I just started playing a gunslinger (pistolaro) and I am wondering how necessary precise shot is since he uses touch attacks. I am the first in my group to play a gunslinger. I have lots of experience playing an alchemist and I usually take it there, but I do that because my party members get grumpy if I miss with splash weapons. I know at low levels the -4 will still make a difference, but in my experience, after a few levels, touch attacks become very very easy. Improved precise shot and clustered shots are nice, but the Gunslinger is pretty feat starved for the first several levels.
Opinions?
Edit: It is a Tiefling and has a 20 DEX. I would have made a human, but for the campaign it is all non standard races.
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The issue is not the -4 for firing into melee, it's the -8 for firing into melee when the target has cover (from your party members). There are also times when you are at a -12 in this scenario where you will be really wishing you had precise shot.
Even a full bab with a decent weapon going after touch AC a -8/-12 is a hard pill to swallow.
edit: Also, remember that Pistols tend to have a range increment of 10 or 20 feet, every step past that applies a -2 to hit and those shots go against regular AC.
The issue is not the -4 for firing into melee, it's the -8 for firing into melee when the target has cover (from your party members). There are also times when you are at a -12 in this scenario where you will be really wishing you had precise shot.
How do you get -12? Even converting the cover AC bonus into an attack penalty, you're still only at (effective) -8 from soft cover and shooting into melee.
Anyway, OP, Precise Shot is good, and it's a prerequisite for things like Clustered Shots and Improved Precise Shot. Having not played a mid-level gunslinger, I don't know how much they would affect your situation compared to other feat options.
I agree with Mathwei.
At the very least, it opens up Improved Precise Shot and Clustered Shot. Two awesome feats!
Gunslingers sometimes do things like TWF double-barreled pistols and shooting both shots at once puts a penalty, twf penalties, cover , melee, anything with decent touch AC, Deadly aim, the feat is useful to mitigate other penalty inducing things that come up
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Gunslingers sometimes do things like TWF double-barreled pistols and shooting both shots at once puts a penalty, twf penalties, cover , melee, anything with decent touch AC, Deadly aim, the feat is useful to mitigate other penalty inducing things that come up
Yeah, the -12 is from twf with pistols and get the -4 penalty when TWF. (No pistol is actually considered a light weapon so you can't get it down to the -2, didn't realize this til this question popped up).
I play with out it on my zap type spell caster all the time. Cause if taget is bigger than your budy the -4 is not a factor you shoot at a square that not in melee. You just have to play smart if you have right tpye of group to do that is an other thing. Will fighter 5 foot step to open the gap for you... He should. But if he is flanking with the rouge then no. You need to find new target. Cause that one shold be in the bag.
Do you play with team players or greed player?
We are mostly team players. We do not play greedy but sometime we play dumb. I am helped by the fact that we have a house rule that a character directly in front the ranged attacker does not provide cover.
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Precise Shot is good. Precise Shot is your friend. You want Precise Shot. My being able to shoot into melee without penalty is e boon to the entire party.
Improved Precise Shot is (in my opinion at least) indispensable. It is unfortunate that the gunslinger needs to be 11th level to get that feat.
*EDIT* My Zen Archer does not yet have Clustered Shot. I am acutely aware of its absence. Clustered Shot is a very powerful feat.
Ok thanks everybody. I thought I did, then maybe thought I could get away with not having it. Bad idea. New question, what to take first, rapid shot or precise shot?
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Ok thanks everybody. I thought I did, then maybe thought I could get away with not having it. Bad idea. New question, what to take first, rapid shot or precise shot?
Depends on your party make-up mostly. I'd be inclined to take Rapid Shot for the extra attack, but everything stated above about Precise Shot holds true here as well.