Sfyn's page

1. Become the Reloading Master
2. Make Reloading Fun

This. The Gunslinger "thing" seems to be working with Reload weapons, even the more "melee-oriented" build most of the time will come across reloading at some point. Unless Paizo changes the current design a lot, I believe you got the correct path to follow.

We should think of ways of making reloading a thing that you want to, your mention to combine reloading with Demoralize rings a bell as very thematic, cool and not really that overpowered, as Demoralizing itself has a limit on range of number of uses. It may step a bit on Warning Shot's toes but I believe Warning Shot is a bit on the weak side at the moment anyway.

Also, this gives us more reasons to not use Running Reload every single reload.

5. Ensure a Player Who Wants to Use Guns Isn’t Automatically Wrong for Picking Something Other Than Gunslinger

To be honest, I'm OK with Guns being more or less limited to gunslingers. I see them as technological marvels similar to the Inventor's gadgets and gating access to good gun usage feats/proficiencies behind Gunslinger Archetype seems fair. I may be on the minority here, tho.

I'd say you should avoid Double Shot and Triple Shot as a Flurry Ranger.
Flurry Rangers deal comparable whiteroom damage to a Fighter with Triple Shot, so we can conclude a Flurry Ranger using Triple Shot is a downgrade as you are not using your class' main damage boost, lowered MAP.

Ranger is light on archery feats, you get your power mostly from Hunter's Edge and Hunted Shot at 1st level. Distracting Shots at higher levels are also very strong. If you want to power up archery with class feats and don't want to pick up other Ranger utilities you can pick up Rogue Dedication and Sneak attack, if your party has a way to apply flat-footed for ranged attackers (Trip, Grapple, bottled lightning, Shared Stratagem, etc...).

I missed the fact that Eldritch Shot uses a spell attack roll, so if you took Basic Spellcasting for Wizard MC or Witch MC then Eldritch Shot is already using Int. Wow!

I don't think so, it skips the spell attack roll and merges the effects with the bow Strike.

... Make a Strike with that bow. Your spell flies with the ammunition, using your attack roll result to determine the effects of both the Strike and the spell. ...

Eldritch Archer seems great for Investigators because of Enchanting Arrow, in my opinion. Investigators usually attack only once, so you give extra oomph to that single Strike.

As with most of the Investigator current features, conceptually is very cool but super underwhelming in practice. I've been running Combat Clue with no time limit and it seems alright.

I was looking at the Elixir of Life progression something felt off.
You jump from 1d6 to 3d6+6. Healing 1d6 is okay at first level but pretty inadequate after that. At level 5, it jumps to 3d6+6, almost 5 times the average healing of the last level.
I was thinking of smoothing out the curve and Paizo's design intent seemed very clear by looking at the Elixirs of Life themselves.
They seem to improve similarly to 2 action Heal spell as spell levels progress. While Heal improves by 1d8+8, Elixirs of Life improve by 1d6+3.
The increases happen at every 2 spell levels, except Major at Level 15, which increases the bonus to saves vs poison/disease.
Considering that, we can create new Elixirs of Life for the missing spell levels, smoothing out the Alchemist healing curve.
I didn't increase the saves bonuses since Major was created in a "half-step", increasing the bonus. I'd say Paizo would create another "half-step" Elixir if the bonus to saves would be increased.
Since Alchemists are currently being seen as a little bit weaker than most, I don't see this being damaging to balance.

- Minor: Level 1 (spell level 1) - 1d6, +1 to saves
- Minor+: Level 3 (spell level 2) - 2d6+3, +1 to saves
- Lesser: Level 5 (spell level 3) - 3d6+6, +1 to saves
- Lesser+: Level 7 (spell level 4) - 4d6+9, +1 to saves
- Moderate: Level 9 (spell level 5) - 5d6+12, +2 to saves
- Moderate+: Level 11 (spell level 6) - 6d6+15, +2 to saves
- Greater: Level 13 (spell level 7) - 7d6+18, +2 to saves
- Major: Level 15 (spell level 8) - 8d6+21, +3 to saves
- Major+: Level 17 (spell level 9) - 9d6+24, +3 to saves
- True: Level 19 (spell level 10) - 10d6+27, +4 to saves

What do you guys think about it?

From calculations and play, I believe crossbows are fine if you play a Ranger. They start to lose vs bows when weapon specialization and property runes kick in but get a big boost with Penetrating Shot at level 10.

Crossbow Rangers will, on average, deal less whiteroom DPR than Bow ones but moving is part of their main attack routine (Running Reload) which can be useful. Their damage is also loaded on one big hit, which helps with some circumstancial single-strike bonuses like Flat-footed from Hidden or True Strike.

Any other class will be severely disadvantaged tho. Crossbow Ace and Running Reload (and precision edge, to some extent) are necessary for a crossbow to be competitive.

An idea is to give easier access to those features. An archetype or something similar. You could also bake Crossbow Ace directly into crossbows by default.

I made a whiteroom comparison where a level 6 (triple shot minimum) Fighter and Ranger, both Archers shoot unimpeded assuming:

Both use a +1 striking composite shortbow.
Both have 18 DEX and 14 STR.
Fighter has Point Blank Shot, Double Shot and Triple Shot.
Ranger has Hunted Shot, Flurry Edge and Quick Draw.
Both target a AC 22 opponent.

1st Round:
Fighter: Point-Blank Shot, Double Shot = 18 avg. damage
Ranger: Hunt Prey, Quick Draw, Hunted Shot = 16 avg. damage

Following Rounds:
Fighter: Triple Shot = 21 avg. damage
Ranger: Hunted Shot, Strike, Strike = 20 avg. damage

I'd say damage wise its very similar. You would choose Fighter if you want more martial versatility or Ranger for overall exploration utility and mobility.

I don't feel this way...
You used Ranger as an example, you can make a pretty competent Archer/Pet Ranger. Dual-wielding is more heavy on feats but also doable with a companion. Human's Natural Ambition helps a lot on these.

As an example: Archer/Pet Ranger
L1 Animal Companion
L1 Hunted Shot (Natural Ambition)
L2 Quick Draw
L4 Far Shot (pretty minor, tbh)
L6 Mature Animal Companion
L8 Deadly Aim (also not super necessary)
L10 Incredible Companion
L12 Distracting Shot
L14 ... dunno, something you missed from past levels or multiclass
L16 Specialized Companion
L18 Greater Distracting Shot
L20 Have Fun

By my time spent theorycrafting I feel you can focus totally on one field and get some extras or be very competent in two fields. Actually looks very fair in my opinion.