Firearms in Fantasy Campaigns IIIa - Updates

Need to revisit these as I've had a request for a gunslinger character from my group.

Based on comments from the previous post, here are my revised Home Rules.  The basic change is that I'm now using a formula to determine the KE brackets for each die of damage.  Size of damage bracket in KE = Cumulative sum (Damage Dice) *64.  So the first damage bracket is Cumulative Sum (1) * 64 = 64 KE.  As I said in the previous post, I centered it on the KE of an clothyard shaft (64); so the range is 33-96.  For the second damage bracket it is (Cumulative Sum (1,2))*64 = 128; third bracket range is (Cumulative Sum (1,2,3))* 64 or 384.  This has the effect of slowing the damage progression, modeling the ability of firearm projectiles to penetrate completely through the body without transferring all of their KE to the victim.

Range/Representative Weapons [KE]	KE	Base Damage	Damage Range (Min-Avg-Max)
0-96: 1 die damage Arrow(Clothyard shaft) [64] Handgonne - medium [71] Handgonne - short [92]	0-16	1	1-1-1
	17-32	1d2	1-1.5-2
	33-54	1d4	1-2.5-4
	55-75	1d6	1-3.5-6
	76-96	1d8	1-4.5-8
97-224: 2 dice damage Prussian Dryese Needle Gun [99] Wheellock Pistol [102] 1851 Colt 'Navy' Revolver [125] Flintlock Pistol (Thompson)[146]	97-139	1d6+1d4	2-6-10
	140-182	2d6	1-7-12
	183-224	1d6+1d8	1-8-14
225-480: 3 dice damage Matchlock Musket [229] Colt .45 M11911A1 [369]	225-310	2d6+1d4	3-9.5-16
	311-395	3d6	3-10.5-18
	396-480	2d6+1d8	3-11.5-20
481-928: 4 dice damage Handgonne-long [630]	481-630	3d6+1d4	4-13-22
	631-779	4d6	4-14-24
	780-928	3d6+1d8	4-15-26
929-1632: 5 dice damage Flintlock Musket (Brown Bess) [980]	929-1163	4d6+1d4	5-16.5-28
	1164-1398	5d6	5-17.5-30
	1399-1632	4d6+1dd8	5-18.5-32
1633-2656: 6 dice damage	1633-1974	5d6+1d4	6-20-34
	1975-2315	6d6	6-21-36
	2316-2656	5d6+1d8	6-22-38
2657-4064: 7 dice damage M1 Garand [2693]	2657-3126	6d6+1d4	7-23.5-40
	3127-3595	7d6	7-24.5-42
	3596-4064	6d6+1d8	7-25.5-44
4065-5920: 8 dice damage	4065-4683	7d6+1d4	8-27-46
	4684-5302	8d6	8-28-48
	5303-5920	7d6+1d8	8-30-50
5921-8288: 9 dice damage	5921-6710	8d6+1d4	9-31.5-52
	6711-7499	9d6	9-32.5-54
	7500-8288	8dd6+1d8	9-33.5-56
8289-11232: 10 dice damage	8289-9270	9d6+1d4	10-35-58
	9271-10251	10d6	10-36-60
	10252-11232	9d6+1d8	10-37-62
11233-14816: 11 dice damage M2 Browning .50 MG [13,166]	11233-12427	10d6+1d4	11-37.5-64
	12428-13622	11d6	11-38.5-66
	13623-14816	10d6+1d8	11-39.5-68

To Hit
Firearms are ranged weapons and attack accordingly.  The following special rule is used to model grazing shots.  Attack rolls between Target AC -2 and Target AC +2 are grazing shots and do 1d3 point of damage. Attack rolls greater than Target AC +2 do full damage.  For example, if the target in chainmail (AC 16) is shot at with a Wheellock pistol, attacks of 14-18 will graze the target and do 1d3 points of damage.  Attacks greater than 17 would do 1d6+1d4 damage. A natural 20 always does full damage, regardless of the target AC.

Critical Hit Multiplier
Pistols and Handgonnes have a multiplier of 3; rifles and muskets have a multiplier of 4.

Knockdown - getting hit by a bullet involves the transfer of a lot of energy into a bag of flesh, often that will be enough to knock the victim off of their feet. As was pointed out in the previous comments, rarely do bullets actually knock a person down in real life.  However, getting struck by a high speed projectile does have an effect.  To wit the character may take time to see if any important bits are missing, save as follows. For Pathfinder, if the damage from a single round exceeds the victims CMD. they lose a turn.  For 3.x they will make a Fortitude save DC = damage or lose a turn.  For 1e Save vs Paralyzation or lose a turn.

Massive Damage for all systems, I'll use a variation of the d20 Massive Damage rule.  If the damage exceeds 50 points (and you're still alive) Fortitude save DC (15+ damage/10) or die.

Previous Firearms posts
Firearms in Fantasy Campaigns III - Damage
Firearms in Fantasy Campaigns II - Technology by Era
Firearms in Fantasy Campaigns I