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5e Dmg Firearms

Fantasy Firearms[edit]

So, picture this. You're playing D&D. The guy next to you has a sword, the gal on your right uses her fists, and the friend of loosely-defined gender who sits across from you wields arcane magic of destructive potential. You? You've got a gun. Now, if you're playing in a fantasy setting... hey, maybe guns don't fit the tone. But, in a world with enchanted weaponry, undead, and whatever the heck Flumphs are, it's not unreasonable to say some gnome or dwarf had the idea of making fantasy-gunpowder from dragon bone or fairy dust or something. So even in the most Tolkien-esque settings, there may be a place for it.

That said, the DMG does give rules for weaponry for renaissance, modern, and futuristic settings. Unfortunately, said weapons are not balanced for the traditional high-fantasy settings most are used to. So, this page will categorize, instead, firearms (or firearm-adjacent creations) that could conceivably fit in your run-of-the-mill D&D campaign.

DMG Firearm Rules 5e. On page 267 in the dungeon master guide there are rules for the use of firearms in 5e. One of my players is playing a swashbuckler from SCAG and is running somewhat low on bullets and gunpowder. My problem is that there is no info about how much powder the keg and horn contain, or how much gunpowder you need. On page 267 and 268 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, WotC provides information and rules on including firearms in your games.In fact, they go on to say if you want a more three musketeers feel to your game, here are a few Renaissance firearms to include.

Pistol Damage 5e

The Reload (X) Property[edit]

Currently, there's three types of vanilla D&D ranged weapons: Bows, Crossbows, and Thrown Weapons. Bows are two-handed weapons, with no restrictions to how often you can fire them. Crossbows have the loading property, preventing the user from firing them more than once per round (or requiring them to take the Crossbow Mastery feat), but many have more damage or are one-handed to compensate. Thrown weapons are just disposable melee weapons.

To differentiate firearms from these types of weapons, they can receive a 'Reload' property. Weapons with the reload property can hold a certain amount of ammo, e.g. a Revolver with 6 rounds. So, unlike crossbows, firearms can be fired more than once per round. However, when they run out of rounds, the weapon cannot be fired again until you use an action to reload it. Then, just like crossbows, they can come in one-handed or two-handed varieties. A firearm user does not need to invest in a feat to take advantage of any extra attack class features they get, over a crossbow user, but then has to deal with needing to spend a turn in 'down-time' every now and then. A weapon with a Reload(2) or even a Reload(1) property would be really rough!

Categorized List[edit]

Feel free to put the [[Category:Fantasy Firearms]] onto any firearm page that meets the following criteria:
1) It uses the Reload property
2) It is balanced alongside other vanilla D&D weapons, as opposed to the anachronistic weapons listed in the DMG or on this site.
3) The fluff for the page works for a fantasy setting, even if it uses copious amounts of Magitek. (If magic can create a wall of pure force or cross dimensions, it can also create an enchanted weapon that can accelerate a metal slug at relativistic speeds...)

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If you want to model the swashbuckling style of The Three Musketeers and similar tales, you can introduce gunpowder weapon to your campaign that are associated with the Renaissance. Similarly, in a campaign where a spaceship has crashed or elements of modern-day Earth are present, futuristic or modern firearms might appear. The Firearms table provides examples of firearms from all three of those periods. The modern and futuristic items are priceless.

Proficiency

It’s up to you to decide whether a character has proficiency with a firearm. Characters in most D&D worlds wouldn’t have such proficiency. During their downtime, characters can use the training rules in the Player’s Handbook to acquire proficiency, assuming that they have enough ammunition to keep the weapons working while mastering their use.

Properties

Firearms use special ammunition, and some of them have the burst fire or reload property.

Ammunition. The ammunition of a firearm is destroyed upon use. Renaissance and modern firearms use bullets. Futuristic firearms are powered by a special type of ammunition called energy cells. An energy cell contains enough power for all the shots its firearm can make.

Burst Fire. A weapon that has the burst fire property can make a normal single-target attack, or it can spray a 10-foot-cube area within normal range with shots. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the weapon’s normal damage. This action uses ten pieces of ammunition.

Reload. A limited number of shots can be made with a weapon that has the reload property. A character must then reload it using an action or a bonus action (the character’s choice).

Table

Firearms

Modern

5e Dmg Firearms Rules

Futuristic