So, I was looking over gunslinger archetypes, and I noticed that Wyrm Sniper and Siege Gunner not only stack, but seem to compliment each other pretty darn well.
So I got an idea for a guy who specializes in canons!
True, it's nowhere near a viable option at low levels, due to cost, logistics, and the like, but what about around tenth level? Is it possible, even not a horrible idea, to have a guy who somehow drags a Canon around and blasts people?
Major problems I see:
1. Logistics. How to move that bad boy around? Shrink item from another team mate is an option, I suppose, but if this person can be independent that would be better, so a wondrous item that can do it, etc, is best (but if I have to take UMD with like a wand or something to this happen it's better than nothing).
2. Crew. Skeleton Crew comes online at 11th, which helps some, but how else to deal with it? Unseen Servant? Or would they not really do the job? Leadership I suppose can be an option, but followers aren't likely to adventure with you, and...Well, a build that REQUIRES leadership isn't really viable IMO.
Is it possible to make this concept work when not bound to a vehicle such as a ship?
Animate Object.
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Animate Object.
LOL.
you: "Say hello to my leetle fren'!"
Cannon: "Hello! How are you everyone? I like peanuts."
You: "Hssst! Bob, Not you! I was talkin' to the deader over there!"
Cannon: "Oh... Right. Does this mean you're gonna burn my *ss again?"
You: *Sigh* Shoulda just picked a damn hand-bombard *grumbles as he gets out his matches*
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Give it a paralyzing performance anxiety.
You: "Fire!"
Cannon: "What if I can't do it?"
You: "What?"
Cannon: "What if it's a dud?"
You: "Its not a dud! Just fire!"
Cannon: "I can't."
You: "Why the hell not?"
Cannon: "I have a missfire chance. I might jam."
You: "You aren't a gun! You're a cannon! You don't misfire!"
Cannon: "I might misfire."
You: "This is literally what you were made to do!"
Cannon: "Don't you profile me! I wanna be a bard!"
hahah, silliest post ever.
You: "What the hell do you mean you wanna be a bard? Your singing sucks..."
Cannon: "Don't make me misfire on you... I'll do it!"
You: "You can't misfire! How many times.."
Cannon: "I'll start singing again!"
You: "Why can't you just dps? That's your sole f*ing purpose!"
Cannon: "Nuh-uh, I'm support!"
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Cannon" "Lalalalala! Can't hear you!"
You: "What are you doing?!"
Cannon: "Countersong, b*$+&!"
Gunpowder based siege weapons such as cannons have a misfire range, typically only a natural 1.
Serious suggestions would be nice, even though I did enjoy reading this.
A cannon is artillery. As an experienced artillery man, I'll tell you flat out that you cannot do artillery without a crew.
Now, in the world of pathfinder, we have some wiggle room with that axiom: Magic.
If your magic is supplied by an ally, that's about the same as having a crew. Doing it solo requires the magic to come from you. So buck up on the UMD and get yourself some wands or scrolls. Or cross class over into something.
Take into account that you'll need supplies behind the cannon: ammunition is heavy, gunpowder will need to be carried by the pounds, etc... Abundant ammunition spell may help with this. I like the idea of shrink item for the cannon
I've aways been a fan of wagons, so you could put one on the back for transport; get an extra sturdy wagon and fire it directly from it (magically hardened wagon?). This can also help with the ammo and supplies.
Edit: and don't forget about simple hired help. Just hire a few grunts to help carry, set up, and load.
Put it into a portable hole, loaded, and open the hole up when you want to fire it. Reload it at your leisure.
I've played in a game where our gunslinger had this (mostly as an incidental item we'd acquired on our travels) when he got swallowed by an enhanced T.Rex. Technically, he should have been able to open it, but the GM thought it was cool, so the gunslinger fired it. It then set off the 3 barrels of gunpowder (and ruined the stash of excellent wine we'd 'liberated'), blowing the gunslinger and the T.Rex into teeny, messy pieces all over the cavern...
See about getting Arcane Cannon as a eg 3 uses per day wondrous item - no need to be any particular class for this. For a 7th level spell, it's very weak, but it'd be cool as a minor item if your GM will let you have it reasonably cheaply.
Isn't there a feat or trait or something that lets you use Int instead of Cha for UMD? Given siege gunner uses Int for grit (and cannons fire off of knowledge engineering) this character would have a good int score.
I was also thinking tiefling for the good stat spread, and the oversized limbs variant. Not only would it let him carry a large blunderbuss as a backup weapon (the ability to make the cone bigger is just gravy), but if the GM is nice it might make him count as large for crew - I.e. as four crew members.
Gunpowder based siege weapons such as cannons have a misfire range, typically only a natural 1.
Serious suggestions would be nice, even though I did enjoy reading this.
lol... okay, okay, fah serious...
You'd totally have to pick a +str race option, and stack heavily into str to carry it. Get any buffs you can. You won't be able to lug it like a shotgun, no matter what you do, the recoil would instantly shatter bones and send you flying (thus why they have all the carriages and the wheel mechanisms to handle it). You'd have to log-run it, then set it up, and fire. But the wieght of the dang thing alone... A 2-pounder (practically the smallest of the cannons from the age of sail)
weighs 600 pounds. 600. Pounds. You'd need an absolute minimum of 23 str just to carry it -- and the ammo would be 2 pounds a shot. You're looking at a str 25 character at least to be able to lug one.
It's too big to fit in anything but the largest extradimensional bag items. You'd need like a "Coffin of Holding" or something.
Your other problem is load/fire rate. I can't imagine it'll be easy to sneak around with a low dex (because of the build) and quietly set up this huge cannon for your opening blast. So you've gotta have some way of setting it up fast. You can't be running around for hours with a loaded cannon. Well, not realistically anyway. Any case, you might be able to hold the ammo in bags of holding, and -no joke- do what the man says. Animate the cannon. Have it follow you around like a puppy. It doesn't have to act like a morbid sequel to fantasia, hopping around like a disney goon, or something, yellin "Feed me! 'notha cannonball massa!" It just needs to roll itself along. Have it fitted with a larger wheel structure so that it doesn't move at like 10' a round. No need for a high str this way. Get some means to levitate it, to get over difficult terrain. Tie on a rope, and haul it around.
In any case, prohibitively tricky and expensive to use in closer melees. But if your idea is to be in a wide open field, lobbing shots at the enemy from 1000 feet away, no problem. How surprised will those mountain goblins be when someone nukes their village from the next ridgeline over? "What the hell? Pirates? we're like five hundred miles inland!"
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I have a 7th level siege gunner with gun training assigned to dragon pistol (now 25-foot cone instead of 15...), with dodge, mobility, deft shootist, and rapid reload. I use alchemical cartridges so reloading is a free action. I have a belt of dexterity +4, which brings my dex to 24 (+7 to damage). I have a merciful dragon pistol +1, which means 2d6+8 nonlethal dmg to everyone in the blast, twice per round. Applying Targeted Blast deed, I can add 7 dmg to 2 creatures in the blast for a total of 2d6+15 per shot on those two creatures... needless to say, the character is a one-man press gang and can replenish our pirate ship's crew pretty fast with a brief visit ashore! :)
Oh, and I forgot to tell you: he got Siege Engineer for free at 4th level, and will get Master Siege Engineer at level 8. My Direct fire bonus is +14 and my Indirect fire bonus is +24 (the indirect fire DC is 20 for standard (huge) catapults... :) and Siege Engineer makes it impossible to create a mishap on a 1... :) ) I you buy / craft liquid ice of alchemical fire catapult ammo, you can also apply your +7 damage Targeting Blast deed to two creatures on the other ship caught within the blast radius! there's nothing as satisfying as hitting the enemy Captain and his First Mate with catapult at 600+ feet and slapping that damage bonus on top... like adding insult to injury! :)
As for your character, don't use Wyrm Sniper; and don't use a cannon... putting gun training on a siege engine will be situational at best, and I say this even though my siege gunner gunslinger is part of the Skulls and Shackles campaign, which uses siege engines on ships pretty much 25% of the time. Use dragon pistol for the rate of fire at low levels, and when you get your second gun training, go for double hackbutt, which has a nice long range of 50 ft., which means you can use a Far-reaching Sight on it to target enemies' Touch AC at a range of 250 ft (good at sea, against enemy Captain / major NPCs). This way you have an excellent short range gun training option (which can fire in cones) and a long range option (the double hackbutt still fits within one of the two big slots in the endless bandolier, btw... tripod and all... ;) ) Another good option for gun training may be the double-barreled musket, because even with the -4 to hit when shooting both barrels you might hit by virtue of Touch AC... AND you can also use the Far-Reaching Sight on it, giving you one good shot per round at a range of 200 feet vs. Touch AC.
(I use a half-elf with loads of dexterity; if you use a large race, make sure you still go big on dexterity for gun training damage bonus; a large race will have the added advantage of letting you shoot a double hackbutt without a tripod and without the -4 to hit! :) you just suffer a -2 to hit for inappropriately sized weapon... even with the large race you'll have to use dragon pistols in your early career, as double hackbutts or double-barreled muskets only become fully viable at level 11 via Lightning Reload signature deed)
I figured if I could get UMD high enough I could buy a scroll of shrink item and one of permanancy to let me shrink and re-enlarge as a command word to help avoid a lot of the issues (which is why I asked about Int to UMD options).
With prehensile tail, it'd work like this - fight starts...(this is contingent upon somehow having an adequate crew, either if the GM allows oversized limbe to work or possibly via a small sized familiar or unseen servant or whatever).
Round 1 - swift action pull out already loaded canon via tail. Free action speak command word, Canon is big in front of you. Use a grit to reduce the actions needed to aim to one move action using Master Siege Engineer. Standard action to vital strike for a metric ton of damage. Regain spent grit from killing at least one guy with what is technically a firearm.
Round 2 - Pull out possibly large blunderbuss and go to town with vital strikes, as reloading will be a move action due to rapid reload and alchemical cartridges.
Optionally, crew reloads as you do this for a few rounds, and you begin again.
Probably not totally doable...
I was serious. Animate Object.
Give your cannon arms, let it load itself. You could even give it verbal directions on how to move to position itself properly.
"Clockwise ten degrees... Elevation 4 degrees... Fire"
Instead of a siege weapon, try a colossal double hackbut on a floating disk. It still qualifies as a gun, so Reloading Hands and Abundant Ammunition still qualify.
Then just ride it around. Magitech Hovertank FTW.
Isn't there a feat or trait or something that lets you use Int instead of Cha for UMD? Given siege gunner uses Int for grit (and cannons fire off of knowledge engineering) this character would have a good int score.
Yes. Pragmatic Activator.
Also, what about a Siege Mage?
Uses artillery, casts their own spells, could potentially be a one-man crew.
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Carrying and wielding siege engines is just a bad idea... for flavor, a large creature wielding a large culverin or large double hackbutt will pretty much look like a large creature shooting a cannon, without the annoyance of delving in the incompatible siege engines rules... and will probably out-damage a cannon with vital strike and gun training, etc.
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My siege gunner carries a Death's Head Talisman (10 HD) to command a crew of skeletons to do various things. It's incredibly useful to have mindless skeletons around to load and aim siege engines, or reload your hand-held guns in battle, or pick them off the floor with you drop them as a free action (pull loaded guns out of your endless bandolier and toss them on the ground, have skellies in tow pick'em up! ;) )