In my campaign, I was planning on implementing automatic weapons of some sort, I know there are many homebrews for this, but I actually quite like the ones listed in the DMG, and just have a few questions about it. (also, if there was any way that someone could shoot multiple shots with a ranged weapon in game for another reason, this would be useful.)
1. Can a ranged weapon without the loading property be shot more than once in a turn? (I'm assuming yes, because 6 seconds is a lot of time for that)
2. If 1 is correct, then would each shot have an attack roll, or have a single attack roll to see if all shots hit, or something else? because 3o attack roles in 1 turn would take FOREVER.
3. same question as 2, but for damage rolls, for example, if damage is listed as say "1d6" would that be each bullet is 1d6, or the whole attack, say, even 3 bullets only doing 1d6 is very under-powered, so would it be 3d6?
Ranged weapons without loading are basically the same as melee weapons for attacks, roll separately for each attack. The damage listed is the base damage, don't forget to add attribute bonus and any other modifiers.
I would rule it in bursts. So two attacks would be two 3 sec bursts and would do say 2d6 or 2d8 or whatever you deemed feasible. If you wanted a full-auto burst I would apply a hit penalty to simulate trying to control muzzle climb and increase the damage to whatever you thought was right. Another option is you could remove the "to hit" for a spray and pray and make it a saving throw in a cone, apply evasion for any target that has any cover perhaps and normal save for half damage if they don't have cover.
Example
A normal attack could do 2d6+dex. So multi-attack would do 2d6+dex 2 times.
A full-auto burst would cost a full Action and have a -5 to their attack roll but would do 2d20(damage based on weapon)+dex (ammo becomes a concern at some point, this is not sustainable) OR
A full-auto burst would cost a full Action(cone attack) and would be a saving throw of DC(based on the weapon) 2d20(damage based on the weapon)+dex, save for half damage if the target has cover you could 1.) rule that their cover bonus of +3 or +5 is applied to their saving throw, 2.) allow those with cover to only take half damage on a failed save and no damage a successful save, or 3.) apply resistance to anyone with cover regardless of their save, so on a successful save they take half damage and a failed save they take one quarter. ( this is my preferred method)
The 2d20 damage on full-auto simulates the extreme amount of rounds being fired at the target. compared to 2d6 on a short controllable burst as a normal attack. The saving throw in a cone option is preferable since it will limit the amount of dice having to be rolled to hit the target. No one wants to roll the 20 sider 30 times and keep track of their hits then roll damage for each of those hits, which would slow combat to a halt.
Edit, yes the DMG has these rules on page 268. What I listed above is how we have handled these types of weapons in past games to make them more fun and intimidating for both players and NPCs.
Shotguns should have two fire modes; single target attack, or 30' line AoE Dex DC 15 save or damage. AR's should have a choice of two fire mode clusters; Option 1 Single target or AoE (Burst rules in DMG, but going to call it Auto instead) OR Option 2 Single target or real burst 3-5 rounds per burst (set by DM), +1 or 2 to hit, no additional damage. MG's should have two fire options; regular auto fire, Cone (range) AoE Dex 15 save or damage and Suppression: Cone (range) AoE Wis 15 else incapacitated for their next turn.
That takes care of the automatic fire options. Single target attack is any semi-automatic attack, only single shot weapons (or double barreled shotguns) are limited by the loading property on any sort of regular basis.
In my campaign, I was planning on implementing automatic weapons of some sort, I know there are many homebrews for this, but I actually quite like the ones listed in the DMG, and just have a few questions about it. (also, if there was any way that someone could shoot multiple shots with a ranged weapon in game for another reason, this would be useful.)
1. Can a ranged weapon without the loading property be shot more than once in a turn? (I'm assuming yes, because 6 seconds is a lot of time for that)
2. If 1 is correct, then would each shot have an attack roll, or have a single attack roll to see if all shots hit, or something else? because 3o attack roles in 1 turn would take FOREVER.
3. same question as 2, but for damage rolls, for example, if damage is listed as say "1d6" would that be each bullet is 1d6, or the whole attack, say, even 3 bullets only doing 1d6 is very under-powered, so would it be 3d6?
Or is this all up to interpretation?
Thanks for any responses this may get in advance
Ranged weapons without loading are basically the same as melee weapons for attacks, roll separately for each attack. The damage listed is the base damage, don't forget to add attribute bonus and any other modifiers.
thanks
I would rule it in bursts. So two attacks would be two 3 sec bursts and would do say 2d6 or 2d8 or whatever you deemed feasible. If you wanted a full-auto burst I would apply a hit penalty to simulate trying to control muzzle climb and increase the damage to whatever you thought was right. Another option is you could remove the "to hit" for a spray and pray and make it a saving throw in a cone, apply evasion for any target that has any cover perhaps and normal save for half damage if they don't have cover.
Example
The 2d20 damage on full-auto simulates the extreme amount of rounds being fired at the target. compared to 2d6 on a short controllable burst as a normal attack. The saving throw in a cone option is preferable since it will limit the amount of dice having to be rolled to hit the target. No one wants to roll the 20 sider 30 times and keep track of their hits then roll damage for each of those hits, which would slow combat to a halt.
Edit, yes the DMG has these rules on page 268. What I listed above is how we have handled these types of weapons in past games to make them more fun and intimidating for both players and NPCs.
The DMG already has rules for Burst Fire for weapons that have that property.
DMG rule for burst fire is "lacking" imho.
Shotguns should have two fire modes; single target attack, or 30' line AoE Dex DC 15 save or damage.
AR's should have a choice of two fire mode clusters; Option 1 Single target or AoE (Burst rules in DMG, but going to call it Auto instead) OR Option 2 Single target or real burst 3-5 rounds per burst (set by DM), +1 or 2 to hit, no additional damage.
MG's should have two fire options; regular auto fire, Cone (range) AoE Dex 15 save or damage and Suppression: Cone (range) AoE Wis 15 else incapacitated for their next turn.
That takes care of the automatic fire options. Single target attack is any semi-automatic attack, only single shot weapons (or double barreled shotguns) are limited by the loading property on any sort of regular basis.
Thank you very much, this was incredibly helpful!