Firearm Kits for Draw Steel

Today, I’m taking a crack at making some firearm kits since firearms are a staple in the Skies of Mor-ladron (SoM). In past RPGs, you had to try to balance homebrewed firearms with bows and crossbows (or make them better in general, which would upset your bow users). Balancing firearms might involve having them cost an action to load, so they’d only fire once every other turn but would do a lot of damage. Another option would be to have them explode or jam on a critical failure. Neither of these are enjoyable options, though, so I wanted to see if I could find a fun way to create firearm kits for Draw Steel. 

First, let's discuss what goes into a kit. 

What is a Kit? 

Kits are collections of bonuses and equipment, along with a signature ability, that inform how you fight. Bonuses include benefits to stats as follows:

• Stamina (health)
• Speed (movement)
• Stability (forced movement resistance)
• Melee and/or Ranged damage
• Ranged distance
• Reach (melee distance)
• Mobility (allows you to move a short distance if an enemy ends their turn near you)

A kit also tells you what equipment you get from it. Let's take the Shining Armor kit as an example. You get heavy armor, a shield, and a medium weapon. How that armor and shield look is totally up to you, and the weapon can be anything that falls into the medium category (longswords, battleaxes, war hammers, etc.). The benefit of framing equipment like this is that it enforces an archetype while giving you room to be creative and make it work for your character. 

Each kit also includes a signature ability for use in combat. The signature ability aligns with and helps to highlight the fantasy of the kit you chose. The bow-based Rapid-Fire kit includes the following signature ability:

Two Shot:

When you fire two arrows back to back, both hit their mark. 

Keywords: Attack, Ranged, Weapon 

Type: Action 

Distance: Ranged 12 

Target: 2 creatures or objects 

Power Roll + Might or Agility: 

• 11 or lower: 4 damage 

• 12–16: 6 damage 

• 17+: 7 damage

As you can see, a kit is more than a weapon. It includes armor, stats, and a nifty ability. This means that simply changing the type of armor would differentiate a firearm homebrew from a bow kit (of which there are three: Ranger, Rapid Fire, and Sniper). 

The real difference-maker is the signature ability. It would be easy to copy everything over from the bow kits and create a new feel by coming up with a new ability alone. Of course, what’s the fun of only changing one thing? 

Firearm Kits

First, note that I have not used any of these kits in play and probably won’t for a while. Since we are testing the game right now, it’s best to use what’s in it without introducing new variables. The kits I created are mostly a thought experiment, but I’m sure I will revisit these and place them in my game eventually. 

One of the ways I have tried to make firearms different from bows/crossbows is by giving the guns a shorter range and less consistent damage. Doing so more accurately reflects the guns of the 1540s, on which I am loosely basing SoM’s technology. The bows all have a +5, +7, or even +10 range, so I decided to keep the firearm weapon distance bonus lower, if including one at all. I also gave my firearms a 0/0/4 on their ranged damage bonus, so they only get extra damage on the highest roll. 

Finally, I created another trait called Loud: creatures within 60 squares are alerted to your presence. I go back and forth on this—maybe it's not as fun to have a weapon you can’t use for stealth. However, it does make sense, so we will see how it plays out. 

Let’s dive into the individual kits and discuss why I did what I did.

Pirate

You've perfected the close-quarters combat that happens when boarding another's ship without an invitation.

Equipment: You wear light armor and wield a one-handed firearm and a light weapon.

Stamina Bonus +3

Speed Bonus + 1

Melee Damage +1/+1/+1

Ranged Damage 0/0/+4 

Mobility: When an enemy ends their turn adjacent to you, you can shift up to 2 squares as a free triggered action. 

Loud: Creatures within 60 squares are alerted to your presence. 

Signature Ability: Point Blank

Keywords: Attack, Ranged, Weapon 

Type: Action 

Distance: Ranged 5

Target: 1 creature 

Power Roll + Agility:

• 11 or lower: 4 

• 12–16: 6

• 17+: 12

Effect: If you target a creature adjacent to you, you do not suffer a bane on this attack.  

When I created this kit, I pictured a stereotypical pirate: pistol in one hand and cutlass in the other. So, they get damage bonuses to both melee and ranged attacks. The pirate is used to boarding other ships or repelling boarders from their own. They’re accustomed to fighting in a mass of people, surrounded by enemies and allies alike. Because of this, I felt like pirates didn’t need a range bonus, as they would mostly be in the thick of it anyway. Most ranged abilities have a range of three or five already, so there is some range inherent in the abilities. 

We don't typically envision pirates in armor, so I made them quick and nimble with the mobility trait and a +1 speed bonus. To heighten the feeling of being in the thick of the fight, I created the ability Point Blank, which allows the player to use a ranged attack on someone adjacent to them without suffering a bane. Very thematic, I think! 

Cannoneer

You are a one-person siege engine.

Equipment: You wear heavy armor and wield a two-handed hand cannon.

Stamina Bonus + 9

Stability Bonus + 1

Weapon Distance + 5

Ranged Damage 0/0/+4 

Loud: Creatures within 60 squares are alerted to your presence. 

Signature Ability: Thunderous Shot

Keywords: Attack, Ranged, Weapon 

Type: Action 

Distance: Ranged 10

Target: 1 creature or object

Power Roll + Agility:

• 11 or lower: 4, push 1 

• 12–16: 6, push 2

• 17+: 10, push 3

Effect: Double damage to objects

I asked my players if they had any firearm archetypes or styles they wanted to see in the game, and one said, “What if I just ripped a cannon off a ship and used it as a weapon?” So, here we are! I modified the cannoneer kit slightly from the original request. I wanted to make something different, as I don't think any of the other ranged kits have heavy armor (maybe for a good reason; we’ll see). But the idea of seeing a person in full plate armor hauling around a cannon is pretty epic. It could also make a good kit for someone who fights while mounted (perhaps on a hippogriff?). 

I didn't want to focus the kit on damage alone and added a push to the attack to get the point across, as creatures get sent flying back when hit by the cannonball. Since there is a bit of siege flavor here, I decided to add the double damage to objects effect, which I hope doesn't step on the toes of the berserker fury too much. 

Arquebusier 

Few can fire a long rifle with such accuracy, but it's second nature for you.  

Equipment: You wear no armor and wield a two-handed firearm.

Speed Bonus + 1

Ranged Damage 0/0/+4 

Weapon Distance + 7

Mobility: When an enemy ends their turn adjacent to you, you can shift up to 2 squares as a free triggered action. 

Loud: Creatures within 60 squares are alerted to your presence.

Signature Ability: Headshot

Keywords: Attack, Ranged, Weapon 

Type: Action 

Distance: Ranged 12

Target: 1 creature 

Power Roll + Agility:

• 11 or lower: 3 

• 12–16: 6

• 17+: 12, dazed (EoT)

I went back and forth on this one. Part of me thinks leaving the sniper kit and its like in the hands of bows would be better. Part of me also wanted to get muskets in the game. This kit is basically a reworked sniper kit with a shortened range and a different ability. 

It was tempting to add a firearm to the sniper kit and call it a day, but instead, I created the ability Headshot. You do a decent amount of damage and can daze someone on the highest roll. That seems like something that would happen if you got shot in the head but didn’t die instantly. 

What do you think?

I’m sure the damage bonus and ability damage numbers will need to be tweaked to make the kits more balanced, but I'm pretty happy with these initial kits. What do you think? Are there any tweaks I should make or abilities I should switch out? Any other firearm-based kits that you would like to see? If so, let me know in the comments!