(not to mention pointless at this point)
So guns are supposed to have something special about them. We get resolving attacks against touch AC. That's fixed, printed, done, and beyond the ability of anything save errata to correct - which I'm not optimistic about. Perhaps a variant sidebar (please), but no resolving fix.
We also see (arguably) a lot of concerns with damage output. Make your own decisions about that, I suppose, but this suggestion is assuming low damage output.
So...what if...
Guns were special. Super crazy special. What if they got iterative attacks ever 3 BAB instead of every 6? Insane concept, considering how hard wired the iterative attack progression is, but so was 'hit AC to damage with a ranged weapon', and that was dismissed. Call it a cumulative -2 for iterative attacks, so:
+20/+18/+16/+14/+12/+10/+8/+6/+4/+2 at 20th...
...which is way too much. Even with lightning reloading, that's an absurd number of shots. So scale back the progression for the gunslinger.
+15/+13/+11/+9/+7/+5/+3/+1 at 20th. 8 shots in 6 seconds. If there were a revolver in the game that could chamber 8 shots (or a gunslinger with 2 revolvers) I could see that in terms of firing rate for folks with itchy fingers. Tack on rapid shot and two weapon fighting and it goes to 10 shots - still doable with a few blazing guns, but without that heightened BAB from above. Expensive, considering the per shot cost, but pulls some of the 'flurry of bullets' flavor from forum posts about monk gunners.
Still too much? How about iterative attacks at every +4 BAB? +5?
And my, what powerful pickle shots we get.
Of course, not only gunslingers use guns, and with that +20 for fighters and barbarians - that's a lot of shots. Solution? Make it a gunslinger class feature. Put it high enough in the level progression that you can't just dip in and make your rogue an insane sneak attacker. Or scale it - spread out the bonus attacks over a lot of levels so the other classes can't simply dip deep enough for a single class feature to give them 4 extra attacks.
This is merely for the consideration of the forum. The idea came randomly and with only phantom clarity, so it's pretty raw. With touch AC this would be...much. I offer it as an alternative, not as an addition.
What I did was make a gunslinger based on the monk. She has a 3/4 normal base attack bonus, but with firearms, she gets a fighter's base attack bonus (+20/+15/+10/+5 at 20th) with her "hail of bullets". I included the flurry of blows (renamed hail of bullets) for dual wielding one-handed firearms. A gunslinger can use hail of bullets for any firearm in this way:
1) dual wield one-handed firearms just like the flurry of blows idea
2) you can use a single one-handed firearm attack at normal BAB (as fighter BAB) and gains one additional attack at highest attackbonus(+20/+20/+15/+10/+5 at 20th)
3) use a two-handed firearm and gain an additional attack at a low level, plus another at higher mid level, resulting in +20/+20/+20/+15/+10/+5 at 20th.
A single one-handed firearm and a two-handed firearm can then be used for Dead Shot, but not if dual-wielding one-handed firearms
Using current rules for Gunslinger, Our Level 9 gunslinger with the deadly aim feat is dishing out 1d8+11 with (usually) three shots a round.
He drops and quick draws using two double barreled pistols.
This gives him a Primary and Iterative attack with the on hand pistol (one shot per barrel) and an off hand shot (TWF) using one barrel of the off hand pistol.
So every two rounds, he burns through three pistols. He carries six, giving him four rounds of combat, with no reloading.
Because of this he is usually hitting all three times putting out 3d8+33 damage, for an average of 45 damage per round.
With improved crit pistol, he crits semi often. (at least one every combat on average) He's usually in touch AC range, if not burns a grit until he can get in touch AC range (not often).
He's usually the dude killing everything, the Ronin slows stuff down by offering his face for monsters fists while the Magus and the Gunslinger Kill things. The witch keeps people alive and tosses the occasional Lightening Bolt. The Ranger is there in case something gets lost in the woods.
Admittedly this is a low magic party, and the Ranger has spit for weapons (a +2 kukri is the best weapon he has), but the Gunslinger doesn't have a magic weapon either.
Magus holds his own because of a +1 keen Falcata (more an attribute to the awesome weapon than the character) and spells (pool spell and Knowledge pool being particularly useful).
The witch is lackluster at the moment because she's dual classing to get into mystic theurge but will get into her own soon.
The Ranger just, will never keep up, but is still a neat character.
And every including the player is bored to death of the Ronin. The coolest thing about the character is the +1 shatter spike katana, and the improved sunder feat the character has, so it cuts alot off things in half (including an alchemy golem's leg)
The party recently had a nasty fight with 4 Alchemy Golems ( a Cr 15 encounter) , they couldnt retreat because of a forbidance effect on a door the walked through (most of them took 6d6 damage walking through except for the witch)
when they realized what they were facing, the entire party's tactics became, "delay and survive until the guns slinger can bring them all down"
The gunslinger injured one badly in the first two rounds, and then let the ranger with the adamantine kukri finish it off (another three rounds)
The Ronin sundered one of their legs with his shatterspike katana, and they all just stayed away from in as it crawled after them, 'tis only a flesh wound!
The magus got knocked unconscious as did the witch (both almost died)
First fight in a long time, that the gunslinger had to reload in actual combat, and the magus had cast haste on him, which made it all the easier.
They'd all be dead if they didn't have a gunsligner.
I'd say 3d8+11 is pretty good for hitting touch AC.
It doesn't "look" like alot of damage but when it nearly always get's through it averages into big damage.
The bullets being both bludgeoning damage and piercing damage help out alot for DR types too.
Seems like they should only be piercing.
stuff
So, do you find the gunslinger has sufficient attack power and damage output as is? Any problems with reload speed as is, ability to use full attacks without resorting to a multitude of guns, or damage output at higher levels?
stuffSo, do you find the gunslinger has sufficient attack power and damage output as is? Any problems with reload speed as is, ability to use full attacks without resorting to a multitude of guns, or damage output at higher levels?
Well I dont see a way to get his damage any higher than it is right now by going up in level, sure i could add magic items for a d6 here or there....
At this level he seems to mop the floor with most stuff, he's definitely over dominate on the battle field ATM....
Dunno where he will be at 12th or 14th, we shall see.
Reload speed is fine because how we are playing him, with the multiple guns. Combats usually don't last longer than his preloaded barrels.
If they do , its kind of fun and dynamic as he tries to reload. And it give the other PCs a chance to shine, If he was just a bullet hose I think everyone would just roast marshmallows and watch the gunslinger kill stuff.
I think damage should scale a bit more with level, gun training should work like it does for the fighter with weapon training. And I would put Gun focus, and gun specialization as free feats at certain levels.
It's only +1 here and +1 there, but otherwise people are going to dip into fighter to get them anyway,as going all the way as a gunslinger isn't going to be appealing after a certain level.
What if they made the following "deeds" class features? No grit costs, either previous "shot" type requirements, or usable a certain number of times per encounter, etc? Then leave the remaing deeds and add a few to fill the wholes left by moving these to class features?
2nd - Utility shot
4th - Dead shot .
6th - Startling shot
8th - Targeting shot (formerly Targeting)
10th - Bleeding shot (formerly Bleeding Wound)
12th - Menacing shot
14th - Penetrating shot (one of mine)
16th - Stunning shot
18th - Devastating shot (one of mine)
20th - Death’s shot