In our version we are playtesting the Gunslinger and the Ninja in a party with a Fighter as a sort of Control character.
Characters are 8th level and as optimized as we can come up with. We are allowing six-shooters, basically just treating them mechanically the same as repeating crossbows for the purposes of reloading.
Here's some things we've noticed.
The Fighter (Open Hand Fighter 6/ Duelist 2, swashbuckler type) routinely makes 4 attacks on a full attack in melee (2-weapon fighting spec). The Gunslinger makes 5 (2- weapon fighting+ rapid shot) at a slightly lower bonus, but generally is making touch attacks so it's fairly null. With Grit he can bump his attacks.
The fighter has a high crit range, but the gunslinger attacks at range. The trade off favors the Fighter damage-wise, but the fighter generally has to waste a round closing distance.
The number of attacks the gunslinger tosses around make it very statistically likely to jam. It happens about every other round. Our gunslinger spends more Grit of Quick Clear than all his other Grit abilities combined. He even picked himself up a 3rd gun so that he wouldn't have to worry about it all the time. The number of jams evens out with the time the fighter has to spend running from enemy to enemy. It keeps the damage about on par.
We haven't worried about the in-game cost of ammo, but we have kept track of the number of shots he's fired and multiplied it by listed ammo cost as a means of measuring how expensive the gunslinger gets in comparison to the fighter.
For comparable damage to the fighter, the gunslinger has burned through about 2,300 gp of ammo in three game sessions.
Our assessment: If the gunslinger can either reload with nul-cost speed every round, or has weapons that hold multiple bullets, they can be built in a way that keeps their damage comparable to a fighter. They cannot be built in a way that keeps their cost on par.
In a real game the Gunslinger is completely cost prohibitive.
That being said, it's a hell of a lot of fun.
Things I'd like to see:
More grit abilities, specifically ones that add various "flavors" to the class. The three standard Gunslinger models in fantasy are the musketeer, the pirate and the cowboy. Having Grit abilities that add those flavors would be nice.
Pirates could have luck or trickery grit abilities, musketeers could have the ability to mix ranged and melee attacks while two weapon fighting, cowboys could have ride or rope-use based grit abilities.
Assuming you're planning on offering APG style class options to the new classes at some point, it would be nice to see optional ability replacements to further expand on these flavors. (Trading something so your cowboy could have Bonded Mount, for example)
Things I'd like to see:
More grit abilities, specifically ones that add various "flavors" to the class. The three standard Gunslinger models in fantasy are the musketeer, the pirate and the cowboy. Having Grit abilities that add those flavors would be nice.
Pirates could have luck or trickery grit abilities, musketeers could have the ability to mix ranged and melee attacks while two weapon fighting, cowboys could have ride or rope-use based grit abilities.
Assuming you're planning on offering APG style class options to the new classes at some point, it would be nice to see optional ability replacements to further expand on these flavors. (Trading something so your cowboy could have Bonded Mount, for example)
I would also add a Minuteman style Rifleman sounds perfect for an Andoran Archetype. (They already have the look why not rifles as well.)
I would also add a Minuteman style Rifleman sounds perfect for an Andoran Archetype. (They already have the look why not rifles as well.)
Nice! Hadn't thought of that, but yeah, love it.
There are rules for bayonettes, but having an ability or two for Gunslingers to let them to tricky stuff with them would be neat.
Something to the effect of being able to take a free ranged attack with a significant attack and/or damage bonus against a target they have just hit in melee with a bayonetted gun, without taking an AoO for making a ranged attack in melee.
Stick 'em, pull the trigger as a free action.