Really? A whole day has gone by with no one helping you out? For shame...
I've never played a ranged character, so I don't have any gaming experience to tell you, "Do this. It is teh awesome!" I can tell you that, for a Spellslinger, is four opposing schools really that bad? If you're a Wizard focusing on shooting spells with your gun (which you can only shoot ranged touch attack, cone, line, or ray spells with), how many schools do you need? I think you really only need four out of the eight schools. A Wizard with a gun isn't going to be filling the typical Wizard role anyway. But I digress...
Narrow your choices down by what isn't needed. I'd say choose between magic and mundane first. You have 4 out of 5 people who are already focused on mundane melee/ranged attacks, and some who are mixed (like the battle Cleric and Magus). I'd say go for a full caster since you don't have one.
Next, arcane or divine? This is kind of a stalemate. You have a Cleric and a Magus. It really depends on how they play their characters. If the battle Cleric isn't that focused on buffing the party, I say go divine to help each other help the party out. If the Magus doesn't have any good battlefield control or area attack spells (which they probably won't have too many), then go for arcane.
So, divine, maybe an Oracle since there's already a Cleric. Arcane, definitely a Wizard. With an Oracle, you should use a bow and choose either the Battle or Wood mysteries. With a Wizard, since strength might be lacking if you don't pick the transmutation school, you could use a crossbow (which is boring and eats up a lot of feats that you don't have), or... and this is where my digression becomes relevant... use a gun and be Spellslinger. They don't actually need ammunition, so you save on money, and they don't really need Amateur Gunslinger for grit-like abilities since they're casting spells through a mother effing gun!
I doubt this is any help, but those are the options I think you should consider. Either a Battle/Wood Oracle with a bow, or a Spellslinger Wizard. Even just a vanilla Wizard would be a good resource to your party without focusing on a ranged weapon. If you actually like my suggestions, and you want more advice, I'd be happy to help you further with how to build those characters. =)
Depending on how you GM react to guns, it could get REALLY expensive.
Spell slinger should also be fine, just be sure to pick the right opposition schools so that you're best able to contribute to the party. I have very little in the way of suggestions along this route, but look at what you party seems to need first.
After re-reading over Arcane bond, I think that simply picking a Rifle or Musket (depending on the GM) as the arcane bond and picking up Heirloom as one of the traits would fulfill what I want from the Spellslinger better than the Spellslinger can.
Keep in mind that ALL firearms are Exotic weapons - and the errata'd Heirloom weapon doesn't allow for Exotic weapons.
The Oracle is great, right? Wood Oracle is from Ultimate Magic. Their bonus spells are only so-so, but their revelations are pretty flavorful. They can warp wood, turn creatures into wood, talk to wood (why?), shoot thorns from their hands as caltrops, turn into a tree (again, why?), summon wooden armor, see through wood and plant material, gain the woodland stride ability, or create a specialized wooden spear-like weapon. The best one, and the main reason I suggested an Oracle with a bow, is that they can get a +1 competence bonus on attack rolls with wooden weapons, and it increases by +1 every five levels to +5 by 20th level.
Wood is way more specific in theme than some of the other mysteries, which is why I also suggested Battle. That one seems too good to be true. You can also take feats to get more revelations, or to use them more times in a day. All of the Battle revelations are useful for pretty much any kind of weapon, but you could definitely focus on a bow.
About the Spellslinger, let's take a look at what you're really losing versus gaining in return.
Arcane Bond: You still get this ability, but it's only in regards to any gun that's in your hands (and you can "attune" a different gun every morning if you like, so you aren't stuck with any one gun). While it does limit what kind of spells you can cast through it, you get to use your gun's enhancement bonus to increase the DC of your spells. That's pretty rad. Just don't use it after rolling a 1 or a 20, unless you can manage to repair it very quickly. Also, it seems best to stick with just a single one- or two-handed firearm for the crit modifier that comes with only having one gun.
Scribe Scroll: Since you're specializing in casting with guns, not scrolls, there really isn't a need for this. You basically get the starting "battered" firearm as a Gunslinger. Also, you can craft firearms, ammunition, and restore your gun to a better condition each day. Yay for non-exploding firearms!
Cantrips: I know this one hurts, and I feel for anyone used to casting unlimited 0 level spells, but as I mentioned before, you aren't the average Wizard. You're focusing on shooting spells with a gun, and there really aren't that many spells worth shooting from this level. I also think they got rid of it because they didn't want anyone shooting acid orbs and the like all day long for free. Having to cast Read/Detect Magic as 1st-level spells is balls, but you have a Cleric. They can do that if need be, right? Besides, eventually you'll have a lot of 1st-level spells that you can use to gain +1 enhancements when you shoot bullets. Nothing to sneeze at, I think.
Arcane School: You gain the same ability, but with more drawbacks. You have to choose FOUR opposed schools instead of two. On top of that, you get a -4 penalty when crafting magic items using spells from those opposed schools, but who cares unless you're crafting magical guns? Take a look at what schools have spells that you can cast through an arcane gun. You don't really need six schools of magic to choose from. I would suggest the opposed schools be abjuration, divination, enchantment, and illusion. You should focus on either conjuration (to summon buddies to keep the bad guys away so you can keep blasting) or transmutation (so you can get that fun little bonus to any physical stat).
I have to go to work now (already running late), but I'll check back later to see what you think. =)
I don't see anywhere in the Spellslinger saying you get bonus spells;
I don't see where it says your attuned gun counts as an Arcane Bond item, nor do I see the clause saying that when you attune it, you automatically repair the gun.
Sorry about that... Patcher is pretty much correct. Preparing spells and repairing guns happens separately from each other. And since you're casting spells through the gun in the first place, as well as enhancing bullets with spell slots, I don't think the other arcane bond features apply here.
As far as bonus spells, it doesn't say you don't get them either. Either way you look at it, RAW or RAI, it is unclear. Since it isn't mentioned, you can assume it doesn't apply. But since there is no point in picking opposed schools without focusing on at least one, you can assume that you at least get the other benefits of that school. I'd ask your DM about the intention of that ability and houserule it one way or the other. if it were up to me, I would see no reason not to include the bonus spells. I mean, what huge difference would it really make to add them either way?
Lastly, you can cast Acid Dart with the arcane gun, yes. If it is a ranged touch attack, then it applies to arcane guns.
Ultimate Combat is chock full of messed up text. They really should've taken more time on it. I say just go for a Battle Oracle since the APG is a solid splat book.
I would just go with the classic Human Fighter 1/Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 10 build and make it an archer. I've looked over a lot of the new options, and don't think any really match this in terms of versatility and damage output.
Plus, with the clustered shots feat, archers just had their one real downfall removed. Archers were already one of the best DPR builds in the game, and that feat alone just made them better. (And their other downfall, not threatening squares or being able to take AoOs was also removed with Snap Shot).
The real low levels are rough with the above build, but around level 5 or so you'll start to do well for yourself.
Traits: Magical Knack, Adopted (Elf: Warrior of Old)
1: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus
2: Scribe Scroll
3: Rapid Shot
5: Arcane Strike
6: Craft Magical Arms and Armor OR Craft Wondrous Item
7: Deadly Aim, Improved Initiative?
9: Manyshot
11: Clustered Shots, Weapon Specialization
13: Greater Weapon Focus
15: Point Blank Master, XXXXX
For gear, I like to get the Seeking enhancement on my bow as soon as I can, as it negates mirror images and concealment, which is pretty nice. "Holy" is an awesome enhancement if your campaign has a lot of evil creatures in it, too. The elemental enhancements are nice to stack, but are often resisted...if I had to choose one my first choice would be Corrosive.
Cold Iron arrows are cheap as dirt, so they should be your primary ammo. Weapon Blanch (from APG) is a cheap way to get ammo of other kinds to carry around to beat DR. You'll have all Knowledges as class skills and an OK Int score, so it shouldn't be too hard to pump a few Knowledges that will let you know when you fight creatures with certain DRs.
Get Boots of Haste as soon as humanly possible.
Specialize in Transmutation. Transmutation is really nice for the +2 enhancement to a physical score you'll get by level 6. It also has a lot of really nice spells to pick from at almost every level. I usually make Necromancy and Evocation my opposed schools. Losing out on False Life and some Force spells is a pain, but I'd rather have See Invisibility and Heroism, Mage Armor, Shield, Greater Invisibility, Mirror Image etc.
Key Spells: Gravity Bow, Flame Arrow, Mage Armor, Shield, Heroism, Greater Heroism, Greater Invisibility, Overland Flight (archers that can fly all day....delicious), Darkvision, See Invisibility, Greater Magic Weapon (so key, as it lets you put all sorts of goodies on your bow without losing out so much on getting enhancement bonuses as well) etc.
The only (major) thing I don't appreciate about Eldritch Knight builds is that you sacrifice ANY kind of class abilities, and their level progressions, just for a full bab progression and (not even full) spellcasting. It's a dip prestige class under specific circumstances, at best. If you'd rather have good bab and spellcasting with no flavor, then by all means. It's just not for me, though. I don't recommend it.=(
@Jack of Tales: Warrior of Old is an elven racial trait. It's in the APG. I just like the flavor of taking the Adopted trait and the Warrior of Old trait (the character was adopted by elves and grew up training with them, especially at archery and magic) to go along with Magical Knack. Warrior of Old is just a +2 to initiative. You could always take Reactionary in its place and get the same benefit.
The build above is pretty darn versatile as it has strong spellcasting (though your Int won't be good enough to make your DCs worth casting save or sucks) and also does A LOT of damage, especially in the mid levels and beyond. The buffs you get are good, and you'll have enough skills to play with to really customize your character.
Currently, I'm playing this build in a game (14th level as of now), and it kicks ass. I've used the skills to max Perception, even though it's not a class skill, as well as max Sense Motive, Linguistics, and more traditional skills like Spellcraft and Knowledge Arcana. He plays like an Arcane Hunter.
@Submit2me: I think you're underestimating how good the spellcasting progression along with full BAB progression is. If you finish out the build I presented above, you can have full iterative (+16 BAB) attacks AND 9th level spells (20th CL with an orange ioun stone). Not to mention you've racked up 8 bonus feats, many of which can be fighter specific due to the EK's ability.
As for flavor, your reasoning is kinda flawed. A character doesn't need ANY specific abilities to have flavor. The flavor you give a character comes through how you play it at the table, not a specific list of class abilities written in a book. Also, the customizability that 18 total feats, access to a HUGE spell list with the ability to cast many spells per day, and a goodly amount of skill points entails lends itself nicely to plenty of flavor...in fact, the generic nature of EK leaves the options WIDE open for how a player wants to flavor their character. However, if you're looking for "flavor a la carte" then you'd be right, people should look elsewhere.
@Submit2me: I think you're underestimating how good the spellcasting progression along with full BAB progression is. If you finish out the build I presented above, you can have full iterative (+16 BAB) attacks AND 9th level spells (20th CL with an orange ioun stone). Not to mention you've racked up 8 bonus feats, many of which can be fighter specific due to the EK's ability.
As for flavor, your reasoning is kinda flawed. A character doesn't need ANY specific abilities to have flavor. The flavor you give a character comes through how you play it at the table, not a specific list of class abilities written in a book. Also, the customizability that 18 total feats, access to a HUGE spell list with the ability to cast many spells per day, and a goodly amount of skill points entails lends itself nicely to plenty of flavor...in fact, the generic nature of EK leaves the options WIDE open for how a player wants to flavor their character. However, if you're looking for "flavor a...
There are different kinds of flavor. I specifically mean flavor that comes from class abilities, not flavor that comes from play style. Only getting full bab + spellcasting + normal feats at odd levels =/= class flavor to me. The only flavorful thing about it is spellcasting, which you get by being another core class to begin with. As I said, it's just not for me. I'm not ragging on your specific build or your play style, so please don't tell me that my own personal opinion is flawed. Thank you.
Trophy Hunter Rangers (firearms)
Gunslinger dip needed for Gunsmith and grit.
Holy gun seems interesting. Unfortunately, Paladins don't get access to any grit points until 11th level in the archetype, forcing them to have to pick up either a multi-class or the Amateur gunslinger feat. Its unfortunate that the feat uses Wisdom, which makes it pretty useless for the paladin.
Multiclass with (Mysterious Stranger) Gunslinger (uses Cha).
As long as multiclass with Gunslinger the other options aren't traps.
Yes, gunslingers required but it isn't like one level will hurt.
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A Black Powder Inquisition inquisitor with the Amateur gunslinger feat seems interesting and useful. I see an upside in being able to ignore strength entirely (over needing some of it for extra damage with a bow) but at the same time, it uses up a domain and a feat and you'd still need to pick up PB shot and Precise shot simply to function in a typical encounter (once all of your allies engage all of the enemies in melee). How does this compare to a normal Archer Inquisitor?
Black powder inquisition along with amateur gunslinger gives you access to firearms proficiency, gunsmithing and 1 grit along with a first level deed, Quick Clear(Ex) being the best choice.
Throw in Deft Shootist Feat (note that you need Dodge, Mobility feats) and you can fire and reload at melee without provoking attacks of opportunity, allowing you to go in melee with shotgun at hand and not worrying about shooting your allies.Also the spell-disruption ability of the Inquisition makes him quite effective as an anti-caster
Gun wielding stacks nicely with Inquisitor since it is a wisdom based class allowing you to gain grit up to your wisdom cap.
You can improve your stats from early levels by spells like Bless or Wrath and Divine Favor (which also stack nicely with "Zest for Battle" dwarf racial trait)
IMO Black Powder Inquisitor is remarkably good at what he does without even needing to choose any of the anti-caster variants presented in Ultimate Combat.