Pistol

Game Stats

• Maximum Range: 25 yds.
• Aimed Range: 5 yds.
• Damage: 1d6+2 (impaling)
• Reload time: 1 round
• Secondary: may be used as a truncheon with -1 damage
• Concealable: no (except under voluminous clothing)
• Civilian Carry: no

Description

The pistol is a black-powder hand gun that fires a spherical lead shot.  It is the principal sidearm of Harkanian army officers and the primary weapon of certain types of Harkanian cavalry.  Like their larger cousin the arquebus, pistols are generally hand-made on an individual basis by expert gunsmiths, although individual guilds may have standard "patterns."  Because of this individuality there is no real "typical" pistol.  The principal functional variation lies in barrel length: shorter pistols are lighter and easier to conceal but less accurate, while longer pistols have greater accuracy but are heavier and more conspicuous.  However, all pistols are small enough to be fired with one hand, and very few are longer than twelve inches long.

Method of Operation

The pistol is loaded and fired in exactly the same way as the arquebus, even down to the ramrod (which is, of course, smaller for pistols than for arquebuses).  Because a pistol is easier to manipulate than an arquebus, however, it has a slightly higher rate of fire.  An experienced pistoleer (sometimes referred to as a "pistolero" or "pistolera") can load and fire in about fifteen to twenty seconds.

Advantages

The pistol's main advantage over the arquebus is in its small size and light weight.  A pistol is small enough and light enough that a pistoleer can keep several pre-loaded pistols on his person at once.  Rather than being confined to the rate of fire of a single weapon as is the typical arqubusier, a pistoleer can carry as many as eight shots ready to fire immediately (although most carry no more than three to five).  Some pistols are also small enough to be concealed within loose-fitting clothing.  This makes it the favored firearm of assassins and those who prefer to fight at close range.

The pistol is also the only firearm that can practically be fired from horseback.  An arquebus is too heavy to fire in one hand, which makes it impractical for most cavalry troopers, and in any case there is no way to reload the weapon while mounted.  The smaller blunderbuss has too large a kick to be fired one-handed with any accuracy, and is still too large to carry more than one, or perhaps two.  The pistol, by contrast, fits many of the requirements of the cavalry trooper.  A cavalryman can carry multiple pistols into battle, stowed in his boots, his saddle, or in bandoliers.  The weapon is small enough to be aimed and fired in a single hand, leaving the other free to handle the reins.  The maximum range of a pistol is very short (and its effective range even shorter), so pistol-armed cavalry are still essentially melee troops.  However, a pistol's range is still greater than that of a sword or lance, offering the mounted pistoleer a potentially decisive advantage in a cavalry melee.

Disadvantages

A pistol shares all the disadvantages of an arquebus and several more in addition.  The pistol's primary disadvantage is its inaccuracy and short range.  Pistols have smooth barrels just like arquebuses, and their accuracy suffers for the same reasons.  Additionally, pistols are harder to aim in the first place.  Black-powder weapons are aimed by sighting along the top of the barrel, and the longer the barrel, the more precisely the shooter can tell where his gun is actually pointed.  Since pistols have relatively short barrels by definition, their accuracy suffers accordingly.

A pistol's short barrel also means that the ball is accelerated by the powder charge for a shorter time than it would be in a longer barrel, which drastically reduces the pistol's maximum range.  Most pistols have a maximum range of about 25 yards, and (due to their poor accuracy) are unlikely to hit a given target beyond a mere 5 yards.

Variants

Like arquebuses, pistols can take advantage of alchemical powder and shot.  However, by far the most famous variant of the pistol is the Harkanian "duckfoot," a pistol with four splayed barrels that cover an arc in front of the shooter and all discharge simultaneously with a single pull of the trigger.  The duckfoot is an attempt to overcome the inherent inaccuracy of the pistol through sheer volume of fire.  It is effective against crowds of targets at short range, but the arrangement of the barrels makes it even less likely than a regular pistol to hit the specific target at which the shooter is aiming.  It is also heavier than a regular pistol, and its awkward shape makes it difficult to carry more than one. 

Party Associations

Monica Jasmine used a pistol to attack Horaytio Glasfish, and kept that pistol during her subsequent adventures with the party.  Rene Dubois also carried a pistol as part of his witchhunter's gear.  The weapon's strongest party association, however, was with Juliette Kustinof, who often carried several loaded pistols concealed in pockets in her voluminous skirts.  Under Monica's tutelage, Juliette became a proficient pistolera.

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