Firearms are not new to Eberron. Black powder firearms have been briefly employed throughout the last century, most prominently by goblinoid forces during the formation of Darguun. However, the slow and unstable weapons quickly fell out of favour. Early firearms held few advantages over magic wands or traditional ranged weaponry.
The single-shot muzzle-loaders with highly inefficient triggering mechanisms and explosive mishaps (the weapons that gave musketeers their name) have been obsoleted by House Cannith’s new firearm designs. The delivery and firing mechanisms of the modern firearm have more in common with magazine-loaded crossbows than the early black powder firearms. Modern firearms also use an alchemical propellant that is more reliable and less volatile than black powder.
With the Red Hand horde’s incursion into Brelish territory and the party’s seizing of their new weaponry, one of House Cannith’s many secrets have slipped out. It will not be long before lone gunsmiths, underground guilds, and even the five nations begin manufacturing guns. At a time of uneasy peace, when Breland stands on the precipice of war and the throne of the ancient Kingdom of Galifar stands unclaimed, the face of military technology has changed.
Firearms are treated like crossbows, except for the following rules.
Firearms are an emerging technology, and are tricky to wield.
All firearms are exotic weapons.
A firearm’s capacity is the number of shots it can hold at one time. Capacity typically indicates the number of cartridges that can be held in a firearm’s magazine.
When making a full-attack action, you may fire a firearm as many times in a round as you have attacks, until the firearm no longer holds any ammunition, unless you can reload the weapon as a swift or free action while making a full-attack action.
Firearm ammunition takes the form of alchemical cartridges. An alchemical cartridge is a sealed metal casing containing a prepared bundle of alchemical propellant and primer, with either a bullet or pellets at the head to act as a projectile.
Unlike other types of ammunition, cartridges are destroyed when they are used, and have no chance of being retrieved on a miss. No part of a cartridge can be reused to create new cartridges.
Firearm ammunition cannot be treated with poison.
| Ammunition | Cost (gp) |
|---|---|
| Cartridge | 1 |
| Cartridge, shot | 1 |
| Magazine | 35 |
A magazine is typically a sturdy metal container with prepared cartridges stacked on top of a high-tension spring, which feeds ammunition into a repeating firearm.
All handheld firearms manufactured by House Cannith use the same ammunition and magazines, though shot can only be effectively loaded into shotguns. A firearm can not be used with improperly sized ammunition or magazines.
You need at least one hand free to load one-handed and two-handed firearms. In the case of two-handed firearms, you can hold the weapon in one hand and load it with the other.
Armour, whether manufactured or natural, provides little protection against the force of a bullet at short range.
Firearms resolve their attacks against the target’s touch AC when the target is within the first range increment of the weapon.
Alchemical propellant becomes useless when exposed to water. You cannot normally fire any firearm underwater.
Exotic One-Handed Ranged Weapons
| Weapon | Cost1 | Cap2 | Dmg3 | Crt4 | Rng5 | Wt6 | Type7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pistol | 250 | 1 | 1d10 | ×4 | 100 | 3 | Piercing |
| Pistol, repeating | 600 | 5+1 | 1d8 | ×4 | 80 | 5 | Piercing |
Exotic Two-Handed Ranged Weapons
| Weapon | Cost | Cap | Dmg | Crt | Rng | Wt | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle | 500 | 1 | 1d12 | ×4 | 150 | 10 | Piercing |
| Rifle, repeating | 850 | 5+1 | 1d10 | ×4 | 120 | 12 | Piercing |
| Shotgun | 500 | 1 | 1d8 | ×4 | 30 | 10 | Piercing |
Exotic One-Handed Melee Weapons
| Weapon | Cost | Dmg | Crt | Wt | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaarat’shor | 100 | 1d8 | ×3 | 3 | Slashing |
Exotic Two-Handed Melee Weapons
| Weapon | Cost | Dmg | Crt | Wt | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaarat’shorchi | 120 | 1d12 | ×3 | 6 | Slashing |
The benefits of Rapid Reload have been expanded to include firearms. Additionally, the new feat Deadly Aim is useful to any character who wishes to master firearms.
Firearms allow low-level and even nonproficient wielders to threaten powerful foes, since touch AC is a much easier target number than AC. Mass combat is a deadly proposition for any character who makes themselves an obvious target to an enemy equipped with firearms. Reliable guns will substantially change the assumptions of Eberron, in the same way that they changed the face of warfare in the real world.
Though firearms are an attractive investment for any ranged combatant, the bow is still a viable option for skilled and specialised characters due to exclusive bow feats, such as Manyshot. Crossbows still have the situational advantages of being usable underwater, almost silent, and effective at delivering poison. In a purely game mechanical sense, crossbows are typically considered to be ineffective weapons, and firearms are intended to be a logical improvement to the crossbow combat style. With the exception of professional assassins, most crossbow users will want to apply their learned skills to firearms as firearms become more commonplace.
Cost (gp).↩
Capacity.↩
Damage. Damage figures are for Medium weapons.↩
Critical threat range and critical multiplier.↩
Range increment (ft).↩
Weight (lb). Weight figures are for Medium weapons, and includes the weight of a loaded magazine.↩
Damage type. When two types are given, the weapon is both types if the entry specifies “and,” or either type (player’s choice at time of attack) if the entry specifies “or.”↩