Gunslingers and the prone position AoO

[Lobolusk]

In last nights game my Gunslinger burned a grit point to go prone to avoid a arrow. afterwards An enemy moved into my threat range. having Improved snapshot i made an attack against him., later I checked the prone condition and it said I could only use a crossbow. I assume this has been updated. but then I saw the prone shooter feat and was even more confused.

1. can I make aoo while prone with range weapons

2. what is the prone shootist feat all about?

3. any thing I need to know about prone and gunslingers?

[Lobolusk]

Prone Shooter (Combat)
While prone, you use the ground to stabilize your aim while using a crossbow or firearm.

Prerequisite: Weapon Focus (crossbow or firearm), base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: If you have been prone since the end of your last turn, you can ignore the penalty the prone condition imposes on ranged attack rolls you make using a crossbow or firearm with which you have Weapon Focus.

Special: If you have the Prone Slinger feat, Weapon Focus (sling) satisfies this feat’s Weapon Focus prerequisite, and you can apply this feat’s benefit to attack rolls you make using a sling with which you have Weapon Focus.

HUH what penalties?

[blackbloodtroll]

Prone Shooter is a feat that does absolutely nothing. No errata yet either.

[Lobolusk]

thanks any ideas on the other stuff?

[Eric Clingenpeel]

Yeah, you can shoot firearms prone. I'm away from my books, otherwise I'd quote. And as BBT pointed out, Prone Shooter is a feat that is completely worthless as it does nothing that you can't already do normally.

[Roaming Shadow]

From page 136 of Ultimate Combat:

"Fire while Prone: Firearms, like crossbows, can be fired
while their wielders are prone."

It's just one more note among all the firearm rules, so it's easy to miss. But yes, you can fire a firearm while prone. Personally, I think there are many bow/crossbow related feats made before Ultimate Combat that could apply to firearms, but that's another discussion entirely.

And yes, Prone Shooter is the dumbest feat ever printed. Not only can you already fire a firearm while prone, and without penalty, there is no penalty in the first place for shooting any ranged weapon while prone; you either can, or you can't. U;timate Combat had several notable feat related gaffs, most of which I believe have been fixed. Prone Shooter hasn't been, but I think they expect everyone to just ignore it. From what I read in another similar topic, the original design of the feat was that it was supposed to apply a bonus of some sort to the attack if you began your turn prone, but was later changed in editing.

There's nothing special you need to consider about prone gunslingers that I can think of, it's not much different than a crossbow wielding rogue shooting from prone. However, a gunslinger using Snap Shot, to make an AoO while prone does make for an interesting looking scene.

[deuxhero]

The writer has stated it gave a bonus to shooting while prone when he wrote it and its current non-functional state is the fault of the editors.