system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If you took a Mass Effect gun to the D&D universe, what would its damage die look like?

I'm wondering how many hitpoints of damage a ME weapon would do in a fantasy roleplaying universe.

My first thought is that, e.g. a mass driver pistol from Mass Effect is sufficient to kill a normal armoured person, but not much more. From that, I'd guess it had a damage die something like 1d12. But I'm not sure. Can it be determined from what we know of mass driver weapons?

Are there any examples of firearms working in hit point based RPGs?

[edit]

I'm not completely convinced by arguments based on the muzzle velocity of mass accelerator small arms. Yes, the projectiles are incredibly fast, but they're also very light. I think ME small arms projectiles must be a lot slower than the relativisitc projectiles used in ship-ship weapons, otherwise either    
A. The weapons *would* be thousands-of-damage powerful, creating small nuclear explosions, or   
B. The projectile would evaporate due to friction with the atmosphere before it hit anything.   
For these two reasons I think ME small arms must be closer to comparable chemical projectile weapons.
gpt
D20 Modern has firearms. But mass driven guns aren't modern firearms. Modern firearms are supersonic, but mass driven guns are relativistic. Honestly, it's a testament to materials science and shielding tech that you don't liquefy everything you hit in a single shot.