| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 13 Dec 2005 : 22:27:14
Here's a feat I devised for my homegame. Feedback welcomed!
Gnome Gunner [Regional]
Prerequisites: Gnome (Lantan, Thesk, The Western Heartlands), Base attack bonus +1.
Benefits: You can treat all the exotic weapons powered by smokepowder or designated as firearms as martial weapons rather than as exotic weapons. A weapon is treated as a firearm if its corresponding weapon table lists it under "Exotic Weapons (Firearms)". A weapon is considered powered by smokepowder if its description lists a smokepowder or gunpowder requirement.
In addition, thanks to both the intimate level of worksmanship and skill that the Forgotten Folk have devoted towards the development of the firearm, you have a natural knack at loading these devices in an optimal fashion and drawing the full potential of a charge of smokepowder: in your hands, a firearm does damage as per a medium-size weapon, instead of the regular small-size damage, and only requires a move action to reload. This application of the feat only applies to the use of firearms, and not to other weapons covered by this feat (i.e. such as large siege engines powered by smokepowder).
Normal: Without this feat, you must select the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) feat, as per p.144 of the DMG, to eliminate the nonprofiency penalty you take when wielding any firearm. Also, a firearm normally requires a standard action to reload.
Special: You may select this feat only at a 1st level character. You may have only one Regional feat. A fighter may select Gnome Gunner as his 1st level fighter bonus feat.
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| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 14 Dec 2005 : 01:44:08
quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
Hmm appears to be a very powerfuk feat. It does two things, it removes requirerment to take exotic weapon feat and also provides a quick load feat. On top of that you increase the damage the weapon does, increasing damage threat. *considers a move ation vs. stanard ation. I think you are providing a free action reload if character is moving.
Thank you for your feed back Kentinal.
I based this feat off "Improved Weapon Familiarity" from Complete Warrior. My reasoning behind the increased damage and reloading perk is that the feat does not exactly 'grant' exotic weapon feat status (i.e. it just makes it a martial weapon in your hands, so you need at least one level of fighter, ranger, paladin, swashbuckler, etc.) It also has a +1 BAB prerequisite. The Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) does not have these two drawbacks (i.e. it allows any class to use all firearms). I just analyzed the feat via Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms); now, if you analyze it with Improved Weapon Familiarity, you will also realize that the weapon access feature of Gnome Gunner is underpowered in the sense that it provides the equivalent of 'one' Exotic Weapon feat. Improved Weapon Familiarity provides, in the case of elves, at least three Exotic Weapon Proficiencies that I know of (Elven Lightblade, Elven Thinblade, and Elven Courtblade).
In light of the two built-in drawbacks of the feat [if you compare it to Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms)], I compensated by adding the increased damage feature. This is a great advantage, but note that I added another drawback here: this feat has a third prerequisite as you must be a 1st-level gnome from three specific regions to qualify for this feat (for a total of three drawbacks).
The last step was making it a Regional feat. Regionaly feats are slightly more powerful (often called "feats and a half" by many), and I therefore added the loading feature at this stage. This means that you can fire your firearm once per round instead of once every two rounds (i.e. move action to load + standard action to shoot; instead of standard action to load + move action + standard action to shoot + move action). This may look like a great advantage, but considering that this is a fighter-oriented feat and that the strength of a fighter is multiple attacks at higher levels, this is really just an advantage at low-levels, as the fighter will no doubt prefer weapons that allow multiple attacks at some point. However, this is great if the fighter multiclasses into something like wizard though. But I digress: the fact is that most Regional feats offer much more significant advantages (i.e. Luck of Heroes: +1 to all saves - that's a good feat already - but because it's Regional, they added perk of +1 luck bonus to AC, which far outweighs a standard action to move action loading perk...)
Bottom Line:
-- I based it on Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms)
-- Added three drawbacks/prerequisites
-- Added one advantage
-- Made it a Regional feat and added another advantage
NOTE: for those who can read between the lines, there is another hidden perk for this feat, but this one is dependant on future FR products/releases --> it allows the gnome to wield anything that uses smokepowder, which means if your party captures a Thayan vessel with a Bombard in it, this will be your gnome's time to shine! :) |
| Kentinal |
Posted - 13 Dec 2005 : 22:41:10
Hmm appears to be a very powerfuk feat. It does two things, it removes requirerment to take exotic weapon feat and also provides a quick load feat. On top of that you increase the damage the weapon does, increasing damage threat. *considers a move ation vs. stanard ation. I think you are providing a free action reload if character is moving. |
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