When I get time, I take a look at information regarding the use of guns in the 17th Century. It looks to me like there would be four types of gun specialists: Musketeers, who are trained to fight in military infantry units; Dragoons, who ride to the battlefield, and then dismount to fight; Cavalry, who use guns while riding horses; and Gunfighters, who are not trained as part of a military unit but perhaps are self trained, trained by someone even though they do not qualify for military service for some reason, or learned to use guns while living on the frontiers where formal tactics are not used.
My question is how these might be modeled using the gunslinger and cavalier classes. Would Dragoons and Cavalry be gunslingers, cavaliers, gunslinger/cavalier multiclassers, some sort of hybrid class, or some sort of prestige class?
I've been thinking about defining a unit of female dragoons for my setting, and thinking perhaps they are gunslingers with riding skills, and the potential for advancement into prestige classes. In another thread someone suggested mounted musketeers might be more like cavaliers with gun training, but I am thinking these ladies are more likely to concentrate on gun skills, with riding as a means to their objectives rather than the focus of their training.
Dragoons would probably be gunslingers with ranks in ride. Cavalry gunners are cavaliers that have dipped gunslinger.
^what he said.
Since the dragoons dismount they will only really need the ride skill to get into or out of battle, or maybe to be more maneuverable on very large battlefields.
The cavalry would just be a cavalier who dipped into gunslinger.
What I really want though is a grenadier, I could probably make that with a gunslinger with a dip into alchemist.
I created a Deed just for the Gunslinger/Alchemst Multi-class
Bombardier Deed (Grit)
The gunslinger can reload a scatter quality firearm with volatile projectiles and launch them great distances.
Prerequisite: Grit class feature or Amateur Gunslinger feat, able to create an alchemist bomb (2d6).
Benefit: As long as you have at least 1 grit point, you can load an alchemist bomb into the muzzle of a firearm with the scatter special quality (blunderbuss or dragon pistol) and launch it your firearm’s range, using any attack bonuses you apply to your firearm, such as those provided by the Weapon Focus feat or the Gun Training class feature. If the firearm explodes by misfire, the bomb detonates, regardless of any discoveries that might normally delay it, and inflicts damage in a 5-foot burst equal to the damage of the bomb + the gunslinger’s Intelligence modifier × ½ the damage die of the bomb. This explosion also deals splash damage (see page 202 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook) to those beyond the 5-foot range and within a 10-foot burst. Splash damage from this explosion is always equal to the bomb’s minimum damage. Those caught in the explosion (including the wielder) and the splash damage can make a Reflex save (DC 10 + your alchemist levels + your Intelligence modifier) for half damage.