Giff, Guns, and... Something Else That Starts With G

 One thing about Spelljammer's playable races that is pretty exciting is how they've introduced really interesting new mechanical features. While Monsters of the Multiverse went a long way to making many of the previously-introduced playable races feel usable and viable in ways they hadn't previously, it also showed how consistent (and repetitive) their formula for making a new race has been - darkvision, some bonus proficiency, and a few spells describes a massive number of them.

The Spelljammer races have largely gone outside the box - between the Hadozee's glide, the Plasmoid's amorphousness, the Thri-kreen's extra arms (and telepathy), and the Autognome being a Construct that can (and might need to) use Mending to heal up between rests, there's a lot going on.

Giff actually wind up being one of the more grounded races in the book. But one thing that I find really interesting is that they get an automatic proficiency with firearms, as well as bonuses: being able to ignore the loading property and to use the firearm's long range without disadvantage.

Unlike the Artificer, whose firearm proficiency is an optional rule, in part to allow DMs to keep their campaign settings pre-gunpowder, here there is no mention of it.

Now, absent firearms, the Giff still have some good features to recommend them to players. Hippo Strength gives you a permanent advantage on Strength checks and saving throws, along with doubling your carrying capacity (if you're in a campaign where that is tracked). Astral Spark lets you do bonus damage with your weapons. (Admittedly, I think the racial features don't do much for you if you're a primary spellcaster).

Still, the specific call-out for firearms makes me wonder if they should push them as a more common option. Right now, firearms are presented only in the Dungeon Master's Guide within the chapter on optional rules.

The modern and futuristic firearms are certainly something I'd have DMs strongly restrict if they're not going to tweak them (like my proposal of using modern firearms but having characters not add their dexterity modifiers to the damage) in order to preserve balance. However, the "renaissance" era weapons, the Musket and the Pistol, actually wind up, I think, being pretty decently balanced when you consider that A: they have the loading property and B: their range is very short - the Musket's short range is only 40 feet, compared to a Heavy Crossbow, which has a 100-foot short range. The pistol (which I interpret as a flintlock) has a short range of only 30 feet.

The Giff racial traits get around both of these issues, but that's the whole point of the racial.

I understand some people want to keep a purely medieval (or earlier) feel to their fantasy worlds, and even though firearms actually predate a lot of other technologies that are habitually welcomed in those pseudo-medieval settings, I get it. I'll also say that as someone who lives in America, being in a world without guns is a very appealing idea.

But I do think that D&D could stand to make at least archaic firearms a more common thing - many of the ships in Spelljammer come equipped with mangonels, and I feel it's kind of silly that we don't have more cannons on them (which you are, of course, free to put in there - there are stats for a cannon in the DMG). I think it would be sad to not let a player who picks a Giff pick up a musket or pistol as their weapon of choice.