Ok, I have a character concept for PFS which I would like to build on. Ozburn Borehammer, an old codger of a dwarven soldier from The Five Kings Mountains who has a long history of fighting giants within the mountains and goblin raiding parties from Isger.
His weapon of choice is the musket as he was part of a small division that used those. He's come out of retirement and dusted off his old firearm to lend his services to the Pathfinder Society. I'm currently planning 5-8 levels of Musket Master and am not sure where to go from there (5th gives training, 7th some useable deeds, and 8th a free Feat). I would like to take Glory of Old and Killer as Traits and to pick up Steel Soul in addition to the standard array of ranged Feats like PBS and Precise shot.
Why Dwarf? Fits the character concept in addition to nice Con and extra Wis for Grit and Will Saves (never liked being shut down in the middle of a good fight).
I'm planning him out for 11 levels as those are ones he will see play at. So that leaves 3-6 levels that I can use on other things. If possible, I'd like to keep the BAB progression full so once he hit's 11th, he has his +11/+6/+1 BAB going. If I trade away BAB, it would have to be for something worthwhile...something worth losing an attack over (albeit a very low attack).
I've looked at dipping into Ranger. Doing so gives me wand usage (Abundant Ammunition and Longstrider specifically). I also noticed the Martial Flexibility of Brawlers that could prove nice with just a single level dip. Having IUS available to threaten around him is a plus in addition to the ability to temporarily pick up any Combat Feat he qualifies for. Paladin offers little unless I went with Divine Hunter just to get Precise Shot and open up Pali wands for use. And Fighter or Urban Barbarian are always options too.
One last note, in addition to standard gear that buffs Dex and Wis, I'd probably be looking to get hold of a +1 Seeking, Thundering weapon of Distance. Plus Weapon Blanche on the bullets to punch through material dependent DR.
Thoughts or ideas?
Ok, considering a few options:
#1 A single level dip into Brawler to get temporary access to any Combat Feat I can qualify for and 2 levels in Ranger for wand usage and a spare feat.
#2 Make that 1 level each of Brawler, Ranger, and Fighter. Same number of feats, but better saves.
#3 Make it 1 level each of Brawler, Ranger, and Wizard (Foresight). I lose my 3rd regular attack that might rarely hit anyway and a Feat, but I gain +1 on Initiative and am never surprised. Plus getting a free d20 to replace any roll with is always a good thing.
#4 Four levels of Fighter to get the WF/Wpn Spec group for better hit and damage.
Stats would run something like:
STR 08
DEX 15 (+1 at 4th)
CON 16
INT 14
WIS 17 (+1 at 8th)
CHA 06
Traits are: Glory of Old and Killer
Feats could be: Steel Soul, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim, Extra Grit, Improved Critical, Point Blank Shot, and Extra Grit. An extra Feat could be Quickdraw, Blindfight, or another +2 Grit.
Rapid Reload is covered.
BTW, for those that have played Gunslingers, what is a respectable amount of Grit? I don't want to sacrifice trying to get too much, but don't want to end up with too little either. Right now without Feats I'd be looking at 6pts around 8th lvl.
You may want to consider a dip of warpriest for feats and wands. The lack of BAB won't hurt as much when most of your attacks are against touch.
I would strongly suggest Cavalier, Luring cavalier to be precise. Either getting a gun or going musketeer, if you don't want a mount, as well. I'd almost recommend it instead of the gunslinger. Putting your FCB into the challenge will mean at lv 6 it'll add 9 damage. And since guns go off touch you don't need that high of a dex to still hit reliably. Also gunslinger lets you count as fighter levels for feats for you gun aka WF/Wpn Spec.
But the mount is also pretty good, being able to move around while shooting your gun sounds awesome to me.
Killer is a waste of a trait. If you get a crit with your musket, that guy is dead dead. You don't need him to be dead dead dead.
Also, since you know what your first 5 levels are going to be, why not play those and then decide where you want the character to go from there? A lot can happen in 15 sessions to give you ideas about what else you want out of the character.
All good things to consider. I'd look at replacing Killer with something like Reactionary for just a bit more boost to Initiative.
Plus under my suggested Feats above, I appear to have put Extra Grit twice. Not sure that is really necessary though. As this is PFS, there is a fair chance he will be going through 3-4 encounters in the span of an hour or two. He will begin with 3 Grit and eventually get up to 6 with levels and magic items. Is that enough?
He could count on 9-10 Feats total depending on Class configuration.
PBS
Precise
Rapid Reload
Rapid Shot
Deadly Aim
Improved Critical
...are all givens. He would get all of these by 5th level except for IC which he'd pick up with either his 8th lvl bonus feat or at 9th.
That leaves him 3-4 more to work with.
Steel Soul: A nice defensive bonus (+2 against all Spells and SLA's).
Quickdraw: Is it really necessary? If we're exploring a dungeon or anticipating trouble, wouldn't he already have his musket in his hands?
Extra Grit: He will have 6pts from level adjustments and magic items. Does he need more?
Improved Snapshot: Nice idea, but requires 3 feats total to reach. Would also work well with Combat Reflexes, but now we're talking 4 feats.
Ricochet Shot Deed: Sounds cool, but not sure how often he'd use it. Requires Blindfight, which isn't a bad thing, but putting Seeker on his musket handles most of that issue.
Gunslinger: Requires Weapon Focus, but then he doesn't provoke when attacking (although he still does when loading).
Deft Shootist Deed: This handles the firing and reloading, but costs him 3 feats total to achieve; 1 which is useable (Dodge) and another I'd consider just a tax (Mobility).
Off the top of my head, I'm leaning toward Steel Soul (I like good Saves) and Deft Shootist (I don't like playing the 5ft Step Dance) if I can find a way to squeeze in a total of 10 Feats.
Something I haven't considered?
Edit: Ok I've reread Ricochet Shot Deed and it actually looks better than I thought. My experience with PFS so far has turned up plenty of walls, rocks, and trees that a shot could be bounced off of. Doing so can remove the cover that allies are providing as well as extend the range of his attack as its origin begins at the square immediately in front of where he ricochets it. And by taking Blind-Fight, he could replace Seeker with Distance on his weapon...giving him quite a nice range to work with...especially if using Dead Shot.
Hmm....
For those of you with experience playing gunslingers, is 5 Grit enough to work with? Or should I aim for 6, 7, or even 8?
I would want 1 in reserve to perform certain tasks and would spend the rest mostly for Quick Clear but also occasionally for Deadeye, Dead Shot, Targeting, and Ricochet Shot Deed.
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5 grits is a lot, actually is way to much in my opinion. Normally you can do just fine with 3 of grit at low levels, its very easy to recover it, plus there is only a few useful things to do with grit, personally the only really useful for me is targeting. Dex is much more important than wis for a gunslinger.
Dont forget musket master/alchemical cartridges to able to reload as a free action.
I would recommend shadow dancer for hide in plain sight, skills and teleportation, all of this is useful fora ranged character.
Ricochet shot is not a good feat, it doesnt work as intentended because you need line of sight of the target, so unless you have window trought the wall you wont be able to hit anyone bouncing trought the wall. Improved precise shot is much more useful and it doesnt costs grit.
Only real aplication of ricochet is extending range by shooting at the ground or ceiling, but on that case is better to spend grit on Deadeye.
Improved snapshot and deaft shootist are both a good idea. The first makes you akin to a defender and keeps enemies at bay and the second makes you able to actually "melee" with your gun with no problems. Also mobility and combat reflexes become much more useful since they are both requirements to shadow dancer.
Dipping is fighter is also good for weapon spacialization and weapon training, they really help your damage.
Reckless aim is a superb feat for a gunslinger, because it gives you plus 2 to hit when an ally is adyacent but you hit your ally if you roll a 1. Since guns misfire on a 1 you have basically removed the penalty of this feat and get whats akin to greater weapon focus at a really cheap cost.
Have you considered dipping Swashbuckler or Bloodrager? Bloodragers get a nice spell list for wands without losing BAB, and Swashbucklers have all kinds of uses for grit.
Shieldmarshal from Paths of Prestige is a prestige class specifically made for gun characters, I know of one PFS Musket Master/Shieldmarshal, though I haven't been at a table with him since he was level 2.
Some good advice all around.
I would probably stick with 6 or 8 levels of Gunslinger as these are good break points for Saves and abilities. I honestly don't envision using the 7th level Deeds much.
Inquisitor would certainly take advantage of the Wisdom, but I'm not sure it really would fit the concept I have for him. This is where my Min/Max nature and my RP nature collide. :)
Ricochet Shot Deed uses the new square from where you banked the shot to determine line of sight and direction of attack. So it would be entirely possible to bank the attack around a corner to get at an unseen target. And by spending a grit I'd suffer no penalties for cover or concealment as long as I'm targeting the right square. That sounds quite useful to me. The same is true when facing an invisible opponent.
Reckless Aim sounds like a great idea. If I intentionally leave a Nat 1 as a misfire, I never have to worry about hitting allies.
Fighter adds damage.
Swashbuckler is an interesting idea. As he's a dwarf with terrible Charisma I might consider the Inspired Blade Archetype so that he can bump his Panache from 1 to 3.
Shield Marshal is also an interesting choice that fits with his Ranger/Gunslinger concept although his CHA skills will be pitiful as he's a wizened old dwarf.
All good things to consider.
My concept for him is a bit backwards. Unlike young fresh characters that begin and advance through their adventuring careers, I want to do things in reverse with this guy. He's old and retired with years of adventuring behind him. But time and age have dulled those memories and he is only a shadow of what he once was (hence now 1st level). He has decided to come out of retirement and as he adventures, practice helps him to remember who he was and what he was capable of. So he's not so much learning something new as he is brushing off the dust and forgetfulness and regaining who he was. Mechanically it works out the same way: start at 1st and progress toward 12th. The concept is solely for RP purposes.