Sword and Pistol character - Gangplank/Pirates of the Caribbean style

[Daniel Runge]

Ahoy mateys and scallywags alike!

I dreamt a dream of pirates and vikings, the masters of the sea both tamed and untamed, and thus woke with a strong desire to create a swashbuckling piraty buccaneer of sorts.
Looking over the options I decided to request help from the forums, from people that might have experience, perhaps even expertise, on such an endeavor.

The concept: Sword and Pistol
This person, whether green or seasoned, has travelled the world of the seas as part of the crew of a ship (Part of the crew, part of the ship) owned by a wealthy merchant in one of the great port-cities of the world. He has been taught by both his fellow sailors and himself in the ways of seafaring, and the accompanying skills of combat neccesarry for living in this world, which is one of the foundations of the modern era, yet still so far from the neat and clean civilizations for which they supply.
Skilled in the use and maintenance of gun and sword (pistol and cutlass), he contributes to the safety and efficiency of the vessel, and has earned himself not a modest amount of respect amongst the crew, as well as the calling name "Blackpowder Bill" (no relation to his real name; at time of writing undecided).

The problem: Class!
What class suits this concept the best? A rogue with the pirate archtype, a gunslinger with the Buccaneer archtype, or a bard of the same-name archetype, or perhaps something else? I initially looked at the Gunslinger class with the Buccaneer Archetype, but the loss of the lightning reload deed seems to hit quit hard. I then looked at the Corsair Figther archetype, but I do not wish to use anything but light armor. then I took at look at bard and rogue, but I can't really seem to get it to work in my head...

My question: How would you go about it?
How would you guys build him? Assuming he was gonna be used as a character in a home-run campaign from level 1 all the way through to level 20.

My initial idea: Gunslinger
So my initial idea was to use gunslinger as a base, buy him a Cutlass, use Gunsmithing for a battered Pistol, get a feat for the cutlass so he can function in melee, and this is where I hit a block. the second feat (He's human), should it be either a feat making him more tough - once again for melee combat - or something improving his skills with his gun?
What about his ability scores? He would need a decent strength for melee, and a decent dexterity for ranged, a decent constitution for grog points, and at least a decent charisma for grit. And hopefully a decent intelligence for skills... Leaves me with wisdom for dumping, which I guess makes sense. He needs not be the most insightful of persons, but more of a forceful personality, like most pirates.
I was thinking to use the high crit damage of the gun (x4), and the good crit chance of the Cutlass to revolve the build around some critting and crit effects, and using the deed Pirate's Jargon utilizing some Intimidate and/or Bluff. keeping acrobatics/climb useful would also be nice - those always make for some good memorable maneuvers, even more so if on a ship or another vessel.

 

[Slippery_Chicken]

Perhaps Pistolero1/Trench FighterX? That gives you Rapid Reload for free, so just pay the ranged combat feat-tax (Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim, etc etc), and grab Power Attack to be decent at melee fighting. Maybe also Quick Draw if you can squeeze it in.

To be decent at both melee and ranged, you're going to need Dex, Con, and Strength. You can basically forget about Wisdom, since the only deeds we really care about (Quick Clear, maybe Deadeye) are cheap and come at 1st level.

To reload pistols as a free action, you don't need Lightning Reload. All you need is the Rapid Reload feat and paper cartridges. Craft the paper cartridges yourself for cheap (Gunsmith feat lets you craft at 10% market price instead of 50%), and load regular bullets when you don't need free-action reloads (to save yourself money and misfire chance).


In terms of tactics, you're going to act a bit like a switch-hitter ranger. Close to 20ft with pistol drawn, then pull out the cutlass when someone gets to melee.

Of course, throw ranks into Profession(Sailor), Climb, Use Rope, and Swim so you don't embarrass yourself attempting routine pirate functions.

 

[Daniel Runge]

Thanks a lot for the input, here's my thoughts on it:
Am I missing something with Pistolero? I can't see a reason to take it as a single level, wouldn't Mysterious Stranger be a better 1 level "dip"?
2 things - I get Cha instead of Wis for Grit, same as Buccaneer, and "Focused Aim" will do more damage on average than "Up Close and Personal", and last for a round, not just a single attack.

Having looked around for a bit, I realize now that the feat "Sword and Pistol" is particularly bad... Compared to Point Blank Master it's more difficult to get, and not even as good. (your threat contra you threatened), and Deft Shootist Deed is even better, as it protects you even from AOO's from reloading, so I'll go with that. This even means I need Dodge and Mobility - opening up Shot on the Run and parting shot.

How does Rapid Shot* work with using a combination of melee and ranged attacks in a full-attack?`just 1 more ranged, and all attacks get -2? If so, Would the Snap shot feat chain be worth it?

So far this is what I got:
Great feats: Opening Volley, Deft Shootist Deed, Rapid Reload (Pistol), Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (Cutlass)
Class levels: 1 Gunslinger of whatever archetype, 4/6 level of Trench Fighter Warrior, and then 3/4 more levels of gunslinger. Where to go from here?
*Assumption* - Trench Warfare and Gun Training / Pistol Training does not stack. If they do, I will have to reconsider the class levels.

My will save sucks, slightly remedied by bravery. Makes sense, probably gonna take a trait giving further bonus against fear effects. Weak to sways of the mind, but fearless. The Mysterious Stranger class feature "Lucky" is annoying me on this, makes me consider Buccaneer even more.
Losing nimble I'm considering two-weapon defense as well, if I have the feats.

Thoughts / improvements?
*Edit - Wrote Manyshot by accident

 

[Herobizkit]

Myself, I'd make a Bard(Arcane Duelist). There's no indication that you can't use all of the Arcane Duelist's abilities with a ranged weapon.

Human; Take the requisite gun feat, then Weapon Finesse. Dervish Dance at level 3 to allow me to use Finesse with the Scimitar (depending on how much your DM likes to split hairs - yeah, cutlass/scimitar LOOK different but mechanically they're identical).

Or, throw in a level of Gunslinger and save a feat.

That's what I would do.

 

[Slippery_Chicken]

Thanks a lot for the input, here's my thoughts on it:
Am I missing something with Pistolero? I can't see a reason to take it as a single level, wouldn't Mysterious Stranger be a better 1 level "dip"?
2 things - I get Cha instead of Wis for Grit, same as Buccaneer, and "Focused Aim" will do more damage on average than "Up Close and Personal", and last for a round, not just a single attack.

That's my bad. I was confused and thought Pistolero gave Rapid Reload(Pistols) as a bonus feat. Not much reason to take it otherwise.

Still, the problem with Mysterious Stranger is that it doesn't get the Quick Clear deed. Unless you have another way to deal with misfires mid-combat, that's kind of a big deal. Or at least it'll become a big deal when your firearm gets the Broken condition. If you have a way around that, it could be worthwhile if you can have the stat points to pump strength, dex, con, and charisma.

 

[Daniel Runge]

Myself, I'd make a Bard(Arcane Duelist). There's no indication that you can't use all of the Arcane Duelist's abilities with a ranged weapon.

Human; Take the requisite gun feat, then Weapon Finesse. Dervish Dance at level 3 to allow me to use Finesse with the Scimitar (depending on how much your DM likes to split hairs - yeah, cutlass/scimitar LOOK different but mechanically they're identical).

Or, throw in a level of Gunslinger and save a feat.

That's what I would do.

Seeing as you can't use Dervish dance with a weapon in your off-hand, it would be strange to try to be good at both melee and ranged, if you can't do them together?

Also, is a Rapier a light-weapon by default? It is under one-handed in the equipment lists, but in the light blades weapon group of a fighter. Is this intended? On the same note, it seem the Cutlass is not even in any other groups but the special Corsair "pirate weapon group", is this also intended? If so, I see no no reason to take a cutlass at all compared to a rapier - Take a Rapier and design it close to a Cutlass; afterall, a Cutlass, a Scimitar and a Rapier are 3 closely related weapons.
In all honesty, I cannot understand why either of the 3 does not each have distinct advantages. The Rapier is treated as light weapon, the Scimitar has a feat line (dervish dancing). Shouldn't the Cutlass have something as well? Fitting would be if it could deal both Piercing and slashing damage.
Ofc this is slightly unrelated.

Can anyone tell me if the Impaling Critical and Improved Impaling Critical feats are any good? If they are, going Rapier seems pretty cool. Combined with Bleeding Critical and Keen / Improved Critical for a 30(?) percent chance for a crit. Could even combine it with Fearless Curiosity and Intimidating Confidence for some intimadating goodness (Dazzling Display)
And what about the snap shot chain? I was considering Combat Reflexes, and those 2 together seems to add some battlefield control-sorta thing.
And what if you combine these? threatening 15 ft. with improved snap shot, and intimidating all threatened targets

Can you combine Two-weapon fighting with Rapid shot? If so, would it be possible to, at level 6+, ranged, melee, ranged, melee - that way to utilize Opening volley the best?

Thanks in advance

 

[Daniel Runge]

That's my bad. I was confused and thought Pistolero gave Rapid Reload(Pistols) as a bonus feat. Not much reason to take it otherwise.

Still, the problem with Mysterious Stranger is that it doesn't get the Quick Clear deed. Unless you have another way to deal with misfires mid-combat, that's kind of a big deal. Or at least it'll become a big deal when your firearm gets the Broken condition. If you have a way around that, it could be worthwhile if you can have the stat points to pump strength, dex, con, and charisma.

While losing the deed for fixing the gun, the Mysterious Stranger gets a 5th level class feature, allowing him to straigt up ignore misfires. Other than that, I could see having a secondary gun for such an occasion as to have run out of uses?