Wonderful new bullet point

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Rifle butts are not improvised weapons in my opinion. In the Army we were trained in several ways to strike and block with our rifles, with and without bayonet. So do you give the military occuaption proficiency in rifle butt strikes?

No, probably not - I didn`t learn that in my time at the German Bundeswehr, so its obviously not an universal rule, and possibly you just happened to take the feat for it . (Or, maybe, it just proves that a roleplaying game cannot mimic the reality in a perfect way?)

Anyway, the take AOOs with weapons is extremely stupid with rifles - imagine you stand there, aiming at a target 150 feet away and shooting several shots to hit it - and than, within a heartbeat, you switch to Rifle Butt mode to attack the guy that just decided to strike you, and in the next round, you shoot again at the other target 150 feet away...

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[takyris]

Mustrum,

For your convenience:

Once per round on your turn, as a free action, you decide whether the firearm is being used as a melee weapon or as a ranged weapon.

Voila.

Random other thought: Should it be possible to shoot a ranged without provoking an Attack of Opportunity by making a Concentration check, with the same general principles and methods as D&D spellcasting?

For example

Bob is being attacked by a morlock, and Jeremy Irons, the morlock king, is standing atop some kind of horrific plot device preparing to do something bad. Bob is not the world's best shot, and he can't really maneuver, but he's got a cool head under pressure. He wants to make Concentration checks to fire off some shots.

His first check is a 19. He makes the attack without opening himself up to the morlock in front of him. His second check is an 11 -- this time, his attempt to fire defensively causes his shot to plink off a wall harmlessly.

Next round, the morlock readies an action, and when Bob starts to fire again, the morlock attacks, hitting Bob for 4 points damage. Bob must now make a Concentration check of (15+4=) 19 in order to not have his shot go wide as the morlock whacks him on the arm.

Too powerful? It strengthens guns by making it possible to fire without taking an AoO even without those Gunslinger levels, but it weakens guns by making it possible to "lose" a shot (while still losing your ammo) if you blow a check, or if you're attacked while shooting.

It is, however, pretty firmly in there as far as making sense with the d20 mechanic, though, as far as I can tell.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

For the first idea:
Don`t worry about me. I just like to complain and like Ryanbashing (a nice sport, and we needed a new target since we don`t play Shadowrun any more and thus can`t bash Mike Mulhilvill - and the other famous sport, Brannaon Braga bashing is not an option in the group, I am the only real Trekkie there ) - our group already houseruled it.

I like the idea with the Concentration Check. It makes Concentration a useful skill for Though Heros.

Though you might consider removing Close Combat Shot (or make it a feat like the D&D Combat Casting granting a +4 bonus to Concentration checks for firing ranged weapons in melee), or changing it for another effect. (ignore the cover melee combatants might grant, basically an improved version of precise shot)
It is somehow strange (at least I think so), but it seems wrong to me to have a special ability that makes a certain skill use unneccessary.
(Like maybe a Warmage class that allows at first level to avoid AOOs due to spellcasting all together - though by the standard D&D rules, this probably wouldn`t be really unbalanced - every wizard and sorceror maxes the skill anyway and succeeds always at it - at least at high level)

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Spatula]

It's pretty rare that a character with a gun won't be able to take a 5' step back and shoot, so the gunsligner's ability is not all that great in any case. So having a way to duplicate the ability with a skill, a skill that's hard to get no less, isn't a big deal IMO.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well, in a D20 Modern campaign based on the real world, close combat shot isn`t a great deal, but once you throw Urban Arcana and monsters with Reach in the equatation, it becomes very interesting.

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[nobodez]

Guys, some of this stuff just doesn't makes sense, well, at least the bit about the rifle butt and pistol whips, since they are simple weapons, not improvised. Heck, I have no problem using them as ranged or melee weapons, as long as you just switch on your turn in the initiative order. But, that's just me.