D&D General How would you describe a laser rifle in d&d?

[not-so-newguy]

I've decided to arm the cavemen* in my Isle of Dread campaign with a few laser rifles** I know that this is an old DM's trick that can get annoying if overused, but i plan to pull these type of shenanigans only once.

How would a describe a laser rifle without actually calling it a laser rifle?


*I've described them as "brutish and smelly humans that live in caves" through NPC accounts. The reality is that they are normal humans that live in an abandoned fortified bomb shelters from 1000s of years ago. Their highly defensive because aranea have been encroaching on their territory by using bugbear invaders.

**They've managed to find some Blackmoorian technomancy that miraculously still works. I love me some gonzo

 

[Blackrat]

”A magical crossbow that shoots Scorching Ray instead of bolts”

 

[Bagpuss]

“Oh so it’s a like a inaccurate wand of magic missile? Why would I want that?”

 

[Brotton Goodfellow]

I think what might help is actually having a visual representation of any sci-fi laser rifle you think would fit and go from there. How it works doesn’t need to be explained, but a description of the gun going off would be needed, and for that you can do as suggested and liken it to scorching ray or any other ray like spell. Again, how it affects a creature is highly dependent on what type of damage the laser rifle does. Is it like a blaster from Star Wars? Or is there a bigger boom when it hits something?

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

Is this some gnomish contraption with the Catapult spell built into it to shoot a piece of lead? And it has a small dancing light that shows where you're aiming.

Btw, it would be nice for everyone to understand the damage it will do. What dice will you roll to determine the damage, which which damage modifier?

 

[TerraDave]

That is so D&D!

(And so is this).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If they are familiar with the concept of a rod, staff or wand, call it such. Mechanical elements like shoulder stocks, handgrips and triggers would be familiar to those who know crossbows.

If its materials are primarily metallic, say so. If their exteriors have some form of plastic, you might compare them to a fine ceramic, perhaps with a bit of give. Plastics can also resemble stone, but will typically not conduct heat as well, so will feel “warmer”.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Will be using class names instead of character names to protect the (mostly) innocent. ("Spellslinger" in this case is a sort of pistolero-mage, a hybrid of gunslinger, wizard, and artificer.)

Me: "Alright, you defeated the attacking cavemen! What now?"
Spellslinger: "Well you said they seemed to be repeatedly firing some kind of energy at us that wasn't magic, right? What do they have?"
Me: "As you examine the bodies, you see that they have...well, it's hard to describe. Spellslinger, you know firearms, and while these kind of look like firearms...they aren't. There's no bullet, and instead of a chamber, the front part seems to be a lens of some kind. But it has a trigger, and there seems to be a socket-able thing where one would normally put bullets for a rear-loaded rifle."
SS: "That's...really weird. Can I do some test fire? I have to know more."
Me: "Absolutely. You do some test firing and, honestly, your first impression isn't so much about the weapon, but about these sad sacks that were shooting at you--they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with this thing, but in your hands it's a dream. No recoil, no explosion, hardly any sound at all compared to a bullet. Do you want to do comprehensive testing, or just enough to get a feel for it?"
SS: "Well...how many did we recover?"
Me: "Good question. Battlemaster kinda got a bit happy with his sword earlier, and we never resolved what the complication was--so we'll say that one's damaged in the front, but the detachable ammunition-like thing still works. You can examine the broken 'gun' later to look at its parts and such. There were four cavemen in the back with the 'guns,' so that leaves three functional ones."
SS: "Alright. I'll test one of them comprehensively, just in case it runs out of ammo."

It would go on from there. If the Spellslinger works really hard for it, she might be able to figure out how it works, but actually replicating it would be very difficult--it almost certainly has actual circuitry and such inside, which is hard to replace in a world with high medieval/early Renaissance technology. But she might be able to make a much weaker copy, or create a weapon that requires the user to know how to use magic that can replicate the effect. (Wizards in this setting do that a lot, figuring out spells by formulaic imitation of other disciplines of magic.)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That is so D&D!

(And so is this).

That's the needler rifle if I remember correctly. The Barrier Peaks laser rifle is even more out-there. There where some seriously imaginative designs in that module.

 

[not-so-newguy]

I'm using these stats:

Laser Rifle

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e) Equipment, Gear, & Items - Laser Rifle - It’s up to you to decide whether a character has proficiency with...

www.dndbeyond.com

No proficiency bonus*. 3d8 radiant damage.
Two handed. Reload. Range: 100/300

There are 3 laser rifles located in 3 different caves. Only 4 clips of 10 ammo are left.


*Downtime training lasts 10 weeks and wastes a bunch of ammo, so I would say it's impossible. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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Some context: The PCs are being sent as emissaries by the Rakastas, so that Rakasta can pass peacefully through the Cavemens' lands. The PCs need to help out the Cavemen with their Aranea problem. Perhaps they'll get a nifty rifle (and goggles) as a reward.

The Cavemen have these rifles. The rifles are made out of plastic and metal. I just decided that they also found several hundred pairs of Space Goggles.