warlock gunslinger

[statimp]

Hey guys, I need some help making a character for an upcoming campaign. I wanted to make a stylish warlock that uses iaijutsu focus and quickdraw to quickly dispatch foes. basically trying to make the fastest gun in the west for a d&d setting.

Here is how i see it working

Greef (that's his name) squares up against some guy, spits on the ground, looks at his opponent, sizes him up with his glowing violet eyes, his fingers twitching over the warlock's scepter at his side, Then BAM hits him with a blast of hellfire before they guy has a chance to react.

iaijutsu focus works on any attack you make after drawing a melee weapon if it is against a flat footed opponent. So i could have any weapon i wanted (probably a warlock's scepter), unsheath it as a free action with quickdraw and then fire off an eldritch blast with some bonus iaijutsu damage. add in the extra damage from iaijutsu master and hellfire warlock and i should be doing some decent damage. nothing ridiculous but this character is more for style anyway.

I'm starting off as a human paragon for the bonus feat and skills.
then going into warlock until i can get hellfire warlock
then as soon as i get the required BaB bonus i'm taking 5 levels of iaijutsu master
then just go back to leveling as a warlock

the problems i am running into are what feats to take, how to reliably make an opponent flat footed (dm says that feinting can count as making my opponent flat footed) and any way to get more damage without compromising the character's beardiness.

i have a couple feats in mind
- shape soulmeld: strongheart vest
- quickdraw
- improved initiative
- improved feint
- quicken spell like ability
- skill focus iaijutsu focus

any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

cheers

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I think RAI the intent is when you draw a weapon for Iaijitsu Focus attack, you actually hit your opponent with it within melee range, not draw the weapon and coincidentally hit with a ranged attack.

If you are squaring off with an opponent and he's staring back at you, he's not likely to be Flat Footed, given the scenario you proposed.

 

[statimp]

i understand it's not rules as intended but it does follow the rules, and it does what i want it to. and besides, he is drawing a scepter and firing from it, it's not like he is drawing some random weapon and then firing a blast from his other hand or something. that would be silly.

as for the flat footed thing. he's feinting, psyching them out. then he draws fast enough that they can't react

can you think of another way to make a ranged character that uses something similar to a gun that focuses on the art of the draw?

 

[shadyizok]

Sounds like a fun concept.

According to the SRD feinting only works for melee attacks:

Feint
Feinting is a standard action. To feint, make a Bluff check opposed by a Sense Motive check by your target. The target may add his base attack bonus to this Sense Motive check. If your Bluff check result exceeds your target’s Sense Motive check result, the next melee attack you make against the target does not allow him to use his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). This attack must be made on or before your next turn.

So unless your DM waves that rule, you wouldn't be able to use feint attacks to make your opponent flat-footed.
There is a feat in Song and Silence (p40) called Quicker then the Eye that allows you to make a bluff check opposed by your opponents spot check as a moveaction, if you succeed the opponent is flatfooted for one attack.

This seems to fit your theme and what you want mechanicly. Downside is you need a pretty high dex in order to qualify for the feat. Maybe get some gloves of dexterity or something.

For additional damage for your eldritch blast there are some items and a couple of feats out there that could help you. Look here for those.

Something I used for a warlock which may fit your theme aswell is to take intimidate, get the feat Imperious Command from Drow of the Underdark (p50) and the skill trick Never Outnumbered from Complete Scoundrel (p87). This allows you to demoralize your opponents within 10 feet and they will cower the first round and be shaken the next. That's pretty good. If you take the Fearsome armour upgrade from Drow of the Underdark (p97) aswell you can do it as a move action.

Cowering makes them lose their dexterity to AC which to most DM's counts the same as being flat-footed.

 

[statimp]

we just used feinting because we couldn't find any other way for him to reliably get opponents flat footed. that feat is exactly what i was looking for. also, the feat from DotU sounds pretty cool, especially for this character.

I looked through the skill tricks and saw that one, the fact that you can only do it once per day is a little off putting.

thanks for the input though

 

[irdeggman]

i understand it's not rules as intended but it does follow the rules, and it does what i want it to. and besides, he is drawing a scepter and firing from it, it's not like he is drawing some random weapon and then firing a blast from his other hand or something. that would be silly.

as for the flat footed thing. he's feinting, psyching them out. then he draws fast enough that they can't react

can you think of another way to make a ranged character that uses something similar to a gun that focuses on the art of the draw?

Except that using a spell like ability is a standard action unless you use quicken spell like ability feat. This is not the same action as drawing a weapon (move action).

So using the scepter is a separate action from invoking an invocation (using a magic item - standard action), it adds to the invocation being used (using a spell like ability - standard action).

 

[statimp]

using a warlock's scepter is a swift action. it says it in the item description.

 

[irdeggman]

using a warlock's scepter is a swift action. it says it in the item description.

I don't see it it my Copy of Complete Arcane (Warlock's Sceptor pg 145). I do see it in the description of the Rod of Eldritch Power (Complete Mage pg 127).

Aha the Warlock's Sceoter in the Magic Item Compendium has it as a swift action for the next EB used in that round.

But this refers to using the rod itself, not to using the Spell-like Ability (i.e., Eldritch Blast) - which still requires a Standard Action to use.

So swift action to use the rod (can't be done flat-footed), standard action to use EB. Using Quick-draw to get the rod ready makes it a free action instead of a move action.

 

[statimp]

that's correct.

- free action to draw the scepter
- swift action to use scepter
- standard action to use EB

profit