I'm going to make a Spellslinger for an homebrew campaign, starting at level 1.
The party as of now consists of a Druid, a Monk of the Four Winds, an Inquisitor with thre Strength domain that goes tho handed, and me as the arcane caster. Given that the setting allows firearms, but build only from the dwarves of the setting and an asian style empire that is marginal to the campain (but it is the home country of the monk).
With a 25 point buy, I came up with this:
Race Elf (also for setting reasons, as the main Human kingdom is at war with Dwarves, while elves are in good terms with almost everyone)
STR 8
DEX 15 (17), planning to put there the poin at level 4
CON 14 (12)
INT 16 (18)
WIS 13
CHA 12
This can be still subject to change, maybe lowering wis and cha to put STR to 10
About the firearm, I'm going to take a Musket as my single arcane gun.
Considering tha i expect limited access to expert gunsmiths during the trip, I'm considering to take Craft Magic Arms and Armor as level 3 feat to enhance my gun myself.
But then, as 1st level feat the GM suggested me to take Scribe Scroll as the Archetype gives it away but it's still hugely important for a low level wizard, but maybe I should take Rapid Reload in order to not waste an entire turn to reload the musket everytime.
Then here's the hard part: Opposed schools and spells
I have to choose four opposed schools, but I don't know which. Any advice?
I'm sure I want to keep Conjuration and Transmutation, but also Abjuration is really useful (I don't want to give up Dispel Magic later), while Divination is really useful for a sharpshooter type, and Illusion gives awesome cover with invisibility, mirror image and such.
About Enchantment seems really cool to me the idea of shooting a Dominate or Charm spell as a bullet in the head or heart of the others, but maybe there are not many spells in the school that can be shot with the gun in order to increase their dc.
On top of that, can you suggest me some spells that work well with the gun?
When I make one, my opposition schools are ...
Divination
Illusion
Enchantment
Abjuration
Pretty much because they have few, if any, spells that actually work the gun.
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Well, you'll probably need to keep evocation, as that's where a majority of the spells that benefit from your class features are going to be. I'd keep abjuration, myself, as shooting people may draw a little heat your way... maybe give up necromancy?
I'd suggest that there are a lot of Feats which are going to be more important to you than Scribe Scroll... after all, the point of the archetype is basically giving up traditional magic power for the chance to shoot things! I'd say that Rapid Reload, Point Blank Shot, and Arcane Strike, to name just a few, are going to be more important to you. You may want to invest heavily in Pearls of Power later on, of course.
With Rapid Reload and alchemical cartridges you can get your loading time down to 1 move action, allowing you to fire every round. That's probably something you want to be able to do from day one. Put another way, when most Wizards are falling back on acid splash or ray of frost 'cos they're out of spells, when you're out of spells you're still able to contribute a great deal to combat: better living through superior firepower!
You'll want at least one rank in Craft (alchemy) to craft alchemical cartridges at half price, and I'd agree that Craft Magic Arms and Armour (and likely Craft Wonderous Item as well) will be extremely important to you if the GM isn't going to leave magic gun shops lying about the place. It'll also be nice to be able to whip up a few cheap flasks of acid or alchemist's fire as a backup in case the unthinkable happens to your gun.
You won't be shooting Dominate or Charm spells through the gun, as it only shoots ranged touch, cone, line, or ray spells (hence you'll be needing evocation). Counter to the usual blaster-Wizard advice, it's the ranged touch and ray spells you'll be wanting the most, 'cos they're the only ones which can benefit from your musket granting them a x3 critical multiplier... and that'll only have an effect on damage-dealing spells too (no critical results with a Ray of Enfeeblement I'm afraid). The Reach Spell Metamagic Feat is probably another one you'll be wanting, as it'll expand your selection of possible gun-compatable spells to include those that are usually melee touch spells.
The Magic Weapon and Greater Magic Weapon spells will be largely pointless to you, as you can just sacrifice the spell via the Mage Bullet class feature for an equal or better effect (until level 16 anyway). Abundant Ammunition will likely be important to you, especially if you've invested in some expensive alchemical cartridges.
I would start by considering my self a ranged damage dealer and spend the spells you have on boosting the gun. Later on you Can become the save or loose king.
The most effective Spellslingers are those that only take 1 level in it. It is very cheesy, but RAW legal to switch to being a sorceror (or even a cleric) because then you don't lose so many spells as opposition.
Having said that, my spellslinger is a musket master1/Spellslinger5/Eldritch Knight X
Overall, it's been fun to play but noticeably weaker than even a universalist wizard. Or a gunslinger 1/wizard X.
For the choice of Opposition schools, you need to decide which spells you really want to have.
Eg illusion, mirror image, blur and invisibility.
Enchantment: confusion. Probably the best crowd control spell.
Abjuration: dispel magic (and greater), and protection from Energy, etc.
Necromancy: enervation, which is one of the best spells to fire from the gun.
Etc.
A pistol is more versatile and can have 'distance' added to it, whereas a musket requires rapid reload. You are going to be very short of feats since you need most of the blaster feats or your spells won't be as effective as you want and you'll want archery feats so your gun is also worthwhile!
I would consider taking gunslinger pehaps musket Master 5 and spell slinger 5 before going EK. That would let you pump the gun with spells like a magus spend arcane pool and let the gun count for somthing. Only problem is that spell resistance os gonna be a pain.
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I would start by considering my self a ranged damage dealer and spend the spells you have on boosting the gun. Later on you Can become the save or loose king.
Yes, this is very true: for the first couple of levels there's not really any spells worth casting through the gun as it's unlikely to have an enhancement bonus (unless you spend another spell on that first) to boost anything, so the only bonus would be the potential x3 damage on a critical... but that only applies to spells which require a roll to hit and deal damage, and for level 1 spells that leaves... snowball... (although there could be even more obscure spells floating around out there). Since your musket does 1d12 with a x4 critical anyway, the x3 critical on a relevant spell doesn't really help you at all until you hit at least 3d6 base damage... but generally by then (unless you're boosting your caster level at 1st or 2nd level) you'll have hit 3rd level where you can cast scorching ray which actually starts to benefit from casting through the musket.
To expand on what Cap. Darling says above, technically you should be able to boost your spell's save DCs (for gun-castable spells) higher than any other character with that potential +5 from the gun's enhancement bonus... but to really milk that you'll still need to be maintaining a high-as-possible Int and picking up all the relevant DC boosting Feats. The other main option is to skip the DC-boosting Feats (on the understanding that the gun's bonus will cover that) and get the Feats that make you better with the gun instead.
Re-reading the mage bullets class feature, I'm not so sure about magic weapon spells not being helpful now. The enhancement bonus you can apply via the feature doesn't seem to stack, but the 'bonus equivalent' weapon abilities look like they may layer on top of other enhancement bonuses... I'm not sure if there's been any clarification on that? As always: if in doubt, check with your GM. In any case, there doesn't appear to be a clause requiring you to invest a +1 bonus before investing the abilities, so that really does seem the best use of your spells for the first couple of levels of play.
As far as I and my GM could tell, the gun does have to follow the normal rules on adding abilities. Ie it must be +1 at least first, which means you need to sacrifice a level 2 spell before you get anything other than that +1 bonus. This only lasts for 1 minute per spell level sacrificed so even at 15th level, I am still casting greater magic weapon on my gun. I've spent most of my money on other things.
Metamagic feats are worth taking, if you can, because it's very hard to persuade a GM that you should be allowed to use a rod on a spell you are firing through a musket. A one handed pistol might be more likely to be okayed.
Nosdarb is correct in thinking that spellslingers are much weaker than a normal wizard. The only reason for playing one is because you expect or hope to have fun with it.
With regards to the Holy Gun, I read a guide pointing out that it only works if you can regain grit by killing mooks each round, unlike most paladins who tend to kill off BBEGs and leave the mooks for others to deal with.
Misfires can be really odd. I didn't misfire at all until I reached level 10 or so, and now I misfire 1 shot in every 3. Very improbable, but true.
