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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Guns Equipment

Fantasy Firearms

Source Guns & Gears pg. 154
While their power and rarity make Golarion firearms fantastical in their own right, this hasn't stopped engineers, craftsman, and even fey smiths from attempting to improve the weapons or create their own versions. Whether these fantastic weapons include the beast guns of Arcadia, the combination weapons wielded by gunners of the Inner Sea seeking to stretch their meager supplies of black powder, or the goblin-forged “cobbled firearms” of the Shackles, Golarion is home to a diverse and unlikely array of unusual black powder weapons.

Beast Guns

Source Guns & Gears pg. 154
Arcadia's history of gunsmithing goes back centuries, and Arcadia may very well have been the first continent on Golarion in which firearms were developed. While Arcadia's Deadshot Lands are famous for their rare and prestigious skymetal guns, patterned after the star guns of old, more common in other regions are beast guns, created as part of a long-standing rite of passage.

While they don't look much like ancient star guns and use a different kind of magic, beast guns are particularly notable in that, like star guns, they rely on magic rather than black powder. Beast guns can produce unique effects beyond simply damaging their targets.

Beast guns aren't loaded with the same ammunition as other guns, but they do still use ammunition, rather than shooting magical energy like a star gun. This ammunition comes as specially designed rounds, such as miniature tentacles fired from the tentacle gun or javelin-like spikes from the spike gun. Unless otherwise stated, these rounds come in packs of 10 that cost 1 sp and have light Bulk. The only weapon in this section that works significantly differently is the growth gun, which grows back a gob of its own ammunition once per round, ensuring you always have enough ammunition to fire a shot every round.

Monster hunters of all kinds roam Arcadia slaying beasts and harvesting their body parts to produce new beast guns, both new examples of established models and brand new types never seen or imagined before. Even after thousands of years, innovators expand the possibilities of what a beast gun can do.

The following pages contain a small sample of the many kinds of beast guns crafted in Arcadia. Each beast gun is a specific magic item. You can find more information on the ritual used in hunting the beasts to create a beast gun on page 130.

Related Rules

Weapons (Source Core Rulebook pg. 599 4.0)

Cobbled Firearms

Source Guns & Gears pg. 157
Goblins are nothing if not creative and adaptable, and have a unique gift for recognizing an advantage when they see one. Even with the relative rarity of firearms, only the most secluded goblins are unaware of the deadly metal tubes that fling death over long distances using fire and explosive powder. The goblin gunsmiths of the Motaku Isle Ironworks in Absalom's Shackles constantly experiment with new weapon designs using spare parts from their clients' weapons shipments and whatever happens to be lying around. The more successful versions of these junk guns often get added to the catalogue of weapons available from the ironworks, while the less effective ones usually kill their creators before the unfortunate gunsmiths have a chance to iterate on their designs. All cobbled firearms have the cobbled trait, which causes them to misfire on a failure.

The big boom gun and spoon gun both have the goblin trait. However, feats such as Goblin Weapon Familiarity, which normally grants access to all uncommon weapons with the goblin trait, do not grant access to firearms with the goblin trait unless the character separately has access to firearms. You can find more information on this and other firearm access details on page 148.

Combination Weapons

Source Guns & Gears pg. 158
With the advent of firearms, there have been a number of gunslingers, inventors, and alchemists who have created a variety of combination weapons using black powder. The explosive dogslicer, gnome amalgam musket, and three peaked tree all have traits corresponding to an ancestry. However, feats such as Elven Weapon Familiarity, which normally grants access to all uncommon weapons with the elf trait, do not grant access to firearms with the given trait unless the character separately has access to firearms. You can find more information on this and other firearm access details on page 148.

Rare and Unique Firearms

Source Guns & Gears pg. 160
While firearms are relatively uncommon in Golarion and extremely unusual to encounter in the Inner Sea region outside of a few specific areas, they are nonetheless an attractive choice for use in crafting unique signature weapons and other great works. The fey of Arcadia created their own firearm in the form of the Rowan Rifle to gift to their champions, while in the Inner Sea heroes from several countries and regions have traveled to Alkenstar to have their trophies immortalized as part of a powerful and unusual weapon.

The following are rare and unique specific magic firearms, possessing unusual and sometimes outlandish special effects. Some among these firearms are cursed, haunted, or even intelligent. You can find more information on cursed items on Gamemastery Guide page 90, and more information on intelligent items on Gamemastery Guide page 88. A haunted firearm is simply a cursed firearm whose curse derives from a confused, enraged, or tormented spirit attached to the weapon. It is often possible, though difficult, to discover and resolve the unfinished business that will put that spirit to rest. In this case, the firearm's curse might be forever lifted as the spirit goes free to the afterlife, never to bother the firearm's wielder again

Integrated Firearms

In addition to the many rare and unique weapons presented here, there exists a special type of rare firearm known as an integrated firearm that anyone who knows the proper techniques can craft. An integrated firearm replaces a creature's forelimb, usually in place of a prosthesis or one of an automaton's arms. An integrated weapon can be a one or two-handed firearm or combination weapon, though weapons with the reach property are typically too ungainly for this treatment and one-handed weapons are usually preferred since two-handed weapons still require the use of a second arm for proper wielding. Opponents can't disarm an integrated firearm and they take 10 minutes to attach or remove. Integrated firearms can be fired using the same arm they are attached to, with careful and complex mechanics that use the wearer's posture or even directly attach to the muscles or other infrastructure that used to control the severed or detached limb. A creature with an integrated firearm can't use the arm replaced by the firearm for any actions or tasks other than wielding and firing the firearm.