In my campaign my character is a Spellslinger(lvl1)/Alchemist(lvl4).
I chose to play this character with an emphasis on flavor, sacrificing damage. Strangely however, my character has become the highest damage dealer of the group. Although I have cleared everything with my DM, at certain times it almost feels like I'm cheating. I'd like to run my some of the issues I have seen arise by you guys to see if both my DM and myself have let this get a little out of hand.
Neither of us loved the Gunslinger class overall and so to compensate for the lack of Gun Training, he allowed the use of the Focused Shot feat for firearms.
During the adventure I rolled a crit while using an over-sized musket. This of course incurs the -2 penalty to hit but but bumps the damage to 3d6. Using Mage Bullets (Flaming Burst), Explosive Missile, Point Blank Shot and Focused Shot.
The Musket is a 3d6 with a x4 crit. The characters intelligence modifier was +6 at the time and so the damage was calculated as follows:
3d6+7 x4(Musket) +1d6+7x2(Crit bomb damage) +1d6(extra bomb damage, not multiplied) + 1d6(Flaming burst) +3d10(Flaming Burst crit)
The damage on the roll was just over 100. Am I doing something wrong?
Oh, and before people start yelling "bombs don't crit!", you don't multiply the damage beyond the first d6 but bombs do crit.
Even without the crit the damage seems a bit high.
I see a problem:
Explosive Missile is a standard action.
Focused Shot is also a standard action.
Also how are you using an over-sized musket? It's a no go from what I understand.
Also I'm unsure the bomb damage would multiple in this case since it's a carrier effect instead of an attack roll in and of itself.
Now allowing for the bomb to have the critical damage as well I am seeing 12d6+28+3d6+14+1d6+3d10 I'm seeing a maximum of 72+28+18+14+6+30=132 damage and an average of 42+28+10.5+14+3.5+15.5=113.5 damage on a critical hit.
But realize this is a critical hit off of a shot that technically can't happen in the first place (two standard actions to do it each of which are a separate action requiring their own attack) with very heavy resource investment (in feats and class features) on a weapon that could blow up in your hands.
Compared to say a cavalier (order of the sword) charging on his warhorse with an oversized lance getting a critical hit, for resource investment and you'll see it comes out about even.
Thank you for the response! It was very helpful.
You are definitely correct about the conflict between Explosive Missile and Focused Shot. I'll have to adjust for that.
And thank you for the link concerning inappropriately sized firearms. From the text,
"Inappropriately Sized Firearms: You cannot make optimum use of a firearm that is not properly sized for you. A cumulative –2 penalty applies on attack rolls for each size category of difference between your size and the size of the firearm. If you are not proficient with the firearm, a –4 nonproficiency penalty also applies. The size of a firearm never affects how many hands you need to use to shoot it, the exception being siege firearms and Large or larger creatures. In most cases, a Large or larger creature can use a siege firearm as a two-handed firearm, but the creature takes a –4 penalty for using it this way because of its awkwardness."
it certainly gives the impression that it would be ok. I'm actually quite relieved. I was afraid I would have to dumb my character down intentionally so as to not ruin the campaign.
The bomb should function as normal given the following text:
"When the infused ammunition hits its target, it deals damage normally and detonates as if the alchemist had thrown the bomb at the target."
But as stated previously in the text, I shouldn't have been able to use the discovery with a two-handed firearm anyway.
I generally dislike attacks that are as circumstantial as charging while on horse with a 15' foot weapon in hand. Makes dungeon crawling rather difficult.
Thank you for your help, Abe.
Glad to be of service.