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This is intended to be a bit more comprehensive a guide/FAQ dealing specifically with the Gunslinger class. The aim (pun intended!) is to help people better understand the gunslinger class as well as firearms.
What is the gunslinger?
The gunslinger is a class introduced in Ultimate Combat. The gunslinger is, as its name indicates, a combat-specific character that uses guns as their primary weapon.
The gunslinger is a ranged combat class primarily. I’ll go into the firearms themselves in a bit, but first I want to touch on the class and its capabilities.
The Ranger and Gunslinger tend to have some overlapping roles in the party: both can heal using the skill, and with a decent WISDOM modifier it’s competent. They can both scout for the party, with Perception and Survival class skills. This allows him to be a huge boon to any party he is in, as he can hunt food for the group, can minimize travel time, and can shelter the group or help it endure the elements easier. Both are also ranged combat classes (the exception, obviously, being that the Ranger can choose to be something else). The Ranger brings more to the table in terms of out-of-combat specializing for tracking and what-not, but the Gunslinger is no slouch in that regard. The Ranger, however, also gains Stealth as a class skill, while the Gunslinger must take a trait in order to have it.
The primary statistics for the Gunslinger are Dexterity for hitting your target, Wisdom for Grit, with Constitution and Strength being secondary stats.
Armor and Weapon Proficiency: Gunslingers are proficient with all simple weapons and all firearms (exceptions: the Musket Master archetype gains proficiency only with the musket instead of all firearms, and the Pistolero gains proficiency only with one-handed firearms. They must take Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) in order to gain proficiency with any other firearms). They are also proficient with light armor (exception: the archetype Gun Tank gains proficiency with all armors and all shields, including tower shields).
Weapons: A gunslinger begins play with a blunderbuss, musket, or pistol. There are restrictions on the archetypes: Musket Masters can only start with a musket and Pistoleros can only start with a pistol. In Pathfinder Society Organized Play, the double hackbut and culverin, as well as all advanced firearms are not available for use.
Gunsmithing: This feat is gained for free at level 1. It allows us to buy our ammunition and powder at a reduced cost (10% of the listed amount). As long as you have one rank in [u]Craft (alchemy)[/u], you can also buy alchemical cartridges for half the listed price! Standard black powder and one bullet costs 1g1s (effectively, 90% off of the actual cost) per shot.
Grit: Our resource pool, much like a monk’s ‘ki’ resource. It is used for some of our abilities. You start each day with your WISDOM modifier in grit (exception: the archetype Mysterious Stranger uses their CHARISMA modifier instead), though it is a minimum of 1. You can’t start the day with any more unless you have feats or weapon enhancements that allow you to store extra Grit. Throughout the day, you can have more Grit as long as you meet certain requirements.
- When you confirm a critical hit, you are refunded 1 Grit;
- When you reduce the hit points of a creature to 0 or less, you are refunded 1 Grit if their total hit dice are at least equal to half your character level;
- When you perform a dangerous act (“Daring Deed”), your GM can refund you 1 Grit. This is not authorized for Pathfinder Society Organized Play.
Deeds: Deeds are like our class abilities. They are what define us. They can be used for many things, and in general are used for improved combat performance. They can increase our range on our weapon, increase damage output, or allow us to attempt sneaky little tricks! There are two types of Deeds:
- “Spend 1 Grit” Deeds require you to subtract 1 Grit from your pool in order to use them. These Deeds are generally stronger as they are an “active” ability.
- “If at least 1 Grit” abilities are the equivalent to “passive” abilities. As long as you have 1 Grit in your pool, you can use these Deeds.
Nimble: This ability increases your AC by a set amount. At level 2, you have +1 to your armor class, and it increases by +1 for every four Gunslinger levels you have past level 2 (so +2 at level 6, +3 at level 10, +4 at level 14, and +5 and level 18). Anything that causes you to lose your DEXTERITY bonus to your armor class causes you to lose this bonus as well.
Bonus Feats: Like a Fighter, we gain bonus feats at specific levels (4, 8, 12, 16, 20). These feats MUST be chosen from Combat or Grit feats. This does not apply to normal level progression feats.
Firearms
In Pathfinder, Firearms are rare weapons using new technologies. In Pathfinder Society Organized Play, at no time are firearms considered common enough for you to go out and buy them. As such, you must have the weapon on a Chronicle Sheet, or enough fame to purchase the weapon itself.
Firearms are unique weapons. They have several benefits over normal weapons that make them excellent, but they also have some problems to balance everything out.
First off, in order to use a firearm without any drawbacks that come with using a weapon you’re not proficient with, you must take Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms). No character may purchase a firearm unless they have the Gunsmithing feat.
Firearms generally have a lower range increment than bows and crossbows, but they make up for it by being able to attack against TOUCH AC when firing with-in that range increment, without delving into weapon abilities/enchantments, deeds, or spells. This generally means you don’t need as high a roll on the die to hit your target. Also, the attack is not considered a ranged touch attack, so feats such as Deadly Aim still work with firearms!
You can use a one-handed or two-handed firearm while wearing a buckler, but you still take the non-proficiency penalty if you do.
Like crossbows, you can fire your firearm while prone, but you incur a -4 penalty to your attacks.
Normally, you cannot load a firearm while underwater since black powder that comes in contact with water becomes useless. There are weapon enchantments that can negate this.
Firearms crit on a natural 20, unless you have feats or weapon enhancements to change this.
Firearms have a “misfire” chance, which will be covered in a bit.
Reloading a firearm requires a free hand. In Pathfinder Society Organized Play, this translates to using a full-round action to reload a two-handed firearm and a standard action to reload a one-handed firearm. Like crossbows, reloading a firearm provokes attacks of opportunity. You may modify this penalty by taking the Rapid Reload (firearms) feat. Musket Masters begin play with Rapid Reload (muskets) as a bonus feat at level 1.
Misfires
All firearms have a “misfire value”, which sets a value on an unmodified die roll as to when the weapon itself “misfires”. These numbers tend to be between 1 and 3, depending on the weapon and the ammunition used (alchemical cartridges tend to increase this value). When a firearm misfires, several things happen.
First, your weapon gains the “broken” condition. While it has this condition, the weapon has the following:
- The weapon has a -2 penalty to attack rolls and damage.
- The weapon can only crit on a natural 20 and crits for double the damage, regardless of natural crit multiplier.
The weapon’s misfire value also increases by 4 (so if it only misfired on a natural 1, it now misfires on a roll of 1 to 5). If you have the Gun Training ability granted by the Gunslinger class, the value increases by 2 instead of 4.
When the weapon misfires, the attack is treated as having missed completely as normal.
Should the weapon misfire again, the weapon explodes. When this happens, you choose a corner of the square you inhabit. The weapon emits a gout of flame as it misfires, dealing damage equal to its normal damage to everyone in the weapon’s burst radius, including the wielder. A DC 12 Reflex save halves the damage. The burst size is noted in parentheses after the misfire value on the tables found in books. A weapon that explodes is unusable until it is fixed by either a Make Whole spell, or by using your Gunsmithing feat to repair it.
The weapon ability Reliable can reduce the firearm misfire value by 1, to a minimum of 0. The ability Reliable, Greater reduces it by 4 to a minimum of 0, but the weapon cannot have the Reliable ability.
Alchemical Cartridges
Alchemical cartridges allow for different tactics in battle, from stunning enemies to blinding them, to reloading faster. In general, these items will increase your misfire value, but are worth the risk. They are also pricey, but with one rank in Craft (alchemy) the cost is reduced by half, making them affordable early on!
The most commonly used cartridge is a paper cartridge. It reduces the reload time by one whole step.
So, tips?
In my honest opinion, Human makes the best Gunslinger race. They get +2 to any stat, which you would obviously put into Dexterity. The extra feat at level 1 and extra skill point allows you to be a borderline skill monkey. From the Advanced Race Guide, the favored class ability gives +1/4 of a Grit point to your pool each level, meaning you have an extra whole grit every four levels!
Elf offers +2 Dex, but -2 Constitution can be a real pain to work around. The favored class from the Advanced Race Guide offers you +1/3 to critical confirmation every level, to a maximum of +5 at level 15, but doesn't stack with the Critical Focus feat.
Dwarf gives +2 to Wisdom and Constitution, which isn’t bad. On top of that, if you’re the go-to guy for Perception and scouting, you get a +2 bonus to seeing traps in stone floors and walls. The favored class from Advanced Race Guide gives you a -1/4 chance to misfire per level, but can’t reduce it past 1.
If you have the boon, Goblin offers the same favored class ability as Elves get, but they get +4 Dexterity, -2 Strength and -2 Charisma. What makes them awesome though is the feat Goblin Gunslinger, which allows you to start with a medium weapon at level 1, and you don’t take any penalty for using an outsized firearm!
So, a sample build for human at level 1:
STR: 12 DEX: 18 CON: 12 INT: 12 WIS: 14 CHA: 9
Feats: Precise Shot, Point-Blank Shot
Traits: Reactionary, Highlander
Skills: Acrobatics, Craft (alchemy), Heal, Knowledge (engineering), Perception, Stealth, Survival
The trick to this build is focusing on keeping people alive via out-of-combat spotting, as well as giving you the ability to have a day job roll with a Craft skill that also doubles at saving you money for alchemical cartridges! When in-combat, the melee can do their job, and you can do yours without worrying too much about penalties. It is assumed at level 1 that you have the Gunslinger as your favored class, and that you spent that point in skills instead of hit points.
I hope this FAQ will help people understand a bit more about Gunslingers and firearms in general. Any questions, feel free to e-mail me at FaheyUSMC@gmail.com.
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Worth mentioning is that, when "reducing steps" of how long it takes to reload, those steps go from full round action (if it's a two-handed weapon, like a musket) > standard action > move action > free action. Swift action doesn't come into it.
Reload time can be reduced by:
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FYI. Gunslingers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, not just simple.
Don't forget one of the most important abilities for a Gunslinger: gun training, which allows her to add her DEX bonus to damage!!
I would agree with Precise Shot. You'll be firing into melee a LOT, so not taking the -4 is critical.
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You should probably also include a cost breakdown for commonly used ammunition:
Black Powder: 10gp (1gp for a Gunslinger)
Regular Bullet: 1gp (1sp for a...)
Alchemical Silver Bullet: 3gp (3sp for...)
Silver Bullet: 25gp (2gp, 5sp)
Cold Iron Bullet: 2gp (2sp)
Adamantine Bullet: 61gp (6gp, 1sp)
30 Mithral Bullets: 280gp (28gp)
10 Ghost Salted Bullets: 210gp (201gp)
Paper Cartridge: 12gp (6gp)
Alchemical Silver Paper Cartridge: 14gp (7gp)
Cold Iron Paper Cartridge: 24gp (12gp)
Adamantine Paper Cartridge: 72gp (36gp)
Elysian Bronze Paper Cartridge: 32gp (16gp)
Mithral Paper Cartridge: 262gp (131gp)
Dry Load Cartridge (any): +30gp
I would love it if I am wrong, but it doesn't look like you can go over your daily starting grit without a magic item or feat.
"Her grit goes up or down throughout the day, but usually cannot go higher than her Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), though some feats and magic items may affect this maximum." -UC pages 9-10
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I couldn't find all those paper cartridges. Which book did you find them in?You should probably also include a cost breakdown for commonly used ammunition:
Black Powder: 10gp (1gp for a Gunslinger)
Regular Bullet: 1gp (1sp for a...)
Alchemical Silver Bullet: 3gp (3sp for...)
Silver Bullet: 25gp (2gp, 5sp)
Cold Iron Bullet: 2gp (2sp)
Adamantine Bullet: 61gp (6gp, 1sp)
30 Mithral Bullets: 280gp (28gp)
10 Ghost Salted Bullets: 210gp (201gp)Paper Cartridge: 12gp (6gp)
Alchemical Silver Paper Cartridge: 14gp (7gp)
Cold Iron Paper Cartridge: 24gp (12gp)
Adamantine Paper Cartridge: 72gp (36gp)
Elysian Bronze Paper Cartridge: 32gp (16gp)
Mithral Paper Cartridge: 262gp (131gp)
Dry Load Cartridge (any): +30gp
They're just alchemical paper catridges made from special materials; costs adjusted as usual. This list is a godsend for working it out, because it gets pretty messy.
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FYI. Gunslingers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, not just simple.
Don't forget one of the most important abilities for a Gunslinger: gun training, which allows her to add her DEX bonus to damage!!
I would agree with Precise Shot. You'll be firing into melee a LOT, so not taking the -4 is critical.
However, you're shooting at 'touch' ac. So you aren't going up against all the AC that an archer would be. This kinda acts like Precise shot in itself, cept vs monks.
However, you're shooting at 'touch' ac. So you aren't going up against all the AC that an archer would be. This kinda acts like Precise shot in itself, cept vs monks.FYI. Gunslingers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, not just simple.
Don't forget one of the most important abilities for a Gunslinger: gun training, which allows her to add her DEX bonus to damage!!
I would agree with Precise Shot. You'll be firing into melee a LOT, so not taking the -4 is critical.
I'd go with Precise shot early for a few reasons. First of all when you are shooting into melee there is a good chance that you are firing through your allies so you have to deal with the -4 for cover as well. Even targeting touch ac a -8 penalty to hit is a lot. Given an fairly optimized build you probably have +5 or +6 to hit so hitting a touch ac of 10 on a 12 or 13 is pretty ugly for a character who is only firing once per round and who has no static damage bonus.
Matters get worse is you start to add in feats that the Gunslinger is reliant on for damage such as Deadly Aim and Rapid Shot.
That being said, all of that is mostly only pertinent for games that start at very low level. Given how touch AC doesn't really scale (or scales backwards as things get bigger), you could probably get away with skipping out on Precise Shot in a game that starts at about level 5 or higher.