Mandarax's page

Good afternoon, forum! I'm working on a character who's currently level 14, and I want to plan out his feats for the next few levels. He's a dragonborn buccaneer gunslinger (Human archetype but DM approved it) and currently specced mostly to be an effective gunfighter, with some melee ability in a pinch (more for flavor than effectiveness). I'm looking at how I want to continue developing him once he reaches level 15 and beyond. I'll get one per level at 15, 16 and 17, and another at 19.

Captain Ortun Level 14 Character Sheet (This campaign uses a lot of homebrew and DM Discretion, so some things may not make a ton of sense)

He's currently using a pair of Dragoon pistols, but I may upgrade them to revolvers in the medium term. Additionally, he has a seven-barrel custom volley gun based on the Nock gun that's written basically as a seven-barrel musket with a shotgun effect. For melee, he has a Halfling Rope-Shot (called a slungshot in naval service) that, with the Agile enchantment and Weapon Finesse, gives him dex to damage on it.

----------------------------------

Currently, he has the following feats:
Armor Proficiency (Light)
Simple weapon Proficiency - All
Martial Weapon Proficiency - All
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Firearms)
Gunsmithing

Sword and Pistol (free w/ class)
Two-Weapon Fighting
Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
Weapon Finesse (so my melee weapon does dex-to-damage)

Clustered Shots
Deadly Aim -4/+8
Point-Blank Shot
Precise Shot
Rapid Reload (Pistol)
Rapid Shot
Signature Deed (Deed: Targeting)

Sea Legs (free w/ class)

----------------------------------

So I think I have most of the important gunslinger feats to make him viable up to this point per the RPGBot Gunslinger Handbook, and have room to play with flavor and so on. My current thought, to make him a more effective combatant, is to take Weapon Focus for his pistols, and then Dazzling Display to make use of his +18 in Indimidate. Unfortunately, we're fighting a lot of undead and will fight a lot more in the future, so it won't be super useful, but it does seem like the sort of thing a pirate captain would want; having all targets on deck being Shaken would make things easier for the rest of his crew once this undead menace is defeated and he can get back to good wholesome plundering. Another option would be Improved Critical because that just sounds nice to have. I don't recall any combats yet where Improved Precise Shot would have done me any good, so I'm not interested in that.

But I'm utterly clueless and overwhelmed as to what other routes I could go, in particular to buff or otherwise assist the crew (or the adventuring party Ortun is increasingly working with). What do y'all think?

And some character art, just because:

Captain Ortun upon his throne at Siren's Song

The Thunderhead, Ortun's flying flagship

Arr, the pepperbox be a lubberly-looking weapon. I'll leave that to the landlocked dandies, methinks.

The dragoon pistol, meanwhile... That tickles me. The extra range increment and extra shots both seem like they'd be worth the reduced critical multiplier, as I'd be spending more time shooting and less time reloading, making up for missed critical damage with greater sustained firepower. (Glad I've got an entire ship of 'vulture capitalists' at my command to help afford the ammo bills, though really I guess it's no more expensive than regular firearms)

I hadn't considered multi-classing, but Musketeer looks really appropriate. Level 11 in Buccaneer gets me some deeds I really want, plus a third attack so I think I'll take that first, but for my next level, Musketeer may be in the cards. I carry a multi-barrel musket as well (a commandeered homebrew dwarven Nock Volley Gun) that I bet the DM would let me use that feat with - though it'd still be a slow one-barrel-at-a-time affair, but who knows, I may find a use for it.

Another question, any opinions on Lucky vs Reliable enchantments?

Hey folks, so I'm working on a level 11 Buccaneer Gunslinger character and trying to decide how to arm him. My thought was to have him dual-wield two one-handed firearms for the opening salvo of an engagement, after which point he'd holster one and maintain fire with the other. On a misfire, he can just switch to the other gun as Buccaneers don't get the benefit of the Quick Clear deed. He also doesn't get the Lightning Reload deed.

My character has Two Weapon Fighting, Rapid Reload for pistols, and gets Sword and Pistol as a bonus feat (I have an off-hand melee weapon to use in a pinch, thanks to Hill Giant for suggesting the Halfling Rope Shot). I can change the feats up if I'm missing something dramatic, but this is what I have for now.

So, my thoughts are aimed at pistols and double-barrel pistols. Double-barrel pistols give me four shots before I need to start reloading instead of two, but once those are spent, I'm left basically firing one shot per round with either kind of gun if I understand everything right - and with a double-barrel, I also double my chances of suffering a misfire. Are the two extra up-front shots worth the doubled misfire chance, I wonder? Are there any other significant considerations I'm missing?

Or would any of you suggest something completely different? (This character exists in the game world, but separate from the main party - as such I have a lot of freedom with how I set him up, as I'm basically an occasional "ally" for the party whenever I'm able to play).

Well! That halfling rope-shot looks like exactly what I'm trying to use, and it's a d6 instead of a d4! I bet I can convince my DM that, called a slungshot, it shouldn't count as an "exotic" weapon in the hands of a sailor who uses the same thing for work on a daily basis.

Hook Fighter looks fun too - not sure I can spare the feat for it, but I think it has a lot of potential.

Rope Trick is interesting, but it seems really feat-heavy to actually accomplish much since just about everything it unlocks also requires another individual feat. It'd make sense to have, but I'll have to see what I'd need to give up in order to take that.

Hey folks, pretty new to Pathfinder and I want to 'build' a unique and useful seafarer's weapon that might double as a tool: a monkey's fist/slungshot (basically a flail made from rope and a weight instead of chain and a spiked ball). Traditionally used as the end of a "heaving line" to throw a rope a long distance, it has also served as a deadly improvised weapon (and heavily-weighted ones are banned by most ports for legitimate safety reasons these days).

The Monkey Fist's Nasty Cousin - the Slungshot

For context, I'm refining a character that serves intermittently in an ongoing campaign as an occasional party member/semi-NPC (as my IRL work schedule and the campaign's story allows). He's a level 11 Buccaneer gunslinger (so dex-based combat), and a moderately renowned pira- privateer captain. In my current build, he's an excellent shot with some very fine guns, but combat experience has proved problematic - he's got a decent sword, but modest strength and all feats are currently geared for gunplay. As such, he proved next to useless after a few consecutive bad rolls broke both his guns early in a major fight. So, I'm wanting something that's both thematic and reasonably effective, without having to spend too much in the way of melee feats or skills to make it viable.

Here's what I'm thinking for stats for a basic Slungshot:
As a Martial Light Weapon (melee) - 1gp - 1d4 - x2 crit - 3 lbs - Bludgeoning - can Trip, easily Concealed
As a Simple Light Weapon (ranged) - 1d4 - x2 crit - 50 ft range - Bludgeoning

So, on its own, nothing amazing, but my thought was to take the Weapon Finesse feat to take advantage of my dex (around 18) for attack, and then enchant the item as Agile so I can add my dex bonus to damage. Would that together allow for it to make a meaningful contribution to a fight, if I have to resort to using it? It could be thrown in combat in a pinch, but it's intended to be kept in-hand. As a buccaneer, I might use it as an off-hand weapon in addition to a pistol, to take advantage of the free sword-and-pistol feat. Not sure if I want to give up a gun-specific feat for two-weapon-fighting since I'm primarily a ranged/RP character, but I dunno. Maybe I could have it do double-duty for dual wielding from a brace of pistols...

Now, I had another idea for it though - would the Anchoring enchantment potentially allow it to serve as a sort of "grappling hook" outside of combat? Could I bend a line to it and have it "stick" if it lands where I want it to? I guess that'd be a DM call, but I think it'd be immensely appropriate. Or, is there something else y'all can think of that that would otherwise make it useful in out-of-combat scenarios?

Unrelated: Is there any specific reason the "buccaneer" class is limited to Humans?