School of Marksmanship

In many wizarding circles, technology has always been heralded as the death knell of the magitocracy. Fearing their fall into mediocrity as non-magic users are able to use emergent machines to easily perform mundane tasks that formerly required the swish of a wrist to cast a specially crafted automation spell, wizards are in many ways the ultimate luddites. Firearm technology is no different; while it has a long ways to go before replacing hardened evokers and war mages, many wizards can see the potential of these new weapons to overtake both conventional weaponry and their own role on the battlefield; ironically, far more so than most non-arcane tinkerers, but they do not share this insight for fear of enabling their own redundancy.

However, some wizards not only believe that they can coexist alongside firearm technology, but in fact combine both fields into a potent force. To this end, some maverick mages have split off from traditional schools and combined with military endeavours testing out this new technology to add their own magical spin to it. As enchanters learn to add blessings to traditional weapons to grant them magical properties, members of the School of Marksmanship - as this entrepreneurial enterprise has been dubbed - learn to harness the resonant energies from their spells and imbue them into their firearms, in addition to using the long-range training granted through practising firearms to improve the accuracy of their own spells.

Since the school is both emergent and struggling in the wake of other wizards attempting to slander its reputation, initiates to the School of Marksmanship are incentivized to join with the promise of free resources to craft their very own firearm. While this one-time offer has the potential to attract charlatans and those without the wit and grit for both magical study and gunpowder marksmanship, initiates are carefully vetted to ensure they are worthy to join the ranks of the school

Firearm Training

When you adopt this tradition at 2nd level, you gain proficiency with firearms and light armor. You may use a firearm as a spell focus, and you may cast wizard spells with somatic components even while wielding a firearm in both hands.

You also gain proficiency with Tinker's Tools if you don’t already have it. You may use these tools to craft firearms and firearm ammunition as long as you have the necessary resources to do so.

In addition, your scholarship to the school grants you enough free resources to begin your endeavours into the world of gunpowder technology. When you first reach 2nd level, you may spend 24 hours crafting either a musket or a pistol, which comes with 30 rounds of ammunition. The 24 hours do not need to be consecutive, and you do not need to spend gold or make any rolls to make this firearm. After you craft this initial firearm, you must spend the regular amount of gold to craft, purchase, or repair a firearm, and to craft further ammunition.

Spellslinging

Starting at 2nd level, you can look down your firearm to improve your aiming with spells. Whenever you cast a wizard spell that requires a ranged spell attack while you are wielding a firearm, you may double your proficiency modifier on the spell attack roll. If the spell attack hits and deals damage to its target, you may add extra damage of the spell's damage type equal to half your wizard level rounded up (minimum 1).

Arcane Capacitor

Starting at 6th level, your combined knowledge of the arcane and firearm technology allows you to add a capacitor that absorbs the residual energy of spells you cast, storing it your firearm. Whenever you cast a spell that deals acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, psychic, radiant, or thunder damage, one firearm you wield becomes charged with that type of energy (choose one type of energy if the spell deals multiple types of energy damage, and one firearm to store the energy if you have multiple equipped). Attacks from that firearm that hit deal additional damage of that energy type equal to the level of the spell you absorbed the energy from. It cannot absorb energy from cantrips. The stored energy holds for 1 minute before dissipating harmlessly.

If you cast another spell that deals any of the listed energy damage types, you may choose to store the energy from the new spell, but doing so replaces the first type of energy.

You may only have two firearms on your person holding a charge from this feature; as the arcane energy stored in the devices is quite volatile, attempting to store too much in close proximity will cause an energy surge. If you attempt to charge a third firearm equipped or in your inventory (in addition to two others that you either have equipped or are in your inventory), that firearm and all other firearms with held energy will discharge their stored energy, dissipating their charges and dealing three times their stored energy damage upon you.

Extra Attack

Starting at 10th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Distracting Shot

Starting at 14th level, you become so quick with your firearm that you can catch foes off guard. You may use your bonus action to make an attack with a firearm.

If this attack hits a creature, they flinch back in surprise, giving you an opening. You may choose the next spell you cast before the end of your turn to either have advantage on a spell attack roll, or for the enemy to have disadvantage on a saving throw that spell forces.

You may use this feature a number of times equal to your Dexterity modifier (minimum 1). You regain all uses upon a short or long rest.