Help Me Try the Gunslinger

[Mr.E_Danger]

I am playing a gunslinger in a Kingmaker campaign, and we started out at lvl 1 and are now at lvl 3. Attacking against touch ac is probably the best part of the gunslinger class. I just went standard pistol gunslinger, and I'm not sure I have missed very much. I took rapid reload as a first lvl feat, 'cause you need it no matter what weapon you choose. otherwise you're going to need to spend a full round action to reload. with rapid reload and pistol, you can move and reload, then fire. I have heard the pistolero archetype was pretty good, though i did not choose to do that.

 

[tylermalan]

Ah, I get you, Systole. I played my Gunslinger for the first time last night and it was total garbage. Of course, you guys were right - I should have picked up a big melee weapon. This became even more obvious when, on the VERY FIRST attack roll of this character and campaign, I rolled a 1 and my gun misfired.

 

[N'raac]

There's no accounting for the whims of the dice!

We had our first combat session in Zeitgeist last night (second session, but the first was mainly interaction). Our Gunslinger managed a hit with his first shot, and proceeded to roll minimum damage (2, thanks to Point Blank Shot*).

He's been built with the theory that, at lower levels, he fires once, then moves in, which paid off yesterday since he didn't want to fire into melee after his first shot. Our next combat occurred in the ship's powder store (not the smartest place to fire into) and his next combat consistent of finding a teammate already in melee. While he could not shoot, rolling double 20's with his Dwarven War Axe kind of made up for it, one shotting the opponent.

* Rapid reload's on the list, however typing down to one gun is a bit dicy, especially with more advanced firearms not in the setting at present, but two authors noting "how cool" the theme feat will be with a revolver in each hand...so we'll wait a bit and see.

Alchemical cartridges will speed up reloads (although at 1.5 gp/shot, even with commonplace guns and Gunsmithing, they aren't cheap!)

 

[Evilhalfling]

I play a tengu gunslinger.
he is awful. At 12 gp a shot its an expensive way to fight.
its like a mage who carries 5-10 scrolls of magic missile for an adventure (12.5 gp each) with a con penalty and str as a dump stat he would make a poor skirmisher.

The joy I get from yelling bang and making guns out of my fingers makes up for it.

The weirdest build I have seen is a level 7? magus/1 gunslinger.
he casts an enchantment to add the bane quality to bullets.
there is also level 1 spell that makes 1d4 bullets and powder charges.
If I was playing in a regular group rather than PFS I would buy a wand of it.

50x2.5 shots/750gp = 6 gp per shot not bad for me, a bad idea for you.

remember you can spends grit to clear jams.

 

[tylermalan]

I could definitely spend grit to clear jams if I had that deed... but, like my other choices, my choice of deed was bad, as well. I took the Pistolero deed. Extra damage. Misfire! Woo!

Basically, it seems like Rapid Reload is a total waste with pistols because taking it prevents the ability to take Precise Shot PLUS the range increment is only 20 feet, so with or without Rapid Reload I would still have been reloading and moving in one turn, then firing in the next.

If I get a chance to remake it, I might stick with the pistols and try something else. I would drop my Wisdom from 16 to 14, drop my Intelligence from 12 to 10, keep my Dex at 16 and put those extra points into raising Strength. I would get a solid martial melee weapon and maybe a bow or a crossbow. Start as a human, take point-blank shot and precise shot as feats. First round, shoot with bow. Second round, shoot with gun. Third round, stab with sword. I would also take the deed that lets me clear misfires if I ever wanted to spend more than one round in a row shooting.

 

[SteelDraco]

I could definitely spend grit to clear jams if I had that deed... but, like my other choices, my choice of deed was bad, as well. I took the Pistolero deed. Extra damage. Misfire! Woo!

Basically, it seems like Rapid Reload is a total waste with pistols because taking it prevents the ability to take Precise Shot PLUS the range increment is only 20 feet, so with or without Rapid Reload I would still have been reloading and moving in one turn, then firing in the next.

If I get a chance to remake it, I might stick with the pistols and try something else. I would drop my Wisdom from 16 to 14, drop my Intelligence from 12 to 10, keep my Dex at 16 and put those extra points into raising Strength. I would get a solid martial melee weapon and maybe a bow or a crossbow. Start as a human, take point-blank shot and precise shot as feats. First round, shoot with bow. Second round, shoot with gun. Third round, stab with sword. I would also take the deed that lets me clear misfires if I ever wanted to spend more than one round in a row shooting.

I don't think you're limited to selecting deeds - I think you get all the deeds that are your level or lower.

 

[tylermalan]

I don't think you're limited to selecting deeds - I think you get all the deeds that are your level or lower.

...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Well that's embarrassing. But yeah, you're right - I just looked on the SRD and sure enough, it says you can perform any that are your level or lower. For some reason I thought you could choose one of your level or lower whenever you got a new one.

 

[N'raac]

I play a tengu gunslinger.
he is awful. At 12 gp a shot its an expensive way to fight.
its like a mage who carries 5-10 scrolls of magic missile for an adventure (12.5 gp each) with a con penalty and str as a dump stat he would make a poor skirmisher.

there is also level 1 spell that makes 1d4 bullets and powder charges.
If I was playing in a regular group rather than PFS I would buy a wand of it.

50x2.5 shots/750gp = 6 gp per shot not bad for me, a bad idea for you.

ummm...if you are a Gunslinger, you have Gunsmith. Assuming you have 1 rank of Alchemy, you can make your own alchemical cartridges for half the retail price, so 6 gp/shot with no need for a wand.

Still pretty rich (it's expensive at "guns are common" 1.5 gold per shot), and I'd be loading my guns with powder and shot, but reloading with cartridges when there's time pressure.

At 1st level? Yeah, need a melee weapon as well.

Basically, it seems like Rapid Reload is a total waste with pistols because taking it prevents the ability to take Precise Shot PLUS the range increment is only 20 feet, so with or without Rapid Reload I would still have been reloading and moving in one turn, then firing in the next.

Out group's Gunslinger is Dwarven, has a 14 STR and 14 DEX, 16 WIS and 16 CON. Those bonuses are nice. That leaves 10 INT and 8 CHA from a 20 point build.

We're avoiding RR until he can settle in to the gun he wants, so he's operating on point blank shot for now. Until he can rapid reload, he won't be doing a lot of firing into melee anyway, so probably Precise at 3rd (by which time he should at least have cartridges), and see if he's settled into a weapon choice by 5th for Rapid Reload. If not, push it forward for Deadly Aim.

Gunslinger Dwarf has an interesting dynamic, as the character is slow moving, with no DEX bonus, but he's got enough WIS for grit for deeds, and a high CON for bonus hp. Plus, he went Gun Tank Pistolero - may as well be armored up if he's slow moving anyway.

We'll see how he plays out over time. If the movement becomes an issue, Signature Deed for Deadeye and he can fire at Touch from two increments for a -2 penalty as often as he likes.