I'm in the camp of Firearms, particularly the old blackpowder types, being absolutely
fine in a Dungeons & Dragons game, plus its firmly entrenched in the lore of the Forgotten
Realms, so lets have a talk about it, hello, my name is AJ Pickett, and its time to grab
yourself a tasty beverage, we are about to get deeply nerdy.
The development, spread and popularity of propellant powered projectile weapons on fantasy
worlds is in no way restricted to the same order of historic events that happened on
Earth, dragons, wizards, gods and so on make that comparison completely meaningless very,
very quickly, one can't just gloss over all that stuff and cling to medieval europe like
its the only possible way firearms could have been.
I would much rather spend my time thinking about the sort of weapons formian ant people
from the ultimately lawful outer plane of Mechanus would build for themselves.
Regardless of how they came to be though, the form of firearms is always highly funtional
and general categories of the intended use of the firearm make it much easier to deal
with their wide variety of different sources and the specific details of their mechanisms.
A rifle intended for long range precision shots is going to look similar regardless
of being a flintlock or having a firing pin or requiring a crushing hammer to crack a
magical crystal.
Officially, gunpowder, or its equivalent in smokepowder, impact crystal, runeglass, dragon
dust or whatever the hell you want to call it, should cost around 35 gold coins per two
pounds or 0.9 kilograms.
Gunpowder is chiefly used to propel a bullet out of the barrel of a pistol, rifle, cannon,
or it is formed into a bomb, which in turn may also be fired from a Mortar or even a
bombard cannon.
Gunpowder is sold in small wooden kegs and in water-resistant powder horns, it can also
be carried in packets.
Setting fire to a container full of gunpowder can cause it to explode, dealing fire damage
to creatures within 10 feet of it (3d6 fire damage for a powder horn, 7d6 for a keg).
A successful DC 12 Dexterity saving throw halves the damage.
Setting fire to an ounce of gunpowder causes it to flare for 1 round, shedding bright light
in a 30-foot radius and dim light for an additional 30 feet.
Other substances may not react to fire, but might get set off with significant bludgeoning
damage, cold or exposure to electricity.
In the forgotten realms the most important development and manufacturing of firearms
is currently taking place in the Island Nation of Lantan, driven by the official state religion,
the Faith of Gond inexorably advances the technology of the island's many manufacturing
and research establishments.
When the lorebooks last recorded all of Lantan's progress, it gave descriptions of the relatively
primative and troublesome Matchlock firing weapons, these required a lit wick to be kept
dry and slowly smouldering away, with a tell-tale glow in the darkness and both ends of the
wick were kept lit, producing a distinctive smell of wick smoke.
The wick was gripped by the firing mechanism after the gun was loaded and a flash pan was
primed, the trigger touched the wick to the powder and fired the gun.
Keeping a lit wick going for some guard on duty all day required about a mile of wick,
so, matchlock technology, while relatively cheap to manufacture, was troublesome to supply
and maintain, plus its just not a particularly reliable firing method prone to danger when
restocking powder horns with lit wicks far too close for comfort.
Now, in 5th edition, about a century has passed and Lantan is currently producing its own
Snaplock weapons, the precursor to the Flintlock mechanism.
Actually, I will just quote directly from the Forgotten Realms wiki page on the history
and spread of firearms in the Forgotten Realms, and keep in mind, this is just the native
production of them, there have always been firearms arriving on the planet from Wildspace,
thanks to spelljamming visitors and lets not forget wizards opening magical portals to
distant worlds on a regular basis, so, firearms have been known for quite some time but...
"On Toril, firearms had never been extensively (or even adequately) researched and developed
prior to the 14th century DR, save for a few eccentric wizards.
None of the major nations or organizations on the planet invested the time or money into
producing firearms on a large scale until 1246 DR which marked the first recorded use
of bombards by the island nation of Lantan.
These bombards originally utilized gunpowder, as the deity Gond had yet to render the substance
inert across the whole planet out of concern for his worshipers' safety.
This event occured in 1358 DR, when an avatar of Gond revealed to the Lantanna people of
Lantan how to make reasonably safe and accurate matchlock firearms that utilized a substance
similar to the black gunpowder, except it was grey, only the faithful of Gond would
know how to mix it correctly and it could be rendered safe by suppressing the divine
magic contained within it.
The avatar called it Smokepowder.
From that year onwards, the Lantanna priests of Gond (mainly the specialty priests, known
as Gondsmen) began their tireless work to spread the use of firearms, shipping them
to Western ports.
By the year 1372 DR, firearms were available throughout Faerûn and many of Gond's clerics
supported themselves financially by selling ammunition for smokepowder weapons.
Many rulers at this time viewed the Church of Gond with ire for having introduced firearms
to the continent, seeing the weapons as a threat to their authority, particularly the
kingdom of Cormyr, which had seen a frightening rise in the number of smokepowder weapons
among the pirates of the Inner sea, thanks to a portal between Lantan and the Pirate
Isles providing a very lucrative trade highway for the Lantanna.
In the current era at the start of the 16th century, Lantan is a secretive and very busy
nation that has expanded it's influence and religious power considerably.
Now, more advanced firearm technology is spreading fast across the Forgotten Realms and both
the weapons and their supplies are no longer that difficult to get hold of, just pop in
to your local Gondite temple and pick up all the powder and ammunition you need, take a
look at their range of the latest self igniting rifles, they are the latest thing and just
flying off the shelves in every merchant's store in Sembia, Turmish, Amn and Calimshan.
Self igniting, refers to Snaplock and Flintlock technology, no self respecting Lantanna rock
gnome leaves their home without one.
A snaplock ignites the muzzle-loading weapon's powder by means of a bit of flint attached
to a spring powered lever which then strikes down on a piece of hardened steel, struck
sparks then light up the powder.
Because this eliminates the need for a lit wick cord, these weapons are called 'Self
Igniting' and while more complicated and expensive to manufacture, they are very popular with
usage spreading fast.
Smokepowder can now be found far more widely across the Realms, being produced by Lantan,
Halruaa, Thay, Waterdeep, Calimport, Shou lung, Wa and Amn, the spread of the new snaplock
weapons is a lot faster now that they are much easier to restock with powder and shot,
still, there are plenty of matchlock weapons still around and any treasure piles in dungeons
that are not more recent will only include the older matchlock weapon types, unless some
more exotic or advanced weapons from off world find themselves stashed away somewhere.
Most forms of armor a common soldier would wear (especially leather, light plate, and
mail) have little resistance against the penetrating power of a bullet and armor thick and rounded
enough to deflect a bullet is both very heavy and not in common use, enchantments to protect
against bullets is also just generally good magic protection anyway so no special anti-bullet
armor suits are liable to exist on Toril outside of the experimental pile in some armorers
laboratory workshop somewhere.
The basic examples of blackpowder and more advanced weapons in the Dungeon Master's Guide
and also on the D&D Beyond web site really need a lot of expansion to include all the
known and well documented types found on the world of Toril, also, Yes, Ed Greenwood, creator
of the Forgotten Realms, has confirmed via twitter that gunpowder is non-functional across
all of the planet, so Kara-tur and other more distant locations still need to manufacture
and use the magicically activated Smoke Powder, which means all the smokepowder guns of the
Forgotten Realms are vulnerable and will not fire in an anti-magic field, such as the Anti-magic
cone of a Beholder's large central eye.
First off, what is a matchlock and snaplock and how do we work out the usage of powder,
it's cost and transport and everything?
We need to go over a basic glossary of terms.
BLACK POWDER and SMOKE POWDER STANDARD CHARGE: 1 oz (28 grams)
leather Pouch: 18 charges (18 oz) Costs 20 gp
waterproof Horn: 32 charges (2 lbs or 0.91 kg) Costs 35 gp
wooden travel Keg: 80 charges (6 lbs or 2.72 kg) Costs 80 gp
wooden Keg: 240 charges (20 lb keg contains 15 lbs or 6.8kg) Costs 250 gp
100 pound Barrel: 1600 charges (120lbs barrel contains 100 lbs or 45.35 kg) Costs 1660 gp
Blackpowder is made from a mixture of sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter.
The sulfur and carbon act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer.
Gunpowder is a low explosive: it does not detonate, it just burns quickly.
The residue left over in the form of soot is corrosive to wrough iron and steel, so
powder guns need regular, thorough cleaning.
Smoke powder has a different, more complex formula and the ratio of the mix is far more
precise, plus, it needs to be blessed with gondite magic.
The result has basically exactly the same properties as gunpowder, except its also vulnerable
to anti-magic.
Oh yes, it also combusts with a deeper thumping sound, rather than the sharper crack of gunpowder.
MATCHLOCK MECHANISM: Was the first trigger developed and involved a simple system to
touch a slow burning match cord to the firing pan, sending fire down into the powder held
under pressure in the barrel, firing out whatever is stuffed down the barrel along with it.
STARWHEEL MECHANISM: these pistols have a saw-edged wheel firing mechanism and trigger.
This saw-edged wheel is wound up in a spring, with a piece of either flint or pyrite held
against it in a vise.
You can buy these 5 lb (2.3 kg) pistols in Skullport and the Rock of Bral.
SNAPLOCK MECHANISM: The first primitive Flintlock style trigger, also known as a self igniting
gun due to not needing a lit match to be maintained between shots.
LOADING: A weapon property, it means it requires either an action or a bonus action for reloading
after each shot fired.
RELOAD: Another weapon property, it means it requires reloading requires either an action
or a bonus action to restock multiple shots at once.
OK so the general types of powder firearm are
The BOMB: Contains something like 10 charges of powder enclosed in a container, usually
made of metal, a cast iron ball works well, a single hole allows the lighting of a fuse
with the length of the fuse allowing the bomb to be placed, dropped, fired at or thrown
at the target area.
A simple bomb can be thrown 60 feet and each creature within 5 feet of it's explosion must
succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 fire damage.
PISTOL: single shot, requires only one hand to fire, 250 gp, 3lb (1.4kg), small and easy
to conceal.
DRAGON: the one handed version of the blunderbuss, the thick barrel and flared muzzle allow it
to fire a scatter shot of all kinds of random ammunition.
It does the same amount of damage as the Pistol but has a bit more accuracy over a short 30ft
range, beyond that, it fires with disadvantage all the way out its maximum range of
CAVILER: (450 GP, 6 lb or 0.45 kg), all metal stock, basically a short arquebus, can be
used as a club, inflicts less damage than an arquebus but hits with more accuracy.
Handy for places where ammunition can be hard to come by.
ARQUEBUS: actually covers a wide variety of the first long guns, first designed to hook
over and rest on the battlements of a fortification, later a stock and firing pan and matchlock
trigger were added to make the gun fully portable and usable in the field.
All rifles derive from the original arquebus design, which is an entirely practical and
logic one, given it's use.
The most advanced and heavy versions of this weapon became more commonly known as muskets
and a common name for the standardized arquebus design in later years was the Caliver, related
to the word Calibre, referring to the guns exact barrel bore, which made it faster for
soldiers to reload as all the bullets fit the guns more easily, previously it was the
soldiers task to trim their own bullets to fit their own gun, or worse, make their own
bullets.
BLUNDERBUSS: a variation on the arquebus that offers more versatility in what ammunition
can be stuffed down the extra wide and heavy barrel, basically the precursor to the modern
shotgun.
MUSKET: Basically a double normal sized arquebus intended to take out armored targets, the
word musket was eventually used to refer to most shoulder firing rifles, but they were
also known just by their firing mechanism type.
So a musket could be either a matchlock or one of the new snaplock and even flintlock
variety now spreading across Faerun.
Out in wildspace and beyond, musket refers to pretty much any front loading rifle that
is not a cannon or a pistol or blunderbuss and may simply be called a Long rifle.
RIBAULT or ORGAN GUN: referring to the many pipes of a church organ, this is a mobile
field weapon designed to fire many barrels at once in a wide arc to mow down large groups
of infantry or charging cavalry.
Leonardo da Vinci actually had some designs for these types of primitive precursor to
the machine gun, some of which had up to 50 barrels and stayed in use for a very long
time.
Yes they were one shot wonders that took a long time to reload, but they were also very
mobile and very effective at what they were designed to do.
CANNON: uses gunpowder to propel heavy balls of cast iron through the air at destructive
speeds.
It has enormous range and power but takes three actions to reload, aim and fire the
weapon, plus they are heavy, slow to tranport and difficult to keep supplied.
MORTAR: a short cannon designed to launch a lit bomb over a great distance to land on
top of the enemy position, like the cannon it takes a team to loan, aim and fire the
weapon and they take that whole team to transport along with their explosive ammunition.
Field mortars can't hit anything closer than 60 ft with any accuracy, they have a maximum
range of 600 ft and their bombs explode on impact over a 20 ft area.
BOMBARD: siege weapons designed to bring down fortifications and ruin castle walls, the
bombard is the largest cannon type, firing huge stone balls great distances with tremendous
power, the impact of the shot not only does punishing bludgeoning damage and double that
to objects and structures, it also hits any creatures within 30 ft of the impact with
thunder damage unless they make a saving throw.
The largest bombard made on earth as far as I know is Mons Meg, constructed of bands of
iron surrounded by loops of iron all melded into a solid mass, the 6000 kg barrel could
only be moved 3 miles per day and the charge of powder required to fire the 50 cm, 150
kg muzzle loaded gunstones a distance of nearly two miles meant that the bombard could only
be fired 8-10 times a day due to the tremendous heat radiating from the metal.
Still, it was actually used.
It was constructed around 1457 and last used in the War of the Roses against Norham castle
in 1497, except for a single ceremonial firing which ended up damaging it too much to ever
be fired again in 1681.
It's now on display at Edinburgh Castle.
STATS FOR POWDER WEAPONS.
Pistol 250 gp 1d10 piercing 3lb (1.4kg) R30/90 Ammunition, Loading
Dragon 250 gp 1d10 piercing 3.5lb (1.5kg) R40/80 Ammunition, Loading, Scatter
Caviler 450 gp 2d6 piercing 6lb (1.8kg) R40/90 Ammunition, Loading, club
Arquebus 500 gp 1d12 piercing 10lb (4.5kg) R30/90 Ammunition, Loading, two-handed
Blunderbuss 500 gp 2d8 piercing 10lb (4.5kg) R40/80 Ammunition, Loading, two-handed, Scatter
Musket 500 gp 1d12 piercing 10lb (4.5kg) R40/120 Ammunition, Loading, two-handed, club
Ribault 1d12 piercing Burst (spray a 10-foot-cube area within normal range with shots.
Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the
weapon’s normal damage).
Cannon 600/2,400 ft 8d10 bludgeoning damage Mortar Ballistic (60ft) R600 ft 5d10 bludgeoning
damage plus 2d6 thunder damage on a failed (DC 15) Dexterity save for each creature within
20ft of impact Bombard Ballistic (60ft) R2,400 ft 8d10 bludgeoning
damage plus 2d12 thunder damage on a failed (DC 15) Dexterity save for each creature within
30ft of the impact, Seige Weapon In my next video in this series, I will be
exploring all the other, more high tech weapons that can appear not just in the Forgotten
Realms, but anywhere in Wildspace and Beyond, into the Dungeons & Dragons Multiverse.
Everything from Black Hole Generators to Zero Point Energy Cells, a Complete Guide to High
Technology Arms and Armor for 5th Edition, my name is AJ Pickett, I make videos about
D&D lore, but for now, as always, thanks for listening and I will be back with more for
you, very soon.