NeoGrognard

“The Devil is in the dice.”
— Old English proverb

The first time I played D&D the dice were a puzzle. Like many first-time players, people would shove me a progression of dice that I had never seen before, telling me what to roll. It was a bleeding bloody confusion and a hell of a lot of fun. 

To be honest, I still find dice wondrous. Anytime I find some new kind of dice, I want to play with them, and getting the d3, d5, d14, d16, and the d24 was no different. Lucky for me, as part of the GameScience packaging, there were some ideas for using the new dice. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t like any of ’em. Inches of snow on the trail? Magic missiles that have the possibility of doing less damage? (Lame!) And I was just having a hard time wrapping my head around why I would have to randomly determine the days of the week. Are the length of weeks random? Did the PCs step though a portal that dumped them off at some place at a random day of the week? 

I know, I know, I’m over thinking it…but hey, I’m a gamer. It’s no excuse, just an explanation. 

These new dice were wild. I wanted to do something neat and exotic with them. I had the idea for fantasy guns in my head for a long time. I didn’t want to do a historical simulation, like Ed Greenwood did in Dragon #60 (“Firearms: First Guns Were Not Much Fun for Triggermen or their Targets”) and #70 (“A Second Volley: Taking Another Shot at Firearms, AD&D Style”). I didn’t want to introduce firearms, instead I wanted to make them alchemical, magical, but still usable by anyone. 

I’ve let these strange dice and strange ideas for weapons fuse into a possibly half-baked idea called alchemical engines. Here is my current draft. The goal was to make the guns a tad unpredictable and unlike many other weapons in the game. My guns probably needs an iteration or two, a good deal of playtesting, and they definitely needs more feats and items to go with theme (hobgoblin canons, baby!) but it is good enough for the home game and playtesting, and that’s what matters…at least for now. 

Alchemical Engines (Guns) 

All of these strange weapons sprung forth from a surprising source—the underground tunnels of the fey domains. Though stories abound of the Svirfneblin—a clan of subterranean gnomes, secreted in vaults of the underworld, who wield powerful elemental magics, but are honorable and just and may give succor to those daring to travel the boarders of chaos—most the gnomes of those tunnels are dangerous, devious, malicious, and cruel. Tinkers, torturers, and mad geniuses, these gnomes create diabolical devices, traps, and tools using the strange ores, crystals, and minerals found deep in the earth. One of their best known, often replicated or used as a prototype for similar weapons, is the gnome engine, often called the gnome gun or just gun. 

How do alchemical guns work? Few know. Artifice and arcane magic is often an activity of trial and error, and results matter more than any deep understanding of the fundamentals formulas of magic. Each gun is basically a long tube of metal, called a barrel, open at one end; sometimes that opening is flared. At the closed end is a specially imbued crystal of elemental thunder affixed to a hammer and an opening in the barrel perfectly placed to allow the crystal’s sharp point to enter the barrel when the hammer is released. The hammer is attached to a triggering mechanism, which allows a cocked hammer to be released with enough force so the crystal enters the hole in the barrel and slams into the ammunition. 

Ammunition, called a ball, is carefully shoved and positioned into the barrel. The ball is a metal casing usually holding two motes of elemental energy kept apart by a tiny wall of arcane force. When the crystal strikes a precise spot on the ball, it destroys the wall of force and ignites the resulting admixture. 

The crystal does more, though, it serves as an arcane focus for the shooter to channel  its own arcane energy or the residual energy around the shooter that he is trained to harvest. Energy focused in this way propels the ball and strengthens its blast. 

General Alchemical Engine Rules 

Most alchemical guns have the following rules elements in common. 

Ability Score: There are many methods for focusing the arcane energy of a gun. When a creature thunders a gun it can choose to use Constitution, Intelligence, or Charisma. The ability score is chosen when the gun is fired, but almost all shooters pick their highest score. 

Proficiency: It’s an Exotic Weapon Proficiency to use guns properly, but once a character is proficient in guns, they are proficient in all guns. A shooter proficient in the use of guns can focus more of the latent arcane energy in and around them at higher levels. At 11th  and 21st level their gun damage improves. Individual guns have their own entry for paragon and epic damage.  

Attack Type: Guns are either ranged, area, or close burst weapons. They are affected by feats, magic items, and powers that affect their attack type. 

Power Source: Unless stated otherwise, gun attacks are Arcane attacks, often they have at least one damage keywords attached to the attack. 

Ammunition: In order to be fired, a gun must first be loaded with a ball. Often guns have many types of balls it can use, and the ball determines the type of damage the shot deals. 

Crafting Ammunition: To craft ammunition one must have the Alchemist feat and the ammunition cost in alchemical reagents. When ammunition is made, it is only stable for a short and unpredictable amount of time. Whenever you take an extended rest, roll a d3 for each ball. On the roll of a 1, the ball becomes useless. 

Reload:Each gun has a reload times. Reloading takes a number of standard actions, which need not be consecutive. A gun takes two hands to reload. A character can load a gun and keep it loaded for as long as the ammunition is active. 

Misfire: Guns are not totally reliable. Each gun has a misfire number and a misfire die. Usually the misfire number is 1, sometimes it is a range, typically 1-2. When firing the gun, if the misfire number is rolled as the attack roll and the attack roll misses, the character rolls its misfire die on the misfire table, and suffers the result of that table immediately. 

Noise: Guns make a lot of noise. The gnomes who originated the guns love the noise, and use it to intimidate the enemy, but other races have found ways to mitigate the noise with the use of dampening crystals (see below). Without a dampening crystal, a gun can be heard half a mile away if out in the open, or at least 1,000 feet away in a dungeon or underground environment. The noise of the gun is usually enough to attract curious and aggressive creatures. 

Gun Weapon Properties 

Some guns have one of the following new weapon properties. 

Splatter: When firing a splatter weapon you choose a primary target and place the appropriate area burst on that target. First make a primary attack against a single creature in the center of that burst. If that attack hits, deal damage, and you deal the secondary damage to up to three other creatures within burst. If there are no other creatures in the burst, the weapon deals no secondary damage. 

Spray: Make an attack against the highest AC with the area of a spray attack. If that attack hits, you deal one of the damage dice and the ability modifier to that target. You can then apply other damage dice to other creatures in the attack area. You can apply multiple damage dice to creatures in the blast as long as each creature in the blast has one damage dice applied to it. You cannot apply more damage dice to a single creature within the area than the max die. 

The Guns 

The following are the rules for individual guns: 

Gnome Gun (Exotic Two-Handed Area Weapon) — Attack Type: Area 1 within 10 squares; Defense Targeted: AC; Prof: +2; Heroic Damage: 2d5 primary / 1d5 secondary (see splatter property); Paragon Damage: 4d5 primary / 2d5 secondary; Epic Damage: 6d5 primary / 3d5 secondary; Price:200 gp; Weight: 7 lbs; Group: Gun; Property:High Crit, Splatter, Small; Reload: 3; Misfire: 1/d14; Ammunition:frost fire shot (100 gp a ball; cold and fire damage), bright bang shot (300 gp a ball; radiant and thunder damage and the primary target is blinded [save ends]), sludge-burn shot (300 gp a ball;  acid damage and the primary target is restrained [save ends]). 

Dark One Pistol (Exotic One-Handed Ranged Weapon) — Attack Type: Ranged 5/10; Defense Targeted: AC; Prof: +2; Heroic Damage: d14; Paragon Damage: 2d14 damage; Epic Damage: 3d16 damage; Price:100 gp; Weight: 3 lbs; Group: Gun; Property: Small; Reload: 2; Misfire: 1-2/d12; Ammunition:death ball (100 gp; necrotic damage), eye-burn (200 gp; no damage but the target is blinded [save ends]). 

Axe Gun (Exotic Two-Handed Close Weapon) — Attack Type: Close blast 5; Defense Targeted: AC; Prof: +2; Damage: 10d3 (d3 damage die; 5d10 one-target max; see Spray property); Price:200 gp; Weight: 7 lbs; Group: Gun; Property: Spray; Reload: 4; Misfire: 1-2/d16; Ammunition:forge shot (100 gp; normal weapon damage); blast shot (200 gp; force and lightning damage and each target that takes at least one die damage is pushed 3 squares); Special: The axe gun also functions as a battle axe, but if a natural 1 is rolled while using the axe gun this way, it is damage as if the wielder rolled an 11 (mechanical malfunction) on the misfire table. Proficiency with guns does not allow the wielder to use it as a battle axe with proficiency. Anyone with proficient in a battle axe can use the axe gun in this way with proficiency. 

Dampening Crystal (Gun Add-On) — Cost: 50 gp; Sometimes called a void stone, this small black crystal is affixed to the front of the gun, near the barrel. When the gun with a dampening crystal affixed to it is fired, the sound of the shot is contained within the space of the firing creature. No one outside that space can hear the gun firing, but all creatures within that spaced are deafened (save ends). A dampening crystal has one use and is then consumed. It takes a minor action to affix a new dampening crystal to a gun. 

 Misfire Table (roll followed by result) 

1-6          Minor Explosion –The ammunition is wasted, and the shooter must succeed a saving throw or be knocked prone (dwarves and creatures with similar abilities get two saving throws and are knocked prone only if they fail both). The gun can still be fired. 

7-10       Major Explosion – The ammunition is wasted, a shooter takes damage as if it was the target of the gun (it is considered a primary target if using a gun has the splatter property). The gun must be repaired before it can be used again.* 

11           Mechanical Malfunction – The triggering mechanism no longer works. The gun must be repaired before it can be used again.* 

12           Critical Explosion – The ammunition is wasted, the shooter takes critical hit damage as if it was the target of the gun (it is considered a primary target the gun has the splatter property). The gun is destroyed. 

13           Crystal Rupture – The ammunition is wasted. The firing crystal is ruptured, and attacks out in a close blast 1; auto hit; 1d24 thunder damage; The gun must be repaired before it can be used again.* 

14-15     Barrel Breach – The ammunition is wasted. The barrel is breached and becomes so much scrap metal. The gun is destroyed. 

16           Arcane Meltdown – The ammunition in the gun and that carried by the shooter is wasted. All consumable magic items carried by the shooter are drained of their magic and become useless. The gun must be repaired before it can be used again.* 

*A character with the alchemist feat can repair a gun as part of an extended rest. It cost half of the gun’s cost in alchemical reagents to repair it.