Perhaps thanks to the iconic original World of Warcraft cinematic, which begins with a Dwarf Hunter and his pet bear, carrying a big old blunderbuss, I've always liked having firearms in my heroic fantasy settings, despite being a pretty anti-gun person in the real world. I was happy, then to see the 2024 PHB include the "renaissance-era" firearms that had appeared in the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide. These weapons are the most balanced against others, using a single damage die as opposed to two for the modern guns and three (or six) for the futuristic ones. While they have higher dice than the classic crossbows and bows, there are some limiting factors on them, probably the most notable being their very short normal range - pistols have a 30 foot normal range and muskets are just a little better with 40. They also have the loading property.
Both pistols and muskets are considered martial weapons, which also places some limitations on who is likely to use them. You can, of course, still attack with a weapon you don't have proficiency in, but losing that PB to your attack roll can be a big problem, and wipes out the damage benefit from the higher die almost certainly.
Among the classes that tend to have martial weapon proficiency, most of them also have the extra attack feature. That's a good thing, but this runs into conflict with the Loading property, which allows you to make only one attack with such a weapon per action, bonus action, or reaction (the latter being less likely than doing so as your action, but still possible), regardless of how many attacks you'd normally be able to make.
And given how Extra Attack is a core feature to help martial classes do their full damage potential, this is really damning.
Now, Crossbows also have the loading property, but for that we have the Crossbow Expert feat, which allows you to ignore that property among other things.
If we are, as I will be at my table, allowing players to use old character options that weren't reprinted, our problems kind of end here, as you can pick up the Gunner feat from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, which, among other things, lets us ignore the loading property for firearms.
But, if we're at a table where only the options in the new PHB (and subsequent books) are allowed, we run into a big problem: the classes most likely to be able to use a Firearm will be better-off if they take a different kind of ranged weapon. Two Longbow attacks for 1d8+3 are better than a single Musket attack for 1d12+3 (15 overall versus 9.5).
So, what we need is a character who can use martial weapons, but only gets one weapon attack with their attack action.
And here, I think the answer is, perhaps unexpectedly: Clerics and Druids.
Clerics and Druids have a lot of parallels in their design. Each has a choice they can make at 1st level that allows them to gain a higher tier of armor training (medium to heavy for clerics and light to medium for druids) as well as martial weapon proficiency.
Rather than getting anything like Extra Attack, though, they can get Blessed Strikes or Primal Strikes, respectively, which adds 1d8 (and later 2d8) of magical damage when they hit with weapon attacks.
A Cleric with a Musket at level 7 with a +3 to Dexterity (admittedly a little high, +2 might be more to be expected) would deal 1d12+1d8+3 damage on a hit, for an average of 14 damage, compared to using something like Toll the Dead, which could do 2d12 damage. Granted, if they went the Potent Spellcasting route, it would be doing 2d12+4, perhaps, which does beat the musket for 15 damage.
The Druid is in a similar situation, though I don't think they have any d12 cantrips.
In an ideal situation, though, if you can pick up Magic Initiate: Wizard and take True Strike, it'll keep better pace with your spells. If using True Strike with a Musket as a Protector Cleric or Warden Druid, then you're looking at 1d12+1d8+1d6+4 on a hit (and using, effectively, your spell attack modifier) or 18.5 average damage, compared to 2d8+4, or 13, from a Starry Wisp if you're going the Potent Spellcasting route instead.
Strangely, there's no feat in the 2024 PHB that allows you to gain weapon proficiencies, so Rogues, who might be the most obvious firearms users, are shut out.
Once again, a ton of these issues get solved if we allow pre-2024 content. The Artificer's Repeating Shot infusion removes the Loading property (and effectively removes the ammunition property) and would thus be great for them if they're a Battle Smith or could make them work perfectly for other martial characters. Again, the Gunner feat also fixes this.
But, if we're strictly only using new options, your best bet is going to be either a preacher or a hippie with a gun.
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