Gunslingers, Guns, and Pathfinder Society economics

[Lord Twitchiopolis]

As of now, the biggest weakness of guns seems to be their prohibitively high costs to own and opperate. To see how the Gunslinger and guns fit into the economy of the game, I figured we could look at Pathfinder Society.

Keep in mind that Society attempts to keep things balenced. There's no rolling for starting gold, no Rich Parents trait, no sharing wealth, and no crafting. Everyone starts with 150gp and everyone gets a set amount of swag at the end of session.

Currently, no class begins with free items. The Witch comes in with the most free "gear" in the form of a 500gp familiar. Arcane Sorcerer comes in with 105gp(Wizard familiar, and Echrew Components feat, effectivly 5gp for a spellpouch), Wizard at 100gp for a familiar, and Sorcerers at 5gp. Cavaliers and Druids come in with an animal companion of no monitary value. Other classes recieve only the starting gold given, 150gp.

Now compare that to the gunslinger. He starts play with at least 1500 gold invested in weaponry for free, not to mention bullets and powder.

Yet, from what I can see from playtests, the level 1 gunslinger with 2k in free gear, is no more powerful than the level 1 fighter with only 150gp.

[the3rdgray]

I think it's clear that the gun and especially the ammo and powder are very, very, very over priced.

Consider this: In non-society play, if the party is gaining XP at the fast rate, they should also be gaining gold at a rate of 400gp per encounter (at first level). That means that each party member gains 100gp per encounter. One shot from the gunslinger's gun costs 11gp. Therefore, even on the progression that yields the most gold per encounter, if the gunslinger fires five shots, he's expending over half his income up front. How broken is that? And when you consider that there's a chance his weapon might explode in his face, dealing damage to him and maybe his party members? Then he has to drop 1500gp he doesn't have because he's been loosing money each encounter? It's silly. It doesn't make sense. Awful. Truly awful.

[Mark Garringer]

I do not think that Secret Stash is probably worth it over the life of the character. At least for my build with 3 grit, if I'm able to get 9 shots a session x 33 sessions is only 3267 gp deferred. I was able to earn 1200 of that in my 1st session playing up to sub-tier 3-4. Optimistically increasing it to 5 grit (assuming I get a kill and confirmed critical) is only 5445 gp. With an already tricky feat layout that could be a stinker.

[Purple Dragon Knight]

Mark Garringer wrote:

I do not think that Secret Stash is probably worth it over the life of the character. At least for my build with 3 grit, if I'm able to get 9 shots a session x 33 sessions is only 3267 gp deferred. I was able to earn 1200 of that in my 1st session playing up to sub-tier 3-4. Optimistically increasing it to 5 grit (assuming I get a kill and confirmed critical) is only 5445 gp. With an already tricky feat layout that could be a stinker.

Check out the Dill Pickle thread for a great way to save on ammo!

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/pathfinderR PG/ultimateCombatPlaytest/gunslinger/respectTheDillPickles