Name: Hand Cannon Fields: Bomb, Projectile PWC: N/A Appearance: A smaller version of a cannon designed for use in one hand. Rather than a cord firing mechanism, the Hand Cannon incorporates a grip and trigger into its design for ease of use. Function: Sacrificing power for versatility and a much lighter weight, the Hand Cannon allows a warrior to assail a foe at range with lead balls while wielding a weapon in their other hand. While not especially lethal, Hand Cannon ammunition is known to be effective against armour, and can be used in close quarters during a clash to knock an opponent off-balance, making it a favoured weapon of raiders and pirates. Additionally, although it lacks the Bomb-loading capability of its larger cousin, the Hand Cannon can be loaded with Mini-Bombs, allowing them to be fired more accurately than simply throwing them. Limitations: Like a regular Cannon, ammunition must be loaded before every shot, making it something of a fire-and-forget weapon. Not very accurate at anything beyond short range. Generally not very damaging on its own. Not sure if something like this has ever been suggested before, but I had this idea while playing as Tetra in HW, in which she uses a cutlass + pistol combo. The pistol is a pretty iconic weapon for pirates, and it would obviously be too exotic to be considered mundane equipment, so I decided to suggest it. I want to stress that I'm not out to introduce guns to the setting or anything, hence why I've made it weaker and less accurate than the original treasure, but I figure since we have a regular Cannon, a single-shot firearm wouldn't be especially overpowered. I could see it being used by sailors to fire Mini-Bombs into the sky as flares. Maybe it could load other, smaller types of ammunition, too. Would understand completely if you don't even want to go there, though.
I'm going to go ahead and have to say 'no' to this-- while cannons and powder kegs are fine, guns have never been a 'traditional' part of Zelda. Hell, even in Wind Waker, the pirates themselves seemed to only have a catapult and no cannons. So this is going to be a 'no'-- and if you need clarification on why, it would probably be better to reach out to Guy than me.
Might I also offer that you could totally just craft something and put magic on it and the result isn't too different.
^ Genz has a point. Although, if you really want a 'hand cannon', it'd be more balanced if it were actually a hand cannon and not just a smoothbore pistol. And this has...what, a percussion lock? That's what it reads as. I'd recommend, for this purpose, going with a flintlock, which isn't such a massive jump from the matchlock standard cannon and has the bonus drawback of not working when wet. Make it an oversized two-hander and throw in a bit about time to reload and maybe that'd be more acceptable? I know it defeats the purpose of going gun-and-sword, buuuuuut...
As Cloud said, it is close to a gun. Handheld blackpowder-powered small-bullet-firing guns are not happening on HC, in any form, even if the next major Zelda game features them prominently. (Notice how there aren't any trains, either.) If you want a device that shoots a small projectile at high speed, I would recommend either a Seed Shooter, a common crossbow, or something akin to a sling or slingshot. All that said, I still appreciate your effort, Darth. I just want to make it clear to the others in this thread that I won't add a treasure of this nature to the library.
