Firearms


 * [[File:30px-Ambox important.svg.png]] Optional rule

The following is a proposal for powerful single-shot firearms in Pathfinder 2, not compatible with the official designs.

Pistol         90 gp, 2d8+6 P, 20 ft range, reload 2, bulk 1, 1H Pistol, coat   90 gp, 2d6+4 P, 20 ft range, reload 2, bulk 1, 1H Pistol, dagger 90 gp, 2d6+4 P, 10 ft range, reload 2, bulk 1, 1H, Dagger Arquebus       110 gp, 2d8+8 P, 40 ft range, reload 2, bulk 2, 1H (Str 13) or 2H, Mace Musket         120 gp, 2d10+10 P, 90 ft range, volley 30ft, reload 3, bulk 2, 2H, Two-handed Mace (1d8 B, Shove) Musket, axe    150 gp, 2d8+8 P, 60 ft range, volley 30ft, reload 3, bulk 2, 2H, Two-handed Battle axe (1d10 S, Sweep) Blunderbuss    100 gp, each creature in a 20 ft cone takes 2d6+4 piercing damage (DC 21 basic Reflex save), reload 3, bulk 2, 2H

Design intent
Allowing law enforcement a potent first-strike attack allows police to assault even when outnumbered, and firearms are intended to amplify the rules for Surprise, Stealth and Initiative. The trope of firearms suggests a chance to kill or disable targets instantly, which Paizo's official rules cannot support in the name of balance. Moreover, the official rules are intended to support characters using firearms exclusively, as their main weaponry. I have different design goals.

Firearms are not intended to straight up make player characters better, however, and they are definitely not intended to overshadow or replace the characters' own attack capabilities. Unless your hero somehow specializes in firearms, the intent is for you to find it worth your while to shoot once, but then switch to your regular attacks (maybe even using the firearm as a melee weapon). To that end, the reload values above (generally 2) are provisional. If your play experiences provide the feedback that the introduction of firearms discourage you from advancing into melee because you feel it is simply better to stay back to reload, the firearms are too powerful, which will likely be fixed by increasing the reload time (rather than reducing their damage). Important exception: at the very first level, when you are still considered rookies, it is entirely fine to play a cautious and scared character with little battle experience, that needs to be coaxed into heroic action rather than staying behind cover to reload. The above evaluation is therefore planned for level 2, not level 1.

The above designs are appropriate for low level heroes (roughly levels 1-4). Whether more powerful firearms (useful to 5th level heroes and above) exist at all in the setting is TBD: the default planning is to reserve firearms for low level usage only. If you would like to play a hero that keeps using firearms throughout your career, contact your GM at your earliest convenience.

As you might think, firearms are considered very valuable (basically, they're level 5 items handed out to level 1 characters), and losing or misplacing your piece is considered a very serious lapse of judgement.

Illustrations
The following pictures do not exactly match the above firearm types and are provided for illustrative purposes only.

"Firearms" by Todd Lockwood, © Wizards of the Coast 2001

"Flintlock design-3" by Pengzhen Zhang, © All rights reserved