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FIREARMS
FOR 3rd Ed D&D
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| Frankly, a lot of rubbish is talked
about in regards to firearms, so while this article has tables
and statistics for their use in 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons,
I will first describe some of the facts about them! |
1) FIREARMS ARE NOT DEATH RAY DOOMSDAY WEAPONS!!
An idiot with a gun is still an idiot, they require
training and skill to use effectively, however, they require less
skill to use against a trained opponent than do most medieval
or melee weapons. It takes time, learning and physical prowess
to use a sword with skill, where as learning basic firearm training
and shooting is much easier.
People have been fired at with full automatic weapons at close
range and survived totally unhurt, then again others have died
from single tiny .22 bullet wound: firearms are very unpredictable
when used in real life, like any form of combat. Firearms are
dangerous because they can hit a target from a distance many
times, and can penetrate light armour and cover, not because they
do insane amounts of damage per hit (...though .50 calibres, shotguns
and a few other weapons can inflict horrendous injuries...) |
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2) LETHALITY
You are considerably more likely to die from a stab
wound from a knife than most bullet wounds. Edged weapons cause
massive bleeding and may sever limbs and organs, thus proving
rapidly fatal, heavy blunt weapons have the mass to knock you
off your feet, break bones, joints and rupture vital organs leaving
you traumatized with shock and dying from massive internal bleeding.
Bullets push tiny holes through you more akin to having a steel
rod thrust through, unless this hits a vital area chances are
you will survive, it bloody well hurts though, but the shock due
to the impact speeds can cause trauma to the nervous system and
maybe instantly lethal, or render you stunned or incapable of
fighting. Unlike Hollywood, grown men scream for their mother
and need morphine to subdue the pain. The long term effects of
bullet wounds are usually lethal though if untreated! Though there
is less blood loss than with an edged weapon, it still occurs,
also organs maybe permanently destroyed where as a cut may heal
quickly.
Infection is a serious issue due to the amount of dead tissue
and the fact there's a hole punched through you. Also, hydraulic
shock (see 3 below) may cause enormous areas of tissue to be destroyed,
that would need totally removed or it will cause infection. Shattered
bones may also lead to amputations of limbs if there is no advanced
surgery or magic available. Blunt weapons may break bones which
can be repaired, but firearms can totally disintegrate sections
of them.
As a general rule in D&D, victims of firearm wounds
are less likely to suffer from bleeding to death when reduced
to below 0hp. Light weapons have 10% chance, Medium 20%, Heavy
40%, Very Heavy 60% of the vicitm losing hit points as per the
normal rules, otherwise they "stabilize" |
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3) FIREARM DAMAGE
Firearms primarily cause damage by blunt trauma (in
D&D terms guns cause damage by blunt or piercing, whichever
does the most harm to the target type), this can cause the victim
to be instantly rendered stunned or dazed by
D&D rules if the DM wishes to use very realistic rules,
due to trauma to the nervous system cause by the velocity of impact.
While that's appropriate for most "normal"
creatures, it probably wouldn't effect Outsiders, Abberations
and certainly not any being immune to Critical hits, so it's a
DM call on what may or may not be affected. Very powerful, high
velocity weapons, such as typical hunting rifles, 7.62mm assault
rifles, .30 and .50 calibre machines guns have a nasty effect
called "hydraulic shock". Most of the human body is
made of, or filled with water, when a bullet hits organs they
act like rubber and may be pushed aside or punctured, thus the
injury is usually less lethal than that cause by an edged weapon
which will cleave them apart.
However if bullet is travelling very fast the water
in organs gets compressed and blows a shock wave through the tissues,
exactly like a depth charge going off under water. This causes
massive damage to tissues, may also cause bones to shatter explosively,
rupturing arteries and such like, this is why victims of such
weapons may be hit in a non-vital area, but catastrophic internal
damage can destroy nearby organs and kill them, cause near instant
death due to nervous system trauma, or even sever limbs and create
huge exit wounds.
Also this massive damage potenial lets them tear
walls, trees etc apart, this is a function of their ability to
damage versus the target's hardness, just like normal rules from
the Dungeon Master's Guide on damaging items, automatic
weapons though can put a hell of a lot of hits into an object
in a few seconds. |
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4) HARD HITTING
Bullets are armour piercing, they hit so incredibly
hard, and are so small, they punch clean through things, hiding
behind a tree or wooden wall is of little use against firearms!
The table here shows typical penetration abilities of firearms.
However Cover and Concealment modifiers from D&D rules work
as normal, walls etc do make it harder to hit you but they are
no guarantee of safety. You can use this table to determine when
soem one gets "Total cover"
| Pistols & Shotguns (buckshot):
Can penetrate car bodywork, normal wooden doors and walls,
plasterboard walls. |
| Light Rifles & Shotgun (slug):
Can go through the above items, or 2+ feet of wood, a breeze
block, single brick wall, 1/4 inch of mild steel. |
| Medium Rifles: Can go through above
items, or 3+ feet of wood, up to 4 courses of bricks (2
walls), crack a car engine block and 1/2+ inch of mild steel.
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| Heavy Rifles: Can go through the
above, or 6+ feet of wood, up to 6 courses of bricks (3
walls), or 1 inch mild steel |
| Very Heavy Rifles: can go through
the above, or up to 12 courses of brick (6 walls), 1 foot
of reinforced concrete, 2 inches of mild steel or 1+ inch
armoured steel. |
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5) FIREARMS IN D&D
Bullets are small, very fast and hit hard, are thus armour
piercing, they get a STRENGTH bonus to damage and ATK, as well
as their users Dexterity bonus, bullets do not have special supernatural
ability to pierce amrour, it's purely due to high velocity and
small size. However because they are so tiny, they cannot guarantee
to put all of their energy into the target, and often punch clean
through, and expend most of their energy on what's behind the
target.
For this reason, firearms do not get their STRENGTH damage bonus
as a full, absolute value, rather it's a random range. For example,
a 9mm handgun bullet gets a +5 ATK and Damage bonus,and would
do an extra 1 to 5 hit points of damage due to it's strength.
A sword on the other hand, has sufficient mass, volume and surface
area to ensure that all the energy the user puts into the swing
goes directly into the victim, so the if the user has 18 Str,
a longsword does 1d8+4 damage, but a 9mm bullet is highly likely
to punch clean through a victim, making a small hole doing 1d5
damage for the size of the possible wound and 1d5 hp for the strength
of the projectile, so the total is 2d5hp. The armour piercing
ability of bullet is literally their STRENGTH ATK bonus, just
like a person using a melee weapon or mighty longbow, it's not
a special or supernatural ability!
However, DumDum bullets *do* get the full bonus (see
below) |
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6) GENERAL DAMAGE
As a general rule, the potential maximum damage of a bullet equals
it's STRENGTH bonus to ATK and damage, which is shown in the table
below. |
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7) DUMDUM BULLETS
Where as most modern firearm bullets are solid, hard,
armour piercing projectiles, some, especially hunting ones, are
designed to "splatter" on impact, causing more damage,
and less chance of punching through and endagering folk behind
the target. There are a variety of these bullets, but the effect
is the same: the victim will typically take higher damage than
from a normal bullet. Hollow points have a small hole in the tip,
on impact air compresses and blows the nose of the bullet open
like a mushroom, Soft points have the hard bronze jacket missing
at the tip and the soft lead core flattens on impact. Shotguns
and weapons from the 15th to late 19th Centuries use soft lead
bullets and are ALWAYS dumdums, this is one reason why hits from
muskets and Western revolvers were usually fatal, the bullets
splattered on hitting, blowing the crap out of the poor victim.
In D&D terms, DumDum bullets do get to add their full ATK
value to damage. DumDum bullets are not magical, they have no
more energy or potential to cause more damage than a normal bullet,
they just generally expend far more of their energy in the victim
than normal bullets, but have only 1/2 normal cover penetration
ability.
Note that automatic weapons almost never use dumdum
bullets as they can cause jams, unless the user has specifically
made sure such bullets are ok to use with the weapon. Additionally,
they are illegal for most military forces to use as they are against
the Geneva Convention. However there's an odd effect called "keyholing"
that happens when a bullet hits soft tissue and starts to tumble,
ripping through flesh and causing massive wounds just like a dumdum
bullet. With a few military weapons that is an accident, but others
deliberately engineer bullets and the gun's barrels to do so.
Examples include the Russian AK-74 whose bullet has a bending
tip, and the early Vietnam era M16 when a propellant change and
bullet design caused this.
A bullet called a "Glasser slug" is available
for many weapons, this special,expensive bullet is a dumdum that
on impact totally breaks apart, preventing penetration of any
cover beyond an inch or two of wood, cannot ricohet, and does
massive damage to soft targets. They are often used where civilians,
equipment or vehicles maybe harmed by penetration through the
main target, they won't go through aircraft so there's little
risk of the plane suffering explosive decompression. In D&D
terms Glasser bullets always cause maximum damage from a hit,
however against creatures with massive armour and body tissues,
such as dragons, giant crocodiles, dire elephants and the like,
they do no damage at all! Against creatures with thick armour,
including humanoids in metal armour, damage is halved. |
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8) RATE OF FIRE
This is a major difference between firearms and melee
attacks and weapons like bows. Guns are totally mechanical devices,
the number of potential attacks is primarily based on how fast
the weapon can fire! It doesn't matter if the user is a lvl 1
street punk or a lvl 20 Elite soldier, an AK 47 will still fire
the same number of bullets, but the soldier will hit a damn sight
more often than the untrained punk! Most weapons are semi-automatic,
firing one bullet per trigger pull, others are capable of automatic
fire, where they fire as long as the trigger is depressed. The
big issue with firing guns is the severe recoil, the more bullets
you fire, the less likely you are to hit. In D&D terms, for
every bullet you fire in a round you suffer a cumulative-1 hit
penalty, and use your base ATK, Dexterity and the bonus for the
firearm combined.
Most firearms maximum rate of fire is 6 shots per
round (semi-auotmatic); 30 shots per round for most automatic
weapons; 60 per round for betl fed/tripod/bipod machine guns;
3 shopts per round for bolt actions; 4 for pumpaction.
Firing more than one shot is a FULL ROUND ACTION.
The user may of course chose ot fire one shot, or any number up
to their maximum.
For example, a lvl 10 fighter with 15 Dexterity is
firing an M16 assault rifle at an enemy, he's firing slowly using
precise shots and conserving ammo, so he is only taking 1 shot
per round (+10 for level, +2 for Dexterity, +6 for Light Rifle
type, -1as he's firing only one bullet per round = +17 ATK), if
he was firing full auto, trying to hose down the target, he'd
get up to 30 shots in a round but at -12 ATK (+10 level, +2 Dex,
+6 weapon type, -30 for 30 shots). Full automatic fire is hell
of an innacurate, it's really meant to be used for
"suppression fire", see below. Now if a foolish
gang member, lvl 1 rogue, opened fire with an AK-47 full auto
30 rounds to hit one specific target, he'd suffer a -34 Atk penalty,
-4 for not having the Automatic Weapon Feat
(which takes training to learn), and -30 for the number of rounds!
So the odds of him hitting any target except by sheer
bad luck on the victim's part is pretty small, which is how
it works in real life.
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Maximum firing rates for various
weapons:
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Single barrel: 1 per round
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Double barrel: 2 per round
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Bolt action 3 per round
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Pump or lever action: 4 per round
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Semi automatic or Revolver: 6 per
round
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Full Automatic: up to 30 per round
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Belt Fed Automatic: up to 60 per
round
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Muzzle loading pistol or musket 1
per 4 rounds
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Percussion cap muzzle loader 1 per
3 rounds
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Reloading a weapon is a full round action usually,
muzzle loading weapons 3 rounds, percussion muzzle loaders 2 rounds,
"Peacemaker" style side gate revolvers 2 rounds. |
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9) TYPES OF WEAPON
Single and double barrel weapons may include shotguns
and big game rifles like elephant guns. Bolt actions are typical
hunting rifles or military weapons up until about 1950 that hold
5 or 10 bullets. Semi-automatic is the most common weapon nowadays,
firing one shot per trigger pull until the magazine is empty,
a modern semi-auto pistol usually holds 12-16 rounds. Automatic
weapons can vary from standard assault rifles like M16s or AK47s,
to belt fed machine guns fired from bipods or tripods, like the
M60, Bren Gun, and .50 calibre Browning. Machine pistols and submachine
guns fire pistol calibre bullets, and are quiet small, however
they suffer from severe recoil problems when fired full automatic,
and machine pistols are particulalry innaccurate due to this.
Pump and lever action weapons can be Winchester rifles of Western
legend or police shotguns, they usually hold 5 to 9 rounds if
shotguns, 10 if rifle ammo or 15 if pistol ammunition.
Guns of the same type firing the same bullet do the
same damage for all practical purposes! A Desert Eagle Semi-auto
pistol firing a .44 magnum bullet, with the same barrel length
as a Smith and Wesson .44 magnum does the same damage, the bullets
are not somehow made miraculously more powerful. However, different
weapons may have differing advantages, such as magazine capacity,
concealability, accuracy and reliability that the Dm and players
may wish to expand on.
Guns fire 3 classes of modern ammunition: pistol,
rifle and shotgun. Pistol bullets have shorter cases and less
propellant, so their bullets go slower than rifle bullets but
you can carry more ammunition for them.
Shotguns in a combat setting usually fire buckshot,
lead spheres around. 1/3rd inch across, they spread out on firing
so there is no penalty for range, but they have a short maximum
range of effect, about 40 yards. The pellets spread out from shotguns
at around 1 inch per yard travevelled, even if they are sawn off
(contrary to Hollywood). Shotguns can also fire solid slugs, which
do enormous damage because they are massive lead bullets, or bird
shot which are tiny pellets that beyond 10 yard simply will not
do much harm to most targets. Shotguns work differently than most
guns, the pellets are basically a solid mass up until about 20
feet from the barrel, so the damage is heavier and the user's
normal ATK rating is used, after that they spread out into a cone,
and the ATK rating is merely the bonus of the cartridge itself
and the damage somewhat less. This area of effect is oen reason
shotguns are liked, folk know they will get torn to shreds.
Up till the end of the 19th century, muzzle loading
gunpowder weapons were still used. These fired enormous lead ball
ammunition, created huge clouds of smoke, were often extremely
innacurate and sometimes dangerous to use! From the 15th to 17th
century most "musket" type weapons used "matchlocks",
they had a piece of slow burning cord to ignite gunpowder in a
pan that then ignited powder in the barrel, and were notoriously
unreliable, as wind and rain easily made them unusable. Wheel
locks were an improvement on matchlocks that flourished around
the 1600 to 1700s, they were very expensive and used a form of
wound-up spring to create a shower of sparks into the pan, more
reliable than matclocks they still had problems.
Flintlocks eventually replaced matchlcoks and wheellocks and became
the standard firearm up until about 1860, they used a large spring
hammer to create a shower of sparks into a secured power pan and
were pretty reliable. After this period, the percussion cap was
invented which first lead to percussion weapons, basically the
same as flintlocks but faster and more relaible to use, and this
then lead to the modern cartridge bullet.
I have divided the table of weapons into common calibres
and basic types. You can fit most weapons into them easily |
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.22 Pistols: commonly used for target shooting,
plinking, as back up guns and as silenced weapons used by assassins.
The recoil from these pistols is negligible.
.25 Pistol: generally a back up or ladies weapon, easily conceable
and more reliable than most .22s.
Light Pistol: .38 Special, .380 Auto, 9mm...there are a number
of popular light calibre weapons used by police, military etc
as back up or target weapons etc.
Medium Pistol: 10mm, .44 special these pistols are typical weapons
currently favoured by police and others requiring good "knock
down" potential, and may hold up to 20 rounds. The .44 Special
is a Western revolver calibre, used in that era but still in use
today, as it packs good punch (being a soft lead bullet) and used
in small, highly reliable revolvers as back ups or for concealability
with a decent punch.
Heavy Pistol: .44 magnum, .357 Magnum, .45 Auto(ACP) These are
the "big boys", fired mostly from big, bulky guns with
small ammo capacities (6 to 15) and requiring some Strength and
skill to use (Strength 10+ or -2 hit).
Very Heavy Pistol: .50 AE, .454 Cazul, massive guns that are unwieldy
to use for those with small frames (12+ Strength or suffer -2
hit), they only hold a few rounds, 5 to 8 usually but cause devastating
injuries.
.22 Rifle: commonly used for target shooting, plinking, rabbit
hunting,and as silenced weapons used by assassins. Virtually no
recoil.
Light Rifle: .223 (5.56mm NATO), .44 Magnum, 30-30...From M16s
to Winchester rifles firing pistol bullets, there are a wide variety
of weapons that fall into this class.
Medium Rifle: 7.62mm NATO(.308), .303, .30-06 Common Hunting and
military calibres, these pack considerable punch and long range
accuracy. M-14s, FN-FAL, AK-47 Kalashnikov, Bren guns are in the
Medium Rifle category.
Heavy Rifle: .50 calibre Sharps, .416 Rigby, .375 H&H Used
in heavy hunting rifles for large game, or in some sniper rifles,
such weapons tend to be large.
Very Heavy Rifle: .50 Browning, .600 NitroExpress, fired from
huge weapons these are literal elephant killers. The .50 Calibre
browning machine gun bullet is fired from the Barret sniper rifle,
which doesnt take much strength to use, but a lot of strength
to carry around! The big Nitro Express elephant guns require 13+
Strength to use or suffer -2 hit penalty and you will take some
minor subdual damage (1 hp ) firing the damn things if you aren't
strong enough. The .50 Calibre Browning Machine gun is only fired
from tripods or vehicles and is justifiably feared, hitting targets
over a mile away with enough force to punch through every wall
in a house.
12 Gauge Shotgun: the most common cartridge for shotguns, it usually
fires about 12 large buckshot pellets, doing 2d6+6 hp to 20 feet
on single target, or 2d6 to 40 yards in a cone 6 feet across.
16 Gauge Shotgun: a cartidge often used by women or youths, or
where worries on damage to buildings like barns is a concern.
Does 2d4+4hp to 20 feet on single target, or 2d4 to 40 yards in
a cone.
Light Musket: Muzzle loading gunpowder hunting rifles from 1500s
to 1800s fall into this category, firing bullets from .40 to 50
calibre, they were expensive and relatively accurate, aand used
by hunters and the rich. Pennsylvania squirrel rifles used by
American marksmen in the Revolutionary War would be such guns.
Heavy Musket: Again, muzzle-loading gunpowder weapons of the 1500s
to 1800s, they fall into two types though: military muskets which
were often dreadfully inaccurate (like the British Brown Bess),
or big game rifles like early Sharps buffalo guns. They fired
.50 to .70 calibre ammunition that inflicted horrendous damage.
Muzzle Loading Pistol: There were a huge variety of these from
the ealry 1600s to mid 1800s, from heavy cavalry pistols to light,
very accurate duelling pistols. Note that the "Blunderbuss"
was actually a heavy pistol that fired a charge much liek a 16
guage shotgun, it did *not and never did* fire nails and such
liek as is often written about, the barrel woudl have been ripped
up or blown up! It fired lead shot same as a shotgun. |
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10) JAMMING
Most modern weapons that are properly used and taken
care of will rarely jam. Bullets can get stuck in the magazine,
firing pins get bent and all kinds of malfunction may happen if
firearms are either old or not cared for. Jams are pretty serious,
and usually cannot be fixed if the person doesn't have proper
training in the weapon, it's very uncommon though for a part of
the weapon to actually break, which would render the gun unusable
until repaired by an armourer in a machine shop. Unjamming a weapon
requires 1 full round.
On a roll of natural 1, a modern weapon in good
condition merely misses, if the weapon has been poorly handled
though it has a 10% chance of jamming. If the weapon is from the
1900s to 1950s, it is 20%+ likely to jam, the DM can adjudicate
the amount on circumstances. Weapons from the 1800s to 1900 are
also 20% likely to jam though the poorer design and materials
of those weapons means that a jam has a 10% likelyhood of causing
the gun to blow up in your hand! Doing 1d6 hp to the user. Weapons
from the 1500s to 1800 will jam on a roll of 1, the likelyhood
of this causing harm to the user depends on the quality of the
weapon, with percentages of 10--40% being possible. |
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11) Hollywood is full of sh*t!
Most folk with common sense know this ;), but in relation
to firearms, "John Woo" dives while firing, blazing
away with 2 machine pistols, hitting a running target with a pistols
at 50 yards is horseshit. People do not go flying through the
air when hit by pistols, belt fed machine guns fired from the
hip continously when you don't have padding on bruise hell out
of you and will almost certainly miss.
You wish to hit a target with a pistol, you use both
hands to hold the weapon in a secure grip and take good aim, because
unless the target is a few feet away you'll probably miss. Pistols
are very innacurate compared to rifles.
The only weapon that may actually knock a person flying
through the air is a .50 calibre heavy machine gun, most of the
energy in a bullet is absorbed by the tissues on impact in a chaotic
fashion and most of the rest gets expended on the ground/scenery
behind when the bullet hits something like dirt or a wall: not
enough is absorbed and converted to momentum to actually push
people flying. However, hits from very powerful weapons or from
a lot of bullets due to automatic fire can knock a person to the
ground due to shock and some momentum, but they don't fly...
Heavy and full automatic weapons produce a lot of
recoil, elephant guns, .30 or 7.62mm machine guns or full auto
assault rifles cause huge recoil. This is why machine guns are
fired from bipods or tripods, or held very firmly and fired from
a good stance that will absorb the recoil. For example, the World
War2 German MG42 and it's modern version fire around 1,200 rounds
per minute, you fire that without being braced, you'll get knocked
on your arse and possibly suffer severe brusing or even broken
bones, same with a .600 NitroExpress double rifle unless you are
well built (ie have high STRENGTH).
Firing guns makes a lot of noise, this has to be repeated,
a LOT of noise! If you fire weapons often, especially indoors
with heavy or automatic weapons, you will go deaf! This is why
the police etc wear ear protectors, or use moderated weapons.
Guns run out of bullets, yes contrary to what the
films show, they do, which is why soldiers carry a lot of ammo
if they expect major fighting. Typically, a police officer will
only carry 2 magazines or reloads, they don't expect to re-fight
the Alamo! A soldier on patrol may have 5 magazines, or 10 if
expecting a real "firefight". Ammuniton for belt fed
guns is very heavy and a lot is needed so it's either stored near
the weapon, carried on a vehicle or spread out amongst the members
of a patrol.
"The Code of The West!"...now that's real
bullcrap! Much of the "legendary West" was inspired
later by writers. A pistol cost a lot more than a rifle or a shotgun,
weapons far more useful to cowboys to hunt and do real battle
with. Hit something with a sixgun? Well they weren't terribly
accurate due to manufacturing being less efficient back then,
few folk truly practiced with them and not everyone with bad eye
sight had glasses...Real sheriffs didn't walk into a saloon alone
with their gun in their belt, they a got a dozen or more deputies
and friends, snuck up on folk and aimed shotguns at them through
windows, prefferably while the miscreant was in bed. Very, very
few folk were dumb enough to argue with a loaded shotgun pointed
at them, and the very dumb ones got buried. |
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12) Carrying ammunition
Most modern weapons carry ammnition in magazines,
the capacity varies from weapon to weapon, there's many books
which will give you the info on the exact amount. A belt for a
Medium belt fed machine gun usually holds 200 or 250 rounds and
weighs about 20 lbs. |
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13) SNIPING
Rifles are *very* accurate, a modern rifle can have accuracy to
1/4 of a degree of angle, this means that it is accurate to 1/4
inch at 100 yards, that's more accurate than humans can actually
shoot, which is usally 1/2 degree of angle. This allows you to
shoot a target very precisely in vital areas, and far enough away
that they wont generally spot you, so they are totally caught
unaware. This usually means a hit from a marksman is instantly
lethal, it's really a "coup de grace", just like if
you caught a person sleeping and shoved a sword through his neck!
Sniping attacks also apply to pistols or any time
when a *single* shot is fired in a round, from surprise and the
victim is unaware he's about to get shot. Only creatures that
are roughly like normal humanoids or animals may be "sniped",
for example a hill giant or dire lion have normal anatomy and
thus easy to figure out where the brain and heart is, but a storm
giant is simply too damn big and a mind flayer has alien anatomy.
Sniping attack, in D&D, if the victim does not know the attacker
is endangering him, and is moving no more than a very slow walk,
he is flat footed, and suffers an instant critical hit, and if
the attacker has sneak attack, that applies too! The victim must
then make a Fortitude save wth a DC equal to the damage or die.
Exactly like a Coup de Grace. |
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14) RANGE
Guns have phenomenal ranges, but practically it's not possible
to shoot as far as the bullet can travel, hence the range incremements
for the given weapons. Firearms maximum effective range is 20
range increments. |
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15) UP, DOWN & RICOCHETS
What goes up, must come down, it also comes down almost
as hard as it went up, a fact forgoten by the imbeciles who fire
guns in the air for fun. You haven't much chance of hitting anything,
but hundreds of folk are killed every year by this kind of stupidity.
When bullets can't penerate an object, or hit at a
sharp angle, they bounce, this is known as "ricohetting".
The bullet ends up spinng like crazy, often producing the well
known high pitched sound, and may bounce around until they hit
something. This is why firing indoors and in vehicles can be really
dangerous. Ricochetting is sometimes used as a tactic to hit an
enemy, especially one you may not be able to see. Firing a gun
in a room with solid walls or through an opening in a bunker or
tank ends up with the interior being full of buzzing bullets.
In such a case, anyone inside will be attacked by 1 bullet per
5 fired, with just a +4 ATK bonus, and the bullets act as DumDums.
Another version of this is firing a shotgun into a solid floor
near people you merely wish to injure or cripple, not kill, the
pellets totally splatter, lose much of their energy, fly out in
a 10' diameter, if victims do not have thick armour on their legs
(any metal armour or base AC +4 or better), this does 1d2 hp and
maiming them as per a caltrop in the Players Handbook. |
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16) SPECIAL BULLETS
Poison: It is possible to make posioned bullets, usually
with injected type poisons which then have normal effects on a
successful hit, however using the bullets in a gun rarely if ever
exposes the firer to the poisons, though the person who makes
them suffers the usual 5% chance of poisoning themself.. A rather
infamous type of bullet is the "Mercury DumDum", filled
with mercury, which while being a liquid is heavier than lead,
the bullet splatters on impact, and additionally sprays mercury
through the wound, which tearsthrough flesh and poisoning the
victim. The horrible weapons cause maximum damage on a hit, like
a Glasser Slug, and additionally, mercury is highly toxic, a Fort
save versus DC 20 is required or the victim suffers 2d4 Con damage
24 hours later, and another 2d4 Con 48 hours after injury.
Explosive: Very nasty but extremely rare and expensive,
bullets can be fitted with an explosive compound, this is very
dangerous and unless done properly with a great degree of skill,
the gun and its ammunition would explode on firing! Explosive
bullets act as dumdums, additonally they do extra Sonic damage:
1d4 hp if .22 or .25, 2d4 if Light or Medium calibre, and 3d4
if Heavy or Ultra Heavy. Damage caused by an internal explosion
if severe. However, these bulllets will not harm creatures with
extremely thick natural amrour as they will explode on contact,
so dragons and such like are unharmed.
Silver bullets: Silver actually makes a pretty good
bullet material, and are easily made with the right tools.
Tracer bullets: a small incendiary component in the
back of the bllet lets them leave a bright steak behind as they
are fired. Normally only found in military ammunition they are
designed so that firing at night, gunners can see where the bullets
are going, also they will ignite very flammable materials like
petrol, alcohol and the like, possible even grass and wood sometimes.
Armour piercing bullets: Normally very expensive and
restricted to military use, these have a varety of designs to
let them punch through armour using special techniques. Depleted
uranium in sabots, flattening tips, teflon coatings etc. the effect
is such that the base or natural Armour Class of the target is
5 less than normal.
Magical Bullets: It would be very hard to make magical
bullets for several reasons: bullets need to be made out of materials
suitable to firing from gun barrels--so many exotic or soft items
can't be used; they are tiny, which makes any runes, gem setting
etc hard; and on firing there is terrific heat, friction and shock
to the bullet. All of that makes many tradtional enchanting process
impossible to use on bullets, it's not impossible though, but
owuld probably require special research. |
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17) SUPRESSION FIRE (Machine Gun
Sycthe)
The main reason for using automatic weapons is "supression
fire". You blaze away at an area, scything down anything
unlucky enough to be in the area. Supression fire can of course
be carried out by any missile weapon: you launch enough attacks
at an area any dumb shmuck who goes through it maybe hit, the
idea is to keep the enemy pinned down, or to slaughter massed
assaults. Supression fire is a special form of attack, it is a
full round action, for every bullet fired into an area by that
attacker, there is 1% chance per bullet +1% per level that anyone
in the zone will be hit 1d3 times, the ATK bonus though is just
for the bullet type, there is no true aiming, it's merely mowing
the whole damn place down. Example: a 5th level soldier with a
belt fed medium calibre machine gun (7.62 mm M60) is blazing away
at ditch, keeping the enemy from standing up to attack at maximum
firing rate (60/round for belt fed), anyone who does stand up
has a 65% chance of being attacked 1d3 times, the ATK Bonus is
+6, damage 2d8. |
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18) ARC OF FIRE (and colateral damage)
Guns can shoot bullets in an arc of destruction, such
as when you use supression fire. Generally a
a long gun firing full auto covers a 90 degree flattened cone,
such as a belt fed machine gun, M16 or the like. However, submachine
guns, "bull pup" assault rifles like the British L1A1
and especially machine pistols, are very short, it lets their
arc of fire be much wider, up to 120 degrees. What's often over
looked, to horrible consequence, is that those arcs, especially
with short weapons, can cause innocent civilians, allies or friends
to get chopped up by your own bullets! Again this is another reason
full automatic fire is not used too much, quite seriously this
has killed a lot of soldiers in battle, and ordinary people in
the middle of gang shootings.
Whenever the DM thinks there is the possibility that bullets may
harm others, roll percentile dice, the chance of someone getting
hit is equal to the number of bullets fired, number of attacks
is 1d3, each only having the base ATK bonus of the bullet (and
no more bullets can attack than were fired in total). For example,
a hero in desperation, sprays a corridor full of monsters with
his AK-47's entire 30 round magazine, but his friend is also there!
There's a 30% chance his friend is attacked by 1d3 bullets, ATK
+6, damage 2d8. Also consider ricochets (see above),
firing a gun in acave or room/corridor with thick stone walls
is a very bad idea! |
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19) BULLETS VERSUS MAGIC (and liabilities)
Guns are great weapons for the untrained due to their
firing rate, and in an industrial world relatively easy to create,
so would they be good in a magical world? Hm, perhaps not...
Bullets explode! Bullets contain very inflammable
chemicals and the cap on metallic cartidges that triggers them
is *very* sensitive to heat, electricity and shock. Normally that's
never a problem, unless you get napalmed, ammunition dump gets
hit by lightning, a grenade goes off next to you or the like (which
is why ammo dumps are extremely securely made). Basically, if
a character is hit by fire, electrical or blast (sonic) type effect
and *fails* a saving throw, he needs to make another saving throw
against the same DC, if this too is failed, his ammo cooks off,
often starting a chain reaction with other rounds carried so they
may *all* go off....Exploding ammunition doesn't fire bullets
off like normal, there's no barrel to build up pressure and speed,
instead there's a small, fiery explosion, shrapnel from burst
casings, and spinning low energy bullets. For every 10 bullets
or gunpowder charges carried, this causes 1d8 hp to the person
carrying them with no save allowed (half fire--half piercing),
and everyone around in a 20' radius must make a Ref save versus
DC 12 or take 1d2 hp damage (piercing); maximum dmage is 20d8
and 20d2 respectively. Understandably this can cause a hell of
a lot of trouble if somone carrying 300 rounds of 7.62 mm M60
goes up after being hit by a dragon's fire!
Bullets aren't magic: Now this is a real weakness,
when fighting creatures that have high damage reduction and need
magic weapons to hit, guns are not much use at all! Individual
bullet's damage is counted against the damage reduction so against
a werewolf with DR 15/Silver or +1, a gun that can't do more than
16hp per hit is no use, and very few guns can...As noted
above, it's hard to make magical bullets, although
silver ones can be crafted by anyone with bullet making skills
and materials.
You run out of bullets: Ok so, after several days
fighting, 30 orcs attack, and your UZI clicks empty, no clips
left..You are soooooo screwed! A sword just needs resharpened
and your arms some rest.
Magic Items aren't made for guns: Magic items will
almost never be made for enhancing firearms, so while you may
get a Girdle of Strength that boosts melee attacks, it
does nothing for firearms beyond letting you carry more ammo. |
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20) FIREARM SKILLS & FEATS
Firearms have their own skills associated with using
them. Note that anyone not proficient with them has the usual
-4 hit penalty but also cannot *fix a jammed weapon* except
by making an Int check vs DC 11 and takes 3 rounds.
SKILLS
Craft--Gunsmith (Int; trained only)
This skill lets you repair and alter weapons provided you have
the right tool shop. DC varies according to what needs to be
done. Making a silencer is DC 20, fitting a Telescopic Sight
is DC 10; converting a smei-automatic weapon to full automatic
is DC 16 for examples.
Craft--Bulletmaking--Modern (Int; trained only)
Using reloading tools and materials you can make cartridge bullets
for firearms suitable from the late 1800's onwards.Crafting
a poisoned bullet is DC 14, Silver bullers DC 12, and an explosive
one is DC 22 provided you have the materials.
Craft--Bulletmaking--Gunpowder (Int; trained only)
This skill not only lets you mould lead bullets suitable for
gunpowder, muzzle loading weapons from the 1500s to mid 1800s,
it is also needed to to check gunpowder is suitable for firearm
use or grind it so that it is suitable, and to craft your own
gunpowder if you have the ingredients.
FEATS
Pistol Use
You are trained in the use of pistols and can use almost any
of them and know how to deal with jams, general maintenance
and the like. This feat is free to military personnel, and most
law enforcement officers.
Rifle Use
You are trained in the use of rifles and shotguns and can use
almost any of them, and know how to deal with jams, general
maintenance and the like. This feat is free to military personnel,
hunters, most law enforcement officers and many civilians (as
the DM sees fit). This also allows the user to fire military
rifles, such as M-16s., Kalashnikovs etc without penalty in
semi-automatic mode, *not* in full auto mode.
Automatic Weapon Use
You are trained in the use of automatic weaponry and can use
almost any of them and know how to deal with jams, general maintenance
and the like. This feat is free to military personnel, and is
very rare to any other group, note that merely owning an automatic
weapon and firing it a few times is not the same as knowing
how to use it properly with skill.
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21) SILENCERS
Guns, as said, make a *hell* of a lot of noise. This
can be reduced by fitting a gun with a silencer or moderator:
note that truly silencing a gun is very difficult, so when talking
about "silencing" a gun, it is often merely a case of
using a moderator to cut down the deafening thunder. In many movies
you may have seen an Ingram MAC-10 machine pistol with a big bulky
"silencer", it's actually a moderator designed to cut
down the appaling noise and give a longer barrel for the user
to grip with both hands: the noise is still bad but not so likely
to damage your ear drums.
To properly silence a gun, first a silencer must be made specifically
for it and the gun machined to accept it, and then the ammunition
specially tailored to fire at speeds below that of sound, because
some of the noise is due to the projectile breaking the sound
barrier. Since the bullet has less power than normal, silenced
rifles have a maximum accurate range of 300 yards.. Shotguns are
very hard to even moderate, and belt fed machine guns simply fire
too much ammunition to be silenced. Note also that most silencers
will not silence full automatic fire as it over loads them temporarily,
and some designs will burn out after some time, usually after
100+ rounds.
Silencers and moderators are also bulky, a true silencer for most
medium calibre or larger pistols, and any light calibre or heavier
rifles are very big and bulky, usually around 10 inches long and
3 inches wide or more and take time to fit and remove. As silencers
are highly illegal in most countries, and require precision gunsmithing,
they are very rare. The effectiveness of silencers and moderators
varies highly, a moderator may change the sound of a heavy pistol
from an obvious bang to a slightly muffled back fire or fire cracker;
silencers may reduce the noise to that of a loud handclap, but
only the very best are truly silent and then it's usually on small
calibre guns like .22s, .380 ACP or the like. |
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22) OTHER ATTACK MODIFIERS
Telescopic Sights: A true telescopic sight, as opposed
to a "red dot" or other quick aim device, doubles the
range increment of a weapon, so a rifle with a range incremement
of 100' now has a range increment of 200' feet. However only one
shot per round can be taken with a telescopic sight.
Firing from a Bipod or Rest: if a gun is fired from a bipod or
a secure rest, such as firing prone with the gun resting on something
for support, the user gets a +1 circumstance hit bonus.
Tripods: belt fed machine guns are fired from tripods, this gives
no D&D direct benefit because although recoil vibration is
lessened, the gun is harder to aim precisely, however the user
doesn't have to worry about supporting the weight or being hammered
by recoil. Note it's impossible to fire .50 calibre machine guns
without a tripod or vehicle mount (unless you are ogre sized),
and any belt fed machine gun fired without using a bipod or tripod
suffers a -4 hit penalty. |
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MODERN
DAY WEAPONS SUMMARY & TABLE
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BEING REDUCED
TO BELOW 0 HPs
|
As a general rule in D&D, victims
of firearm wounds are less likely to suffer from bleeding to death
when reduced to below 0hp. Light weapons have 10% chance, Medium
20%, Heavy 40%, Very Heavy 60% of the victim losing hit points
as per the normal rules, otherwise they "stabilize". |
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CRITICAL
HITS
|
Criticals occur on a "20" and do x3
damage. |
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JAMMING
|
Unjamming a weapon requires 1 full round.
On a roll of natural 1, a modern weapon in good
condition merely misses, if the weapon has been poorly handled
though it has a 10% chance of jamming. If the weapon is from the
1900s to 1950s, it is 20%+ likely to jam, the DM can adjudicate
the amount on circumstances. Weapons from the 1800s to 1900 are
also 20% likely to jam though the poorer design and materials
of those weapons means that a jam has a 10% likelyhood of causing
the gun to blow up in your hand! Doing 1d6 hp to the user. Weapons
from the 1500s to 1800 will jam on a roll of 1, the likelyhood
of this causing harm to the user depends on the quality of the
weapon, with percentages of 10--40% being possible. |
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SNIPING
|
Sniping attack, in D&D, if the victim does
not know the attacker is endangering him, and is moving no more
than a very slow walk, he is flat footed, and suffers an instant
critical hit, and if the attacker has sneak attack, that applies
too! The victim must then make a Fortitude save wth a DC equal
to the damage or die. Exactly like a Coup de Grace. |
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DUMDUM BULLETS
|
Because these splatter on impact, they dump nearly
all their energy into the targt, thus getting the full Strength
bonus to damage rather than a random amount. |
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SUPRESSION
FIRE
|
Supression fire is a special form of attack,
it is a full round action, for every bullet fired into an area
by that attacker, there is 1% chance per bullet +1% per level
that anyone in the targettted zone will be hit by 1d3 bullets,
the ATK bonus though is just for the bullet type |
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EXPLODING
AMMUNITION
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If a character is hit by fire, electrical or
blast (sonic) type effect and *fails* a saving throw, he needs
to make another saving throw against the same DC, if this too
is failed, his ammo cooks off
For every 10 bullets or gunpowder charges carried, this causes
1d8 hp to the person carrying them (half fire--half piercing),
and everyone around in a 20' radius must make a Ref save versus
DC 14 or take 1d2 hp damage (piercing); maximum dmage is 20d8
and 20d2 respectively. |
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COLATERAL
DAMAGE
|
Whenever the DM thinks there is the possibility
that bullets may harm others, roll percentile dice, the percentage
chance of someone getting hit is equal to the number of bullets
fired, number of attacks is 1d3 each only having the base ATK
bonus of the bullet (and no more bullets can attack than were
fired in total). |
SHOCK EFFECT
OF BULLETS
(for more lethal, realistic combat)
|
On a critical hit, the victim must make a Fortitude
save with a Difficulty Check equal to the amount of damage taken.
If they make the save they are dazed for 1d4 rounds, and if they
fail they are stunned for 1 round per point of damage. Dazed creatures
can take no actions beyond barely defending themselves and calling
for help. Stunned creatures are unable to act at all, lose their
Dex bonus to AC, and attackers get a +2 bonus to hit them. |
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SHOTGUNS
|
Shotguns work differently than most guns, the
pellets are basically a solid mass up until about 20 feet from
the barrel, so the damage is heavier and the user's normal ATK
rating is used (Base ATK, + Dex, +weapon bonus), after that they
spread out into a cone 6 feet across at 40 yards, and the ATK
rating is merely the bonus of the cartridge itself and the damage
somewhat less. |
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RANGE
|
Firearms maximum effective range is 20 range
incremements, not 10 as usual. |
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WEAPON
|
Range
Incriment
|
Maximum
Rate of Fire
|
Full
Auto capable?
|
ATK Bonus
|
Damage
(Dumdum)
|
Magazine
|
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.22 Pistol
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20 feet
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Up to 6
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NO
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+2
|
(1d2+2)
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6--18
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.25 Pistol
|
20 feet
|
Up to 6
|
NO
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+3
|
2d3
(1d3+3)
|
6--12
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Light (9mm, .38 etc)
|
20 feet
|
Up to 6
|
NO (very rare)
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+4
|
2d4
(1d4+4)
|
6--18
|
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Medium Pistol (.44 special, 10mm etc)
|
20 feet
|
Up to 6
|
NO
|
+5
|
2d5
(1d5+5)
|
6--15
|
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Heavy Pistol (.44 magnum, .45 ACP, .357
magnum)
|
20 feet
|
Up to 6
|
NO
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+6
|
2d6
(1d6+6)
|
6--15
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Ultra Heavy Pistol (.50 AE, .454 Casull)
|
20 feet
|
Up to 6
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NO
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+8
|
2d8
(1d8+8)
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5--8
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.22 Rifle
|
100 feet
|
Up to 6
|
Very rare
|
+3
|
(1d3+3)
|
6--18
|
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Light Rifle (.223, 5.56mm, .30-30)
|
200 feet
|
3 (bolt)
4 (pump)
6 (semi-auto)
30 (fullauto)
|
Possibly
|
+6
|
2d6
(1d6+6)
|
6--18
|
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Light Belt Fed Machine Gun (SAW etc)
|
200 feet
|
60 (belt fed)
|
Always
|
+6
|
2d6
(1d6+6)
|
6--18
|
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Medium Rifle (.303, 7.62mm, .30-06)
|
200 feet
|
3 (bolt)
4 (pump)
6 (semi-auto)
30 (fullauto)
|
Possibly
|
+6
|
2d8
(1d8+8)
|
6--15
|
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Medium Belt Fed Machine Gun (M60, MG42
etc)
|
200 feet
|
60 (belt fed)
|
Always
|
+6
|
2d8
(1d8+8)
|
6--15
|
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Heavy Rifle (.444 magnum, .375 H&H,
.416 Rigby)
|
200 feet
|
Usually 2 or 3
|
No
|
+8
|
2d10
(1d10+10)
|
6--15
|
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Ultra Heavy Rifle (.600 Nitro, .50 Calibre
Barret)
|
200 feet
|
2 or 6
|
No
|
+10
|
2d12
(1d12+12)
|
5--8
|
|
Ultra Heavy Belt Fed Machine Gun (.50
Browning)
|
200 feet
|
60 (belt fed)
|
Always
|
+10
|
2d12
(1d12+12)
|
5--8
|
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Machine Pistol (MAC11, Skorpion etc)
|
20 feet
|
30
|
Yes
|
+3
|
2d4
(1d4+4)
|
20 (or 30)
|
|
9 MM Sub-Machine Gun (UZI, Sterling)
|
30 feet
|
30
|
20
|
+8
|
2d8
(1d8+8)
|
20-50
|
12 Guage Shotgun
(buckshot)
|
Special
|
1 (single)
2 (double)
4 (pump)
6 (semi auto)
|
No
|
+6
|
2d6+6 to 20 feet
2d6 to 120' feet
|
5-9
|
12 Guage Shotgun
(solid slug)
|
Special
|
1 (single)
2 (double)
4 (pump)
6 (semi auto)
|
No
|
+8
|
2d8+8
|
5-9
|
16 Guage Shotgun
(buckshot)
|
Special
|
1 (single)
2 (double)
4 (pump)
6 (semi auto)
|
No
|
+4
|
2d4+4 to 20 feet
2d4 to 120' feet
|
5-9
|
16 Guage Shotgun
(solid slug)
|
Special
|
1 (single)
2 (double)
4 (pump)
6 (semi auto)
|
No
|
+6
|
2d8+8
|
5-9
|
|
Light Musket
|
100 feet
|
1/4 rounds
|
No
|
|
1d8+8
|
None
|
|
Heavy Musket
|
100 feet
|
1/4 rounds
|
No
|
|
1d10+10
|
None
|
|
Muzzleloading
Pistol
|
20 feet
|
1/4 rounds
|
No
|
|
1d8+8
|
None
|
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