Thoughts - More Ranger than Fighter but Beyond Both


Gunslinger Discussion: Round 1


First off, I'd like to say that I think it's really cool that firearms are being brought into Pathfinder and I really like the idea of the Gunslinger. But my first thought when reading over the class is, why try to pass it off as an alternate class for the Fighter? If anything I'd say they should be an alternate class of the Ranger, but I don't really agree that this should be an alternate class at all. You're bringing in a brand new game mechanic with firearms so you should have a new unique class to go with it. It's so far from the base Fighter already that I don't really see any point.

Just reading through the class, the first thing I think should be done is give them good Fort and Reflex saves like a Ranger. The "Brave and tough" ability gives bonuses to Fort anyway which end up almost the same as having it as a good save starting a 6th level (only one less than the base Reflex after you add in the +2 bonus). Also, typo alert in the Reflex save progression at 19th and 20th level.

Next, skills: Personally I see gunslingers as being more skilled than 2+INT Mod. Maybe not the full 6+INT Mod of a Ranger, but 4+INT Mod sounds about right to me. Also think they should have Disable Device, Perception, and Survival added to their class skills. When I think of a Gunslinger, being a bounty hunter feels like a very common profession (hence Perception and Survival). As for Disable Device, with their work with guns I think it should come naturally. And I think there should be a new use of Disable Device to basically do a quick fix on a broken firearm that misfires. Or maybe that should just be under Craft (firearms)?

Aside from that, I don't really have anything to add that hasn't already been said. The thread about giving Gunslingers Rapid Reload automatically at first level and comments about helping with reload times in other ways are highly supported by myself and I also like the idea of using more of a Discovery style mechanic instead of the Monk-like Grit system.

So I guess in my eyes the Gunslinger should be some kind of crazy mixture of Fighter, Ranger, and Alchemist? Again, just seems way too complicated to try to make this some kind of Alternate Class to an existing Core Class. It seems to work okay with Ninja/Rogue and Samurai/Cavalier, but this should probably be its own Core Class.

Just my Thoughts.

Lantern Lodge

+1 - Mentioned that the Gunslinger should be a Core Class in itself with a cavalcade of different ideas based off other classes.

Possibly changing Deeds to look something like Rogue Talents and Ninja Tricks. Also think Grit needs to be redone to seem less Monk Ki-Like and more, I don't know, Alchemist Discovery like. With its ki mechanic currently it seems more like we'll be seeing the same gunslinger everywhere. Someone else mentioned this on another thread in this discussion forum.


+1 and then some.

And while we're at it, why don't we go ahead and make everyone who uses touch attacks as their primary mode of attack use the 3/4 base attack scale and forget about the sloppy use of range increment?


I will agree that the nature of the preferred weapon would demand both Disable Device and Perception as class skills. Not too sure about Survival, though.

I will also agree that this "Alternate" class may be better off as a Core Class in its own right.

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