Diven's page

Don't see why the Immortan needs to be a caster of any sorts.

You are right, the Immortan doesn't need to be a caster. However being a caster does give him access to a wider variety of effects to reinforce his image of divinity. Effects like Overwhelming Presence from the viewpoint of... well... probably anybody under 10th level would be hard to distinguish from actual divinity. Various illusion and enchantment magic from lower levels would simply make the lie of being more than mortal that much easier to believe.

Honestly, the warboys weren't awesome because of their ability, but because of their mindless devotion. I would say that your average warboy would be no more than a warrior with setting appropriate weapon proficiencies and mandatory ranks in Craft (Automobile) or Drive (ride).

From my own Mad Max research, the warboys have some beliefs that make the behave in the over the top manor that makes them so appealing.

1) Belief that entry into the afterlife is dependent on the glory you bring with your death. Dieing in combat is only a small part of that, the iconic "Witness me!" cry is not only a warcry, but a plea for the gods (Immortan Joe) to see the glory in their death and grant them entry to the afterlife. As we see with Slit when fighting the Buzzards, he attempts to downplay the death of Morsov in an attempt to lower the standards his own death will require to achieve entry to Valhalla. This could be represented in Pathfinder by a cult who believes that a bloody glorious death will let them bypass standing in line in the Boneyard and grant them entry to an afterlife that is one glorious immortal war.

2) "Shiny and chrome" doesn't necessarily mean that chrome in itself is something powerful, in a post apocalyptic world most things are reused and dirty, so having something "Shiny and chrome" would be reserved for those either smart enough to produce new goods, or powerful enough to keep other from taking them. So "Shiny and chrome" is a status symbol. The warboys chromed their teeth in preparation for the afterlife to boost their apparent status (perhaps to fool the gods who would be judging them) and also to get high from the paint fumes which would dull pain and remove fear of death. This aspect could be represented in Pathfinder with your cult venerating enchanted items (Things that normal people could never afford). In preparation for a suicide death, they might drink a potion that would give their body a magic aura.

3) The Immortan Joe. Joe was originally a soldier and commander before the gas war and water wars, he is old and is probably one of quite a few people left in the world that remembers things before the nukes fell. The Bullet Farmer is a fellow soldier that was under Joe's command during the wars, and the People Eater was a tribal that helped Joe take the Citadel originally. Joe uses pre-war knowledge to keep the Citadel running and takes advantage of the resources that brings to keep a willing population at his doorstep from which he can recruit the strong for his warboy cult. He cultivates ideas such as the glorious death and viewing the other warboys as family, with himself as a psudo-diety and father from a young age, making sure his warboys are raised viewing him as the absolute authority and a divine being. In Pathfinder, The Immortan would most likely be a spellcaster of moderately high level, perhaps even with mythic tiers. This spellcaster should control a sizable source of a scarce natural resource that is needed in the area. It could be water in a desert, or it could be something more mystical in nature, perhaps the area of the world this is in has some sort of spellblight over the land and this Immortan holds the key to staving off the effects but only temporarily, meaning he would have a sizable population at his doorstep begging for their weekly drop of the elixir.

4) White body paint. Much like the Stormtroopers in Star Wars, removing individuality from your troops serves two purposes. It serves to strike despair in the heart of your foes, no matter how many they kill, the hoard never thins. This type of psychological demoralization introduces the idea to the enemy that their attacks are ineffective since the warboy they just killed is replaced with one that looks identical. The second goal is to promote loyalty among your own troops by non-verbally letting them know they are replaceable.

I could very easily see this type of cult popping up with the awakening of a powerful servant of a Runelord, probably Wrath. White painted, unarmored, suicidal and possibly drug fueled hoards on monstrous chariots, raiding towns across a spellblighted land without fear because they know for a fact, that if they die with glory, they will be part of an eternal battle along side the leader they view as a god.

If you are planning on doing overland travel and need to make it interesting there should be at least one encounter per day. Now encounter doesn't need to be combat, they can be social situations, unusually intelligent animals interacting with the party, or even comedy.

As you cross the bridge, you can see that someone has recently built a rather haphazard looking wooden building on the other side. A sign above a green painted door reads "Muggywort's Bar" with a smaller piece of wood nailed to the bottom with "Longshanks welcome". (Replace Muggywort with Gogmort or any other named Goblin from Thistletop if any of them escaped) Inside a hand full of goblins along with a single kobold (acting as the cook) are attempting to run a legitimate business. Exploring the area outside reveals a second smaller building where two goblins are working with a new shiny still attempting to alter a traditional goblin liquor recipe to appeal to races with more distinguished tastes. The party should be the first "customers" to visit since the bar was built and are offered free samples from the first batch of "Gobby burnjuice". These goblins (and one kobold) have recently been civilized and educated by an Imp who had put on a ring cursed to shift his alignment from LE to LN. The goblins will happily talk about their new leader who is teaching how to be more than just raiders, however they don't like bathing every week.
The menu offerings should be a cross between goblin grossness and fine inn food. Things like a whole rotisserie roasted frog stuffed with herbs, literally, the mouth was opened and crammed full of herbs before being roasted.

If this is the kind of encounter you want to run to introduce the BBEG, this is my suggestion. The party finds the BBEG alone, the BBEG says something about them being unexpected guests, but just enough of them to finish the sacrifices (hence a reason for him not wanting to kill them outright). With a snap of his fingers, he summons a hoard of minions. Skeletons, clay soldiers, what ever feels thematic for the BBEG. The minions proceed to use use non-lethal damage to beat the party unconscious while the BBEG watches. The party should wake up in time to see a lone (and very weary) adventurer come to fight the BBEG. They should overhear some dialog making it obvious that the lone hero has lost the rest of his party to the BBEG and he is determined to stop him. The lone hero deals a massive blow to the BBEG, then the BBEG cast Slay Living, or some other very scary spell that takes the lone hero out of the fight. The now obviously injured BBEG forgets about the captive party and either limps away or teleports back to his lair to recover, leaving the party with the body of the lone adventurer. He should have a journal or a guild log (and perhaps even a Wayfinder) that would hint at the threat the BBEG poses to the world and give the party a reason to try to take over for the fallen hero that saved them from being sacrificed to what ever dark god the BBEG was going to feed them to.

This gives you the "un-winable" encounter along with the a valid reason why the party is not killed and a plot hook to get the party interested in looking for the BBEG.

Also in the Iron Kingdoms RPG (Not Pathfinder, but still d20/D&D3.5 compatible) there is exactly what you are looking for. I forget the name of the class at the moment as it has been a few years since I last opened that book, but it is a caster that channels his spells through a glowing rune-carved pistol or musket.

While not a rules argument, a scientific argument would point to no. The larger a bow grows from tip to tip, the more draw it needs to properly impart deadly force upon a projectile. A medium longbow is already 5+ feet from tip to tip, so using a larger size category longbow would require a longer arm-span than a normal medium size creature would be able to believably possess. It might be possible to wield a large (or larger) sized bow if you could magically or supernaturally increase your arm-span, however at that point, you might as well just cart around a Ballista.

Just as a question, why make it a two items? You can use the standard magic item creation rules to create a similar weapon. A +1 flaming burst returning dagger would fit well enough.