[Weapon] Main-Hand Firearm

Note: There is currently no way to craft firearms, nor the bullets they require for operation. The intended cost of a firearm is planned to be about the same as a crossbow across the various Tiers. The intended cost of each bullet is planned to be about the same as a 1-handed melee weapon of similar Tier value. They are powerful, & powerfully expensive to operate. Getting your hands on these items will likely be at the whim of your illustrious GM until future updates allow for their creation.

The One-Handed Firearm is a weapon skill. It requires 1 hand to operate. It requires no stats nor skills to operate any Tier of 1-handed firearm. Additionally, the 1-handed Firearm requires bullets as ammunition. Bullets may not be recovered after firing them.

The 1-handed firearm requires 1 non-contested action to reload before it can be fired. Essentially meaning it can be fired every round if it’s the only weapon being used & no other action is being used.

The guaranteed hit range of the 1-handed firearm is the character’s skill level in [Weapon] Main-Hand Firearm in tiles. Attacking with any firearm within the character’s skill level in tiles is a guaranteed hit. It requires no roll. Thus, it is NOT a contested action & follows the rules for non-contested actions for when it can be used. (ie: level 5 in this skill would grant a range of up to 5 tiles as a non-contested attack).

Damage = (Firearm Tier x2) + (Bullet Tier x2)
(This damage ignores all armor & shield bonuses.)

Damage with the 1-handed firearm is the Tier value of the firearm multiplied by 2, added to the Tier value of the bullets multiplied by 2. A firearm attack will reduce the opponents armor to zero (0) for that attack (a T1 one-handed firearm with T1 bullets will reduce all armor to 0 & deliver [(1×2) + (1×2)] = 4 points of damage — a T10 with T10 bullets will reduce armor to 0 & deliver [(10×2) + (10×2)] = 40 points of damage).

Firearms may use any Tier of bullets equal or less than the firearm’s Tier value. If the Tier value of the weapon is lowered temporarily through critical hits or critical failures, it will still be allowed to fire bullets with a Tier value equal or less than it’s total repaired Tier value. But it’s damage will be lower because of the degradation (since the weapon’s Tier is part of the damage equation).

Don’t do the math each time you use it. Do the math once for your firearm & place note it’s damage value with the ammo you have. Noting the damage for 1 or 2 Tier lower firearm might be useful, in case it somehow takes damage in combat (or just remember that it gets 2 damage per Tier, if the same ammo is used). But since it’s usually fired within the guaranteed hit range & no dice are rolled for that operation, that should be quite rare.

If you are using multiple Tiers of ammo with the same weapon, note the total damage next to each of different Tiers of bullets. If you are using multiple Tiers of firearms… figure out a way to track it & note damage. The point is, don’t do the math at the table unless you have to for weird circumstances.

Firing outside the guaranteed hit range with this weapon uses the same rules as the bow (see [Weapon] Bow). However the firearm gains no additional damage for the roll difference & still requires a separate action to reload. Additionally, this action (attacking outside of guaranteed range) IS a contested action & follows the rules for contested actions for when it can be used.