Recently, the player characters in my campaign have acquired a firearm as loot. My campaign is supposed to be set in a classic fantasy setting- it doesn’t for the most part have technology much more advanced than a cannon. This gun was created by a dwarven blacksmith, not from intentions to create a superior weapon, but just as a sort of hobby project. However, I’m having trouble figuring out how to make sure that it’s balanced, as I’m a relatively new DM. I want it to be a weapon that does high damage, but is unreliable due to only being a hobby project. The problem is that I’m worried that the damage for this weapon will be too powerful, even if it only hits once or twice, because even at fourth level the Rogue in the party already has 20 Dex. The weapon would probably also be limited by how much ammunition the party is carrying, and they would have to track down the person who made the gun in order to purchase ammunition for it. I was considering allowing people to gain proficiency with the gun by spending 10 ammunition and then making a DC 15 Int check, but then I was worried they might to try to just get proficiency in everything. The stats I have so far for the weapon are:
Should I change the d12 to d10? Change the Misfire to 2? I know not having proficiency in firearms adds 1 to the Misfire according to the Gunslinger rules, which I think I’ll keep. The range doesn’t have a value as we generally play a pretty lose Theatre of the Mind combat, and I’ll probably just give disadvantage if the attacks are made from too close up or far away. I would also like to know how much ammunition you think I should give them at the start. They got the gun off of a defeated enemy, and I was thinking only about 15, or 20 so they don’t have enough to gain proficiency and use it effectively in combat before they need to re-stock ammunition.
Don't give it Reload, as Reload is not going to make it work. Give it Loading, like crossbows. One attack per turn, period. Raise the misfire to 2 or even 3; if this is a prototype hobby project, it's not going to be super reliable in the field. Consider differentiating it from bows with exotic damage die; rather than 1d12, make it deal 3d4 damage, or even 4d4. That way the gun deals reliable damage, and rolling a bunch of little dice feels different than rolling one huge one. Could also split that damage, though that feels more the territory of 'magic gun'. Make most of the dice piercing, but one or two of them bludgeoning to represent sheer impact force even against armored/protected targets.
Proficiency would be "get trained by the creator" or find a source of lots of ammo. Even with modern firearms - clean, reliable, engineered to near perfection - it takes a lot more than ten rounds to become proficient.
probably overthinking it a good bit if this is intended to be a novelty thing the characters mostly use as a trophy of their adventures. If it turns into someone's main schtick, sorting these questions now instead of later is good.
Thank you for the response. I wanted it to be an interesting weapon, and I’m unsure of how much they will want to be using it at this point. They seemed interested though, and I wanted to make sure that I had it completed before I gave them the stats for it. I hadn’t thought of using 3d4 or 4d4 for damage, but that works great with what I envisioned. I think gaining Proficiency will be a downtime activity with the creator of the weapon, if they find him. I think they will be interested enough to search for the creator and such, just based on the 3d4 damage. Even if it was just 1d10 damage, really.
Recently, the player characters in my campaign have acquired a firearm as loot. My campaign is supposed to be set in a classic fantasy setting- it doesn’t for the most part have technology much more advanced than a cannon. This gun was created by a dwarven blacksmith, not from intentions to create a superior weapon, but just as a sort of hobby project. However, I’m having trouble figuring out how to make sure that it’s balanced, as I’m a relatively new DM. I want it to be a weapon that does high damage, but is unreliable due to only being a hobby project. The problem is that I’m worried that the damage for this weapon will be too powerful, even if it only hits once or twice, because even at fourth level the Rogue in the party already has 20 Dex. The weapon would probably also be limited by how much ammunition the party is carrying, and they would have to track down the person who made the gun in order to purchase ammunition for it. I was considering allowing people to gain proficiency with the gun by spending 10 ammunition and then making a DC 15 Int check, but then I was worried they might to try to just get proficiency in everything. The stats I have so far for the weapon are:
Ammunition, Reload 5, Misfire 1, Ranged. 1d12 damage
Should I change the d12 to d10? Change the Misfire to 2? I know not having proficiency in firearms adds 1 to the Misfire according to the Gunslinger rules, which I think I’ll keep. The range doesn’t have a value as we generally play a pretty lose Theatre of the Mind combat, and I’ll probably just give disadvantage if the attacks are made from too close up or far away. I would also like to know how much ammunition you think I should give them at the start. They got the gun off of a defeated enemy, and I was thinking only about 15, or 20 so they don’t have enough to gain proficiency and use it effectively in combat before they need to re-stock ammunition.
To what extent am I overthinking this?
Don't give it Reload, as Reload is not going to make it work. Give it Loading, like crossbows. One attack per turn, period. Raise the misfire to 2 or even 3; if this is a prototype hobby project, it's not going to be super reliable in the field. Consider differentiating it from bows with exotic damage die; rather than 1d12, make it deal 3d4 damage, or even 4d4. That way the gun deals reliable damage, and rolling a bunch of little dice feels different than rolling one huge one. Could also split that damage, though that feels more the territory of 'magic gun'. Make most of the dice piercing, but one or two of them bludgeoning to represent sheer impact force even against armored/protected targets.
Proficiency would be "get trained by the creator" or find a source of lots of ammo. Even with modern firearms - clean, reliable, engineered to near perfection - it takes a lot more than ten rounds to become proficient.
probably overthinking it a good bit if this is intended to be a novelty thing the characters mostly use as a trophy of their adventures. If it turns into someone's main schtick, sorting these questions now instead of later is good.
Please do not contact or message me.
Thank you for the response. I wanted it to be an interesting weapon, and I’m unsure of how much they will want to be using it at this point. They seemed interested though, and I wanted to make sure that I had it completed before I gave them the stats for it. I hadn’t thought of using 3d4 or 4d4 for damage, but that works great with what I envisioned. I think gaining Proficiency will be a downtime activity with the creator of the weapon, if they find him. I think they will be interested enough to search for the creator and such, just based on the 3d4 damage. Even if it was just 1d10 damage, really.
For early firearms, it's perfectly reasonable to have a reload time that basically makes the weapon 'one use per combat'.