Guns & Gears Remastered Review

The Paizo team sent me a copy of the Pathfinder Guns and Gears Remastered book so I could give my honest review of it. As always, these books don’t disappoint from an artistic or organized standpoint. The team at Pathfinder really do make it easy for you to find the information you are looking for without flipping back and forth through the book a billion times.

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Quick Overview

If you're thinking about adding a bit of steampunk or black powder to your game, this is the book for you. Guns and Gears provides two additional classes to the world of Golarion: the inventor and the gunslinger. In addition to new classes, a plethora of archetypes, backgrounds, vehicles, siege engines, gadgets, and the remastered automaton ancestry are all ready to expand your game with options for battlefields large and small.

Most of the changes from 2nd edition to Remaster are minor. Most of the changes are going to be little tweaks to take out OGL wording and bringing it into ORC wording or to clarify rules questions. There were a couple of bigger tweaks to a few classes and archetypes. This is not a complete list of everything that changed, just some of the ones that stood out to me.

Inventor

The Inventor is the character who is always dreaming up the next unique contraption, always ready with an idea to overcome just about any challenge. They are the ones who send their inventions into combat to really push them to the limit and see what needs improving. Pay no attention to the smoke coming from the invention.

The Inventor’s Overdrive has been given a Failure effect that it previously didn’t have. “Your gizmos whine concerningly and begin to smoke. Your strikes deal 1 additional fire damage.” Innovation armor AC bonuses have gone up by one. Weapon Innovations give you more options, making them more useful by adding additional traits.

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Gunslinger

The gunslinger is always ready to draw a bead on their enemy, striking before they can pose a true threat. Their knowledge of guns and complex weaponry is rivaled by none.

Slinger’s Precision takes the place of Singular Expertise. This has taken away the limits on training non-ranged weapons as well as giving higher damage bonuses with non-repeating ranged weapons. When using a combination weapon, you use your proficiency with firearms and crossbows for attacks made with the melee configuration. Way of the Drifter’s Reloading Strike has added that this reload does not trigger reactions. Munitions Crafter allows you to make bombs and alchemical ammunition every day equal to four plus half your level. There is also a clarification that you cannot use this to make horns or kegs of black powder.

Spellshot

Spellshot is a gunslinger archetype that combines magical power with technology, blending the two together. This allows them to imbue their weapon with energy and conjure bullets from thin air.

Recall Ammunition no longer triggers with only 0 level ammunition, but allows for all ammunition types to be recalled on a missed shot. If the ammunition was a piece of magical or alchemical ammunition that requires actions to activate it, you must re-activate it before firing it again.

Spell-Woven Shot is a new feat that allows you to combine your magic with that of your magical crossbow or firearm. This feat is also useful if you use the Beast Gunner Archetype, allowing you a to load and activate a piece of magical ammunition as a free action once per 10 minutes.

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Bullet Dancer

Monks with guns? Yes please. The bullet dancer combines the fluid motions of the monastic orders with explosive attacks.

You now have access to Qi spells at level 4. Fixed the wording in the Bullet Dancer Dedication to clear up what weapons are included. These include martial firearms and martial combination weapons.

Dongun Dwarf Ancestry Feats

Dungun Hold has been caught between the warring armies of Geb and Nex for over a millennium. When the surface world because unlivable, they retreated below-ground, destroying the entrance along the way. This allowed them to discover a strange black powder that changed the course of their lives.

Explosive Savant now says that you treat bombs and martial weapons as simple weapons and advanced firearms as martial weapons due to spending your lifetime wielding guns and explosives. Having built up a tolerance to your own explosions, Explosive Expert now makes you immune to your own splash damage.

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Mobility Devices

In the theme of invention and innovation, basic assistive devices also have gotten a bit of an upgrade. Magical wheelchairs use technology and magic to create incredible effects for those who use them.

Basic Chair is now called Wheelchair. All of the Activations for magical wheelchairs have names. So if you want to use your Frog Chair's tongue to grab something, you just need to Grrrabbit!

Storm Chair gained a new ability called Ride the Lightning. Once per day, you can release the majority of the stored energy in the chair to cast chain lightning with a DC of 31.

Final Thoughts

Obviously, there are plenty of other cool items, vehicles, and changes from Second Edition to the Remaster, but I can't give everything away. That being said, my character needs a speedster (steam-powered horse) and a clockwork castle to live.

Let’s all be clear: I have a soft spot for inventors and tinkerers in fantasy settings. I think it brings an interesting flavor of innovation in a world where magical innovation is the norm. Plus, who doesn’t want to ride on a mechanical horse?

I love that this book is set up with the division of Guns and Gears. If you only want Gunslinger Backgrounds and Feats, you don’t have to slog through Inventor things. You can just stick to what you are interested in or play with it all.

As always, I love that the design team takes the time to make sure the book is well laid out (and pretty) with ease of the end user in mind.
 

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Dawn Dalton

Dawn Dalton

So downloadable PDFs are the best solution for both the publisher and the consumer. We just have a love of print media holding us back.
The main thing holding me back from fully adopting PDFs is that the files are usually enormous and they cause my tablets and computers to freeze when trying to read them, regardless of my device.
If anyone can recommend a great device upon which to read PDFs, I'd welcome the suggestions.
 

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The main thing holding me back from fully adopting PDFs is that the files are usually enormous and they cause my tablets and computers to freeze when trying to read them, regardless of my device.
If anyone can recommend a great device upon which to read PDFs, I'd welcome the suggestions.

What do you consider "enormous"?

There are 200 MB > pdf files but they are usually poorly optimized and it's rare to see them around.

Usually publishers release the files in two formats.

A Hi-res version and sometimes an optimized version that runs faster on mobile or tablet.

I have a mid range phone and android tablet and I can read pdfs without issue.
 

What do you consider "enormous"?

There are 200 MB > pdf files but they are usually poorly optimized and it's rare to see them around.

Usually publishers release the files in two formats.

A Hi-res version and sometimes an optimized version that runs faster on mobile or tablet.

I have a mid range phone and android tablet and I can read pdfs without issue.
@Retreater isn't wrong. PDFs are the default for most RPG digital books, but . . .

I don't mind reading a PDF book on my tablet or computer . . . but trying to navigate one easily to look up rules during a game? That sucks.

I'm running an LotR 5E game right now, and even though I have all of the books in PDF, purchasing the core book on D&D Beyond was a game changer! So easy to navigate and look up rules and information mid-game!
 

There are 200 MB > pdf files but they are usually poorly optimized and it's rare to see them around.
I have two from MCDM ... 256.9 MB, 172.6 MB. I might be able to get low res versions. Exploring Eberron is 67 MB.
Fateforge is 172.9.
Most 13th Age books are in the 100 range.
Call of Cthulhu Starter Set Adventure book is 149.
But my machines also struggle with Level Up PDFs, which are around 45 MB.
I'd say I can "safely" use around 30 MB and still go over and look up Archives of Nethys in another tab without fear of crashing. Anything 40+ is "wait until the page loads."
 

Honestly the first one is softened by the owners of the previous getting a discount, but the rules are free on Nethys so it's mostly if you absolutely want it in print.
Sorta.

As others have noted, if you had the existing Guns and Gear PDF in your Paizo digital library you will be able to download the new version for free (not discounted). But if you only bought the physical book, you don’t get a discount on the remaster version being printed now.

But yes, the rule updates will make their way to the usual places they’re available for free (Archives of Nethys, Foundry rules module, etc).
 

But if you only bought the physical book, you don’t get a discount on the remaster version being printed now.
Yeah, I bought the physical book from my local game store.
And sure, I can just look up what I need from Archives of Nethys now. Like I could with the 2.0 stuff before the revision. In either case, I feel like a sucker for buying the physical book at all.
This kind of rapid "mid-edition" updates (3 years?) is like the switch over from 3.0 to 3.5 AD&D back in the day.
What this does is makes it so it feels pointless to purchase a Pathfinder book. AND the prices have doubled.
I kinda hate it for the company, but Archives of Nethys is a superior resource than anything Paizo produces. It's more updated and cheaper than print books. It's faster to use, sortable, and hyperlinked in a way their PDFs aren't.
 

Yeah, I bought the physical book from my local game store.
And sure, I can just look up what I need from Archives of Nethys now. Like I could with the 2.0 stuff before the revision. In either case, I feel like a sucker for buying the physical book at all.
This kind of rapid "mid-edition" updates (3 years?) is like the switch over from 3.0 to 3.5 AD&D back in the day.
What this does is makes it so it feels pointless to purchase a Pathfinder book. AND the prices have doubled.
I kinda hate it for the company, but Archives of Nethys is a superior resource than anything Paizo produces. It's more updated and cheaper than print books. It's faster to use, sortable, and hyperlinked in a way their PDFs aren't.
The problem with AoN currently is they are months behind on content, so if that matters, Demiplane is the way to go. For the group I play with, we just need the Foundry rules module and Pathbuilder updated and both of them update typically within a day or so of a new release so it hasn't been an issue for us so far. I GM the game on 2 monitors with a PDF tab opened in the background with Player Core, GM Core, the AP module I am running, and any other books I am currently using for where we are (Lost Omens: The Grand Bazaar currently). Ctrl+F works well enough for what I can't immediately find in the Foundry rules module.

And yeah, I get that it sucks and I'll make the criticism again that Paizo could be clear on what their remaster strategy is moving forward. Is Secrets of Magic getting a remaster? Dark Archives? Probably when they need a reprint, but they haven't confirmed that I know of. If you're playing the OGL or ORC version of the game, you can't make an informed decision on purchases right now. They could and should do better about this. I just can't be bothered to care enough to get angry about any of it. We live in a digital world and I chose to buy books anyhow because I am old and I like them. That's a me problem.
 

The main thing holding me back from fully adopting PDFs is that the files are usually enormous and they cause my tablets and computers to freeze when trying to read them, regardless of my device.
If anyone can recommend a great device upon which to read PDFs, I'd welcome the suggestions.
I use an iPad Air for reading PDFs and it works just fine even on the larger PDFs. The Guns and Gear Remaster PDF is around 250MB and it loads just fine. It's definitely excessive though, the basic 10th gen iPad that's around $275 would more than handle what you need.

I'm sure there are cheaper Android tablets that would get the job done, I just am not familiar enough to suggest any.
 

I use an iPad Air for reading PDFs and it works just fine even on the larger PDFs. The Guns and Gear Remaster PDF is around 250MB and it loads just fine. It's definitely excessive though, the basic 10th gen iPad that's around $275 would more than handle what you need.

I'm sure there are cheaper Android tablets that would get the job done, I just am not familiar enough to suggest any.
I've managed to avoid the Apple ecosystem thus far, so I'm hesitant to start at this stage in life. I may look into some Android tablets.
 

I've managed to avoid the Apple ecosystem thus far, so I'm hesitant to start at this stage in life. I may look into some Android tablets.
Even when I used an Android phone, I preferred the iPad since Android's tablet support has always been lackluster. Rescaling a phone app to tablet sized is often a pretty crappy user experience, but YMMV I guess and really that has nothing to do with being able to read a PDF so I'm sure if you're just looking to read a PDF, Android is fine.
 

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