Into the Breach: Gunslinger (PFRPG) PDF

It blows the art work sucks mostly archtypes ,the feats are ok , not worth your time, the gunslinger class needs a better to be fleshed out more, but this book doesn't do it, dont listen to the reviews giving it 5 stars, those reviwers are probably only into archtypes and game mechanics(which suck badly in this book) move on find another pdf.

The third Into The Breach Published by Flying Pincushion Games. With 29 pages of content 8 new archetypes, 3 prestige classes and an alternate class we have a lot of content to cover.

First up are the archetypes, starting with the Black Powder Knight. This archetype gains proficiency with all armors, all shields and adds Diplomacy and Knowledge (Nobility) as skill to their class lists. You have to be good alignment to play this as well. Pretty much this is a Gunslinger Paladin. At level 2 you get the ability to intercept and deflect ranged attacks against allies for reduced damage. You get grit at level 3 which isn’t based of charisma like all of the archetypes class features which strikes me as odd. Also fluff wise I think that makes some sense. You get a new deed which allows you to make an opponent reduce their cover (From Full cover to Partial, from partial cover to none) and aggro’s the enemy for 1d4 rounds afterwards. You get Lay on hands at 4th level, the Paladin’s Divine bond at 8th though you can only use the bonded weapon effects. At 12 level if an ally goes down as an immediate action you can attack their attacker and on a failed will save they must attack you for 1d4 rounds. At 16th level Paladins can make a sacrifice and willingly misfire in order to stabilize all dying allies in 30 feet you deal 1d6 damage per 2 points dealt to yourself in the misfire and your gun becomes broken. Finally at 17th level the Black powder knight becomes immune to fear and for a grit point her can make allies immune to fear for a few rounds as well. I assume it’s a standard/swift action, because there is a lack of action economy listed.

I love all of the aggro and defensive abilities it’s something really unique to the archetype. I’m not the biggest fan of adding the Paladin class features (or maybe I just don’t enjoy the fluff involved) it seems like we have added divinity for class features sake. Yet if you want to play a fun class with actual aggro abilities or a working Paladin Gunslinger this is for you.

Next up we have the Boltslinger. Now Ive read/ talked to a lot of people who wanted to replace or modify all of the gunslinger’s class features to work with crossbows to give it a more fantasy feel. Well here ya go an actual archetype devoted to it.

That rant aside the first thing the Boltslinger gets is proficiency with all crossbows, as written in addition to all of their other proficiencies. Hopefully this will replace firearm proficiencies in the future. You start off with a light ,hand or heavy repeating crossbow of your choice and effectively has rapid reload for crossbows. We are going to get some new deeds, one which allows you to take action in a surprise round if your crossbow is loaded and you have grit. You get the ability to make stepping stones into walls by shooting them with bolts, which replaces utility shot. At 5th level you get weapon focus in a specific crossbow, at 9th you can gain weapon focus with another type of crossbow or gain weapon specialization with your previously selected crossbow. At 13 and 17th level respectively you gain greater weapon focus and greater weapon specialization. At 11 you gain poison use and at 15th level you gain this archetype’s equivalent to menacing shot.

That being said I really enjoy the organic way you actually get better and better with a specific crossbow, or having the choice to use a few crossbows well. I feel like 11th level is an odd place for poison use since poisons don’t generally scale well and that maybe too late for using poisons effectively.
And most of the essential firearm specific deeds have been released with crossbow equivalent ones. I like it and overall this is a fun option to take the “guns out of gunslingers”.

If you ever wanted to be Squall from Final fantasy 8 or Leon as he is known in the Kingdom Hearts universe here you go I present the Bombard blade AKA The Gunblade. First things first you get proficiency with the Bombard blade. Second thing is you can take any bladed melee weapon and make a DC 18 craft check to transform it into a Bombard Blade. Doing so allows you to make a chamber to house ammunition which can be detonated during any successful attack or combat maneuver. At 3rd level we gain evasion at 7th you can use two uses of your ammunition on one attack, or attempt to blind someone. At 15th level we gain improved evasion and a deed which allows us to riposte an enemy’s attack for grit. We also get weapon training at 5, the ability to use one half of our “chamber’s” ammunition per attack. At 20th level you can spend use 2 grit points and some ammunition to propel your self 30feet into an enemy. If you manage to hit the enemy you can use your explosion mechanism as a free action.

So my only grip about the Bombard blade is I have no chamber rules. I don’t know how many sets of ammunition it has. I have no way to upgrade my chamber to hold more shots. This class is good enough to be its own variant class and I would love to see a small book dedicated to it and making it awesome. I just need to know more information about the bombard blade itself. Also Legendary Bombard blades need to be a thing.

Next up we have the cunning scoundrel. This archetype focuses on using weapons like the Axe musket or the sword cane pistol. They gain Stealth as a class skill, a late sneak attack and a few handy tricks. The first thing the scoundrel receives is a new deed, if you hit someone with a successful melee attack using a combination weapon you can spend a grit point to make a ranged attack with a +4 to his normal AC if you hit you deal 1 ½ normal damage. That’s awesome. At 8th level when you make a successful melee sneak attack and don’t choose to fire the target takes a negative ½ your wis mod to AC for wis mod number of rounds. At 13th level we can set up our firearm to fire remotely using the enemy’s flatfooted AC. At 17th level if your remote attack is successful you can spend grit to make another an immediate action while they are flat footed.

Overall super fun, interesting archetype.

Next up is the Frogman. The Frogman is your niche water archetype. Adept at fighting on ships or in water, navel combat and sabotage. They even get their own spear gun. At 20th level they become experts of navel combat. Nothing super interesting here. Though if you’re going to be in water or on ships this archetype is worth looking into.

The Powderman is part sapper part alchemist. Powdermen start off by using their Intelligence as their grit resource and regain grit when they damage an object with an explosion. Their deeds include making traps, setting off their trap with a gunshot (no attack roll needed) and detonating one of their bombs to dazzle foes. At 2nd level they can make a breaching charge once per day. They gain bombs at 4th level and a few discoveries.

This archetype is really weak. Its not the demolition man you would expect. I think getting its own thrown weapons (sticks of dynamite?) a few unique gunpowder traps, and a faster way to create breaching charges/more uses per day would have aided this archetype greatly.

Next we have The Wyrd hunter a fey/supernatural hunting archetype who eventually becomes fey themselves. The essentially get fearie fire bullets, a dazing fear effect, and an additional will save for unique deeds. At later levels you get DR/ Cold Iron. Their capstone is that when they die they are reborn 1d4 days later as Fey.

The Trickshot allow you to preform Dirty Tricks with firearms, and can use dirty trick with the targeted shot deed.

Now we have the Gungineer. This is the gunslinger alternate class and it is awesome. Essentially you get your own bonded weapon that you can upgrade over time similar to the eidolon’s evolution pool. Each gun has Gungineers use brilliance instead of grit that scales off of their intelligence instead of wisdom.
The meat of the class is this bonded weapon that works, for no one but the Gungineer, this weapon can’t be enchanted by anyone nor is it subject to spells like greater magic weapon. There are 5 mandatory slots to upgrade, the barrel, chamber, top rail , bottom rail and the grip. You can have one of upgrade in each slot and when you level you get to redistribute your points There are also two power sources that are required for specific upgrades. Though If I can have a plasma blaster infused into my arm (which is an option) I’ll be happy any day. The Gungineer also has their standard gunslinger deeds (renamed brilliances) nimble, Dex to damage albeit later than other gunslingers.

This Alternate class deserves its own book. After the Technology guide is released this needs to be worked on. We need new modifications, rules for using two bonded weapons and what happens if they break. I’m in love with this class and I want more!

Finally we have the prestige classes The Grey eye has a metal necromantic eye, which allows them to control and upgrade recently slain enemies for 24 hours. It also allows her to cast a few spells from the Necromancy school and various gaze attacks. Over all very cool! I just wish we could upgrade undead permanently

The Hex gunner is yet another witch shooting hexes idea. There are so many of these I wish we could have something like a Bullet hell character ala the titular Bullet Witch. That would be a really cool idea. Though with this we get hexes at every level and can shoot them for fun!

Finally the Gunkata a Monk Gunslinger prestige class who shares Ki and grit pools. You choose a style of gun kata which determines your fighting style. From being able to slow fall and reload like John Woo or flurrying with your guns like Bayonetta and Dante to redirecting attacks like an assassin from Wanted the Gunkata is fantastic solid gunfu at its finest.

I would love to see more styles and even a base class.

All in all this supplement is filled with its ups and downs. The first four archetypes are amazing and add new and unique options that feel powerful and specialized. Some even needing their own base class in my own opinion. While others fail to live up to their potential or are too niche to use in most settings. The Gungineer is amazing and needs its own supplement and 2 out of 3 of the prestige classes are fresh new ideas executed well. I have to give this a solid 4 out of 5 stars. While this is easily the best supplement yet, rich with unique ideas and strong mechanics, half of its archetypes are lack luster and there are some missing details that keep me from giving this 5 stars.

So if you’re looking for new gunslinger options or a good crossbow conversion this is a great supplement to pick up.

I think this is the third ‘Into the Breach’ by Flying Pincushion. Into the Breach is a series of books expanding on paizo’s base classes with new Archetypes, Class options, Alternate Classes and Prestige Classes, This one focusing on the Gunslinger. The 34 page document kicks in with the crunch on page 5 and the last page is legal information leaving 29 pages of content.

First lets look at the Archetypes…

The Black Powder knight comes out as kind of a merger between Gunslinger and Paladin. It gets Lay on Hands and a gun variant on Divine Bond. I wish the Divine Bond thing was rewritten because there are a few ambiguities, like what effective Paladin level the BP Knight has or whether or not he can take a steed. The other abilities are general protection things although one ability seems weird. Essentially you purposely misfire to deal damage to all enemies in 30 ft and stabilize all allies in 30 ft. Why it does both of these things I don’t understand, I guess because of Paladin powers. Overall I’m not excited. As an archetype of a mundane weapon-based class it seems to be dipping too far into a class with magical abilities. Not to mention that Paladin has a Gun-wielding archetype.

The Boltslinger seems to be a Crossbow Gunslinger. It does mostly what it’s supposed to do, although I’m not sure if it makes crossbows viable. (probably not) The odd abilities out of the bunch: Bolt Ladder lets you ignore hardness to walls when making footholds for climbing. Seems as oddly specific and compares to the Monk’s Slow Fall ability in usefulness. Poison use is also Weird but not really bad in any way.

Bombard Blades get a free melee weapon that is also a gun. Well not a real gun. Its more that it uses ammunition to explode on whatever you struck. The wording explaining it feels very clunky with some redundant language but seems to function once you read everything. In the end it looks like a fun class and comes with a new weapon for everyone else.

Cunning Scoundrel is funny and looks fun. Basically a Gunslinger with Sneak attack and some tricks involving weapons that are hybrid gun/melee weapons like Axe Muskets.

Frogman is an Underwater Gunslinger slinging spear guns. It mostly does what it says on the tin but it has a few oddballs. One ability adds to the Frogman’s Swim Speed when it should probably grant a swim speed if the creature doesn’t already have one. The frogman has two abilities that are weirdly specific. One works if the enemy could fall off of something and into water and apparently summons predatory aquatic creatures. As a class ability this is just nonsensical.

Powderman is pretty much Bomberman. It has one ability that is very unclear about how it works but otherwise functions as one would expect. Gains the Alchemist Bomb Class feature at a lvl 4.

The Wyrd Hunter is some sort of anti-supernatural serial killer I guess. Honestly it looks pretty weak despite looking like it functions properly

The Trickshot is a bit more exciting. It can make ranged Dirty Tricks with guns and gets bonuses to it. In some ways this may be too strong because it gets sort-of called shots per attack. Looks good and fun.

Now onto the Alternate Class: The Gungineer.

The Gungineer has some different deeds and grit (they are named differently) and really they seem very Gunslinger-ish. Nothing terribly off beat or anything. It does get a special named weapon that cannot be enchanted (no word on what to do if it gets lost) This named gun can get abilities based on a pool of modification points much like an Eidolon’s Evolution points. Its about as cool as it sounds but at such a short book it leaves you feeling like the concept alone could have been a 100 page book.

Now the Prestige Classes:

Theres the Grey Eye, a necromancer Gunslinger. Basically the Gunslinger has to get his eye popped out and replaced by some kind of necromancer eye, capable of storing grit and giving some some necromancy themed abilities and spells. I like it well enough, although BAB and HD aren’t tied.

The Hex gunner is a Witch x Gunslinger prestige class and really does what you’d expect. Shoot hexes. Honestly nothing is going to make me like this. Its written well enough but I’ve seen three archetypes for Gunslinger that shoot Hexes and I think there’s a Witch archetype as well. Witchslinging as a prestige class does not appeal to me.

The Qiang Seng is a Monk x Gunslinger. Like the Witch based PC its an idea I’ve seen a lot but this one has Ki-Grit so I like it a lot more. It gets ‘katas’ which are sort of Gun-fu talents as well as deeds/ki powers that use ki or grit interchangeably. This looks very fun.

After that are three new grit feats which aren’t very exciting save for Cleaving Shot which does what it sounds like it does.

Then there are new gun/weapons which look fun.

Overall there are some bumps in the road. A few abilities from some classes are ambiguous or goofy but nothing came out to me as being pure garbage and a few options are pure gold. I only noticed one actual typo.

I think I’ll give this 4.5 out of 5 stars. niggling problems aside some of the concepts or and mechanics feel like they really NEED to be there so I’ll float it to a low 5 star when partial stars aren’t available.