Rate of Fire (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 - rather, they're treated as "bullet-guzzler" semi-automatic guns what re-roll hits. Problem is, what if you hit wiht first part of the burst, then the rest of the burst is unused. In other words: it's possible to miss first shon in burst but hit with second, but it's impossible to hit first and miss second, or hit with both shots.

Rate of Fire optional rule

Any gun with Short Burst can, instead of making re-rolls, make multiple shots with separate to-hit and damage rolls. Each shot is effectively treated as a separate attack.

For example, Bolter has short burst (2), so when you attack with it, you can make 2 shots per single attack action, and each shot is treated as if it was a separate single-shot attack, with it's own to-hit roll. So, for example, first shot hits and deals (3+5+6+4=18) damage, and second hits and deals (2+1+5+7=15) damage.

Each such burst is made as single attack. For example, if you somehow can make 2 attacks per turn with single weapon, you can make 2 bursts of Bolter, with 2 separate shots each.

Realistically Long Bursts optional rule

Most D20 System games actually downplay fire rate of most firearms. This optional rule, usually working in combination with "Rate of Fire" optional rule, fixes this. This rule is even more ridiculous (from D&D player point of view) than previous one - be cautious.

Under these rules, firearm's fire rate (Short Burst) is realistically large. Amount of shots, what firearm can make in single attack, equals it's fire rate in "shots per second". Take weapon's "rounds per minute" and divide by 60.

Slow-firing guns, like bolt-action rifles and manual-action revolvers, make 1 shot per attack. Faster-firing guns, like typical pump-action shotguns, make 2 shots per attack. Semi-automatic guns, and fast-firing manual guns like Winchester Model 1897 (Trench Gun), make 3 shots per attack. Most automatic guns make from 8 to 16 shots per attack. Fast-firing automatics, like MG42, make 20 shots per attack. Extremely fast-firing automatics can make 50 shots per attack (like Ultra-ShKAS). Miniguns make 100 shots per attack. Each weapon's fire rate can vary from fire rate of "typical" firearm of such type.

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