Hey, James! Here with an odd question that can be interpreted in multiple ways, depending.
Reason I'm asking is it's very heated and even a third party sees the merits in both arguments, so, this is just asking for help. I'm asterisking the parts that are points of contention between us.
I know Eldritch Archer is banned from PFS, but this is another argument in a Living World where it isn't.
The player is attempting to Multiclass Spellslinger Wizard with Eldritch Archer Magus and is trying to say that these two abilities grant Ranged Spell Strike the ability to do a x3 crit as per arcane gun. When I'm telling him that since the ammunition is the medium of delivery through the Magus touch spells - they would be subject to the 2x damage that Maguses are limited to.
His stance is that since the first asterisked part of Arcane gun below gives a criteria of three things (One arcane gun, spell fired through gun, an attack roll), and since he meets that criteria through Ranged Spellstrike, why shouldn't he be allowed the x3 crit on spells?
The two abilities are this:
Ranged Spellstrike (Su)
At 2nd level, whenever an eldritch archer casts a spell that calls for a ranged attack, **she can deliver the spell through a ranged weapon she wields as part of a ranged attack. Instead of the free ranged attack normally allowed to deliver the spell,** an eldritch archer can make one free ranged attack with a ranged weapon (at her highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. The attack does not increase the spell’s range.
If the spell can normally affect multiple targets, only a single missile, ray, or effect accompanies each attack; if the spell allows multiple attacks and the eldritch archer can make additional ranged attacks as part of a full-round action with spell combat, one additional ray, missile, or effect from the spell accompanies each subsequent ranged attack the eldritch archer makes in the same round until all attacks allowed by the spell are made. Unused missiles, rays, or effects remaining at the end of the eldritch archer’s turn are wasted.
This ability alters spellstrike.
_______
Arcane Gun (Su)
The spellslinger gains the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) feat, and one or two of his firearms can be arcane guns. Arcane guns are normal one-handed or two-handed firearms in the hands of others, as they were normal firearms before the spellslinger imbued them with magic. In a spellslinger’s hands, they both fire projectiles (bullets and pellets) and cast magic. At 1st level, the spellslinger decides whether he wants to have one or two arcane guns at a time. **If the spellslinger chooses to have only one arcane gun at a time, spells fired through the arcane gun that require an attack roll have a ×3 critical hit multiplier.**
**A spellslinger can cast any ranged touch attack, cone, line, or ray spells through his arcane gun. When he casts through the arcane gun,** the gun’s enhancement bonus (if any) is a bonus to the spell’s attack rolls or to the spell’s saving throw DCs. Yet there are dangers inherent to this method. If any of the **spells’ attack rolls result in a natural 1 (a misfire), or a natural 20 is rolled on any saving throw made against the spell by a target (an overload), the arcane gun gains the broken condition.** If the arcane gun already has the broken condition, the gun explodes. When a gun explodes, it lets loose a blast of force, or if the spell has the acid, cold, electricity, or sonic descriptor, it deals that type of energy damage instead. In the case of spells with multiple descriptors, roll randomly among the descriptors to determine the type of damage dealt by the blast. The blast is centered on a single intersection within the spellslinger’s space (spellslinger’s choice) and deals 1d6 points of the appropriate energy damage or force damage per level of the spell cast. Any creature within the blast other than the spellslinger can make a Reflex saving throw to halve the damage. The Reflex save DC is calculated using the spell level of the spell being sacrificed.
A spellslinger can attune his arcane guns at the start of each day. That attunement lasts until the spellslinger attunes to a new gun, even if a formally attuned gun is destroyed.
This ability replaces arcane bond.