My Firearms Rules

 While expanding on the new rules for my modified Inquisitor class, I'm also building out a structure and rule set that will make the Inquisitor a feared and hated adversary. 

One of those rule sets revolves around firearms. Now, contrary to the standard Pathfinder rules, which allow you to turn any character concept into a superhero, I want firearms to represent a sort of existential threat to the players. In this case, gunpowder is a problem that arises when magic becomes rare or weak, a Great Equalizer much like... well, gunpowder actually was in history. 

I've pretty much scrapped the ridiculously OP gun rules from Pathfinder. Even though the gunslinger class has been modified and toned down since its initial release, I don't wish to change my game into a wild west analog. I want guns to be introduced slowly, to be powerful in numbers but unappealing to work with as an individual player. 

In place of the standard rules I've started with adopting the firearms rules from Lamentations of the Flame Princess, which sets itself right around the mid 1600s. Matchlock pistols and muskets and blunderbusses (blunderbussi? blunderbuses?) are expensive, finicky and powerful, requiring special training and resources. I've locked down gunpowder in the campaign by making it require a special low-magic method to manufacture, while the guns and ammo themselves are still non-magical. 

Most guns are "flat" - meaning uniform in effect. Guns usually do a d8, and take a substantial amount of time to reload. Some basic mechanical innovations allow a somewhat faster reload but again require time and training to handle properly. They are also prone to malfunction. Tuns in general will have the following traits: 

• most of them do around 1d6 to 1d8 damage 
• range is generally shorter than a crossbow (range increment of 25 for pistols, 50 for muskets)
• Ignore up to 5 points of armor bonus
• Automatically critical on 20s (thus the low damage relative to Pathfinder rules)
• Automatically break on 1s (broken condition and if another 1 is rolled, explode)
• Take 5 rounds to reload

So far I've prepared two different versions of the gun; the pistol and the musket. 

Pistols do a d6 damage, have a range increment of 25 feet (meaning every increment of 25 feet you are from the target, reduce your attack roll by -2), do a d8 damage, and ignore 5 points of armor if within short range (first range increment). 

Muskets are similar, do 1d8 damage, have a longer range increment (50 feet), and retain their armor penetration beyond the first range increment. 

I haven't worked out what I want to do with blunderbusses yet. 

Those who use firearms may in addition take "apostle rounds", which are an early form of pre-loading device that allow the firer to quickly set the charging powder, wad and ball round, reducing reload times to 2 rounds. 

With new weapons come new tactics. My gun troops will make use of cover and screening allies whenever possible. It was common for early troops to travel in high-sided, heavy wagons with firing loopholes in the sides, allowing them to shoot from a defensive position. I wonder what other innovations I will come up with along the way? 

I think these rules will provide a substantial threat to players without seeming overpowered in the hands of individuals. After the first time they experience a critical hit from one, they will have to respect them. Especially since they run around in troop-sized allotments. 

Inquisitors Are Hot Garbage and Here Is How I'm Going to Fix Them*

 *or at least try to. 

In pushing our current campaign into its new phase, I want to bring a little of that Old Tyme Religion to bear. That is no easy feat in Pathfinder, as the system relies heavily on magic across nearly every class. Even the allegedly magic-hating Barbarian has a host of supernatural abilities they can call upon. So how do we grim-dark this up and establish the theme of anti-magical zealotry in this set of rules? 

Let's start with the Inquisitor class. Nigh unplayable as a player class (in my opinion), it's completely unmanageable from the DM standpoint. Tons of fiddly abilities, scores of ridiculously intricate Teamwork Feats that require a constant micromanagement of battlefield position, range and attack modes and types, and a weak spell list all add up to a headache for me and a lackluster villain for my players. So lets tackle these one at a time. 

Spells, Orisons and Domains

The Inquisitorial spell list is ho-hum at best, mimicking that of a Cleric, but with reduced casting capacity and a limited tableau of spells to pull from, much like the Sorcerer. Also, there's a lot of humbug chicanery in the Domains list which doesn't jive with an anti-magical standpoint, so let's chuck it. ALL of it. No spells, no domains. 

Teamwork Feats

As much as I love the idea of feats that work for the whole group, I consider their implementation in Pathfinder to be a failure overall. There's just so much overhead to managing them that I don't think they are worth the +1 or +2 conditional bonuses you get from them. Solo Tactics gives the Inquisitor a nice party-wide buff smorgasbord they can share with others, but I still find them unmanageable. 

How about we make it simple? Instead of messing with bonus feats, let's just give the Inquisitor and his henchmen a nice, flat +2 buff that emulates a lot of what these teamwork feats do? Inquisitors are going to have a cohort or retinue following them about, so why not make it useful for their lower level followers to stay within his protective/augmentative bubble? Give them +2 to initiative, CMB and CMD while in his radius, as well as all three types of AC? I'm tempted to give them a +4 bonus on attacks of opportunity and flanking attacks as well, given the tight-knit fighting tactics they would employ. 

Class Abilities

Like most Pathfinder classes, the Inquisitor has a gob full of abilities based on level (oh remember when dead levels were a bad thing?). Many of these are Supernatural Abilities, and I want to get rid of those, so I will. Ditch them all. These guys hate magic, remember? We'll find something to replace them with later on. 

First let's get rid of all their Supernatural (Su) and Spell-like (Sp) abilities. That leaves behind a whole bunch of dead levels for us to fill in. 

Let's change Judgement, shall we? The Inquisitor is supposed to be a scary, tough-as-nails opponent, even though their most impressive feature is their scary and indomitable personality. I'm thinking replace the fiddly Judgements list with the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic from 5th Edition D&D. Instead of wondering where to apply this or that +1 or -1 from round to round, the Inquisitor gets 1 re-roll per round of a d20 roll (attack, save, ability or skill) or damage roll during combat, representing their ability to wade through battle in only the armor of their faith, knocking aside opponents and deflecting arrows. Then Second Judgement lets them reroll 2 rolls per round! ...I may have to soften this,  but we'll see how it goes. 

Keeping things in the antimagic vein, what about adding a wide area effect of magic suppression? Something like an area Spell Resistance, based on the size of his horde? Or ego? Let's call it the Chorus. The Chorus I think would operate something like this: Any magic acting at up to Medium Range would have to overcome a caster level check equal to 10 plus the Inquisitor's Charisma bonus (or Wisdom?), with numbers of followers adding to the difficulty. 

What do we have so far? A fighting cleric with no spells but a resilience that belies his otherwise humble combat abilities due to the modified Judgement ability, a hefty buff and protective aura for all his followers, a wide variety of skills with which to supplement his forces, and lots of attitude. 

Add in things like special materials for weapons, tanglefoot bags, thunderstones, fireworks and intelligent massed attacks. 

The Struggle of Good versus... Good?

My current player group is a (mostly) good-aligned (professed alignment anyway) group of PCs fighting off hordes of cackling, evil Outsiders. This makes the conflict pretty cut and dried; you know who the bad guys are, you know there is almost no chance of a diplomatic solution, you know they just want to kill you, take your stuff, and swallow your soul. Simple!

A much more interesting level of conflict can be found when two good-aligned parties (or the party and an NPC group or faction) are at loggerheads.

Villain Sourcing

Disclaimer: This is not a rant about overseas tech support.

Villains! Where do they come from? How do you handle them? It's easy to fall into the trap of throwing together a nameless, faceless NPC party that walks up to your players' characters and starts beating faces; Lord knows, I've done that plenty of times. It's not that satisfying, is it? No, what your players need are personalities to vent their hatred on.

But what about when your finely crafted - nay! - exquisitely crafted villain goes down in the first round? That's not good either. I've certainly experienced that, too.

How do you create memorable, recurrent villains that seem like they are a part of the world? How do you do it in a way that makes it seems like the players and villains are connected beyond their simplest tropes; "Hi! You must be Player Character. I'm Recurrent Villain! Nice to meet you, now DIE! MWAHAHAHAHA! O! I am slain, forsooth!" Juggling villains is more art than crunch; there are rules you should follow to do it effectively.