Range and Penetration: Armor, whether manufactured or natural, provides little protection against the force of a bullet at short

range. Flitlock Firearms: When firing an early firearm, the attack resolves against the targets modified touch AC (same as touch, but add deflection and enchantment bonuses) when the target is within the first range increment of the weapon, but this type of attack is not considered a touch attack for the purposes of feats and abilities. At higher range increments, the attack resolves normally, including taking the normal cumulative 2 penalty for each full range increment. Unlike other projectile weapons, flintlock firearms have a maximum range of five range increments. Clockwork Firearms: Clockwork firearms resolve their attacks against touch AC when the target is within the first five range increments, but this type of attack is not considered a touch attack for the purposes of feats or abilities. At higher range increments, the attack resolves normally, including taking the normal cumulative 2 penalty for each full-range increment. Clockwork firearms have a maximum range of 10 range increments. Loading a Firearm: You need at least one hand free to load one-handed and two-handed firearms. In the case of two-handed firearms, you hold the weapon in one hand and load it with the otheryou only need to hold it in two hands to aim and shoot the firearm. Loading siege firearms requires both hands, and one hand usually manipulates a large ramrod (which can be wielded as a club in combat). The Rapid Reload feat reduces the time required to load one-handed and two-handed firearms, but this feat does not reduce the time it takes to load siege firearms. Loading any firearm provokes attacks of opportunity. Other rules for loading a firearm depend on whether the firearm is an early firearm or an advanced firearm. Flintlock Firearms: Flintlock firearms are muzzle-loaded, requiring bullets or pellets and black powder to be rammed down the muzzle. If an early firearm has multiple barrels, each barrel must be loaded separately. It is a standard action to load each barrel of a one-handed early firearm and a full-round action to load each barrel of a two-handed early firearm. It takes three full-round actions by one person to load a siege firearm. This can be reduced to two full-round actions if more than one person is loading the cannon. Clockwork Firearms: Clockwork firearms are chamberloaded. It is a move action to load a one-handed or twohanded advanced firearm to its full capacity. Misfires: If the natural result of your attack roll falls within a firearms misfire value, that shot misses, even if you would have otherwise hit the target. When a firearm misfires, it gains the broken condition. While it has the broken condition, it loses any masterwork bonus it may have, imposes a -3 penalty on attack and damage rolls, the load time increases by one move action and its misfire value increases by 4 unless the wielder has gun training in the particular type of firearm (see the gunslinger class). In that case,

the misfire value increases by 2 instead of 4. Flintlock Firearms: Flintlocks misfire on any roll of 1 or 2. If 2 is rolled and the shot still hits, roll damage as normal, but the gun still misfires. If a flintlock firearm with the broken condition misfires again, it explodes. When a nonmagical firearm explodes, the weapon is destroyed. Magical firearms are wrecked, which means they cant fire until they are fully restored (which requires either the make whole spell or a sucessful Craft check). When a gun explodes, pick one corner of your squarethe explosion creates a burst from that point of origin. Any creature within a 5 ft burst in this direction (including the firearms wielder) takes damage as if it had been hit by the weapona DC 12 Reflex save halves this damage. Clockwork Firearms: Clockwork firearms misfire on a roll of 1, followed by a confirmation check. Roll to hit against the target with a -2 penalty, if you miss, the weapon gains the broken condition. A further misfire does not cause advanced firearms to explode, but increases the Craft DC to repair it by 2. Ammunition: Firearm ammunition takes two forms: either black powder and shot (either bullets or pellets) or cartridges. Unlike other types of ammunition, firearm ammunition is destroyed when it is used, and has no chance of being retrieved on a miss. No part of a cartridge can be reused to create new cartridges. Firearm ammunition cannot be treated with poison, unless you are using a pitted bullet, which increases you weapons misfire rate by 1 and costs +25 gp for a bag of 10. Concealing Firearms: Like light weapons and hand crossbows, one-handed firearms are easy to conceal on your person. Some smaller firearms (like the coat pistol) can grant bonuses to conceal a weapon on your person. Inappropriately Sized Firearms: You cannot make optimum use of a firearm that is not properly sized for you. A cumulative 2 penalty applies on attack rolls for each size category of difference between your size and the size of the firearm. You cannot use a firearm made for a creature one size smaller than you. If you are not proficient with the firearm, a 4 nonproficiency penalty also applies. In most cases, a Large or larger creature can use a siege firearm as a two-handed firearm, but the creature takes a 4 penalty for using it this way because of its awkwardness, with the exception of the gatling gun, which is usable as a two-handed weapon. Bucklers: You can use a one-handed or two-handed firearm without penalty while carrying a buckler. Fire while Prone: Firearms, like crossbows, can be fired while their wielders are prone. Firearms, Black Powder, and Water: Black powder becomes useless when exposed to water, but powder horns and cartridges protect black powder from exposure. You cannot normally load an early firearm underwater or fire any firearm underwater without magical aid. Deflecting and Snatching Bullets: The Deflect Arrows feat (Core Rulebook 121) and the Snatch Arrows feat (Core Rulebook 134) can be used to deflect bullets/pellets, but you still take 1/2 damage from the attack (1/3 if you have snatch arrows).