Black Powder Weapon Rules

With the advent of black powder came a variety of technological advances, weaponry being one of the most world changing. With the addition of firearms and small explosives, comes some additional rules related to them. These rules are as follows;

Reload

The reload property replaces the loading property when dealing with firearms. Every firearm has an individual reload value which notes how many shots may be fired before a reload is required. In most cases, a reload value higher than one implies multiple barrels.

Reloading a Firearm

Reloading a one handed firearm requires at least two actions to complete, one action per barrel and one for the flintlock mechanism. Reloading a two handed firearm requires at least three actions, two actions per barrel and one for the flintlock mechanism.

Alternative Reloading Methods

• As a bonus action, make a sleight of hand check DC 10 + Weapon Misfire Score with any additional modifiers from weapon modifications and/or special ammunition. On a success, that bonus action may act as an action for the purpose of reloading.
• If you are out of range of any melee attack and moving would not trigger an opportunity attack, you may use a reaction as an action for the purpose of reloading.

Firearms and Feats

• In order to reload a one-handed firearm, a free hand is required, this can be mitigated with the dual wielder feat.
• Rather than ignoring the loading property with the Crossbow Expert feat, you may instead reduce the actions required to reload a firearm by half.

Misfire

Due to the unreliable nature of non-magical firearms, each one has a chance to misfire. The more complex or experimental the firearm, the higher the misfire score will be. Ammunition type can also affect the misfire score as well as modifications made to the firearm. Lack of proficiency in firearms will also increase misfire score by one.

Misfires

Misfire scores are simply the value rolled on an attack roll that results in a misfire. For example, a misfire score of 1 would only result in a misfire on a natural 1. However a misfire score of 5 would result in a misfire on a natural 5 or lower.
Breakage

• In firearms with a misfire score higher than 1, a natural 1 results in the weapon breaking or otherwise taking a considerable enough amount of damage that it requires repair.
• Once broken, a firearm may not be shot until repaired.

Fixing Misfires and Breaks

• A misfire may be fixed simply by spending an action to do so. Alternatively, you may use Tinker's Tools and attempt a DC 8 + Misfire Score to fix the firearm as a bonus action. On a failure, the firearm is not fixed and the bonus action is lost.
• To repair a broken firearm, you require 1d4 hours with Tinker Tools and a DC 10 + Misfire Score check or 2d4 hours on a failure. Alternatively, the firearm may be taken to a gunsmith to be repaired in 1d4 hours for roughly 1/4 of the weapon's total cost.