Gm - Firearms noise

[Doppleman]

Hi, one of my player just made a gunslinger and I'm wondering how much the noise will impact the group.

If they invade a fort and start shooting everything, would this alert every soldiers in the fort? Should I punish them everytime the gunslinger is so loud?

[Selvaxri]

Not EVERY soldier, but certainly those within reasonable earshot range, not to mention the echoes down a hall. Gunslingers aren't the best for close range stealth.

Old style flintlock pistols aren't quiet. There is an "Oil of Silence" that effectively muffles the firearms for an hour.

I wouldn't punish the players, just emphasize to the player that his weapons will attract attention.

[ekibus]

Yeah one of the last campaigns I gmed a player played a gunslinger and didn't stop to think about the noise. Honestly it woke up everyone. He learned after that.. Honestly gunslingers are pretty powerful so I didn't feel too guilty. But then I also killed a rogue with a 20 stealth because he had light cast on him in a dungeon and he wondered why with 30+ stealth they still saw him coming :P

Maybe remind him of the noise the gun makes..then he can come up with solutions..if not go at it :)

[deuxhero]

Don't forget to make your gunslinger take penalties on sound based perception rolls over time! (Seriously though, Gunslinger's Kit in UE should have included earplugs. They were in the same book.)

[MrCharisma]

Rules-wise I don't know if there's actually anything about guns being louder than an axe hitting a breastplate (and I defintely wouldn't follow deuxhero's suggestion about hearing loss without the player agreeing to this before s/he makes the character). Having said that, I doubt any players would be upset if you made the gun a little louder.

The Perception DC to hear a battle is -10.

This means that an enemy with a +0 to perception who's taking 10 could hear you from 200 feat away.
If there's a door between you it's 150 feet. If there are 2 doors it's 100 feet. If there are 3 doors it's 50 feet.
If there's a wall with no door between you it's 100 feet. If there's a door and a wall with no door it's 50 feet.

If you wanted to make guns louder (and again, I don't think many players would object) you could make the DC to hear a gunshot -15 or -20.

Also there's a difference between sneak-attacking an enemy and a battle. With a knife/sword/bow you could kill an enemy before they have time to react and assume this doesn't make the noise of a battle, but for a gun they don't get this option (without silence/etc).

[Geruvurrda]

An oil of silence silver the problem :)

Or a wand of "forced quiet"
But that has side effects :)

[deuxhero]

I was mostly joking (though earplugs should have definitely been in the gunslinger's kit).

As for the perception checks, in my experience a gunshot is easy to hear but surprisingly hard to distinguish from a distance (Since it's a single, instant sound. Especially with muzzle loaders there won't be rapid shots).

With deliberately soundproofed doors and walls and a surface designed to absorb sound (an indoor range) 100 feet away is about right in my experience. Since most rooms aren't designed this way, I'd say -15 loud though noticing gunshots within a normal battle is a perception check itself.

[avr]

With PF gunslingers there will be at least one shot per six seconds, probably more. That's enough for people to pick up direction pretty well.

[Doppleman]

Actually, my player is a gunslinger with rapid shot and two-weapons fighting. So it's more like 2-3 shots per six seconds... Pretty noisy.