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I know it's somewhat controversial, but one of the things that bothered me about 4e was the fact that I couldn't use firearms in my game if I wanted to.  I know it's not for every game, but in the editions of D&D that I played before (AD&D 2e and 3.x) at least had the options for adding weapons that were beyond the typical medieval fantasy setting.

It should 100% be a modular thing, but I'd like to see support for firearms in the PHB or DMG. 

Guns are harmless.






...you know what i mean.

the problem with guns in D&D is that they were never really handled properly. wether or not they are a good idea is more setting dependant then anything else. in your typical fake-middle-earth? no. in someplace like eberron? yes. darksun? one moment while i stop laughing.

usually guns fell under a few categories:

1 - better then a bow/crossbow. this generally meant the weapon was usually overpowered for what it did and you were stupid to not have one on hand. this generally punished people from playing the archer archetype. generally due to a larger/"exploding" dice damage or range.

2 - weaker then a bow/crossbow. on the flipside they were "primitive" firearms and strictly inferior to the bow/x-bow and not worth any effort to use or master.

"unreliable" - by this i mean they made the weapon "realistic" in the sense that it took so long to reload that you would get off one shot and then forget you have the weapon or had it explode in your hand should you fumble. these were "flavorful" but so impractical that no one ever used them. on the flipside i've seen gun rules that tried to balance the weapon's rarity/power/etc... via a ludicrous cost in the upwards of a 1000+gp it was generally to prohibitive for early game and once you could afford it, it was generally better to get a magical weapon instead.

honestly speaking? if anyone would have asked me if they could use a gun in 4th ed i would simply have them cross out the name of their bow of choice and reflavor to the right firearm.

this is usually because we use the bow and crossbow as the basline: the crossbow can be used by anyone and does more damage in a shorter range. the bows have a quicker recharge & longer range but generally require a more strict (ie: martial) training.

then we have the gun. it generally falls into the similar "point and click" category of the crossbow, but depending on the technology used the accuracy, reload, etc... of the firearms could vary quite wildly.

honestly i hope 5th ed takes a Gamma World approach to weapon design where you pick a general category and reflavor the weapon itself to your needs, but i'm not holding my breath.

Feb 1, 2012 -- 10:26PM, wbcundiff wrote:

This remind me of a comic not entirely about D&D but still applicable. You might enjoy it.

Awesome comic.  Thank you for sharing it, I'll show it to my group!

I would like something about firearms like that article of Dragon Magazine.

The great challenge (I meant headache) is firearms are allowed.. some monster like goblins can use them againt PCs. If the firearms are too powerful... who will play the elf archer or the paladin of shinning armour? It can be possible the guns and rifles are dangerous like ("cheap") magic wands (about balance of power and those things) but in a settin where the secret of gunpowder is known.. why warrior use swords and armours yet? Some god of war could give to his clerics "bulleproff" spells (because only hand-to-hand combat is enough honorable), o wizards can creates spells like "watering gunpowder" or "burning gunpowder" (only the arcana elite can have got those power).