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| 5 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Hi folks :)
This thread applies to both the double pistol and musket.
When you fire both barrels "at once", you have the chance to get a double jam.
The wording is as follows:
"This musket has two parallel barrels; each barrel can be shot independently as a separate action, or both can be fired at once as the same attack."
or
"This pistol has two parallel barrels; each barrel can be fired independently as a separate action, or both can be shot at once with the same action."
The operative words here are, "separate action" and "at once". Separate action is clear. "At once"; the only definition for this is that you pull one trigger or two at the same time and either one or both barrels fire. If you were playing at a table you would pick up one or two D20s and roll them together.
If you misfire, your gun gains the "broken" condition.
"Early Firearms: If an early firearm with the broken condition misfires again, it explodes."
The operative words here are, "with the broken condition" and "misfires again".
Using a double gun (pistol or musket) begins the round without the broken condition. It fires, regardless of how many misfires you roll (one or two - these happen at the same time as established above), at the end of those two barrels firing you NOW have the broken condition.
"If an early firearm with the broken condition..." It does not have the broken condition until the results of the barrels firing simultaneously are known. "...misfires again", no additional misfire in a separate action is happening.
Obviously, if you want to jam your gun and then try to shoot out the same barrel again (when it has not been properly cleared) then of course you're asking for trouble. This makes clear sense to me. This is one of the risks involved in shooting any gun - you need to keep them clean and free from obstruction.
Using a double gun that rolls two misfires (at the same time as established above), you get what I term a "double jam". Regardless of how many jams, it takes a standard (or move with quick clear) to clean it out and have it ready again.
At NO point do you take a broken gun, load it and fire it. Therefore the argument that a double misfire on the first causes it to be broken and on the second makes it explode is simply inaccurate as per the written rules which are 100% linguistically clear.
I didn't think this was even in contention as the rules are so very clearly printed but some people seem to disagree which is why I post it here for discussion and hopefully an official ruling. If it is NOT as it is written, then it makes using double weapons crazy dangerous!
Anyway, feel free to discuss and hit the FAQ button just like the last thread :)
Thanks in advance to the Design Team :)
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I do not prefer this interpretation. Here's a few reasons why in no particular order.
1) Early firearms actually are "crazy dangerous"
2) Double the shots with the exact same penalty and effectively half the time to clear two barrels is an incredible advantage to gain from equipment. Double the damage, half the time to clear from mistakes and the same chance of mistake per round? That is not okay for basic equipment.
3) Both barrels have just misfired. The worst you want to accept on that is a slap on the wrist? The barrels which are in parallel have just had parallel misfires... I feel that "BOOM" is the appropriate adjective here.
4) There is not a single old world firearm with multiple barrels which can be said to actually fire at exactly the same moment. There is always a gap between the first and later barrels firing, sometimes a very short one, but you can hear both blasting caps ignite. This means that one barrel's misfire actually does happen before the other or after. Broken, then destroyed.
5) Historically, multi-barrel weapons had a LOT of issues, blowing up in your hands was common. This is why there is a misfire chance and why the weapon can explode...
6) The intention, from my interpretation, is that when two misfires have occurred without intermediate repair, the weapon explodes. If those two misfires occur on the same round, then so be it. The idea that you have not "technically" had a chance to apply the Broken condition is all about sequence resolution and an arbitrary decision. If you rolled the first barrel, resolved the misfire, then rolled the second barrel and resolved its misfire, your sequence would have different consequences.
7) Nothing changes the fact that you have just scored a second misfire and not repaired the gun after the first misfire.
8) There is already an advantage to firing both barrels at once, your misfire chance has not gone up between attacks and so remains artificially low, as well as no further penalty to the second attack for being broken. In essence, you trade off an "early warning" (broken before exploded) for a more reliable final shot.
Having said all of that...there is nothing in the rules as written to indicate that a firearm should explode until after it has had the Broken condition applied to it and then scored a misfire. While I do not agree with your position as it relies exclusively on how you are resolving both barrel shots, there is a good argument here for your point of view.
I seem to recall reading that with the earliest firearms, people did not understand the value of cleaning and maintenance. Then too, metalurgy was not very advanced at that time. Put those facts together, and there was a reason that the early firearms were "crazy dangerous".