D20 FIREARMS D20 FIREARMS The Definitive d20 Guide to Guns By: Ken Hood Additional Material: R. Hyrum Savage Editing: R. Hyrum Savage Layout and Design: R. Hyrum Savage Produced By: OtherWorld Creations www.otherworlds.cx d20 Firearms© 2007, OtherWorld Creations. The OtherWorld Creations logo, is a Trademarks of OtherWorld Creations. All rights reserved. Published Under the SRD, OGL, and d20 (v 3) License ©2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This book requires the use of the Players Handbook, Revised, Copyright Wizards of the Coast®. Used with Permission. All content not specifically called out as Product Identity is OPEN. 1 D20 FIREARMS (It also means that if you have a society with plentiful, cheap firearms, it probably will not be able to support an elite social class FIREARMS of warriors. Firearms equalize death-dealing potential. Jealous peasants with guns can Firearms play an integral part in any modern make mincemeat of aristocracy.) setting. Although not as deadly as in real life (modern heroes routinely run through a hail of bullets, either not getting hit or not ACCURACY being seriously injured), the rules below are a simple and effective way of introducing The bullet fired from a gun travels far faster firearms into any setting. than an arrow, sling stone, crossbow bolt, or hurled knife. In comparison to these weapons, it has less need to “lead” a target FIREARM ATTRIBUTES (i.e., aim in front of it) at long ranges. To all practical means, a bullet is invisible because Firearms have several special traits that of its speed and moves so fast as to be nigh make them different from other weapons, impossible to dodge. It is easy to aim and particularly muscle-powered weapons, like capable of precise targeting at relatively long the crossbow and sword. These traits are ranges. Wind, rain, and other environmental discussed below. effects do less to spoil its trajectory in comparison to more primitive weapons. For these reasons, this system gives CHEMICALLY PROPELLED firearms an attribute called Accuracy. A firearm’s Accuracy is a modifier to Attack rolls Unlike bows, slings, and crossbows, which when a character uses that gun. use mechanical, muscle-based force to hurl Normally, a firearm has an Accuracy a projectile, firearms rely on simple chemical modifier of +2. A weapon’s recoil and other combustion. The propellant detonates, special attributes can reduce or increase its transforming into a gaseous state. The gas base accuracy. expands, forcing the bullet down the barrel of the weapon. The bullet (and some of the gas) escapes the end of the barrel in excess of the RECOIL speed of sound, with a loud crack and flash. When a gun is fired, it is pushed backward The only practical limit to the velocity toward the shooter, and the muzzle pitches of the bullet is the rate at which gases can upward. This is called recoil or “kick.” Recoil is expand. This is quite unlike more “primitive” the gun’s reaction to its action of propelling a muscle-powered weapons that are limited by bullet. the strength and skill of the user. Regardless Generally speaking, the lighter the of who wields the firearm—from a withered firearm, the more it kicks. The more powerful crone to an Austrian bodybuilder—the bullets a round fired by a gun, the more the recoil. come out with the same force and inflict the The shorter the barrel, which causes more same damage. propellant gas to be wasted, the greater the What does this mean for a d20 game? recoil. Basically, a character does not apply his The more powerful a firearm’s recoil, Strength bonus to the damage inflicted by a the less accurate the firearm. When fired firearm. rapidly, recoil spoils the aim of the shooter, driving the barrel up and off target. 2 D20 FIREARMS In this system, a single number designates Recoil. The caliber of the round, size of the propellant, and size of the firearm Because firearms shoot small determine it. Accessories, like a muzzle brake, projectiles faster than the speed of sound, can reduce that number. they can punch through solid objects with The effects of the Recoil attribute are ease. This attribute is called Penetration. It described below. is the ability of a firearm to ignore armor. Penetration permits a weapon to ignore a RECOIL AND RAPID FIRE few points of Damage Reduction when it In this system’s simplified model of firearms, determines its damage. Firearms typically Recoil applies a negative penalty to your have Penetration from 4 to 8. attack rolls when you attempt to fire a gun rapidly. When you fire faster than single fire, RATES OF FIRE you’re going to suffer the effects of recoil. The With a modern, self-loading firearm, you can exact effects are described in each rate of fire fire several shots during the time of a single below. typical sword swing or thrust. Pumping out a veritable cloud of lead is nothing more difficult HEAVY RECOIL than rapidly pulling the weapon’s trigger. To If a weapon has Recoil of 4 or more, it simulate this in play, several new Rates of is considered to have heavy, brutal kick Fire have been created. Using a weapon with when fired and suffers a negative penalty a special Rate of Fire lets you shoot several to Accuracy. Table 1 shows the Accuracy times with a single attack action. penalties for different degrees of Recoil: These new Rates of Fire are designed with the KISS principle in mind: “Keep It Table 1: Accuracy Penalties for Recoil Simple, Stupid.” While more accurate ways Recoil Accuracy Modifier of modeling fully automatic fire exist, they 3 or less +0 require a high degree of rule complexity, 4-5 –1 bogging down the play of the game. These 6-7 –2 rules attempt to model automatic fire and still 8-9 –3 maintain the game-quickening abstraction that 10+ –4 underlies the rule system. Certainly there are more types of burst PENETRATION fire in the “real world”, but for purposes of In the 1850’s, a black-powder rifle, the Swiss this system, only three-, five-, ten-, and fifty- Federal carbine, was capable of firing a 10.5 round bursts have been created. Again, this mm ball with such force that it could “pierce keeps things simple. three one-inch thick wooden boards at a thousand paces” (quoted from The World’s STANDARD FIRE (SF) Great Rifles, by Roger Ford). Late 20th-century Standard fire allows you to attack with a cartridge firearms are capable of penetrating firearm as many times as you have attacks 24 or more layers of ballistic Kevlar, the per round. material used to make “bullet-proof” vests. It Almost every firearm permits you to is not uncommon for accidentally discharged perform standard fire. There are exceptions, firearms to punch holes through the walls though. For instance, certain machine guns of several houses in a row. Even firearms of and submachine guns let you fire bursts only. moderate caliber can punch through the metal bodies of automobiles; some are even capable of piercing the engine block. 3 D20 FIREARMS Recoil 3 imposes a –3 penalty to Jack’s attack rolls in triple fire mode. DOUBLE FIRE (DF) The first attack would normally be Double fire lets you fire two shots with each +8. With triple fire, it is three shots at attack. Each shot suffers a penalty to hit +5/+5/+5. equal to half the weapon’s recoil (round up, The second attack would normally be –1 minimum). a single shot at +3, but with triple fire it is Double fire may be directed at two three shots at +0/+0/+0. separate targets. This imposes a –4 penalty Jack gets six attacks: to hit both targets. +5/+5/+5/+0/+0/+0. Damage bonuses for specialization and the like apply to each shot you perform with 3-ROUND BURST (B3) double fire. A burst occurs when several bullets are rapidly and automatically fired with a single pull of a Double Fire Example firearm’s trigger. The advantages of a burst Jack has an Attack bonus of +8/+3. He are that it is easier to hit your target, and it is wields a double-action revolver with Recoil of possible that you might hit your target with 3. Jack decides to double fire on both of his more than one bullet, inflicting more damage. attacks. A 3-round burst counts as one attack; One-half the recoil of his revolver is three bullets are fired with a single pull of 1.5. This is rounded up to 2, so Jack suffers the trigger. If you perform a standard attack a –2 penalty on his attacks. action, you can do one burst. If you perform a The first attack would normally be +8. full attack action, you can perform one burst With double fire, it is two shots at +6/+6. for each attack. The second attack would normally be A 3-round burst provides a +3 Attack a single shot at +3, but with double fire, it is bonus. two shots at +1/+1. For every (2 + Recoil) points you roll Jack gets four attacks: over the number needed to hit your target, +6/+6/+1/+1. an additional bullet hits and inflicts normal damage, up to the total number of bullets TRIPLE FIRE (TF) fired at your target. Resolve the damage of Triple fire lets you shoot three times with each bullet separately. (For example, if you each attack. Each shot suffers a penalty to hit use a Recoil 3 weapon, for every 5 points you equal to the weapon’s recoil (–2 minimum).