Gunslingers from a Story point of view (and some mechanical elements I noticed)

[joshua pavlisko]

Since we all love signal to noise ratios! ;)

If we just called this the 'Musketeer' instead of 'Gunslinger', and used the suggestion further on in the threads of 'Daring' instead of 'Grit', I would be more sold on the class from a flavor point of view. I've always wanted to play a Rob Roy, a D'artagnon,... even an Ezio Auditore if you will. What the class is missing is 'duelist' flavorings (ie: you're just as good with a sword as you are with a musket). You'd have a rapier in one hand, and a pistol in the other, and I'm sold on it being a more modern fantasy option.

Now mechanics:
The class should not be a primary on melee or ranged, but provides the versatility for handling both equally. Look at it as 'duelist with gimmicks, but I don't want to wait for BAB+6'. Whether or not this constitutes a good BAB or average BAB, still not sure.

Touch attack within the first ranged increment for firearms is ridiculous from a mechanics point of view cause it'd be silly not to dip a level into Gunslinger before going on to your Rogue of choice. It's better to have simple rules than complex ones, so how about this?

Firearms have an 'aim' or 'bracing' action (move) to fire accurately. If you don't, there's a -4 penalty on attack rolls. Kicking players while they're down is a bit excessive, so make the misfires happen on 1's only. Consider dropping the load time if you have the aiming action, thus no need to rewrite Rapid Reload. Drop the touch shenanigans

So:
You're rocking similar damage to Crossbows (and better in the case of the musket)
The trade off for a load time is 'Aiming' and a chance at explosions

'Grit'
I love the concept (even though I call it 'daring' in my head ^_^)
Needs to be developed more (such as something to the effect of 'can only be used in combat' kinda deal, since Secret Stash is absolutely silly). Using the Aim idea, you can include a Hip Shot Grit action. Having Weight to work with on the ammo would also be good since the builds I've put together have all had the problem of the first thing you really want to buy is a Masterwork Backpack or a Handy Haversack.

[joshua pavlisko]

Spazzed on noticing the inability to cover iterative attacks.

Simple method assuming you're sticking with the 'one shot' firearm: Starting 5th level instead of getting extra attacks, you add your wisdom modifier to damage rolls each time you'd gain an additional attack. Or consider something similar to the Paladin's Smite ability. Keeps the Gun fighter dishing damage at a good rate mechanically, and tying it to Wisdom gives the flavorful example of "the gunslinger with the better instinct can cause more damage."

[InfernosReaper]

Offsetting the iterative attacks issue? You just have to do what most full BAB classes do for the purpose, the Vital Strike feats. 2-4x weapon damage dice as a standard action. Definitely cost effective for any ranged people, though not as flashy as a bunch of attacks.

[joshua pavlisko]

OO. Good call. Hadnt thought of that one, and it's a bit simpler.

As an increases with levels class feature at level 5, you give the gunslinger "Arbitrary name that's not vital strike" that ups the damage curve for Gunslingers. This also covers why only gunslingers would be using guns since the only way to get the competitive damage and use of guns is training in the class.

[ProfessorCirno]

InfernosReaper wrote:

Offsetting the iterative attacks issue? You just have to do what most full BAB classes do for the purpose, the Vital Strike feats. 2-4x weapon damage dice as a standard action. Definitely cost effective for any ranged people, though not as flashy as a bunch of attacks.

Except Vital Strike is several feats where it should've been just one, and it's distinctly less powerful then full attacking.

[joshua pavlisko]

For the sake of argument, let's say the Gunslinger has the 'Variant Vital Strike' class ability... say "you can do vital strike, but at 10 and 15th level, add another dice to the roll." You're then doing a non critting version of Manyshot that upgrades when your iterative attacks get better. The Gunslingers are then awesome with firearms, but they can still just pick up a sword and swing it.

[brock]

Some kind of mechanic where the musketeer could concentrate on melee attacks with a rapier, but keep a loaded pistol in the off-hand would be in keeping with common movie depictions.

I'm thinking along the lines of allowing them to full attack and still be able to take a shot with the off-hand out of turn if needed — for example, if they saw an ally about to be sneak-attacked. Perhaps allow the shot to have an 'aid another' ability rather than making it an attack?

I agree completely that something musketeer themed is much more useful, and also that 'daring' is a better term than 'grit'.