Gunner

I made my own version of the gunslinger. Let me know what you think.

Overall I like it. It has an interesting mix of fighter/ranger/rogue features which represent the theme I think you wanted. I have one issue with the damage on your guns...

They all do to much damage in my opinion. I would scale them back. Flintlocks at 1d8. Then Revolvers at 1d10 or 2d6 would still makes them superior to Flintlocks because of their increased firing capacity.

Musketoons and Dragons both do damage in a cone like Burning hands so I think that should be their advantage, not the increased damage. 1d8 and 1d10 to a number of enemies seems fair.

For the 'long-arms' I would make a Matchlock do 1d10 and have the Percussion Lock do 1d12 or 2d6.

These changes put them more in line with other weapons, but leave them as powerful option for ranged weapons. At low levels, I understand the cost of bullets and shells makes having a lot of them prohibitive, but higher level Gunners would out shine any Ranger or Fighter with a bow.

Or at least that is my take. Playtesting could prove me wrong.

Also, you could have a feat that allows loading to be a move action...

That might be fun.

The reason that I put damage so high on the base weapons, is because a) in real life they are more powerful b) by forcing them to take a turn to reload I think it levels them out with bows/crossbows and c) since they don’t add ability modifiers until later I felt it leveled them out a bit. But I could scale them back some.

I hope I wasn’t coming off as a defensive jerk. That’s not what I was going for at all if I did. I love the input and thoughts. Anyone do any homebrew play testing on here?

I understand the "real life" thing in theory. A gun can kill in one shot. But so can any of the weapons on the equipment list if it hits the right spot on the target. That is one of the issues with turning real life into a game. A lot of people have tried to make guns work as RPG weapons, and I don't think anyone has really been able to do it outside of a story game that doesn't use HP but allows for narrative, but I haven't played or read every game in existence, so I won't claim it's impossible.

I mean...a sword or ax can take a limb, but that isn't put in the rules. I feel like the designers didn't put rules in for chopping off the arms of a warlord, making him unable to use his battle ax, thus removing him from the fight on the first turn because it sort of ruins the game play. Dragons have 300+ hit points so the Paladin can't take it's head and end the battle before the rogue or the wizard has a chance to act. Guns...or early guns like the ones being discussed here were highly inaccurate. That isn't reflected in your rules either.

Plus, you gave the class Sneak Attack. Doesn't that make their damage output high enough?

You mention in point c) that "they don't add ability modifiers until later". I don't see that mentioned. All weapons in 5e get ability modifier added to damage. Why not your guns? That is a change to the rules that I don't think is necessary. I get the idea that upping the damage but removing the ability modifier randomizes the damage output that might feel more like a 'real-world' gun where a bullet might be a flesh wound or a fatal hit, but it changes to many of the base rules that all the other non-gunner players are using. If you roll back the damage dials it still works. I think. This change might work in a different game where the rules are already set at that level.

In the end, I am not trying to be overly critical. You made an interesting class that could be fun to play. I think that one change is needed, but I could be wrong. I just feel chasing "real-world" results in a fantasy RPG...well it doesn't work. But that is just my opinion.

I don;t feel you were coming off as defensive or a jerk. You have your opinion on how this could work and mine is different. That's all.

Are there any homebrew tester games on here?

Dramasailor had one going called "Homegrown Heroes Adventuring Academy" but I think he might have shut it down already.

It is still going, here, though with only a few active. I don't know if Drama is recruiting or just letting the active story run its course and then plans on closing it after.

Yeah, most of the open testing parts of it kind of faded out. We do still have one adventure running there, however (slow going though it may be). I'd be willing to open it back up for people to come in and test stuff like this, though I make zero promises about being able to run something more than combat simulators.

A combat simulator is what I would need for this type of character.

@Bigdogg1990 - You might look into joining Arina's Mega Game. They are running PVP and PVE arenas. They might let you in to try your ideas out. Just thought.

Arina's Mega Game is official release material only.