Guns Guns are slightly more complex than Melee weapons. They have a variety of categories and their own rules for firing them.
Size • Small (pistols etc): One-handed. Up to medium caliber. Can be used as a 1d4 melee weapon. Weight 1. • Compact (rifles or smgs): Snapshot at disadvantage. Up to big caliber. Can be used as a 1d4+Str melee weapon. Weight 2. • Big (Snipers and Machine Guns): No snapshot. Disadvantage on attack if any other actions were taken this round. No limit on caliber. Weight 5. Caliber • Tiny. D4 damage, 1 recoil • Small. D6 damage, 2 recoil • Medium. D8 damage, 4 recoil • Big. D10 damage, 6 recoil • Huge. D12 damage, 8 recoil RoF • RoF ranges from 1 to 5. Higher is better.
Building Guns You probably read the rules above and are wondering why doesn't everybody just carry around a RoF 5 Medium caliber pistol. Unfortunately, current gun engineering practices cannot create such munchkin wonders. The table below shows the caliber up to which certain gun combinations can exist. Guns listed as “-” or not listed on the table (e.g. RoF 5 Small d8 gun) do not officially exist, and if they do they are either experimental or highly illegal.
RoF Small Gun Medium Gun Big Gun (Below)
1 d8 d10 d12
2 d6 d8 d10
3 d4 d6 d8
4 - d4 d6
5 - - d4 Magazines Magazines are based on caliber and gun size. Smaller calibers can store more shots per magazine.
Caliber Small gun Medium gun Big gun
d4 1d10 1d12 1d20
d6 1d8 1d10 1d12
d8 1d6 1d8 1d10
d10 - 1d6 1d8
d12 - - 1d6 Option: Oversized magazine. Oversized magazines weight 5 and bump up the gun’s ammo die by 2 steps (max d20).
Gun Rules Shooting them a bunch Guns can make attacks up to their RoF in a round, but every additional attack after the first imposes a cumulative penalty to all of them equal to the gun’s recoil. Note that each attack does not represent literal bullets. E.g. PC uses a tiny caliber gun to make three attacks. They roll 3d20, each at a -2. PC uses big caliber gun to make two attacks, and rolls 2d20, each at -6. Each hit scored deals damage as normal.
Shot of Opportunity - Snapshot Guns are faster than your usual ranged weapons and can be used to reflexively shoot at someone, much like how a melee combatant may get an attack of opportunity. Guns “threaten” the entirety of their short range. If an opponent takes any of the actions below while in the threatened range and within sight of a combatant armed with a gun, that combatant may take a Snapshot - he may make an attack against said opponent during that opponent’s turn - so long as he has a readied small or medium gun. Snapshots are always taken at the gun’s full RoF, unless specified otherwise. • Moving out of active cover • Becoming a valid target for the combatant after being an invalid target last round (entering their field of vision, becoming visible, ending a charm spell) • Moving more than half their move then engaging the combatant or someone else in a melee • Reloading or reloading and then firing ranged weapon such as a gun or crossbow (not nocking an arrow) The actions below do not trigger a snapshot, but do trigger a melee attack of opportunity (a pistol whip, a rifle-butt): • Moving out of the combatant’s melee reach • Doing anything other than attacking or defending themselves while in a melee with a combatant (using an item, concentrating) • Shooting at someone else while engaged in a melee with the combatant (note that this does include snapshots!)
Magazines and Reloading Guns have a limited ammo capacity which is based on their caliber. Whenever firing a gun, you must roll the ammo die, which is a dR. When that runs out, you must reload your gun. Small guns can be reloaded as a small action (although that provokes attacks of opportunity and snapshots), while medium and big guns take a whole round to reload. At the referee’s option, you may Save or pass a Dexterity test to reload your medium gun as a small action. Big guns always take a full round to reload.
Blindfire If a character fires upon another without looking at them, they only hit on a crit. Exceptions exist, like maybe shooting at a massive creature.
Active Cover As an action, a character may take cover. Characters cannot take cover and attack in the same round, except for blindfire. Once cover is taken, a character is considered “in cover”. While in cover in this manner, a character has an Active Cover defense; 4 for half cover and 8 for full cover. Active cover negates damage. Full cover is cover that 1) conceals the character from view and 2) cannot be easily shot through. All other cover is half cover. Needless to say, something that both is easy to shoot through and does not conceal the character from view is not cover at all.
Fighting from Cover While in cover, characters are assumed to be peeking out, looking for opportunities to shoot, etc. While in cover, characters may make attacks normally without breaking cover. Characters may try all manner of trick to get their opponents to break cover or to avoid getting shot at. Remember that leaving cover provokes snapshots. None of the rules for such tricks are listed here, since they can be ruled Ad Hoc by the referee. However, some examples below. • Pop-out attack: character quickly breaks cover, takes aim, and fires! The peeking they did helped pinpoint their enemy’s location, and taking aim is definitely a big help for landing that hit. +4 to hit, provokes snapshot. • False flag: character puts their helmet at the end of their gun and holds it above cover, so that their enemy breaks cover and fires. Character’s buddy has a readied action to shoot them as soon as they do; enemy loses benefit from cover. Make an attack! • Suppress: Character sprays a wall of fire to prevent their enemy from leaving cover! The enemy’s next attack has a CR equal to the weapon’s RoF; on a CR failure, they’re hit! Make an attack at AV 20. • Grenade: Ignores cover! Save for half damage.
Draw! Draw! Only works between two opponents with holstered pistols. Who shoots first? Roll 1d6 and add DEX and WIS bonuses, as well as the character’s HD. Lowest number loses. What happens? That depends on how far the two are from each other. • Close/no way you can miss - loser dies. • Short range - loser gets one normal attack after being shot, adding their total who shoots first result to both attack and damage, then dies. • Dubious range - winner makes an attack adding their who shoots first result to both attack and damage. Loser then does the same if he survives. • Far/legitimate dueling range - winner attacks first. Loser attacks second. Wait but I don’t want to kill him Well then you’ve got him held up. See Freeze! Below.
Freeze! Going for your gun while someone has you held up is dangerous. • Save, with a CR based on how far your hands are from your gun (above your head, by your sides, etc). On a failure, you’re hit for max damage and must Save or be stunned for one round. Ignores armor. • On a success, you’re armed. If both your opponent and you are willing to talk, you have each other held at gunpoint. If one or both sides shoot, roll initiative as normal. Killshot Some items or abilities allow for a Killshot. A killshot is a normal attack at -10. On a hit, damage is done as normal and the target must Save vs Death. Having a gun pressed up against someone’s head isn't a killshot, they’re just dead. Final Stand A player can declare they are making a final stand. They can then kill an amount of HD worth of enemies equal to their current level x 5. At the end of their final stand, the PC dies. Make sure to make it epic, and describe the play-by-play. This rule is only for story games.