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I'm a fan of Gun Mages from the same setting, so I feel for you!
Unfortunately, the rule in practice in PFS is if you're not a gunslinger, you don't use guns. No it's not written in black and white, but it IS written on the wall. The feat tax is so heavy to make effective use of guns that multiclassing/level dipping gunslinger is the only practical way to make it work.
A fighter/gunslinger would be easier to build than a paladin/gunslinger, but imbuing smite evil into your gunshots is awesome enough to give it a go. There's archer paladins out there already, why not use guns? Besides, Gunslingers want Wisdom and as a Paladin you'll likely have some. OTOH, the fighter's bonus feats will help you pay that awful steep tax faster.
The hurdles you must overcome:
You must be able to afford the huge outlay of cash to even buy a gun*
You must have the Gunsmithing feat to even own a gun in PFS*
You must have the exotic weapon proficiency*
You really, really want rapid reload
You really, really want rapid shot
You really, really want deady aim
You probably want point blank shot
You probably want precise shot
*1 level dip in Gunslinger gives you these for free
Even once the rather steep feat tax is paid, you're looking at a ranged weapon that trades touch AC attacks for crap Rate of Fire and crap damage in comparison to a Bow. Even to a crossbow. BUT, again I feel for you, there's a great bit of style in weilding a sword in one hand and a hand cannon in the other.
Edit: Another thought- if you're looking for something in stryker's image rather than style.. aka more stormblade/sword knight and less warcaster.. you could always go straight gunslinger. They're a full BAB progression martial class and proficient in all martial weapons.. they're fully capable of going sword-n-shooter without multiclassing.
I would do 1 level in mysterious stranger then multi class to paladin.
@ Eric Clingenpeel the holy gun doesn't "blow" have you actually ever played one?
Maybe play an Inquisitor and choose the blackpowder inquisition:
Granted Powers: You gain Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) and Gunsmithing as bonus feats.
When you hit an arcane spellcaster or a creature that uses spell-like abilities with a firearm attack, that creature must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw. If the spellcaster fails, he takes a –4 penalty on concentration checks for 1 round.
Seems to be in the spirit of the character, anyway. If you want acess to gunslinger deeds, blow a feat or three on Amateur Gunslinger, Extra grit and etc.
Now, have fun applying your Judgements on firearms.
Also take a look at the iconoclast archetype if you want to emulate even more the disruption powers of Stryker.
My thoughts? Mysterious Stranger 2/Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) 4)/Mysterious stranger the rest of the way.
Gotta have gunslinger levels to make it work and since ytou want to gun smite might as well get as much bang (heh) for your buck.
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Maybe play an Inquisitor and choose the blackpowder inquisition:
** spoiler omitted **
Seems to be in the spirit of the character, anyway. If you want acess to gunslinger deeds, blow a feat or three on Amateur Gunslinger, Extra grit and etc.
Except for the fact that no Inquisitions from UC are allowed in PFS either.
You might want to pay more attention an who you're replying to...I would do 1 level in mysterious stranger then multi class to paladin.
@ Eric Clingenpeel the holy gun doesn't "blow" have you actually ever played one?
Huh? it was a double reply?........
Except for the fact that no Inquisitions from UC are allowed in PFS either.
D'oh. Silly me.
Ok then, or you bite the bullet and spend the feats, and choose another domain or you accept to loose a caster level and delay your judgements progression and dip one level in Gunslinger.
Anyway, I just wanted to point out the Inquisitor was also a good choice for this character concept, and I think it fits Stryker better, and is less MAD than a Gunslinger/Paladin (unless you go for the Mysterious Stranger archetype)
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I would do 1 level in mysterious stranger then multi class to paladin.
@ Eric Clingenpeel the holy gun doesn't "blow" have you actually ever played one?
I'll answer since it seems the comment was adressed to me : yes I did. And when multiclassing is straight better than using an archetype, you've got something wrong with your design.
I'll answer since it seems the comment was adressed to me : yes I did. And when multiclassing is straight better than using an archetype, you've got something wrong with your design.I would do 1 level in mysterious stranger then multi class to paladin.
@ Eric Clingenpeel the holy gun doesn't "blow" have you actually ever played one?
Oh ...I get it now Man I am sorry, it has been a long monday.....
You need to mix Mysterious Pistolero and Divine Hunter.
The problem is this: To really make use of the Gunslinger you need to hit level 5 so you can add your Dex to Damage.
Secondly the Paladins smite damage comes from class level. So every time you invest in Gunslinger you lose that possibility, every time you invest in Paladin you lose the nice gunslinger abilities.
There is a way to make a 'Holy Nova' Character.
Mysterious Pistolero 5, Paladin 5.
You're damage on a 'Nova' is:
1d8 + [Dex+Charisma+Deadly aim+PointBlank] + [Focused aim = CHA] + [Up close and deadly = 2d6] + [Paladin Level]
You only need to focus on Dex and Cha.
Obviously if you have the boon weapon and it's +1 flaming that damage is going to go up even more.
The most important thing to remember with the Holy Gun is that its greatest strength is in its ability to freely Smite without being restricted to a single target. A normal Paladin picks a target gets their smiting bonuses, and the smite ends when the target dies. A Holy Gun spends a Grit point to make a Smiting Shot and the bonuses apply on that one shot. Because of this, the Holy Gun archetype shines in situations where there are many Evil creatures attacking you at once; preferably similarly-leveled as opposed to one super powerful enemy.
As for suggestions, as others have said, go for the Mysterious Stranger archetype. Doing so will allow you to rely on Charisma and Dexterity solely without really needing other ability scores. Get Rapid Reload with your chosen weapon first and foremost. The key to playing a powerful Gunslinging character is to take as many penalties to hit as possible in exchange for extra damage (unless you're a Spellslinger, as you don't have the BAB to spare for it). Rapid Shot is awesome because of this.
Nope, RAW, mysterious pistelero keeps dex bonus.
Gun/Pal multiclass requires you to put points into Wisdom, which is usually the primary dumpstat for a paladin. I wouldn't recommend trying to do a holy gun-ish character for PFS.
If you do anyways... a dip into the mysterious stranger archetype seems a no-brainer, but realize that you're giving up the standard gunslinger's quick clear ability. Without that, if you misfire then the Gunsmithing feat only lets you fix a broken firearm by taking an hour to repair - no in-combat fixes.
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Gun/Pal multiclass requires you to put points into Wisdom, which is usually the primary dumpstat for a paladin. I wouldn't recommend trying to do a holy gun-ish character for PFS.
If you do anyways... a dip into the mysterious stranger archetype seems a no-brainer, but realize that you're giving up the standard gunslinger's quick clear ability. Without that, if you misfire then the Gunsmithing feat only lets you fix a broken firearm by taking an hour to repair - no in-combat fixes.
Be that as it may, mysterious stranger is the definite way to go.
Have a backup longbow at low levels, and eventually have a backup set of pistols. The mysterious stranger eventually gets the ability to ignore misfires, so it balances out.
Divine hunter 2/mysterious stranger x is the way to do it. Smite 1/day, charisma to all saves, free precise shot and the ability to heal yourself a little bit or stabilize allies. You can also stack your charisma sky-high, because it powers almost all of your abilities, and it's not like you need to worry about hitting with touch attacks anyway.
Be that as it may, mysterious stranger is the definite way to go.
Have a backup longbow at low levels, and eventually have a backup set of pistols. The mysterious stranger eventually gets the ability to ignore misfires, so it balances out.
Divine hunter 2/mysterious stranger x is the way to do it. Smite 1/day, charisma to all saves, free precise shot and the ability to heal yourself a little bit or stabilize allies. You can also stack your charisma sky-high, because it powers almost all of your abilities, and it's not like you need to worry about hitting with touch attacks anyway.
As long as he's willing to go 5 levels of gunslinger, definitely. That's one heck of an investment for a PFS character that sounded like it wanted to be mostly a paladin.
It doesn't synergize well with smite, but one additional thing about mysterious stranger I wanted to share was that mysterious stranger's focused aim ability works great with scatter firearms, which also almost never misfire if you're shooting multiple targets. I played a halfling mysterious stranger in a low-level one-off session that worked amazingly... called the build the Hobbit With a Blunderbuss (who suitably looked like a miniature Rutger Hauer).
If you guys read the earlier posts you'd see I'd already told him this information...