I admit Outlaw Star is my inspiration for this one. I was thinking of a campaign in a world where two world powers are at war, and wanted to include guns of a certain flavour, whilst also making a useful tool to help bring up the non-casters in my campaign. Generally I wanted the guns to be powerful, useful, but not automagically superior to any other available weapon or to make melee combat obsolete.
So yeah, here's what I came up with. Any comments, advice, suggestions and the like is very welcome.
The Caster Gun
The Caster Gun, or Caster for short, is a magically powered, breech-loading firearm that uses a magical force effect to project ammunition over great distances. Available in many shapes and sizes, casters are easy to use, powerful weapons that can be loaded either with standard, non-magical slugs, or specially crafted Caster Shells, which contain magical shells. The presence of Casters in a campaign, depending on availability and distribution, may have far-reaching social consequences as magic is readily placed in the hands of soldiers across the world whilst the means of producing that power is still firmly in the hands of mages themselves.
Whilst Casters in a campaign are powerful and likely to revolutionise warfare, their inability to use magical ammunition places them at a clear disadvantage in the face of a magic resistant enemy, shields or weapons with Arrow Deflection properties, or those who routinely wear Bullet Proof VestmentsCastersActivating a ShellBayonet
An attachable blade that can be fixed to the muzzle of a Caster, on a Hand Caster/Repeater, the bayonet deals damage as a punching dagger of the same size and is treated as a light weapon. With a Heavy or Light Caster/Repeater, the bayonet deals damage as, and is considered, a spear of the same size that cannot be thrown and is treated as a two-handed weapon. If a character has Weapon Focus or a similar feat with Punching Daggers or Spears may add the associated bonus to attack rolls they make with a Bayonet. Equally, if a character has Weapon Focus or similar bonuses for attacking with Casters, they may apply this bonus to any attacks they make with Bayonets attached to Casters as well.
A character fighting with a bayonet affixed to a Caster may attack with the Caster or the Bayonet as they wish. Any attacks made with the attached Caster on the same round after attacking with the Bayonet suffer a -2 penalty.
Anyone who is proficient with a Caster is considered proficient with an attached Bayonet; otherwise it is a considered a martial weapon, even in settings where Casters are uncommon.
If the Caster is used to activate a shell containing a touch range spell, the user may instead use the bayonet as the target of the spell rather than the barrel of the Caster. They may then attempt a touch attack with the Bayonet normally, or use the Bayonet in a normal attack much as a natural or unarmed attack when Holding the Charge that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If the attack hits, then the spell discharges, if it misses, the Bayonet is still holding the charge. Any attacks made in this fashion with the Bayonet, whether touch attacks or standard attacks, do not apply the Caster's enhancement bonus or special abilities to the attack roll or damage roll, but instead apply the Bayonet's own enhancement bonuses and abilities to the attack roll, though not to any damage roll for the spell.
A Bayonet not attached to a Caster may be used as an improvised weapon at a -4 penalty to deal damage as a punch dagger of its size.
Caster, Hand
You can shoot, but not load a Hand Caster with one hand at no penalty. Loading a Hand Caster is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity. You can shoot a Hand Caster with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons.
Caster, Light
Loading a Light Caster is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Normally, operating a Light Caster requires two hands. However, you can shoot, but not load, a Light Caster with one hand at a -2 penalty on attack rolls. You can shoot a Light Caster with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons. This penalty is cumulative with the penalty for one-handed firing.
Caster, Heavy
Loading a Heavy Caster is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Normally, operating a Heavy Caster requires two hands. However, you can shoot, but not load, a Heavy Caster with one hand at a -4 penalty on attack rolls. You can shoot a Heavy Caster with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two one-handed weapons. This penalty is cumulative with the penalty for one-handed firing.
Caster, War
A massive Caster with multiple barrels spun by means of a hand crank (a free action). A War Caster can hold up to 20 rounds of ammunition at once. Ammunition for War Casters comes in Reloading a War Caster is a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. A War Caster is too heavy and ungainly to carry in one hand and may only be used one-handed by a character with the Monkey-Grip, or similar feat, or a character at least one size category larger than the War Caster is intended for. Firing a War Caster with one hand gives a -6 penalty on attack rolls. If you can shoot a War Caster with each hand, you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two one-handed weapons. This penalty is cumulative with the penalty for one-handed firing.
The War Caster has a twenty-first chamber specially prepared to accept magic shells. It may hold one magic shell at a time as well as 20 rounds of slugs allowing either to be used at any one time. Expelling a dead shell and loading another is a move action that provokes an attack of opportunity. There is a clear panel on the top of this chamber to allow the wielder to know what their currently loaded shell is, if it is marked for such identification.
Because of its sturdy composition, a War Caster is 20% less likely to Jam due to magical ammunition or Overloaded Shell use, and provides a +4 bonus to UMD checks to prevent Jamming (this is due to an effective 20% reduction in jam percentage, rather than providing an additional bonus). As such, a War Caster may use level six Overloaded shells with no chance of Jamming, use slugs with a effective enhancement bonus of +2 or less without chance of Jamming, or be enchanted with abilities such a Flaming, Shock War Caster, or a Flaming Burst War Caster, with no chance of Jamming. This does not mean that a +1 or greater War Caster cause their ammunition to be considered as magical, merely that that ammunition can be made magical with a lower chance of Jamming the machine.
RepeatersSlug
A slug is a dense sphere of metal. Due a quirk of their speed and their large, spherical nature, these slugs when fired can be considered to deal bludgeoning damage. Slugs can be made out of non-standard materials such as Silver or Cold Iron for the appropriate cost, but are rarely enchanted due to the possibility of jamming the Caster they are fired from.
A Caster can fire small pebbles or rock salt at targets, however the actions of the Firing Matrix upon such items will pulverise them upon firing, making any damage caused by the caster Blunt and Non-lethal, as well as giving a -2 penalty to attack rolls with such improvised ammo.
Because of the forces acting upon a fired slug, a slug cannot be reused and is destroyed, regardless of whether it hits or misses.
Magic ShellOverloaded ShellSpell Storing Shell
A Spell-Storing shell comes in two varieties, a lesser, one-use version of the item, and a greater, reusable version, typically made out of a precious stone of some fashion. For both shells a spell caster may cast any spell of up to fourth level on the shell. This spell may not have a casting time of longer than one standard action, and any effects which reduce the effective spell level on the item are ignored for the purposes of determining whether a spell can be cast upon a Spell-Storing shell, hence a Metamagic School Focus Empowered Fireball or a Sudden Empowered Fireball are both considered fifth level spells, and cannot therefore be applied to a Spell-Storing shell.
Once a spell is in place, it may be used with a Caster to activate the shell as normal. Once infused with a spell, a new spell cannot be cast upon the spell-storing shell until it is used, at which point either it turns into an unenchantable blackened husk as a normal shell does, or in the cast of a reuseable Spell Storing shell, becomes empty, ready to be recovered from the Caster for a new spell to be cast upon it.
Strong evocation (plus aura of stored spell); CL 8th; Craft Magic Arms and Armour, creator must be a caster of at least 8th level; Price: 500 GP (Lesser), 4000 GP (Greater)
Creating a CasterJamming
EnhancementFeats
Rapid Reload