an odd christmas gift, for certain, but a welcome one.
also, because it will otherwise distract me for the length of this post, i'll get this (poorly cropped) joke out of the way early:
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i'm gonna be honest - i've never really liked the idea of a gunslinger class in dnd(-likes). for one it feels simultaneously a bit overly limiting and broad as a class concept (gunslingers are an extremely broad archetype, yet simultaneously they are, by their nature, restricted solely to firearms), and for another it makes guns feel like you should really only be using them if you're playing a gunslinger. it just makes things weird. but that's not really specific to the book, that's more just how i view the concept in general.
looking at what you've actually written, i have two main questions:
1. how does "grit" work? is it literally just renamed bonus exertion/focus but with different options, or does it have unique mechanics to how the bonus exertion works (e.g. special ways to regain that exertion)?
2. damaged gun?
other then that, seems neat.
i don't have much to say about this. it's cool.
i'm not super big on this concept just because i think it's more appropriate for 2 players to be cooperating on such a concept then to have one player with a class that basically gives them another PC to RP (regardless of power level). there's very specific concepts where this could make sense, though, like a pair of twins whose souls are metaphysically bound together or something like that. like the gunslinger, neat.
haha, 4e fighter go brrr. i will not complain about 4e fighter in my rpg soup.
this is what
i'm here for. hell yeah.
ok, this is just super cool.
question: what eras of guns are being included? is it just medieval/renaissance firearms? napoleonic? late victorian? further?
i can take or leave the gunslinger and sentinel conceptually, but that's just due to my own biases - if they're even half as good as the esper, they'll be solid. everything else sounds awesome.
this might already get covered by the two ranged traditions you have, but i'd really like to see an aggressive mobility/trick shot focused ranged maneuver tradition. think john woo movies mixed with gun fu.