increase the hit roll (not just for a single weapon anyway, iirc), you could ask the player to add a modifier of -1 on their character sheet to cancel it out (since d10 is about the same average as d8+1) but like I say, it's not a big difference in practice.
Actually, if this is all you want, there's already a pistol, +1 your player(s) can add. Still worth knowing how to do it though in case there's anything else you'd like to change.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Is there a reason you can't just use the basic pistol? Going from a d10 to a d8 is only a difference of 1 damage on average, so it may not be worth it.
The reason being that there's currently no way to change the base damage of a weapon, so to get a d8 you'd need to use a crossbow, light as the base instead but we also have no way to override the range so that isn't pretty either.
Personally I'd just use the standard pistol to keep things simple. As for how to do the +1 to hit and damage, you'd create a magic item with weapon as the type, and pistol as the base weapon, once saved you'd then add a Modifier, the one you want is Bonus -> Magic then put 1 for the fixed value.
This means the pistol will be slightly stronger than you intended, but it's probably the simplest option; there's no way to only increase the hit roll (not just for a single weapon anyway, iirc), you could ask the player to add a modifier of -1 on their character sheet to cancel it out (since d10 is about the same average as d8+1) but like I say, it's not a big difference in practice.
Actually, if this is all you want, there's already a pistol, +1 your player(s) can add. Still worth knowing how to do it though in case there's anything else you'd like to change.
Thank you so much for the in-depth explanation! :) I really appreciate it.
Any ideas as to why they haven't allowed the option to modify damage?
I don't think there's any particular reason except that it's never been implemented; in general D&D Beyond prioritise implementing things that are described in a book (and which affect the character sheet), and even those can take a long time to get.
It's a much requested feature though, as plenty of people would love to create basic items, and/or have more control over weapon damage; we can add damage, and we can change the damage type, but otherwise we just have to find something that does the damage we want, or make do with something else.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hello!
I've done some research but not having great luck trying to solve this.
Looking to create a homebrew flintlock pistol. I'd like to keep it like the regular "pistol" but have it be 1d8 instead and then have a bonus +1 to hit and damage. Can someone explain how i'd go about doing this?
I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thank you!
Is there a reason you can't just use the basic pistol? Going from a d10 to a d8 is only a difference of 1 damage on average, so it may not be worth it.
The reason being that there's currently no way to change the base damage of a weapon, so to get a d8 you'd need to use a crossbow, light as the base instead but we also have no way to override the range so that isn't pretty either.
Personally I'd just use the standard pistol to keep things simple. As for how to do the +1 to hit and damage, you'd create a magic item with weapon as the type, and pistol as the base weapon, once saved you'd then add a Modifier, the one you want is Bonus -> Magic then put 1 for the fixed value.
This means the pistol will be slightly stronger than you intended, but it's probably the simplest option; there's no way to only increase the hit roll (not just for a single weapon anyway, iirc), you could ask the player to add a modifier of -1 on their character sheet to cancel it out (since d10 is about the same average as d8+1) but like I say, it's not a big difference in practice.
Actually, if this is all you want, there's already a pistol, +1 your player(s) can add. Still worth knowing how to do it though in case there's anything else you'd like to change.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Thank you so much for the in-depth explanation! :) I really appreciate it.
Any ideas as to why they haven't allowed the option to modify damage?
All the info was super helpful!
I don't think there's any particular reason except that it's never been implemented; in general D&D Beyond prioritise implementing things that are described in a book (and which affect the character sheet), and even those can take a long time to get.
It's a much requested feature though, as plenty of people would love to create basic items, and/or have more control over weapon damage; we can add damage, and we can change the damage type, but otherwise we just have to find something that does the damage we want, or make do with something else.
Hopefully we'll get the ability some day!
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.