Campaign-Specific Adventuring Gear

Fey Pepper. This rare plant only grows near paths to the Dreaming, and since the fall of the Elfaivar Empire five hundred years ago it has been a black market item in most of Lanyir. When chewed or smoked, the pepper makes the user giddy and upbeat. With a sufficient dosage, the user begins to hallucinate, though many claim these visions are actually glimpses into the Dreaming.   Gentleman’s Outfit. This fine outfit includes coat, vest, cane, top hat, and more. Gentlemen do not wear goggles.   Goggles. Designed for working in factories or laboratories with searing chemicals or embers, these goggles are atrocious for peripheral vision. While wearing them, you gain advantage on saving throws to resist effects that would blind you, but have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.   Lady’s Outfit. This ornate dress has an excess of weight composed of frills, whalebone corseting, multiple layers of fabric, and possibly a small hat with a lace veil. Still no goggles. Definitely no cogs either.   Leaf of Nicodemus. Monks cultivate this herb, which grows best on the islands of the Yerasol Archipelago. When crumbled, rolled, and smoked as a cigarette, the monk’s leaf soothes nerves and sharpens perception slightly. It can be addictive if used extensively, but has no social stigma, unlike fey pepper.   Pocket Watch. In addition to telling time, a pocket watch deters the attention of minor fey. Watches will occasionally stop, skip, or run backward in the presence of powerful fey creatures.   Surgeon’s Kit. Consists of a bone saw, debriding curette, ether, forceps, morphium, probes, retractors, scalpels, scissors, sutures, and a syringe. Whenever you treat an injured ally during a short or long rest, you may make a DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check. If you succeed, the first hit die that ally spends restores an additional 5 hit points. If you fail by 5 or more, that first hit die is wasted and restores no hit points. At the GM’s discretion, this item might also aid the treatment of long-term afflictions.  

Explosive Alchemicals

  Early firearms used smoky gunpowder as propellant for its ammunition, but recent alchemical advances have produced firedust. This powdered variant of alchemist’s fire produces practically no smoke when used in firearms, has a lower risk of fouling or corroding the weapon’s internals, and is hydrophobic, allowing it to burn even after immersion in water.   Many other firearm accelerants exist, including magmite (a granular black substance rendered in alchemical furnaces) and phlogistite (translucent red vapor slime that floats in globules if exposed to open air), but firedust is by far the most widely used. Steam engines use a variant, firegems, which burn slower but longer.   While it is the source of a firearm’s deadly power, firedust is relatively harmless as a weapon in its own right, since it burns too fast to cause serious wounds like traditional alchemist fire. If someone ignites a cask full of firedust, though, the resulting explosion could seriously hurt those nearby. The dwarves of Drakr field grenadiers who use hand-held explosives, but constables and even criminals find little use for such indiscriminate destruction in an urban environment.   Example Explosion. A twenty pound cask of firedust, roughly a foot across, explodes in a 10-foot radius. Creatures caught in the radius make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 7d6 fire damage on a failure or half as much damage on a success. A one-ton pallet explodes in a 30-foot radius (again dealing 7d6 fire damage and requiring a DC 12 Dexterity save for half), but those within 10 feet of the explosion instead take an additional 7d6 bludgeoning damage from the expanding gases and flying debris. Any attack that deals at least 5 fire damage to a space containing the cask or pallet is sufficient to cause an explosion, though simply shooting firedust with a bullet won’t cause it to explode.  

Firearms

Firearms use explosive alchemicals to fire metal ammunition. Risur produces pistols, carbines, shotguns, and muskets from a variety of factories in Flint and elsewhere. Drakr possesses somewhat superior firearm technology, and it is possible to import (or custom-make) grenades and rifled versions of normal firearms. Additional innovations such as metal cartridge ammunition are known to exist, but they are the domain of specialized gunsmiths, and as yet cannot be mass-produced.  

Compatibility with the Core Rules.

For the sake of weapon proficiencies, grenades are considered simple weapons. Any character proficient with a hand crossbow is proficient with a pistol. Likewise, a light crossbow is equivalent to a carbine and shotgun, and a heavy crossbow is equivalent to a musket. Effects such as feats that specifically apply to crossbows also apply to firearms. (Note that every class except druids is proficient at least with light crossbows, so everyone but druids are able to use carbines and shotguns. Also note that Crossbow Expert removes the loading property, but not the muzzle-loading property.)  

Muzzle-Loading Firearms.

Reloading involves drawing and tearing open a paper cartridge, which contains firedust and a bullet. The gunman pours firedust down the barrel, then packs in the bullet with a ramrod. The gunman aims and pulls a trigger, which releases the firing hammer. The hammer strikes a firegem set at the back of the barrel, which acts as a percussion cap, producing a spark inside the barrel. A typical firegem percussion cap must be replaced every few dozen shots or else there is a risk the gem will crack and misfire, but the cost is negligible.   Muzzle-loading firearms are very different from crossbows, and they have a longer loading times to boot. The intention is that a firearm is a great weapon to open up an engagement with, such as by shooting and then moving into melee, but in the heat of battle you might not always have time to reload it. Even gunsmiths, who tendto carry a pair of pistols, can’t normally fire two guns and reload them in the same round.    

Weapon Descriptions

Pistol. A muzzle-loaded one-handed firearm with a firegem percussion cap. They fire lead ball ammunition.   Carbine. Like a pistol, but with a stock and barrel, with a total length of three to four feet.   Grenade. This heavy metal hand-thrown explosive resembles a somewhat rounded dodecahedron. Small firegem percussion caps at its vertices ignite the firedust inside when they are struck with sufficient force, which sends shards of metal in all directions. Sometimes these caps do not ignite at first impact, so grenades hold the risk of bouncing and exploding somewhere other than their intended target. When you throw a grenade, choose a creature or an unoccupied 5-foot space. (If the creature occupies a space greater than 5 feet, choose one of the squares it occupies.) Make ranged weapon attack against AC 10. If the attack misses, the grenade veers off course, missing by 5 feet in a random direction, or 10 feet if the target area was at long range. Each creature in a 5-foot radius of where the grenade lands must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 3d6 damage on a failure. Half of this damage is bludgeoning, and half piercing.If you targeted a creature and the attack roll is a critical hit, the grenade directly strikes that creature (or the creature of your choice, if there are multiple). The creature takes 6d6 damage split between bludgeoning and piercing and cannot attempt a saving throw for half damage. Other creatures in the area make saving throws and take damage as normal.   Musket. The extended barrel of this firearm, bringing it to a total length of over five and a half feet, is an attempt to grant long range accuracy.   Rifled Carbine. Effectively just a carbine which has had the last few inches of the barrel rifled. These weapons use different ammunition – the Latimer bullet, which is more conical. The bullet’s hollow flared tail that expands from the force of the ignited firedust, forcing the edges of the bullet against the spiral grooves of the inside of the barrel, imparting a spin that stabilizes the bullet and enhances accuracy at range.   Rifled Musket. Effectively just a musket with a rifled barrel.   Shotgun. This smoothbore weapon fires pellets that spread out, striking a roughly 5-foot radius at a range of 90 feet. It is not particularly effective at distance, but can be devastating point-blank.   Target Pistol. Effectively just a pistol with a rifled barrel.    

New Weapon Traits.

The weapons listed above may have one or more of the following traits.   Loud. Firearms are noisy and expel a lot of powder when fired. After you make an attack with a firearm, you have disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to remain hidden or move silently until the end of your next turn and other creatures have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to discern your location.   Misfire. Occasionally a firearm fails to fire due to fouling or the round getting stuck. If the d20 roll is a 1 when making a ranged attack, then in addition to missing the target the firearm is considered to have misfired. You must clear the barrel using a gun kit as an action before it may be fired again (note that the cleared ammunition may be used again). If the d20 roll is a 1 and you had disadvantage on the roll, then you have cracked the barrel and the firearm is useless until repaired (requiring a day of work with a gun kit or a use of mending). Magical guns never misfire or break from regular use.   Muzzle-Loading. Because of the extreme time required to reload this weapon, you must spend an action or bonus action to reload before you can shoot again.   Rifled. Rifling extends the range a firearm can accurately hit a target. You can spend an action to aim down the weapon’s sight, and choose a creature you can see. Until you stop aiming, quadruple the weapon’s short and long ranges for the purpose of attacking that target. Each turn thereafter you can spend an action or bonus action to continue aiming at the same target or switch to another target you can see. If you move or take damage, your aim is ruined and must start over again. Adding rifling to a weapon adds 50 gp to its cost.   Scatter. If you have advantage on an attack roll with a shotgun and both rolls hit the target, the weapon deals an additional 1d10 damage. If you have disadvantage, and one attack roll would have hit but the other misses, it still deals 1d4 damage.    

Firearm Enhancements.

Gunsmiths can craft the following items, or they can be requisitioned with a Favor level 2. Alchemical launchers, sniper scopes, and suppressors can be retrofitted onto existing weapons. Ammunition clips and reinforced barrels can only be added when a weapon is crafted, not retrofitted.   Alchemical Launcher. As an action, you can load one grenade or similar item such as alchemist’s fire or holy water into this underslung launcher. You can use the item as if it were in your hand. If the item normally requires a ranged attack, it uses your gun’s attack bonus and range.   Ammunition Clip. For a pistol, an ammunition clip is revolver cylinder that lets you fire six shots before you need to reload. For a carbine, musket, or shotgun, an ammunition clip is a stripper clip that instead holds five rounds. Replacing a clip requires an action or bonus action.   Reinforced Barrel. You’ve modified your barrel to fire heavier rounds, such as cover-piercing ammunition. If you hit cover you deal half the weapon’s damage to its target, unless the attack fails to damage the cover.   You can also attack a creature with total cover; you take a –5 penalty to your attack roll (in addition to disadvantage since you likely cannot see the target), and if you hit you deal half damage. These rounds usually only work through less than a foot of wood or dirt, a few inches of stone, or a half-inch of metal.   Cover-piercing ammunition costs twice as much as normal ammunition.   Sniper Scope. This enhancement is only effective on rifled weapons. You can aim down this finely-tuned telescopic sight without needing to spend an action. However, you are considered blind except against creatures in a direct line from you to your target. The blindness lasts until your next turn.   Suppressor. Your shots are relatively quiet, and firearms with a suppressor lose the Loud trait. If you are hidden when you attack, you remain hidden from creatures more than 50 feet from you. A creature struck does, however, know the direction the shot came from.