Firearm Damage Rebalance (5e Variant Rule)

This content deviates from 5e standards. Its use could dramatically alter campaigns, take extreme care.

Caution - Here there be monsters! This content intends to provide a different experience, or goes beyond the scope of the anticipated subjects and situations, than the 5e rules were intended to handle. Some portions of the content below may not be what you expect from traditional game content. When implementing this content, DMs and Players should read over all the information carefully, and consider the following specific notes of interest:

This rule is made to represent power and lethality of modern weapons. It will allow them to eclipse melee and single-shot weapons - aka "Real Life has no Balance". Use with caution.

Default Firearms (5e Variant Rule) rules are incapable of properly simulating automatic weapons. Their damage and range is heavily downplayed in comparison to real life. Those optional rules fix this by buffing them to realistic levels in simple way.

1. Most pistols/submachine guns: Surprisingly, damage is - surprisingly - mostly correct, and usually remains the same. Range is multiplied by 3.
2. Shotguns with buckshot: Amount of damage dice is multiplied by 3. Range is multiplied by 6.
3. Rifles, shotguns with slugs, machineguns, heavy pistols/submachineguns (stronger than 9x19mm), most two-handed firearms: Amount of damage dice is multiplied by 3. Range is multiplied by 18.
4. Cannons, howitzers, missile/rocket launchers, and other heavy weaponry: Damage dice amount is multiplied by 3, for correction and as compensation for "direct hit" "explosion" and "fragmentation" getting lumped in single roll. Same for other explosives, like grenades and sachet charges. Range is multiplied by 18 (except for thrown weapons like grenades, stationary charges like landmines, etc).
5. Flamethrowers, chemical weapons: Damage dice amount is multiplied by 1.5, rounding up.

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