I know comparatively little about muskets but your statements about lower velocity are, generally, correct. Impact area varies wildly, but on average a musket ball is bigger than a modern bullet with significant overlap. However, I know quite a bit about modern firearms and you are seriously underestimating their ability to penetrate. 18 gauge steel is a 1 mm thick and while not all steel is created equal and neither are all bullets but unless you are using something like AR500 or you have light loads a .357 will care precisely not at all about 18 gauge sheet metal. A .357 revolver can also fire .38 Short Colt and .38 Special with no modification and people often use these lighter loads for target practice. Neither round is especially potent, but I would guess that they might be stopped by 18 gauge sheet steel. In fact, it's probably that a fast .22 would penetrate 18 gauge steel. A cheap hollow steel door has walls about 1mm thick and I'm willing to assume this guy knows what he's shooting at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl2MBRu9WlU
More .22 LR penetration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbEKKXU4bLo
If you'd really like, I can head out to the woods and put some holes in things for demo purposes. I don't own a .357, but a +p 9mm round should suffice as a decent stand in even if it is a bit slower if I can't borrow a .357.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl2MBRu9WlU
More .22 LR penetration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbEKKXU4bLo
If you'd really like, I can head out to the woods and put some holes in things for demo purposes. I don't own a .357, but a +p 9mm round should suffice as a decent stand in even if it is a bit slower if I can't borrow a .357.
Nov 16, 2018 Explosives and guns in D&D 5e are where many groups draw a line in the sand. Traditionally speaking, it sort of makes sense since most groups opt for a more medieval, high fantasy, or Tolkien-esque setting. There weren’t any guns in any of these settings so it’s a bit jarring to include them.
1) work on your math2) I've done some destructive testing. My friends during college included a bunch of gun nuts
I've shot a .357 using round nosed police-standard lead ball (non-jacketed) at a steel plate of 18 gage - which is 25.4/18= 1.41 mm thick - and it didn't go through. I've seen .357 stopped by car doors, too... on older cars, where it was as thick as 18ga. In both cases, visible deformation, no penetration.
Factors that influence penetration include incidence angle (anything other than 90° increase both the skip chance and the effective thickness), specific metal composition, specific tempering, method of working (hammer-worked is different from rolled), amount of air traveled through (drag reduces bullet energy), bullet composition (straight lead penetrates less than FMJ), bullet shape, temperature of the metals, age and flexion history of the plate.
Where Are Firearms In The Dmg Dnd 5e System
Your 9mm probably will penetrate 1mm steel if shot within 5 yards and aimed dead on... because autopistol rounds are ususally jacketed. It also won't do much past it.
Dnd 5e Firearms Rules
And a breastplate is seldom worn without quilt underneath. Yeah, it is gonna hurt. No, it's not going through. But the same is true of a sword.
Dmg Dnd 5e Pdf
Dnd 5e Weapons
Ignoring armor isn't the solution, especially since most firearm to body armor shots are going to be other than 90°.Using armor as a damage reduction rather than pure hit/miss is the best way to simply represent firearms damage. It's also not the best D&D choice.