2nd class for a gunslinger gestalt?

[Rylar]

If you were making a gestalt character what class would you take for your 2nd class and how would it tie in? Character flavor is more important than power. Rules bending is alright, when needed, as long as it's not taken to the extreme.

Campaign is highly steampunk/goth with some kingdom building involved.

[AndIMustMask]

myrmidarch magus. lets you spellstrike via guns on top of, you know, guns

[lemeres]

Inquisitor. It gives you decent spells, skills, will save, synergy with your wisdom, and judgments. It works well for a ranged style, and your full BAB and ability to target touch AC blends well with this.

Even paizo likes this combo, as seen in the release of the Shield Marshal prestige class. It is essentially a gunslinger prestige class that gives them judgments and law related abilities.

It also shows an easy way to mesh the two classes: become the long arm of the law that lays low all the outlaws that threaten those under your protection. Because who doesn't want to play an old west sheriff? Particularly in a steampunk game, where you could easily play the 'country boy that come to the big city' who is surprised and often unimpressed by all the 'so-called technological advancements'. You of course show this displeasure by shooting steam golems in the face.

Also, although completely unrelated, I'll add this because I have it stuck in my head from looking too deeply into the 80's: BRAVESTARR!

[Eoxyn]

Spellslinger Wizard. Get a high enhancement bonus gun and your DCs are hard to beat. Combo with the new Siege Gunner archetype for gunslingers and you're reliant on Int and shotguns which is pretty much the best.

[Bandw2]

bladebound obviously... ("Drive me closer so that I can stab them with my sword!")

jokes aside, fighter, paladin always seems interesting (you can smite at range), alchemist, for bombs and guns, rogue for... skill points? barbarian for large hit dice and movement speed(think of him as a bruiser not an uncivilized nut), bard to be all face man or buff people.

[VM mercenario]

Mysterious Stranger/Bard goes really well for a gunslinger card sharp/ conman, like Bret Maverick or Ezra Standish.
For a tracker or expert horse rider Ranger would be cool, though very unoptimized, giving you a Horse Animal Companion to ride on, Track and Favored Terrain. Maybe Hunter if you want more spellcasting, and it still keep the horse. Could make for a nice shaman trained lived with the natives type of cowboy.
Like Lemeres mentioned Inquisitor works very good for grim bounty hunters and stoic sheriffs. Very good for a John Wayne cowboy.

[thejeff]

Alchemist works well, especially for steampunk flavor.

Mechanically, Dex boosts, extracts and bombs!

[Atarlost]

It depends on what flavor you want. You can fit a ranger or inquisitor or cleric to the monster hunter goth aesthetic. You can fit an alchemist or wizard into the scientist or tinker aesthetic. You can aim for Sherlock Holmes with a rogue or bard or the ACG playtest investigator. A bard can also be an actor and a bard or rogue can be a, well, rogue. Bard can fit into academician or politician as well. Bard's pretty versatile. Rogue could also be a politician if you want to be nonmagical, but they aren't as good at speachifying without the fascinate and suggestion performances and the ability to take orate without taking away from more generally useful skills. Witches can be a lite no actual sanity loss mechanics version of consorting with lovecraftian horrors. So can clerics and oracles. Since minor magic gives a caster level you can actually build a crafter on a rogue chassis as well if you want a tinker without spells.

It would help to have an idea what other characters are in your group.

Mechanically, if I were putting together a team of I'd go

Cleric (as a doctor: The gunslinger's skill points really help here. I wouldn't downplay the religious connection entirely, but I would fluff the somatic components as being directly medical, eg. Breath of Life: somatic component: administer CPR.)
Witch (Lost child found by a familiar is a backstory that can work in any environment. Raven is a good familiar)
Bard (lawyer and, once you get into kingdom building, statesman. Downplay the magic and builds towards skills or combat depending on if you want to be Jefferson or Washington.)
Bard (archeologist as scholar)

You could drop the cleric for an alchemist as your doctor, but you lose will save, which could be extremely important in a campaign with gothic elements, and slow down your "spell" access. I would compromise the steampunk ethos rather than survivability. Medical missionaries are a thing and started to be a thing in the appropriate time period. A gothic campaign is going to be undead heavy and a lot of the iconic undead are things you need specific cleric spells to handle and/or things that will ruin you if you have a weak will save. An alchemist based secular doctor will never be as good as the religious doctor using Pathfinder classes.

I think if no one else is going for cleric and you think you can cross Doc Holliday with a parson I'd recommend nailing that role down in the assurance that you can chug along as a slightly augmented gunslinger and then be the hero when you inevitably encounter level drainers or mummies. I think skill classes fit the ethos best so those will probably be covered naturally to a sufficient degree and the full time arcane meddler slot is probably optional in a steampunk/gothic campaign.

[Reverendfresh]

Monk!
One Hand Free for punches
Movement
Wisdom to ac
Punches
Cool new weapons
Punches
Saving throws
Skills
Punches!

[Bandw2]

Reverendfresh wrote:

Monk!

Unarmed Strike
Movement
Wisdom to ac
Unarmed Strike
Cool new weapons
Unarmed Strike
Saving throws
Skills
Unarmed Strike!

fixed

monks never need a hand free.

[Zathyr]

I feel a gunslinger/inquisitor concept demands that it be constantly smoking a cigar. To the point where I would ask my GM if I could get an Eversmoking Cigar as a custom magic item.

[Zhayne]

Ranger. More free ranged combat feats, without prereqs? Why not?

[LessPopMoreFizz]

Gunslinger/Alchemist has a ton of synergy.

Explosive Missile discovery turns your guns into literal Grenade Launchers on demand.

[Azten]

Urban Barbarian means it's even easier to hit things.

Ninja, cause why not?

I do second the bard, and bit cleric and inquisitor(Feather domain especially).

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

Wizard of course.

[christos gurd]

to expand on the monk suggestions (which is my favorite for gunslinger gestalts) i propose the following
iron mountain for the sturdy guy who REALLY does not need armor
flowing monk for the same type of unkillable, but more finessed.

if you wanna get a little crazier and another "monk" combo is mysterious stranger with the ioran paladin who can also wear light armor and has divine spells.

[LessPopMoreFizz]

christos gurd wrote:

to expand on the monk suggestions (which is my favorite for gunslinger gestalts) i propose the following

iron mountain for the sturdy guy who REALLY does not need armor
flowing monk for the same type of unkillable, but more finessed.

if you wanna get a little crazier and another "monk" combo is mysterious stranger with the ioran paladin who can also wear light armor and has divine spells.

Alternately, if your GM is into letting you do something really gonzo, see if he'll let Zen Archer apply to firearms.

[christos gurd]

LessPopMoreFizz wrote:

christos gurd wrote:

to expand on the monk suggestions (which is my favorite for gunslinger gestalts) i propose the following

iron mountain for the sturdy guy who REALLY does not need armor
flowing monk for the same type of unkillable, but more finessed.

if you wanna get a little crazier and another "monk" combo is mysterious stranger with the ioran paladin who can also wear light armor and has divine spells.

Alternately, if your GM is into letting you do something really gonzo, see if he'll let Zen Archer apply to firearms.

ive played that houserule...its terrifying

[GypsyMischief]

Basically anything except for alchemist. Gunslingers are dependent on wisdom, which doesn't mesh all that well with an alchemist's int focus. However, if you can afford to rock three high stats, it could work. Secondary however, an alchemists mutagen will drain wisdom if used to boost dexterity, which robs you of grit points, though the mysterious stranger archetype sort of patches this issue.

Regardless, I second inquisitor, magus, urban barbarian, MONK or even cleric.

[LessPopMoreFizz]

GypsyMischief wrote:

Basically anything except for alchemist. Gunslingers are dependent on wisdom, which doesn't mesh all that well with an alchemist's int focus. However, if you can afford to rock three high stats, it could work. Secondary however, an alchemists mutagen will drain wisdom if used to boost dexterity, which robs you of grit points, though the mysterious stranger archetype sort of patches this issue.

Regardless, I second inquisitor, magus, urban barbarian, MONK or even cleric.

Gunslingers don't need a whole lot of Wisdom, just 'enough'; start with 10 or 12, and you won't lose Grit to a Dex mutagen, and once you start getting +Int/Wis stat headbands, you'll easily be able to sit at 4 grit, which is plenty.

Alternately, take the Cognatogen/Greater Cognatogen discovery to boost int/wis instead of physical stats, or just use the Siege Gunner Archetype to get Int based grit.

Mysterious Stranger isn't a great idea because both classes want Charisma even less than Wisdom.

[LoneKnave]

As a temporal ability penalty, the Wis bonus wouldn't lower your grit points I think (and you'd still have at least 1 left, which is the important one).

It's a quite different build from your usual gunslinger, but a full INT alchemist/slinger is a crazy good sniper.

[nate lange]

an inquisitor/gunslinger is awesome- good stat synergy, all good saves, full BAB, d10 HD, lots of skills, and the right flavor (plus judgment&bane on a gunslinger is sick).

so is a bard[archaeologist]/gunslinger[mysterious stranger]- good stat synergy, all good saves, full BAB, d10 HD, lots of skills, and the right flavor (plus archaeologist's luck, and fate's favored, on a gunslinger is pretty crazy).

i do think alchemist/gunslinger is a pretty good option too- the stat synergy isn't as good but all good saves, full BAB, d10 HD, a good amount of skills, and the right flavor (plus explosive missile is pretty great, especially on 2 handed firearms since it specifically costs a standard action to load and fire).

you'd have to find the right god, but a cleric/gunslinger could work too- good stat synergy, all good saves, full BAB, d10 HD, fair number of skills, and potentially good flavor (plus domain powers and full casting).

oh, even better... an empyreal sorcerer/gunslinger- good stat synergy, all good saves, full BAB, d10 HD, fair number of skills, for flavor play him as a gunslinger whose celestial heritage expresses itself in magical power he uses to combat supernatural evils. (you could do it with a different heritage too if you switch to mysterious stranger).

actually... a lunar or occult oracle/gunslinger [mysterious stranger]... great flavor, great stat synergy, all good saves, full BAB, d10 HD, fair number of skills...

statistically a monk/gunslinger is a good fit too, but personally i have trouble reconciling them thematically... maybe a sohei/gunslinger as sort of a cowboy... maybe...

in any case, that's a lot of options and i'm sure there are others.

[Cap. Darling]

Empyrial sorcerer! Full caster with both named bullit spells on the list. And you Will have 3 good saves as well.
If you dont mind needing int witch is also a powerfull choice, with a sort of unique flavor.
Prehensile Hair (Su) may even let you TWF with your pistols if that is a dream of yours.
If you go with the sorcerer sneeking in single monk level somewere May be Nice to boost AC with wis. Level 9 on the sorcerer may be the rigth place for this.