Firearms and other classes

[Bruno Kristensen]

I'm aware this is somewhat unrelated to the actual play-test, but how will the other classes react to the introduction of fire-arms, from a mechanical point of view.

Example: Sniper archetype for the Rogue class gets an ability that allows the character to half the penalty for range with bows and crossbows. Will this be updated to include firearms (the idea of a musket wielding sniper intrigues me and is not entirely unreasonable, IMO).

Example: Can a wizard pick a firearm as his bonded item? What happens if it explodes? (and will it be less likely to do so, considering it has magical energies running through it?)

[Dice in a barrel]

This sort of thing needs to be looked at, and why would other classes need an exotic WP? Guns were popular for their ease of use

[Oliver McShade]

With the ability to bypass Touch AC

Why take a exotic WP for them.

Against any creature with +5 natural armor or better, you still win out even without the exotic wp -4 penalty.

[darth_borehd]

Dice in a barrel wrote:

This sort of thing needs to be looked at, and why would other classes need an exotic WP? Guns were popular for their ease of use

Exactly. A trained longbowman could out-perform a man with a musket just about every time. The trouble was, it took years of training for a longbowman to get to that point. A few hours of training for a musketman. .

[ProfessorCirno]

darth_borehd wrote:

Dice in a barrel wrote:

This sort of thing needs to be looked at, and why would other classes need an exotic WP? Guns were popular for their ease of use

Exactly. A trained longbowman could out-perform a man with a musket just about every time. The trouble was, it took years of training for a longbowman to get to that point. A few hours of training for a musketman. .

Ironically in D&D, just about everyone can use longbows, while guns are exotic and difficult to handle.

[Bruno Kristensen]

The "Exoticness" comes from it being new and unfamiliar, I guess. But yes, it doesn't exactly make sense.

I was part of the playtest group for Dark Legacies, a (now sadly defunct) dark fantasy/steampunk setting, where Repeating Crossbows and Bows had changed places (Repeaters were martial, bows were exotic). A few classes started with proficiency in bows (the Lurker - a variant ranger and the barbarian, I think), but that was it. I wouldn't mind a variant rule that did something like this.