Buckler Gun Questions


Rules Questions


2 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

So, looking at the buckler gun, I'm having trouble understanding the intended function. Historically, bucklers were held, so it's not too hard to imagine a buckler gun working that way. But in Pathfinder, bucklers are strapped to the arm, allowing for a free hand. So how do you fire the gun? Or, more specifically:

1.)Do you still have a free hand when armed with a buckler gun?

2.)Do you take a -1 penalty to the attack roll when firing a buckler gun, since you're using the off-hand carrying the buckler? Do you lose the buckler gun's shield bonus until your next turn?

3.)To create a masterwork buckler gun, do you pay the costs of both a masterwork shield and a masterwork weapon? Do you determine the hardness and hit points of the item as a buckler or a projectile weapon? How do you handle special materials?

Or maybe you're meant to fire the gun with the hand on which the buckler isn't strapped?


1) I assume its free as it doesnt say otherwise, so it's like a normal buckler.

2) hum.. I never thought about it.. I haven't a clue.. It doesn't say either way so I guess GM... Off hand. I think you would get penalty and lose the bonus (since normally when you attack w/ a shield you lose it)

3) Doesn't it havea specific cost in ultimate equipment? In which case you'd just add the normal cost of masterwork I think not seperate as I don't think its listed as two items (buckler and a gun)

I kinda thought you did fire it with your other hand, but my mental image is from an anime with a similar weapon.


Just as how a Pistol-Dagger is a 1-h firearm that happens to also function "as if it were" a dagger (with the usual mechanical stats taken from Dagger), the Buckler Gun is a 1-h firearm that happens to also function "as if it were" a buckler. It would look something like this. Since it's listed as a 1-h firearm and not a 2-h firearm, it can be presumed you fire it with just the one hand. So basically, view it not as a Buckler in the normal sense you'd think of a Pathfinder Buckler, but more like a Tekko-Kagi that "can be used defensively as a buckler". So it's not a "real" buckler, just a firearm that can spoof the +1 AC of one.

Bucklers don't interfere with using firearms so that is a non-issue.

Lastly, since it doesn't call out any special rules as with the dagger-pistol or axe-musket or what-not, I'd say that you just make the firearm masterwork and that has nothing to do with the buckler at all.

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