Just finished the first book in the Powder Mage Trilogy and I got the bright idea to try a character that fights with sword and pistol as a nod to the titular characters from the series. Well, to be fair the powder mages in the book have a lot of cool tricks that this guy can't pull off, but I like the idea of a guy that fights with a blade and a gun. I tried to work in the whole "Mage" piece, but multi-classing Gunslinger with pretty much anything other than Fighter just seems to make for a whole lot of suck.
TWFing is obviously not optimal, I'm just going for viable. The plan would be to just stick to the gun for the first 5 levels, which would be all Gunslinger. From there, I'd slowly work on making him not terrible at using both through the Fighter levels. So what do you think? Appreciate whatever insights and/or creative criticisms you guys might have.
Red Kavinsky
Human fighter (weapon master) 7/gunslinger (pistolero) 5 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 109, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 9, 51)
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +8; Senses Perception +17
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 10 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 101 (12d10+25)
Fort +11, Ref +10, Will +5; +2 bonus vs. effects targetting a Pepperbox held by you
Defensive Abilities nimble +1
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 keen gold plated cutlass +9/+4/-1 (1d6+13/15-20)
Ranged +2 pepperbox +12/+12/+7/+2 (1d8+17/19-20/×4) or
+2 pepperbox +16/+16/+11/+6 (1d8+17/19-20/×4) or
+2 pepperbox +16/+16/+11/+6 (1d8+17/19-20/×4)
Special Attacks deeds (gunslinger initiative, gunslinger's dodge, pistol-whip, quick clear, up close and deadly +1d6, up close and deadly +2d6, utility shot), grit (3), reliable strike, weapon training
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Statistics
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Str 18, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 7
Base Atk +12; CMB +12; CMD 31 (33 vs. disarm, 33 vs. sunder)
Feats Deadly Aim, Greater Two-weapon Fighting, Gunsmithing[UC], Improved Critical (pepperbox), Improved Two-weapon Fighting, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, Snap Shot[UC], Sword And Pistol[UC], Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (pepperbox)
Traits adopted, dirty fighter, reactionary
Skills Acrobatics +17, Bluff -2 (+1 when feinting in combat), Climb +8, Perception +17, Sleight of Hand +9, Survival +8, Swim +8
Languages Common
SQ gunsmith, pistol training, weapon guard
Other Gear +1 keen gold plated cutlass, +2 pepperbox[UC], +2 pepperbox[UC], +2 pepperbox[UC]
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Special Abilities
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Deadly Aim -4/+8 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Deeds Use Grit to perform special abilities with your firearms.
Grit (Ex) Gain a pool of points that are spent to fuel deeds, regained on firearm crit/killing blow.
Gunsmith At 1st level, a gunslinger gains one of the following firearms of her choice: blunderbuss, musket, or pistol. Her starting weapon is battered, and only she knows how to use it properly. All other creatures treat her gun as if it had the broken condit
Gunsmithing You can use a gunsmithing kit to craft/repair firearms and ammo.
Nimble +1 +1 (Ex) +1 AC while wearing light or no armor.
Pistol Training (+4, misfire value -2) (Ex) Starting at 5th level, a pistolero increases her skill with one-handed firearms. She gains a bonus on damage rolls equal to her Dexterity modifier, and when she misfires with a one-handed firearm, the misfire value increases by 2 instead of 4. Every
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Quick Draw Draw weapon as a free action (or move if hidden weapon). Throw at full rate of attacks.
Rapid Shot You get an extra attack with ranged weapons. Each attack is at -2.
Reliable Strike: Pepperbox (1/day) (Ex) Reroll attack roll, critical confirmation, miss chance or damage roll for your chosen weapon
Snap Shot Threaten squares within 5 feet of you when wielding a ranged weapon
Sword and Pistol Firearm/crossbow attacks don't provoke AoO from foes you threaten with a melee weapon.
Weapon Guard +2: Pepperbox (Ex) +2 CMD vs. Disarm and Sunder or other effects targeting your chosen weapon.
Weapon Training +2: Pepperbox (Ex) +2 to hit and damage with your chosen weapon.
Keep in mind this is a build out to 12th without any magic items other than his weapons. I figure Quick Draw and 3x Pepperboxes (18 shots, or 4.5 rds of combat) should be enough shooting for most encounters. Not sure how much cash he'll have after buying his pieces, but I'd like to work in a belt of +STR & +DEX at least. Anything else to consider?
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Savage Technologist Barbarian is designed for this, if allowed in PFS. 5 of that might be better for you then gunslinger, just replace Sword&Pistol with Amateur Gunslinger?
Two levels of Juggler Bard allows for reloading a pistol while holding another weapon.
I can't see anywhere that Savage Technologist isn't allowed in PFS. I looked at it, but I felt like to get the most out of that class, I'd need to take more than 5 levels. I'm also worried that running out of Rage rounds could be an issue.
But, most importantly, this build is already very feat intensive. Even with 7 levels of Fighter, I just realized this build doesn't have Precise Shot. That's pretty much a must-have, so I'll have to find room for it in there somewhere.
Is there a reason u went str rather than weapon finesse? Less MAD then. Get piaranha stike instead of power attack and swap out something for weapon finesse, then u don't have to dump int and charisma.
And an arcane dip is possible if done right, gunslinger is wisdom based for grit so grab the empyreal bloodline that switches to wisdom based instead of charisma based or use standard sorcerer (or bard) with mysterious stranger gunslinger archetype. If you do grab even one level of an arcane class, arcane shot is a great feat as well.
Yeah, I definitely looked at the Picaroon Swashbuckler for the free finesse when fighting with a sword and pistol. Seemed good at first and the plan was to take Weapon Focus + Slashing Grace to get this character completely DEX-based.
Problem is, Slashing Grace doesn't work with TWF. So, SAD Sword and Gun characters seem pretty hard to pull off in PFS. I played with it and decided good not great STR and DEX would work. Plus this build freed up a few feats.
I looked at Grenadier Alchemist for a few levels, I looked at Eldrtich Scion Magus + Mysterious Stranger. There's some synergy there, but I kept ending up with a really confused character that wasn't particularly good at shooting or casting. I think you really need that DEX to Damage with firearms to get competitive damage and even with Magical Knack, you're losing at least 3 caster levels to get there.
Also, I can't find Arcane Shot anywhere. Did you mean Arcane Strike?
You can use Point-Blank Master instead of Sword and Pistol if you can get Weapon Specialization.
On consideration, you could go with a Warpriest/Weaponmaster multiclass instead of a build that adds DEX to firearms. Warpriest 7 can get you +4 to all attack and damage rolls with the right traits through swift-action Divine Favor, and Weaponmaster 3 can get you another +3 to attack and damage with a weapon through Weapon Training and Gloves of Dueling. With that kind of bonus damage, it's not necessary to get dex-to-damage for a pistol. They also get you an absurd haul of feats, including Weapon Specialization and Point Blank Master, so you can get your TWF thing running smoothly by 7.
Human Warpriest 7/ Weapon Master 4
Traits: Fate's Favored, Magical Knack
1WM. Gunsmithing / +F: Quick Draw / +H: Proficiency: Firearms
2WP. (*Divine Favor +2*) / +Warpriest Focus: Pepperbox
3WP. Point-Blank Shot
4WP. +WP: Weapon Specialization: Pepperbox
5WP. Precise Shot
6WP. (*Divine Favor +3*)
7WP. +WP: Point-Blank Master / Two-Weapon Fighting / +WPFCB: Deadly Aim
8WM. +F: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
9WM. (*Weapon Training + Gloves of Dueling = +3 pepperbox*) / Power Attack
10WP. (*Divine Favor +4*)
11WM. ??? / +F: ???
Wielding two one-handed weapons means a -4 from TWF. You can avoid this by using a light melee weapon as your offhand, but this messes up melee damage from strength and Power Attack. Instead, wielding a small pepperbox in the offhand will cost you -2 on those attacks due to size, but will save you from the -4 TWF penalty on both attacks (and Sacred Weapon means damage from a small weapon is the same).
wouldn't a dip into Trench Fighter with an Arsonal Chaplan Warpirest be a stronger option?
I wasn't ruling out archetypes. I'm not sure Trench Fighter is PFS legal, but if it is then that would work well.
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One problem with the Weapon Master is that per the PFS Additional Resources:
"No character may purchase a firearm unless she possesses the Gunsmithing feat and firearms are never considered Always Available."
Since it's not a class that gets a free firearm, he can't buy one in PFS until he has 9 Fame AND enough gold.
Any of the legal gun-totting archetypes or a level of Gunslinger gets you a free firearm along with Gunsmithing and proficiency (tho there may be one or two exceptions.) Trench Fighter is not legal.
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I really tend to avoid triple-classing, but it's true that a single level of Gunslinger would come with major benefits. Two free feats, Grit, free gun... yeah, on consideration it's probably the best way to go. Delaying the other classes a level isn't really that significant when it's all a multiclass mess anyhow. Good call.