| karossii |
Okay, so I would love to play a spellslinger, but I don't actually love the mechanics of the archetype as much as the flavor. Compound that with the fact the archetype is disallowed in PFS, and I have to come up with a workaround.
I thought of a black blade magus / myrmidarch, and using a dagger pistol or swordcane pistol as my black blade. But given that both those weapons specify they act as a double weapon for enchantment purposes, and that I know some table variation will exist as to whether it would even be allowed - and technically, the swordcane pistol isn't allowed at all, as it is not technically a swordcane (no more than a musket axe is a battleaxe), and it is not a one handed slashing weapon. By the other side of the same technicality, a dagger pistol is a one-handed weapon, and if used as a dagger it is slashing; making it a legal choice. However I don't want to worry about table variation every time I play, so... (also, I would not get my desired signature weapon until 3rd level, so...)
A single level of wizard with a bonded item (weapon - swordcane pistol or dagge pistol) will get me the weapon for free. I can see some minor table variation with that, but RAW it states you begin play with one at no cost, and places no limitations on what weapon may be selected (if any table variation comes up, I can just have that argument prepared,..will be much easier than the black blade, I think). I will still need to invest a couple of feats into EWP: Firearms and Gunsmithing to be able to fire the gun and purchase ammo, but that would be the case with any variation I play that isn't an actual gunslinger. Make him an evoker, and I even get a +1 damage bonus to all evocation spells...
That brings up the final option; a single level of gunslinger instead of wizard. I lose the ability to select spells from the wizard side which complement the magus side (and can be used with spell combat), I lose the free swordcane or dagger pistol (can only select blunderbuss, musket, or pistol), and so would have to wait until I can afford (via gold and fame) to buy the desired weapon. I would gain a point of AB, some grit and a deed...which, all in all, may be a worthy tradeoff for 2 feats. At 750 gold, I could have the gold and fame to buy one fairly quickly. Start as a gunslinger and play fairly typical that way until 2nd level, when I switch over. But it would be a total deviation from the flavor I want to build for this character, which I think is more important... Also, the stats are not as lined up as I would like (not that this build would not already be MAD)
So for now, I am giving the edge to wizard. What other options are there for a 1 (or maybe 2) level dip to get a free gun (and hopefully one or both of those feats)?
Then, as a myrmidarch magus, I can use the swordcane (or dagger) pistol as a melee weapon until I get ranged spellstrike; up until then just using the gun aspect as a mundane gun. At which point I can shoot spell bullets with ranged spellstrike, and use that in spell combat if desired. I can mix and match melee and ranged combat, fully using my magus abilities on both fields.
I would obviously require EWP: Firearms, and Gunsmithing simply to function with the weapon (and those would be my Human bonus and 1st level feats). Rapid Reload would help, and is almost as necessary. I would have a free spell focus feat from my wizard level.
Spells would include abundant ammunition, shocking grasp, and magic missile among utility stuff. And, given that my weapon is my arcane bond, I could flavor all spellcasting as being shot out of it, even when it is just being cast normally.
How else should I build him? What one stat should be the focus? I am thinking pre-racial going 14/14/14/14/10/10, and then bumping either INT or DEX with the racial. I also thought of dropping CON to 10 and having both INT and DEX at 16.
There are several very nice firearm based traits from UC; but I also wouldn't mind boosting my wizard's caster level one or two. And other generic traits can be just as nice in different ways (affecting class skills, etc.).
So there is my initial concept. I will be off trying to develop it into something playable; but in the mean time, what suggestions do you have?