Lokotor's page

Also, as always, thank you all for your comments and questions. It'll be what helps make this guide great.

-Personally I value Signature Deed over Improved Precise Shot. however if you run into not being able to shoot due to cover you have a couple decent options; the first being IPS and the second being a seeking enchantment.

-I'm only addressing the 4 most popular archetypes currently. If I have time ever I will add more though. Good point on the bolt ace one though, it is good for gun-less gunslingers. If I start adding that will be the first one to get put in.

-Regarding formatting with black options they are bolded so they stand out as ratings rather than just as text. they should all be bolded for this reason, except for leadership which is a special instance of my leaving it intentionally.

I will go and bold all rating options however for ease of reading.

I can certainly adjust the margins, but I'll have to make sure that won't screw up the rest of the formatting before I commit to it.

You can see page numbers by mousing over the scroll bar.

I only include a handful of 3pp feats (maybe 3?) for snipers because they are comparable to another feat which is arbitrarily restricted to kobolds only.

Endurance is in my opinion slightly better than diehard, and I try not to rate things based on being prerequisites as i am able. In my experience often if you are reduced to <0 HP you die most of the time, so having an extra round to maybe drink a potion usually doesn't save you and in PF it is almost always better to be offensive than defensive.

I did not rate archetypes as it's up to you what you want to play based on preference of play style. Though my personal preferences go: Pistolero > Musket Master > Siege Gunner > Mysterious Stranger

I didn't rate gear either as it is more a list of things that you might find useful, rather than a buy list. Every campaign is different so I didn't get to in depth with it. It's something I want to add to and I have slowly been editing that section when I'm not too busy real lifeing.
I can add some discussion on elemental enchants though as it is worth noting.

Added links within the guide for convenience of lazy people. Now you may click on sections at the top and be brought to the appropriate location.

You make a few good points. I'll add some of it to the guide :)

I am not planning on recommending anyone attempt to make a tank type build as a gunslinger though. If you want to do it you certainly can accomplish it, but I feel that you are going to be limiting yourself by doing so. Also, you would be outmatched by several other classes in this role. As such, if you are a player looking for a class to be a tank then you should probably move along as there are much better options.

There seems to be confusion about the Black rating. Basically it means that whatever it is will flux between green and orange. If you are in a game where you do only combat then it's pretty orange, but if you get into social areas then its green.

I expect most people will get at least a little bit of use out of Sense Motive, but probably not as often or as effectively as another skill.

I agree with you on extra grit and will bump it down to black. Some people burn through grit like crazy or will not invest in Wis as much as they should have. Its a pretty decent feat for someone to take if they don't have anything else to go for though.

As Deeds are essentially why you pick gunslinger over making a fighter with firearms proficiency (i know there's more to it than that.) I feel that most people will want to use them to some extent and so I make the guide under the assumption that players are intending to use them.

True with initiative boosters, but imo it's always better to go first with a DPS class. You can always delay if you need to.

I agree about additional traits. I think I originally planned on it being orange. I'll move it up to there. Personally I find that Traits can be pretty situational for the most part, but you are correct. It's a decent and variable boost, so it can be worthwhile. As it replaces a feat however it is unlikely to go above orange as I think there are better things to pick.

I originally put Godless healing as an option for people with limited ways to heal. Not everyone includes Magic Mart (TM) in their setting. You are right though, over all it's pretty red.

I agree about Mysterious strangers, I don't like them very much personally, but they are popular, so I address them as best i can.

Multiclassing is plenty viable and I give a few tips on ways to do it, but at the end of the day this is a gunslinger guide, not a Gun-Wiz-Pala-Monk guide. I give some tips on ways to go about it and on things to consider, but there are also guides out there exclusively about multiclassing, so it's probably best to look to one of those.

If anyone wants to get into their builds or any interesting MC they've done PLEASE DO SO. I'd love to see this page full of it.

The enchantments are not in any particular order or ranking as it's all pretty variable. Instead I opted to just list ones that are most notable with a brief description of the effect or my thoughts on it.

There is actually a decent multiclass build with Monk.

Flowing Monk Archetype focusing on Tripping and TWF is actually a great way to generate Sneak Attacks.

You can take lvl 1-4 as flowing monk, then switch to ninja for 5-20. You use Wis as the base for your Ki pool so you can dump Cha. You can't use armor, but you gain Wis as AC so you're still good. (add bracers of armor if needed.)

Rough plan: Flurry of blows (trip), Greater Trip AoO, Vicious Stomp AoO (sneak attack), second attack from flurry (sneak attack). Enemy stands AoO (sneak attack). On your turn full attack with TWF with all hits being Sneak attacks, then make a trip attempt at the end to do it all over.

Something to think about.

Another concern is if your party is cool with having a goblin join the team. If yes then they are not too bad a choice, only concern is that you may benefit more from other choices. Also you don't necessarily want to be forced tot take an extra feat, however depending on build obviously you may be fine with that. Just some things to consider.

Also, in the guide I have to make the assumption that you are using appropriately sized weapons always.

OK... so... I've finally got a little time now.

I'd like to start things off by saying Thank You all for taking the time to actually look at my guide. I put quite a number of hours into it and Every time I see a comment here or a person looking at the file it means a lot.

I'd also like to say that I'm going to try to explain my thought process on the issues you bring up and hopefully we will correct any issues that may be present and this can become the best of the few Gunslinger Guides out there.

So:

I rate Knowledge as Blue because in general the knowledge skills are some of the most useful. Information is king and you live and die by what little you can get. Basically in my opinion knowledge skills are extremely useful and everyone should consider having at least one rank in some of the knowledge skills. Dungeoneering, Religion, Planes, Nature, Local, and History all will at some point inevitably come up in any game you play and being able to attempt a knowledge check at +1 is better than not being able to do so at all. However, I rate the two that are given as class skills based on their usefulness to you as a Gunslinger, rather than as a player. This is why they are Black and Green respectively.

Dwarves are in my opinion a totally fine choice. If you want to play a dwarf and would have fun role-playing it then go for it. You won't be mechanically hindered in a significant way, but you also aren't getting quite the advantage that some of the other races would have provided.
I'm also assuming that most people will play a pistolero or Musket Master because they are the most popular. This means that at lvl 13 their Favored Class bonus becomes Irrelevant. Even if you do not play one of those Archetypes, most firearms won't incur a misfire value greater than 2 on average, so you'll start to see diminishing returns after lvl 8, whereas Humans for example, gain Grit, which is useful forever. There are a few more reasons that I've decided not to rate them Green, but ultimately it comes down to them being overall an average choice, neither good nor bad mechanically and thus I give them a Black Rating.

The Muleback Chords taking up the same slot as Cloak of Resistance is as you pointed out, not quite as bad considering Gunslingers have ok saves overall, but you are also forgetting that you can add effects to items after the fact, albeit for an increased cost.

I have arranged the Feats in order of Prerequisites as able. I considered organizing them in order of rank, but felt that that would be slightly more confusing and somewhat unnecessary due to color coding them making it fairly easy to just scroll though looking for Blue and Green options.

I Decided to Dump Strength because I feel that Cha is more important to a Gunslinger. As was said before, being able to use a Wand is great and also things like Diplomacy and Intimidate use Cha.
I did consider lowering Int for Str, but felt that Int is more important. You'll want to take advantage of all the skill points you can and you'll want to have at least 10 Int for that.

I didn't Include Kitsune because I haven't gone through the Uncommon Races list in this Guide yet. I'm eventually going to add them later on, but for now I have excluded: Changelings, Duergar, Gillmen, Grippli, Kitsune, Merfolk, Nagaji, Samsarans, Strix, Suli, Svirfneblin, Vanara, Vishkanya, and Wayangs.

I've Excluded Psionics for now Mostly because I'm not as familiar with all of the material regarding Psions, but also because they are somewhat less common overall. I do hope to add them eventually as well though.

As you've pointed out the hit to Str does Diminish your Carrying Capacity and will hinder you somewhat in that respect. The solution is Muleback Cords.

"The wearer treats his Strength score as 8 higher than normal when determining his carrying capacity."

For 1,000g you should be able to pick them up fairly early in the game, probably by lvl3.

Will reply to other concerns when I have more time

I've made a Gunslinger's Guide. Please Add it to the original Post. Thank you.

Link to Discussion Page

I have made what I believe is currently the most comprehensive Gunslinger Guide. I try to cover topics like Gear, Race, Multiclassing, Deeds, Feats, Traits, and more.

Gunslinger's Guide

Please Reply with any Thoughts, Additions, Concerns, Constructive Criticism, or Questions.

I may add some small sections further addressing Multiclassing, such as spell choices if there is enough interest.

Thank you,
Lokotor

Robe of Useful Items is always a fun item to get as loot from somewhere, but isn't typically worth buying. Unless your DM lets you assume max roll on bonus patches and lets you pick what kind they are (16,000g of gems?)

7,000g robe

A nice item that is Magic

Arrow Magnet

This tiny silver cube is activated by throwing it at an intersection of squares within 50 feet. The cube hovers 5 feet above the ground at that location for the next 5 rounds. Any small projectile or thrown weapon (such as arrows, shuriken, vials, and bullets) that passes through the squares adjacent to the cube automatically turn in midair to hit the cube (no attack roll needed) instead of their intended target. The cube has 5 hit points and hardness 8. If the arrow magnet is touched by a creature or reduced to 0 hit points or less, it falls to the ground and is destroyed.

600g

Amulet of Adaptation is also 9,000g.
Better? A little.
Worth the money? Probably not.

also this is not a magic item, but i still quite enjoy it.

Stingchuck

A stingchuck is a foul bag made of a humanoid’s head with the brain removed and the skull heavily scored so that it bursts open when thrown.

Description: Normally filled with biting vermin, a stingchuck acts as a splash weapon. When it hits, the vermin bite and sting the target, dealing 1d6 points of damage and forcing a DC 11 Fortitude save to avoid being nauseated for 1d3 rounds. Each round a creature remains nauseated by a stingchuck, it takes 1 additional point of damage from the biting vermin. All creatures within the splash effect take 1 point of damage from the vermin but do not risk being nauseated.

cost -, Dmg (M) 1d4 Blunt

I also think that doing things like making infinite True Strike, even if it could work, would be game breaking or make things unfun. I don't recommend it.

I think there is a balance though. A flask of Use Activated/Continuous Create Water for example is a nice way to avoid having to carry around water for the party and only costs 1,000g (0lvl counts as 1/2) it could provide a fun item to pull off some shenanigans but likely will just be a trinket.

A Necklace or Hat of Air Bubble (4,000g) is a good way to avoid things like stinking cloud and other poison gasses if they show up, but likely will find most of it's use in an aquatic campaign.

There are some good ideas of 0 lvl and 1st lvl spell effects that could be used well if applied correctly.

On the note of items that cost cheap and I find useful however,

Scrolls. Things like Daylight, Gust of wind, Knock, Dispel magic, Darkness, etc. A lot of decent spells are situationally useful and its probably a good idea to keep some on hand.

A potion of read magic could be a good way to make use of scrolls without being a caster type, so I think that they can be pretty universal.

Adding an Armored Kilt to any set of armor that has no ACP should in theory provide +1 AC with no penalty for +20g. The only caveat is that the Kilt will also have to be made of mithril if you want higher than a +6 dex bonus. (Total 1,020g)

When you add an armored kilt to a suit of light armor, the set counts as medium armor. Likewise, a kilt and medium armor counts as heavy armor. Adding an armored kilt to heavy armor has no effect.

Nonproficient with Armor Worn: A character who wears armor and/or uses a shield with which he is not proficient takes the armor's (and/or shield's) armor check penalty on attack rolls as well as on all Dex- and Str-based ability and skill checks.

Even with 4x pricing a lvl 0 or 1 continuous spell effect is still less than 10k which is relatively affordable at mid level. Though most spells are probably only at 2x cost. Still worth taking note in my opinion. Some options are good to make charges/day items too. True strike 2/day is not too bad for example and would be quite cheap.

Best option is probably a Quiver or Pouch of Abundant Ammunition 4,000g

I suppose this also allows for Poison arrows or Alchemical Creations to be replaced technically.

So under Table: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values

It states Use-activated or Continuous Spell Effect: Spell level x caster level x 2,000gp

I believe that this allows some custom item creation of 0 lvl and 1st lvl spell effects which could be quite nice.

Ideas:

(not so broken)
Flask of Create Water: Infinite water? Weee.

Ring of Air bubble: Now you can shoot that gun underwater or put your hand over your mouth to avoid poison clouds and long swims.

Quiver of Abundant Ammunition: Infinite non-magic arrows? Why not.

Glasses of Read Magic: Let the Fighter or the Rogue use that scroll of knock.

x of Message: Keep in touch with the rogue while he is scouting.

Hat of endure elements: Better off as a potion or wand imo.

(more broken)
x of Infernal Healing: Fast healing 1 for cheap.

x of Mount: Yay a free horse for an hour.

(broken af)
x of True Strike: +20 on every attack?? (Your DM: No, you can't have that.)

Ring of Vanish: Hide whenever, wherever, and turn it back on when it runs out.

Protection From Evil: We usually spam one of the 6 wands we have of it anyway, so why not. (Still really good though.)

Necklace of Mending: For the Construct or War-forged = infinite health. Otherwise meh.