I have seen some attempts at firearms for 4ed (and some good ones, at that,) but they all tend to focus on the black powder variety.  That is just fine for running games about pirates, steam-punk, or other period pieces.  What if you want to represent modern technology?  Here is the goal of this rules attempt:

• Fully integrated with the current rules – We shouldn’t have to change a basic concept like damage or AC to make these weapons work.
• Unique – We want firearms to feel at least a little different from other weapons.
• Balance of realism and usability – Firearms are powerful.  We don’t want to amp that power up so high that other weapons become useless.
• Simple – We don’t want to clog the system down with lots of additional bookwork.

What makes a firearm different than any other weapon?  Projectiles.  Lets compare a projectile from a firearm with the arrow, a weapon we already have defined for us.  They are both fired at range and they both kill their target by penetrating vital organs.  The major difference in these weapons is range and penetration.  A bullet is propelled at a much higher force than an arrow and modern firearms benefit from advances such as rifling, which increase the effective range of the weapon.  A bullet’s contact point is a small surface area, allowing it to expend less energy when entering the target, giving it a much greater penetration potential than an arrow.  While the former is a great convenience, the latter is the reason heavy armors such as plate and chain went out of fashion.

Weapon Range

The basic issue of range is easy enough to tackle.  When defining a firearm, give it a large range increment.

Most gun battles still occur within an acceptable distance to be represented on a battle mat.  The problem becomes when you want to represent combatants at extreme ranges.  Snipers represent a real advantage on the part of a force that has time to place them.  To represent this, combats that include snipers should have an outside track.  The outside track is the outermost set of squares that ring the battlefield.  If you are using a published map these squares can be imaginary, or if you are drawing the map you can choose to include them.  The outside track has some properties that work differently than a standard battlefield square:

• Squares in the outside track are not adjacent to squares on the battlefield, nor are they adjacent to other squares on the outside tract.  You can not trigger powers that require adjacency and you may not melee attack into any of the outside track squares.
• You may draw line of sight to or from an outside track square.  A person in the outside track can fire into the battlefield.  A person in the battlefield can fire back.  A person in the outside track may even fire at others in the outside track if they can acquire a line of sight.
• If you are in the outside track, all targets are considered at long range for your weapon.  Likewise, anyone firing at a target in the outside track considers that target at long range.  Because of this, bursts and blasts can not reach a target in the outside track.  (If you are firing from the outside track into the outside track, this is still just considered long range.)
• If you are in the outside track, you are considered to have cover.
• While in the outside track, you may spend a move action to slide one square in either direction on the track.  You may only move into one of the two squares orthogonally contiguous to your location (i.e. you must move into the squares directly on the corners of the map, you may not move diagonally around them.)
• Squares on the outside track may be co-occupied.  If the square is co-occupied, the occupiers do not block line of site, are still not considered adjacent, are still under cover, and are still at long range to each other.  If the square is co-occupied by two opposing characters and one of them wishes to engage in melee combat, these characters should be removed from the outside track and placed on a side-board.  The DM will have to adjudicate the specifics of this encounter.  (If you need a quick set-up, just say that the two combatants start 3d6 x 2 squares away from each other.)
• While in the outside track, you may spend two move actions to move into a battlefield square contiguous to your outside track square.  (In this case, you may move into one of the battlefield squares diagonal to your track square.)  In a similar fashion, a person in the battle field may move into the outside track.  A character moving in this way is considered to have run for both move actions.  If a character wishes to only spend one move action towards this goal, place their figure halfway between the outside track and the battlefield square.  That character must spend their next action to move into the battlefield or outside track square.  They are considered in the outside track for purposes of being targeted.

Sniper Scopes

Using the outside track rules, sniper scopes become a valuable asset.  If a weapon is equipped with a sniper scope, a character may spend a move action to aim with the scope.  Doing so provides two benefits:  First, the character may ignore any penalty for long range, including that posed by firing into or out of the outside track.  Second, the character may ignore concealment, including that posed by firing at a target in the outside track.

Armor Penetration

Most modern projectiles, even those not designed specifically for defeating body armor, have an Armor Penetration rating (or AP for short.)  For every point of AP, a weapon may ignore a point of the target’s AC.  The number by which the target’s AC is reduced can not bring it below the target’s Reflex defense.  (The best armor penetration is no match for getting out of the way!)  The ability to deeply penetrate also increases the chance that a projectile might hit a vital organ.  With this in mind, a weapon with an AP rating that scores a critical hit adds the AP rating to the damage.

In contrast, many modern body armors are designed specifically to resist high-velocity projectiles–sometimes to the exclusion of other types of attacks.  To represent this, some modern armors come with an Armor Penetration Resistance (or APR for short.)  When attacked by a weapon with AP, subtract the armor’s APR from the attack roll.  (This means that if the APR is higher than the AP, the attacker suffers a net negative modifier to the attack roll.)

Weapon Damage

Modern firearms have damage dice comparable to that of other weapons.  The damage die for a weapon is largely a function of the type of ammunition the weapon fires.  Most pistols and SMGs deal 1d6 points of damage and have an AP of 2.  Most rifles, and some particularly large handguns, deal 1d8 points of damage and have an AP between 4 and 6.  Extremely large caliber weapons (including some forms of machine guns and sniper rifles) deal 1d10 points of damage and have an AP between 6 and 8.

Ammunition can accept modifications.  A bullet can be made to more readily defeat body armor (but also expend less energy in the body.)  Reduce a bullet’s damage by one die type and increase its AP by 2.  The reverse can be done, making a bullet expend more energy in the target at the expense of penetration.  Reduce the bullet’s AP by 2 and give it the High Crit attribute.

Automatic Weapons Fire

A weapon capable of automatic fire can be used in one of two ways:  A short burst at a single target, or a wide burst at an area.  When firing a wide burst, the weapon makes a ranged burst 3 attack, targeting anything in the area.  When firing a short burst, if the target is struck with a non-critical hit, the attacker may roll 3 damage dice and discard the two lowest dice.  These firing methods can only be used in conjunction with standard range attacks; the recoil from firing a burst ruins any chance at using a class power.

Shotguns

Shotguns are a special breed of weapon designed to put a lot of lead in the air, increasing the chance of hitting the target.  The resulting blast can be very devastating at close range, but distance and armor both seriously effect the weapon’s performance.  A standard shotgun has a damage die of 1d10, the High Crit attribute, and no AP.  If the target is within the first range increment (which is typically 5 squares,) the attacker is considered to have fired a short burst at the target.  Unlike most weapons, the shotgun is usually listed with 3 range increments (each incurring an additional -2 modifier to attacks.)

A sawed-off shotgun can be used to produce a wide spread of shot, but extremely limits the ranged potential of the weapon.  With a standard action the sawed-off shotgun makes a burst 3 attack at up to range 5.  This sort of weapon only has a damage of 1d6, with no AP.  In addition, a sawed-off is too innacurate to use in conjunction with any sort of class powers, so it is limited to this standard ranged attack.

Reloading

Most modern weapons come with mechanisms to decrease the time it takes to reload the weapon.  Any weapon with this sort of technology available (such as clips or quick-load cylinders) requires a move action to reload.  If the character is wearing combat webbing or some other sort of apparel designed to hold ammunition in a conveniently accessable place, this can be reduced to a minor action.  Weapons that require the insertion of single cartridges at a time take a bit longer to load.  A character can place a single cartridge in the weapon as a minor action.  A character can spend a move action to put up to 3 cartridges in the weapon.  (This means a character that spends a full round reloading can get 7 cartridges in the weapon–that is better than one cartridge a second, that is a quick load!)

Tags: Guns

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 5:14 pm and is filed under D&D 4e, Rules Ideas, Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.