@Cointhief I want to go full out Rule of Cool with my character dual-wielding guns, but the rules don't allow it, at all.
1. Two-weapon fighting is only allowed for melee weapons.
2. A character needs a free hand to reload a weapon, so if I wield two guns, I can't reload any of them.
Not sure how the Gunner feat players into the second one. It says that "You ignore the loading property of firearms." But I'm presumably not generating ammo from thin air, so I still need to reload them even it no longer takes an action to do so.
From a rules perspective, a musket (d12) is strictly better than a pistol (d10). In addition, it's much easier to get one magic musket than two magic pistols. So from an optimization point of view, I'm actually losing out if I go for pistols... but think of the chil.... coolness factor!
What I'm essentially asking is the following:
A. Permission to reload pistols while dual-wielding.
B. Maybe allow the two-weapon fighting rules to apply to pistols (and hand crossbows?) too. That is, use a bonus action to do an extra pistol attack that does not add any ability modifier.
I can get around the second issue somewhat if I go monk anyway, but it'll still be more effective to use a musket from a damage point of view...
Edit: I have a different concept I can do instead. A mecha! I.e. an autognome Artificer Battle Smith whose Steel Defender is his full body; the autognome itself is just the upper part that can disengage when necessary.