I was just wondering in the first instance if there are any signs of a 4E Ptolus coming up or some decent conversions around the web.
And the second query was over firearms and 4E. I may have missed it but has anyone come up with Firearms for the system?
Obviously the firearms are part of the Ptolus setting but the Forgotten Realms brought in firearms in the second edition and by DR1370 or so it was supposed to be available in reasonable quantities across the realms (according to Forgotten Realms Adventures-2nd Ed suppliment book).
|
Ummm, what do you mean fire arms? You just take something and say it's a gun now. 4E doesn't need special systems for that kind of thing. Just grab say a longbow or a crossbow, whatever you really want and call it a gun. Make your powers go bang-bang.
Heck, you could use your ranged class powers and just say your shooting a gun. Works for everything, wizard's spells, warlock blasts, etc.
Can't you just use the stats for a Longbow and call it a firearm? Maybe you could bump up the damage to d12 and give them "High Crit"
I'd just re-skin crossbows as guns, but I like Raevhen's idea, too. Make it a Superior weapon: d12 damage, high crit, move action to reload like a crossbow, range as crossbow. That's your musket style firearm. Have another one with shorter ranges, which you could use one-handed, that's your pistol. I'd have one Superior Weapon feat let you become proficient with both.
Ummm, what do you mean fire arms? You just take something and say it's a gun now. 4E doesn't need special systems for that kind of thing. Just grab say a longbow or a crossbow, whatever you really want and call it a gun. Make your powers go bang-bang.
Heck, you could use your ranged class powers and just say your shooting a gun. Works for everything, wizard's spells, warlock blasts, etc.
I disagree and I'm kind of grappling with this issue myself. The weapon itself is really just a small part of the issue and if it was merely a case of making weapon stats that'd be easy. The problem really rests with the fact that weapons inform powers. Usually a characters power is reflective of the types of weapons in play - so if your going to go with some kind of gun armed character then you need to watch a whole bunch of western's so that you can compile a big list of rocking shoot 'em up powers. You want stuff like shoot twice, then slide 4 spaces and end up prone (cause every western I've every seen, just about, has guys blaring away with a pistol in each hand while diving for cover. Higher level versions of the power might let you slide further and end up standing (guns blaring into a combat roll and come up with guns blaring).
You could try adding guns without having powers to back them up but I suspect that the results will be pretty unsatisfying. Hence, from my perspective, its not the guns that are the problem but making the gun totting character class thats the issue. It can be done, and if done right I bet it totally rocks, but making 4E character classes is a lot of work.
|
|
Or you could just be a ranger and call your longbow a gun. Same mechanical effect in the end. Plenty of powers let you do all that.
Everyone and every power just does some damage and then pushes/slides things around. You the player are what add any of the flavor to those powers, it's your imagination which fuels the game.
Or you could just be a ranger and call your longbow a gun. Same mechanical effect in the end. Plenty of powers let you do all that.
Everyone and every power just does some damage and then pushes/slides things around. You the player are what add any of the flavor to those powers, it's your imagination which fuels the game.
Totally agree with the fact that it's imagination that fuels the game but I was hoping I'd missed an article or something giving the stats for old school flintlock pistols, muskets, rifles from Napolionic era for the Forgotten Realms and Ptolus.
Loading times are an issue I'd say because I really can't see a blinding barrage from a rogue being done with a flintlock pistol so some powers would be ok with guns but others would need to be created possibly.I did work up some basic conversions with the gun generally having higher damage and having Higher Crit Properties but taking either a Move or Standard actions to reload.
So any help would be appreciated.
I think I can fairly confidently say there will never be a 4E Ptolus. Monte Cook seems not to be writing for 4E and the scale of Ptolus is so enormous as a project.
I think I can fairly confidently say there will never be a 4E Ptolus. Monte Cook seems not to be writing for 4E and the scale of Ptolus is so enormous as a project.
I sorted of figured it wouldn't be converted over being 700 plus pages worth of quality detail of the city.
Personally there's not a lot of work required to convert it other than gods (which should be easy to align with the new system) and firearms. The other stuff is excellent fluff which a DM can use regardless of the system and any NPC conversions are an absolute doddle with 4E, just need to read the entry in the Ptolus book for the 'flavour' of the NPC to build them with.
There was a 4E supplement called scarport (deviant press?) that was available which tackled the concept of guns and had a gunslinger class, but I believe they no longer exist. With the base 4E weapon damage in mind, you could use a 3E system as a reference, like SpirosBlaak:
http://paizo.com/store/sale/greenRoninApocalypseSale2/v5748btpy7ev1
This is affordable reference material, and reminds me of a Gothic setting.
There was a 4E supplement called scarport (deviant press?) that was available which tackled the concept of guns and had a gunslinger class, but I believe they no longer exist.
Many thanks, Scarrport is still available so I got the PDF and it looks pretty good so far. It is a bit more advanced weapon wise than I was thinking being that they appear to have more like 1860 pistols(six shooters) and Rifles but would only take a small tweak to do what I want.
There are Powers geared toward the guns as well which is nice.
Loading times are an issue I'd say because I really can't see a blinding barrage from a rogue being done with a flintlock pistol
Why not dude? that sounds bloody awesome to me! If he can do it with hand crossbow, why not a flintlock pistol?
I always (personally) found making your players look badass is much more fun than fiddling around with the nitty gritty of whether or not its "realistic".
Loading times are an issue I'd say because I really can't see a blinding barrage from a rogue being done with a flintlock pistol
Why not dude? that sounds bloody awesome to me! If he can do it with hand crossbow, why not a flintlock pistol?
I always (personally) found making your players look badass is much more fun than fiddling around with the nitty gritty of whether or not its "realistic".
Magical Auto reloading gun I may do because the imagery is cool but not a standard flintlock. I'm not keen on a crossbow being used for a blinding barrage though, shurikens or daggers only, the imagery for shurikens being whipped out in a fan like spray and cutting opponents across the eyes is excellent.
I play 4E in the Ptolus setting and one of my players have specialized in using firearms. Here is how I chose to implement it:
Firearms are exotic weapons, and as such no class have proficiency in them from the start. In other words to fully enjoy firearms you must use a feat to gain prof.
Here are the stats for a Dragon Pistol
Dragon Pistol: Prof. +2, Range 10/20, Damage 1d12, Reload Minor
Some of the feats that apply to bows and crossbows I have judged to also go for firearms. Such as rapid reload (I think it is called).
There have been absolutely no problems with 4E and firearms. And it is fun to imagine various magic variants (use those that apply to bows and crossbows) as firearms. Very steampunkish :-)
The character in question is a ranger, and he also has a mechanical beast (beast ranger option) instead of a normal animal. Again this works fine.
The character in question is a ranger, and he also has a mechanical beast (beast ranger option) instead of a normal animal. Again this works fine.
That sounds so incredibly cool.
The character in question is a ranger, and he also has a mechanical beast (beast ranger option) instead of a normal animal. Again this works fine.That sounds so incredibly cool.
Yeah - that character is the source of much fun in the campaign.
The player does not try to abuse the stuff I let him have, he just want it for the flavor.His character owns and operates a repair-shop in town, that also serves as the base of the group. Here he mends broken watches, tinker with his mechanical gadgets, such as his breakfast machine (therefore most of the other characters make sure not to arrive at the shop until after breakfast).
As some of you may know, the Ptolus setting also has the dreaded chaositech items. And it is fun to watch him struggle with what could be termed as "the dark side" of this steamtech stuff. The others have a watchfull eye on him, especially when it comes to "what should we do with this weird sword-graft-on gizmo?" :-)
|
I spent most of summer and this past fall reading through Ptolus, thinking I might finally DM a campaign there.
Instead, I'm having another go with Curse of the Crimson Throne. At the same time, I'm going to be borrowing a lot of fluffy stuff. (Didn't get a single response to my post on how I'll be doing so, but there it is if you ever do Ptolus-y stuff in Korvosa.)
While gearing up for a possible Ptolus 4E game, I did some digging and found the work of a cool Swede named Jens. See here for Black Powder Weapons. None of my players bit at the chance to play a gunslinger, but I'm retooling some of the baddies to be packing heat.
With the suggestions people have made I am happy to convert the Ptolus guns over. I have also found some excellent tech stuff in the Scarrport setting along with some magical gun enhancements.
Many thanks for peoples input it has been really helpfull.