Pathfinder 1E Any weaker version of 'dancing weapon'? If possible, for ranged attacks?

[RangerWickett]

I rather want to have an NPC who fights in melee, but has a gun levitating next to him that shoots people who are too far away to attack in melee. Is there any way to do this in PF?

Likewise, does anyone have any weird character concepts that the rules don't easily cover? Like the villain who just talks you to death?

 

[Umbran]

You want a weaker version of having a thing hang around to do stuff for you? I think the term you're looking for is "henchman".

 

[Jester David]

Spiritual weapon works if you have a god that uses guns. Pricing the item based on that might work.

 

[the Jester]

Personally, it seems to me that if a property made a ranged weapon dance, that would be significantly better than a dancing melee weapon.

Maybe telekinesis? An invisible ally?

 

[ob250]

animate object? assuming the npc isn't a spellcaster perhaps a gun with the animate spell on it already? with a set amount of casts before its gone? do u want the party to be able to use this gun afterwards?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Leadership feat; Invisible stalker henchman.

 

[GX.Sigma]

If you want a ballpark of a price for the item, I'd start with a ring of spiritual weapon (or summon monster, depending on the gun's capabilities).

If you want a ballpark of how it would change an encounter's CR, I'd start with seeing how much "a second guy standing there with a gun" is worth.

If you want an in-universe explanation of how the item was made, I'd start by calling it an advanced version of the dancing weapon enchantment.