This is a bonus article in a series! You can find the rest of them here.

The concept of firearms is a bit thorny in D&D and adjacent games. Some people like the concept, others feel it doesn’t fit the “medieval” idiom for mechanical or flavor reasons.

Pathfinder tries to address this by moving everything gun-related to its own class: the Gunslinger, which came out in its Ultimate Combat supplement. The presence or absence of that class in a campaign acts as a proxy for the presence or absence of guns1.

Dungeon Fantasy ended up going along a similar route - while it leaves guns out of its equipment list entirely in DF1 and DF: Adventurers, it ended up publishing the Musketeer professional template in Pyramid #3/36, along with a goodly amount of setting-appropriate guns.

With the material from that issue, we have what we need to stat up the star of this post: Lirianne the Gunslinger! Here she is:

By Wayne Reynolds, Copyright 2012 Paizo Publishing

Like all of Wayne Reynold’s Iconics, this design is a bit busy, but I like the tricorne hat. Looking at her bio here and her stats here, we can learn the following:

  • Lirianne comes from the city-state of Alkenstar in the Mana Wastes, a region whose ambient magic takes the form of deadly storms that produce mutated abominations. This hostile environment forced its people to innovate, advancing their technology to the level where black-powder guns are common.

  • She was the middle child of three, their father a marshal and their mother an elf who left while they were young (because for a Pathfinder elf, ten years and three children is a “fling”). She spent much of her childhood devouring pulpy tales of adventure and dreaming of starring her own.

  • Growing up to follow in her father’s footsteps, Lirianne got caught in a mana storm and teleported thousands of miles north to the mostly-medieval continent of Avistan - where all those pulpy tales took place. Now she travels as a wandering do-gooder, in no particular hurry to return home.

  • Lirianne wields two single-shot pistols, which she can load quite quickly due to Pathfinder’s generous rules for such. Her class abilities allow her to perform quite a few tricks with these guns.

The GURPS version below uses the Musketeer professional template and the guns from Pyramid #3/36, plus some of the perks from GURPS Gun Fu referenced in that article. Her armor is from DF: Adventurers. I’m also using the Alternate Guns Specialties from Pyramid #3/65.

While her pistol’s base reload time is 20 seconds, she manages to get it down to 3 by using paper cartridges (which halve reload time) and by having 3 levels of Quick-Reload (which cut that further by 75% to a minimum of 3). That’s the fastest she can get by the book, but I wouldn’t be averse to allowing a fourth level of Quick-Reload to reduce that time to 1 second, and have her follow the same “quick-firing” rule bow Scouts follow.

Alternatively, you could introduce more modern guns (like revolvers or lever action rifles) that would allow for a higher rate of fire. Those would make for some fine loot!

Fine loot indeed! (by Ekaterina Burmak)

An Expedition to the Barrier Peaks-like mix of fantasy and ultra-tech would be extra-awesome for her since the full Gunslinger advantage would allow her to shoot sci-fi rayguns as well as she does black powder pistols.

Other highlights include Lirianne’s relatively high Acrobatics skill (good for acrobatic dodges and daring movement), and the other perks which allow her to shoot a gun in each hand without having to drop either for reloading or doing almost anything else. She is a bit deficient in social skills, so that might be something to shore up later with earned points. Other good destinations for earned points are more Guns (Pistol) and Acrobatics, as well as gun perks and the Behind the Back power-up.

Lirianne, 249-point Half-Elf Musketeer

ST 13 {30}; DX 15 {100}; IQ 10 {0}; HT 13 {30}

Damage 1d/2d-1; Basic Lift 16.9kg; Will 10; Per 12 {10}; FP 13; Basic Speed 7.00 {5}; Basic Move 7.

Advantages

  • Akimbo (Pistol) {1}
  • Combat Reflexes {15}
  • Daredevil {15}
  • Enhanced Dodge 1 {15}
  • Fastest Gun in the West (1) {1}
  • Gunslinger {25}
  • Magery 0 {5}
  • Off-Hand Weapon Training (Pistol) {1}
  • Quick Reload (Black Powder Weapons) 3 {3}

Disadvantages

  • Charitable (12) {-15}
  • Code of Honor (Musketeer’s ) {-10}
  • Curious (12) {-5}
  • Overconfidence (12) {-5}
  • Social Stigma (Half-Breed) {-5}
  • Weirdness Magnet {-15}

Skills

  • Acrobatics (H) DX {4} - 15
  • Armory (Small Arms) (A) IQ-1 {2} - 10
  • Broadsword (A) DX+1 {4} - 16
  • Carousing (E) HT+1 {2} - 14
  • Climbing (A) DX {2} - 15
  • Fast-Draw (Ammo) (E) DX+1 {1}2 - 17
  • Fast-Draw (Pistol) (E) DX+1 {1}2 - 17
  • First Aid (E) IQ {1} - 10
  • Guns (Longarm) (E) DX+1 {0}3 - 16
  • Guns (Pistol) (E) DX+5 {16} - 20
  • Hiking (A) HT {2} - 13
  • Leadership (A) IQ {2} - 10
  • Observation (A) Per {2} - 12
  • Riding (Horse) (A) DX-1 {1} - 14
  • Scrounging (E) Per {1} - 12
  • Stealth (A) DX-1 {1} - 14
  • Survival (Plains) (A) Per-1 {1} - 11
  • Swimming (E) HT {1} - 13
  • Throwing (A) DX {2} - 15
  • Wrestling (A) DX+A {2} - 15

Loadout

  • Pistol x2 [Torso]: From Pyramid #3/36. $400, 3kg.
  • Small Pouch [Torso]: Holds 1.5kg. $10, 0.1kg.
    • Powder and Shot, 100 shots [Pouch]: Paper cartridges. From Pyramid #3/36. $50, 0.5kg.
  • Broadsword [Torso]: Damage thr+1 imp or sw+1 cut, Reach 1. $600, 1.5kg.
  • Light Leather Suit [Head, Torso, Limbs]: Riding leathers and a jaunty tricorne hat. DR 1. $150, 9kg.
  • Backpack, Small [Torso]: Holds 20kg of gear. $60, 3kg.
    • Wineskin [Backpack]: Holds 4L of liquid. $10, 0.13kg.
    • Blanket [Backpack]: $20, 2kg.
    • Rope, 3/8” (10m) [Backpack]: Supports 150kg. $5, 0.75kg.
  • $195 in coin.

Combat

With backpack: Light Encumbrance, Move 4.

Without backpack: No Encumbrance.

Defenses assume No Encumbrance.

  • Defenses
    • Dodge: 12
    • Parry (Sword): 12
    • DR: 1
  • Attacks
    • Pistol (20): Acc 1, Damage 2d-1 pi+, Range 75/450, RoF 1, Shots 1 (3); Bulk -3, Rcl 2.
    • Broadsword (16): 2d cut or 1d+1 imp, Reach 1.

  1. Just like D&D 3.x did with monks and kung-fu, come to think of it. ↩

  2. +1 from Combat Reflexes ↩ ↩2

  3. Default from Guns (Pistol) ↩