A friend is playing a alchemist with the tinkerer archetype and chooses the promethean disciple discovery at level 6. Then he can build constructs and modify them, including his clockwork familiar (this is a construct with creation rules then it is modifyable). As he likes the idea of a steampunk-themed character, he plans to make constructs with integrated firearms.
What I understood by reading the rules:
- a construct is considered proficient with all its integrated weapons;
- integrated weapons are considered a part of the construct itself and cannot be sundered or disarmed, but are immediatly ruined if the construct is destroyed;
- constructs have the same restrictions as most creatures regarding attacks per round, not being able to use weapon attacks and some of their natural attacks in the same full attack.
The catch is that ranged weapons need ammunition, most of them need reloading and firearms may misfire on a bad roll.
Excluding the cases of magic weapons and specific constructs with a baseline ranged weapon and endless ammo:
1) Does the construct need an external source of ammunition?
2) Is reloading time modified in any way?
3) Can an integrated firearm misfire? If so, what happens, and what can be done about it? (especially interesting since integrated weapons cannot be damaged separately by the rules)
Solely by what you have provided here:
1) Yes, if you exclude those cases you mention, any other ranged weapon would need ammo.
2) No, I see nothing in what you've posted here that details any reload times would change, so all reloads would be baseline unless the constructs have feats to change them, or the player has feats to change them and he is able to share feats with his construct
3) Yes. The construct would follow all the rules to clear the misfire if the firearm was not destroyed by it. Additionally, The rule you provided doesn't actually say integrated weapons cannot be damaged. It says they can be be sundered or disarmed. So they are not susceptible to targeted attacks by enemies, that is completely separate from damage that would happen to the weapon by other means.
Disclaimer: Again, I have not put any effort into further research on the topics at hand, and are making these determinations only with the information you provided.
I agree with the above. In the case of ranged weapons, I would probably allow one magazine/quiver/case of internal ammo to be held as part of affixing the weapon. Ie. if it had an integrated bow, it would hold 20 arrows, if it was an internal crossbow it could hold a case worth. This doesn't make it reload faster (without giving it that ability) and it would have to be refilled (unless you can have manufacture its own, say X ammo every day).
Obviously specific weapons and cases might be different. You could probably even add additional ammo space, but that would require modification or build points as appropriate (as opposed to the integrated space part of having the weapon installed). Same for misfires, they'd need to be cleared by someone (unless the construct can do it itself, just like it could be programmed/commanded to gather spent ammo and refill its own ammo). Though I also haven't actually researched or looked further into it, either.
Pizza Lord wrote: I agree with the above. In the case of ranged weapons, I would probably allow one magazine/quiver/case of internal ammo to be held as part of affixing the weapon. Ie. if it had an integrated bow, it would hold 20 arrows, if it was an internal crossbow it could hold a case worth. This doesn't make it reload faster (without giving it that ability) and it would have to be refilled (unless you can have manufacture its own, say X ammo every day).
Obviously specific weapons and cases might be different. You could probably even add additional ammo space, but that would require modification or build points as appropriate (as opposed to the integrated space part of having the weapon installed). Same for misfires, they'd need to be cleared by someone (unless the construct can do it itself, just like it could be programmed/commanded to gather spent ammo and refill its own ammo). Though I also haven't actually researched or looked further into it, either.
Magic weapons could solve the problem, except Endless Ammunition is prohibitively expensive and cannot be applied to a firearm, the only firearm with something equivalent to Endless Ammunition is the Pistol of the Infinite Sky, a very expensive and very short-ranged weapon, or else Shadowshooting can be applied to firearms and removes the need to reload but it has way too high chances to tank their damage output even at medium level.
The suggestion of creating ammo storage inside the construct is good but the rules don't seem to allow it at all, and I'm fairly sure constructs - even those with an intelligence score - cannot benefit from worn magic items. I guess being able to give ranged attacks to all constructs with no strings attached would have made them too powerful.
I guess I will suggest the cylinder rifle to my friend: it's long to reload but can hold up to 8 bullets at a time and has a decent range increment.
Also there's nothing to say that you can't put a bandolier/quiver/whatever on a construct and have it understand how to access ammunition from that source.
Or build separate constructs whose 'mission' is to resupply ammo to their larger brethren. Or along a similar line have one construct whose sole mission is 'ammo carrier', others who resupply from the carrier and the 'gunner' construct ... a whole construct heavy weapons team if you will. And like the others I haven't gone off to explore the rules in detail but this is off the norm enough that 'making stuff up' falls well within the DM's purview.
It seems to me like the how of reloading is just fluff. Duct tape a musket to a construct and it doesn't matter how the reloading is described, just that it take a full round and requires both hands (or whatever appendages) free.
The ammo hopper or magazine or whatever is the same as whatever bag and powderhorn a regular character would use just built in to the bot or bolted on, but again its just fluff.
Off the top of my head:
A bot that fires a musket out of his hand like megaman or something. After each shot it has to unhinge its hand and reloads like a normal muzzleloader then close its hand
One that shoots pistol rounds from an arm attachment like megatron and after each shot it removed the tube and replaces it with a fresh one but its still a move action because it doesnt have any feats (which can just be refluffed as an upgrade)
One that has a culverine in its chest that cranks a handle for three rounds to move grapeshot and gunpowder up from magazines in its legs to reload
My point is, it doesn't matter what the character is described as doing in the game, it just matters that it follows the prescribed rules. I say let the player strap whatever they want to the thing and make up the coolest sounding reload animation they can and then just say it take a move or full round or whatever.
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