Double-barreled firearms and smiting shot, as well as bonus feats

[FanaticRat]

When a Holy Gun paladin has a double-barreled weapon, can they fire both barrels at once when performing the smiting shot deed? Also, if the target is evil, does the bonus damage apply twice or only once?

In addition, if a Holy Gun takes a level in gunslinger before paladin, do they immediately get to change Amateur Gunslinger for Extra Grit or do they have to take Holy Gun first and then the gunslinger class in order to exchange it? The text says "If you gain levels in a class that grants the grit class feature," but I'm not sure if that means you can have the levels BEFORE taking the feat, as well as the prereq of not having Grit class feature.

In addition, would you be able to swap out the second gunsmithing for anything, or do you just get nothing?

Currently fooling around with a paladin with a mysterious stranger dip and I'm really trying to find ways for it to not suck.

[FanaticRat]

Anyone?

[Xaratherus]

Re: Smiting Shot. When firing a double-barreled pistol, you are making two attack rolls but it is considered a single standard action, so I would probably rule that Smiting Shot would affect and grant bonus damage to both attacks.

From a table perspective, I'd definitely allow it because compared to Smite Evil (which lasts until the target is dead), Smiting Shot is much weaker, so allowing it to affect both barrels isn't overpowered in my opinion.

Re: Amateur Gunslinger. You can't gain the feat after having levels in a class that gains Grit; that's listed in the prerequisite section for the feat. If you took Gunslinger first, then took Paladin (Holy Gun), you would 'lose' the Amateur Gunslinger feat without gaining anything.

From a table perspective, I would still allow the trade-off.

In regards to the second Gunsmithing, unfortunately you would just lose it; unless it says it subs something in, then it's basically a 'wasted' feat.

Finally, I'm not a huge fan of the Holy Gun. What it loses from the Paladin class is not worth it for what you gain, especially if you're already dipping into Gunslinger. If I were to take any Paladin archetype when I already had access to guns, it would be Divine Hunter; you retain your regular smite (which will still work with your firearm), and the abilities granted by Divine Hunter only require a ranged weapon (which includes firearms).

[FanaticRat]

So basically, it's an "expect table variation" sorta thing.

[Michael Sayre]

"Smiting Shot (Su): A holy gun can spend 1 grit point to make a smiting shot with a firearm attack as a standard action. If the target is evil, the holy gun adds her Charisma bonus and her paladin level to the damage of the firearm attack. If the target of the smiting shot is an outsider with the evil subtype, an evil-aligned dragon, or an undead creature, the bonus to damage increases to the Charisma modifier plus 2 points of damage per level the paladin possess. Regardless of the target, smiting shot automatically bypasses any DR the creature might have. This ability replaces smite evil."

Pistol, Double-Barreled: This pistol has two parallel barrels; each barrel can be fired independently as a separate action, or both can be shot at once with the same action. If both barrels are shot at once, they must both target the same creature or object, and the pistol becomes wildly inaccurate, imparting a –4 penalty on each shot.

Since it was ruled that each shot from a double-barreled pistol is a separate attack, I think the strictest RAW ruling of this interaction would be that only 1 bullet gains the Smiting bonuses. Personally, I would probably rule the same way as Xaratherus in my home games.