Sul Zain Aserbet's page

Hey folks, just read through all the replies, including what has been said about alternate ways to create a musketeer. I like Heretek's reply on the matter.

@Blueluck

I like your responses in concerns with the cost of firing a weapon, and have mixed feelings about guns sucking for everyone but the gunslinger. Let me elaborate:

Firearms seem to be problematic for pathfinder and other games from which pathfinder pulls its traditions. I feel there are two reasons for this. Reason number one is that the system tends to rank the damage of weapons relative to the other weapons in the system, and that this is very loosely based in our concept of how dangerous these weapons are in reality (i say loosely because I feel the weapons are ranked on perceived threat and damage potential; anything weapon in the equipment section of the core rulebook will kill you). A dagger does a d4. A longsword is much bigger and heftier than a dagger, so it does a d8, and so on.
So how do you rank a firearm with this kind thinking? Relative to a dagger, sword, or any other medieval weapon in the core books the firearm has more killing potential than anything. The firearm is the eventual successor to all of these weapons. It seems the game designers break with their previous system of how to assign damage to weapons when it come to firearms. Maybe rightfully so, otherwise the weapon might be so attractive that, like history, pathfinder universes will lay down their sword and modernize because of the advantage.
Reason number two is similar in thinking to reason number one. Game developers dont want firearms taking over everything so you are subtlety punished by choosing to use a gun by having to obey clunky mechanics.

So, back to the original matter, as it is the gun is clunky unless you specialize in it, so the influence of the firearm doesnt leak over into other classes. Now that I've had more time to think about it, that's fine with me i suppose, I just hate that the classes abilities are to not suck at something that everyone else would suck at, if they had any interest in trying. Maybe the class just needs more oomph.

So here's an idea to fix the damage problem: what if a gunslinger had the ability to pack more black powder into their gun to increase the damage and the chance of misfire, and have it scale similarly to an alchemist's bomb or a rogue's sneak attack? Something like:

1. Supercharge (1d6, +1 to misfire)
3. Supercharge (2d6, +2 t misfire)
And so on.....

To offset how great the chance at misfire eventually becomes, gunslingers should not have a chance to misfire a weapon when fired regularly. There was a post on the board that mentioned the idea that gunslinger's weapons dont misfire because of routine maintenance,and it resonated well with me. Similarly, this could be combined with a grit ability to lower the chances of misfire (I don't know, call it "Here me baby, stay together" or something).

Because Deadly aim wont work with this class as worded, why not have a class ability that basically gives you a version of this feat that will work?

Hey folks. Long time paizo shopper, first time poster. Some of this material is original, and some of it is echoing the opinions of the other posting on this board.

I was really happy to see the addition of the gunslinger class added to the game. As a black powder enthusiast, this class appeals to me, and I'm happy to see the role of firearms addressed, especially considering how much technology/magic crossover has entered contemporary fantasy. I really, really want to like this class.

That said, I am a little disappointed in the current rules of the gunslinger as written. Thematically it is a little narrow. The gunslinger very much has the feel of a western American gunfighter, which is awesome, but with a little widening the gunslinger could also be an archetype for musketeers, pirates, and Zorro types. My suggestions after playing around with the class:

1. Widen the skill selection and up the base skill points per level. The current skill selection is too low to play swashbuckler-infiltrator archetypes. Maybe adding stealth to the skills list won't force players into multi classing just to complete what could be a basic archetype of the class. Whip as a proficient weapon a plus.

2. A gun costs 11gp per shot for a chance to break and do mediocre damage most of the time. I am willing to accept that black powder may be a rare and quasi-magical item, but a peasant's monthly earnings for a small cylinder of common lead is pretty far fetched. 10 bullets for 1gp seems more reasonable. Even then, guns are just slightly cheaper to operate that a wand of magic missiles slinging wizard.

3. The gunslinger is not a damage dealer. This in itself isn't bad, as most of his abilities seem geared towards controlling foes from a distance ( tripping foes, entangling, etc) but his ability to exert that control is highly limited. He needs more grit. Perhaps along the lines of 3+wis like the cleric, or half his level plus wisdom like lay-on-hands?

4. Nothing wows me about the firearm, yet there is a class completely devoted to it's use. As an enthusiast, I'm left wanting more. As some on the board have mentioned, many of the class features just fix the rules problems with the weapon. If the weapon is so slow to load, expensive to use, and has a chance of breaking, there needs to be a compelling reason for me to want to use this beyond liking the concept, otherwise at some point in a campaign I'm going to feel like a tool for not playing a ranger. X4 crit is somewhat enticing, but not worth the drawbacks. Now something truly eye-popping like x6 crit makes me want to put up with all the trouble this weapon is going to give me. Or bring back exploding dice.

3.