Does a halfling gunslinger's Lucky racial trait work with misfire on guns?

Question

It is my first time playing D&D.

I am playing a 3rd-level Halfling Fighter and am thinking of going gunslinger (the homebrew fighter subclass by Matt Mercer), as the Lucky racial trait seems to pair really well with the misfire of guns.

I think my DM is adding factors to make it easier for me to misfire, which i understand, but it should be something we both agree on rather than me being told...

I want to know exactly how the lucky ability affects misfire. The DM is talking about guns "just not exploding in my face" instead of re-rolling the 1, which isn't mentioned in any books.

I want to know if I get to re-roll if I roll a 1 when firing. If so, what happens to my gun? If not, why not?

Answer 1

Yes, you get to reroll a 1 on the attack roll (but must keep the new roll, even if it's another 1)

The gunslinger's Misfire mechanic is described under the Gunsmith feature:

Misfire. Whenever you make an attack roll with a firearm, and the dice roll is equal to or lower than the weapon’s Misfire score, the weapon misfires. The attack misses, and the weapon cannot be used again until you spend an action to try and repair it. To repair your firearm, you must make a successful Tinker’s Tools check (DC equal to 8 + misfire score). If your check fails, the weapon is broken and must be mended out of combat at a quarter of the cost of the firearm. Creatures who use a firearm without being proficient increase the weapon’s misfire score by 1.

The various firearms in the Firearms table for the subclass (which replace the optional ones described in the DMG) have varying misfire scores ranging from 1 to 3. The subclass also grants proficiency with these firearms.

The halfling's Lucky racial trait says:

When you roll a 1 on the d20 for an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll.

As quoted above, the misfire mechanic is tied specifically to attack rolls. Thus, if you roll a 1 on an attack roll with any firearm, you would normally misfire. However, the halfling's Lucky trait means that if you roll a 1 on any attack roll, you can reroll it and take the new roll. This makes it much harder to misfire.

In fact, if you use one of the firearms with a Misfire score of 1 (a palm pistol or a pistol), it's nearly impossible to misfire; as a halfling gunslinger wielding such a weapon, you would only ever misfire if you rolled a nat. 1 on the attack roll, and then got another nat. 1 when you rerolled it (a 1 in 400 chance).

Answer 2

You are correct - Lucky will allow you to reduce the chances of misfires assuming you follow the rules as written. On the other hand, you should keep in mind that Matthew Mercer's gunslinger, while high quality homebrew, is still homebrew that is only arguably balanced. Your DM is well within his rights to tone down problematic rules interactions with homebrew content.

Taking away the largest benefit of your Lucky racial trait because you are a gunslinger seems unfair, but on the other hand, the rules as written would make Halflings outclass every other race as Gunslingers by a huge margin (especially at higher levels).

My table resolves the issue this way: When a feature that does not grant you advantage allows you to reroll an attack roll with a firearm, the attack resolves with the new roll, but the weapon then misfires based on the original roll. I.e., because Halflings are lucky, your malfunctioning gun might fire one last straight shot before it suffers a mechanical malfunction you need to fix.

Consider bringing up something like this with your DM, but you shouldn't be surprised if they turn you down, particularly if they are also new to the game.