Lvl 5 Gunslinger. Where to go from here?

[Vexanon Ur'Zahl]

So a while back I worked with some of the fine gents here to come up with a viable multiclass option for my character in a upcoming campaign. However I've looked around at different posts and found that the standard for gunslingers in general seems to be to go 5 levels then go to something else.

Originally I was going to go Cavalier/Possibly Luring Cavalier. And I still really like the option, but I wanted to run my character concept by here and see if anyone had a better suggestion.

So here's where I sit for right now

Lvl 5 Gunslinger (Pistolero)

STR - 14
DEX - 20 (17 +2(Human Racial) +1(Lvl 4))
CON - 14
INT - 13
WIS - 13
CHA - 15

Feats
Point Blank Shot
Precise Shot
Dodge
Rapid Reload
Weapon Focus (Pistol)

HP = 53

AC = 20 (10+5(DEX)+1(Dodge)+1(Nimble)+3(Armor))

Attack Options
Pistol (Within 30ft.) - +12 hit. 1d8+6 Dmg. +2d6 for one grit point.

Longsword - +7 hit. 1d8+2 Dmg.

Armor - Studded Leather

Starting gold hasn't been decided yet for items so armor and magic items subject to change/be added.

I've seen Inquisitor, Fighter, Ranger, and others suggested as good paths to go from here. I'll lay down my character's background and maybe some kind soul here could give me the next logical step?

This character comes from a noble family, the kingdom they live in has a special military group of particularly skilled ranged combatants. Our campaign revolves around each player being part of this task force. My character has been training with firearms (mainly pistols) his whole life and is up for a promotion (next level takes a new class) and will be promoted to the captain (leader) of the party. So I'm looking for a class that would let me help my team mates out in combat, be sort of the face of the party (a rogue-ish type may be better suited but I'm still the "leader") and be able to charge the front line if need be, so possibly some switch hitting.

Any thoughts? Or was cavalier my best option?

[Wind Chime]

Luring Cavalier is very good because of Ranged Challenge but I prefer dawnflower dervish bard nothing like getting some neat spellcasting (including jury-rig which allows you to ignore misfire) and double inspire courage bonus.

[Vexanon Ur'Zahl]

I tried looking up Dawnflower dervish and all I found was a dawn dervish that was focused on dancing and using good ol' scimitars. Seems neat but unless your idea was a different archetype it's not quite what I'm envisioning.

I was looking at the Tactician fighter Archetype. Seems like he gets some of the fun things a cavalier gets without the need for a mount (or the focus on one). Maybe that's the way to go?

[soupturtle]

In terms of helping out your party, bard and cavalier are the obvious options. You could also pick up one level of each and then become a battle herald, which might be pretty cool. If you want to do switch hitting, good ol' scimitars are probably your best option, since your strength is not too impressive. Or you could pick up weapon finesse and an agile weapon, but you probably don't have that much cash too spare anytime soon.

Paladin is also a class that could work. Both the flavor and the abilities fit being your group's leader fairly well, you already have the charisma for it, and smite evil is excellent damage.

My personal favorites to multiclass with a gunslinger would probably be inquisitor or ranger (nice damage adding abilities, good skills and I just like the classes), but those don't seem to fit your character concept as well as a paladin, cavalier or fighter would.

By the way, if your feats aren't decided yet, rapid shot is way more valuable than weapon focus, basically doubling your damage. You may never even need weapon focus, since hitting touch AC is pretty easy in general.

[Vexanon Ur'Zahl]

I was looking at inquisitor, and they seem to have a much more religious spin than even the cleric or paladin, which is a shame because I really liked their abilities. If there's an aspect of their RP that I'm missing I'd love to be wrong about it!

A paladin would be interesting (I've RPed them before and had a lot of fun) But I've never done a CG character before and really would like to try it with this guy so unfortunately that's out.

A ranger I think I could work into the theme so I'll look at their stats and see if there are any archetypes that would be fun.

I've always wanted to play a bard, but I always imagine a bard as the type to hang back (both in and out of combat) and be dashing in their own way, as opposed to the leader of the group. Maybe that's just my own bias, though.

So far it's seeming like a fighter of some sort or a cavalier is the way to go. Which isn't a bad thing, I just wanted to make sure I was taking the right path.

[MCPooge]

I find it funny that you say "so far seems like fighter or cavalier is the way to go," when no one has suggested fighter and pretty much everyone has said "yeah, cavalier is good but this other option might be better." You just shot down every single suggestion you got. Don't ask for advice if you don't want it. Here, I'll tell you what you want to hear so we can all feel like this thread wasn't worthless.

Oh, yeah, Cavalier would be great! But you're right, if you want to go sort-of cavalier-like without the mount, tactician fighter is your best choice! Rock on, bro!

[Bigdaddyjug]

The right thing might be to just stay as a gunslinger. What the hell is up with this almost rampant need to multi-class? Yes, I understand it's less punishing to do it in Pathfinder than it was in certain editions of D&D, but that doesn't mean it's better.

[Helaman]

Anything that improves what you want to do as a character will just be awesome sauce.

That said, level 7 is the sweet spot of the Gunslinger. Want to stop a monster and give your fellow players some sweet modifiers? Shoot it in the leg and it goes down prone... no save, no reference to CMD - down it goes. Want the BBEG to drop the mcguffin? Shoot him in the arm, again, no save he drops it.

Inquisitor is good. Paladin and their smite is good, ranger and their favoured enemy is good. Me? I am thinking rogue for my gunslinger IF I can work out a way to land more ranged sneak attacks.

[Cyrad]

Don't gunslingers get Deadshot at 7th level that basically lets you combine your full attack into a single powerful attack that makes it very useful for penetrating DR?

[Helaman]

yep

[soupturtle]

Bigdaddyjug wrote:

The right thing might be to just stay as a gunslinger. What the hell is up with this almost rampant need to multi-class? Yes, I understand it's less punishing to do it in Pathfinder than it was in certain editions of D&D, but that doesn't mean it's better.

I think gunslinger is probably the class that is best to multiclass with, just because it doesn't give that much stuff beyond level 5, and it doesn't have anything significant that scales with level.

That doesn't mean staying in gunslinger is a bad option though. Just that you can get more damage or more utility elsewhere. The only really desirable thing gunslinger has beyond level 5 is the ability to never misfire at level 13. That's very desirable though, so definitely worth staying for. And then there's signature deed (available at level 11), which can also be very cool.

edit: Deadshot isn't that cool with most weapons, as you only add damage modifiers once. It only becomes really worthwhile if you carry around a double hackbut for the right occasion. Otherwise you're much better off with the clustered shots feat.

edit2: As to the original question: If you refluff it a bit Freebooter Ranger might be exactly what you're looking for.

[soupturtle]

Double post because I'm too late for another edit:

I never see the inquisitor as having a particularly strong religious slant. An inquisitor is on some mission to benefit the goals of his religion, but doesn't have to abide by any rules while doing so. And the mission doesn't have to be as grim as the official class description makes it sound, in my opinion. With the right deity, it could to me be something as simple as "join a resistance movement to overthrow an oppressor" (Milani) or "fight the alcohol-prohibition laws of the local oppressor" (Cayden Calean), or even something like "make sure a brilliant bard stays safe on his world tour" (Shelyn).

[Cathulhu]

I am a fan of Bards, possibly an Arcane Duelist. When combining with Gunslinger, I went for a sort of gambler theme. Quite fun.

Recently, I a have started looking into a Gunslinger/Ranger with a musket-axe. Mostly ranged, with a melee backup. Not exactly a switch-hitter, but looks promising and fun.

[CWheezy]

If you want the most damage you need fighter.

Also why do you have dodge? What happened to deadly aim?

[Vexanon Ur'Zahl]

I hadn't really thought about deadly aim, since I'm going with a ranged touch attack anyway (will be in range for it most of the time) that's a pretty good idea. I took dodge because I plan to be the more upfront leader type, and felt like I needed the AC. I may get rid of it for deadly aim however.

The main reason I'd like to multiclass has been stated by soupturtle. I like a lot of the gunslinger's stuff, but I'd like to have more utility and at lvl 5 I have most of what I want out of the gunslinger. That said, there's nothing stopping me from taking more levels in gunslinger later on. Targeting could be pretty nice for helping my teammates.

Ok, so I just looked at the freebooter ranger. That is AWESOME. I'll run that by my GM to see if we could create a land-based variant. That bane ability is sick.

Is it possible for inquisitors to be devoted to a cause or ideal as opposed to a specific deity? My gaming group tends to be a bit more lax on religion (not for any particular reason, now that I think about it)

Although honestly I don't think my GM would let me go inquisitor. He's largely of the mindset that if you can't explain why/how your character would take a multiclass path based on what's happened so far you can't take it. To be honest I agree with the idea. But on the other hand I believe we need some divine spellcasting.

For the sake of argument let's say that there aren't defined "deities" in this gameworld and I was pretty much free to take whatever domain I wanted. If I switched to Inquisitor, which domain do you think would fit the role I'd like best? Being combat savvy enough to fight in the front while also assisting teammates.

[RainyDayNinja]

Have you looked at the Shieldmarshal PrC? It has some requirements you don't meet yet, but it's got lots of juicy Old West sheriff-type abilities.

[Vexanon Ur'Zahl]

I took a look at that, and I really liked the stuff he gets. If my GM is ok with me taking a 3rd class I'll probably go for Grand Marshal. Kind of like a third promotion :P

[CWheezy]

Just a note: Gunslingers shoot ranged attacks, not ranged touch attacks.

Just within a certain distance they target touch ac

[Bigdaddyjug]

Check out inquisitions for inquisitors, specifically the conversion inquisition for a gunslinger/inquisitor.

[Avatar-1]

Keep one eye on this thread about gunslinger/inquisitor.