Cannon Questions - Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt

Considering options for Cannon builds.

Do you all think that your familiar or another minion (hireling, sidekick, etc...) could reload your character's cannon after it was fired on your turn?

"Artillery. You must use Strength instead of Dexterity for the Firearm save DC and the attack and damage rolls of this weapon. Such a weapon can be fired once before it must be reloaded with an action."

The Artillery property just says it must be reloaded with an action (not "Your" action).

To some extent my question is informed by normal DND cannons allowing multiple creatures to work together to load, aim, and fire the cannon.

Generally speaking it seems very difficult to get 2x attacks per round with the Cannon (obviously by design).

Once you have at least 3x attacks and have the Cannoneer feat (and are over Level 11) you can do 2x Cannon attacks w/ Bonus action load and 3rd attack load.

However, if a familiar can load it you can get there sooner.

I don't have that book, but I'd say, based on what you explained, it should be possible for another creature to load the cannon. It reminds me of Cannons from the 5.5e DMG:

... Loading a Cannon requires the Utilize action, and aiming it requires another Utilize action. Then a crew member can take the Cannonball action.

If it were a familiar, I'd say it would depend on the specific one and its size, shape, and limbs.

FWIW - here are some of the pertinent features...

Cannoneer Feat
Prerequisite: 8th Level, Strength 19 or higher
The best defense is a good offense, and the best offense is a cannon; which you’re an expert at:
• Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• You gain proficiency with cannons.
• You can reload cannons as a bonus action instead of an action. You can use this bonus action only if you haven’t moved during your turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of your turn. Starting at 11th level, this doesn't hinder your movement, and you can use one of your attacks to reload instead. Starting at 20th level, you can ignore
the artillery property of cannons.
• You know how to expertly handle cannons and their ammunition; the weight of cannons and cannonballs count as half for you.
• Your attacks with cannons deal double damage against objects and structures

Martial Ranged Weapons
Cannon 500 gp 3d10 piercing 90 lb. Artillery (range 120/240), Booming, Concussive, Two-Handed

Ammunition
Cannonball 3 gp 9 lb.
Explosive cannonball 30 gp 12 lb.

Properties
Artillery. You must use Strength instead of Dexterity for the Firearm save DC and the attack and damage rolls of this weapon. Such a weapon can be fired once before it must be reloaded with an action.
Booming. The deflagration from firing this weapon makes a stupendous booming sound. The sound can be heard from up to 500 feet away. Firing this weapon makes it impossible to go undetected; you automatically fail Stealth checks to hide until the start of your next turn. In addition, if a creature is within the area of the sound blast, it automatically succeeds on Perception checks against you.
Concussive. These weapons bludgeon as much as they pierce. When determining a creature's resistance or immunity to damage from this weapon, use the weaker of the target's resistance or immunity to piercing or to bludgeoning damage. For instance, if a creature is immune to piercing damage and has no resistance or immunity to bludgeoning damage, it would take full damage from a concussive weapon. Resistance to all physical damage applies as normal.

Cannonball (Cannon). A large, spherical iron projectile, the cannonball is used as ammunition for the cannon.
Explosive Cannonball (Cannon). On a hit, each creature within 10 feet of the target must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Firearm save DC or take 2d8 fire damage. If the weapon misses, the ammunition fails to detonate.

Bag of Cannonballs
Wondrous item, uncommon
You can store up to 100 cannonballs in this bag. The bag weighs 3 pounds, no matter how many cannonballs are stored. You can store or take out up to 3 cannonballs at a time once on each of your turns with no actions required.