Gunslinger / Inquisitor: Musket-Master or Pistolero?

[Tarondor]

I want to build a Gunslinger/Inquisitor for PFS. Am I better off taking a Musket-Master or a Pistolero?

I'm leaning towards Musket-Master, but am concerned that I'll have to take at least 3 levels of Gunslinger to be able to reload as a Move action. This means I won't get Bane until Character Level 8. Moreover, it means that even with Magical Knack, I'll have a dead level I can't apply to my Inquisitor's caster level.

Are these problems significant enough to prefer Gunslinger (Pistolero) 2/ Inquisitor X over Gunslinger (Musket Master) 3/ Inquisitor X?

[Secret Wizard]

Shrug, maybe you don't need any Gunslingers levels -- I mean, if you base yourself around high DEX and WIS, with Extended Bane and a Bane Baldric, you can ensure +2d6 damage every round after level 5, which averages to 7 damage (and then to 14 when you get Greater Bane) plus Judgement (or, even better, Studied Target from Sanctified Slayer which comes with extra Slayer talents for more feats), plus all the extra damage bonuses from spells (like Greater Magic Weapon and such).

Perhaps you can go full Inquisitor and not miss out on much damage is what I'm saying. With a Pistol and alchemical ammunition, plus the Black Powder Inquisition, you can be ready to blast the opposition in no time.

Sanctified Slayer also opens up the possibility of picking up Grit as a Slayer talent at level 8, and then you can move onto Gun Twirling Deed at higher levels to ensure Sneak Attacks every round.

Sample build as a Human Sanctified Slayer:

1. Amateur Gunslinger (Quick Clear) [You'll retrain this at level 8th] / R: Rapid Reload / BPI: Gunsmithing. Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Firearms)
3. Point-Blank Shot
5. Weapon Focus (Pistol)
7. Dazzling Display
8. Slayer Talent: Grit [Amateur Gunslinger + Gun Twirling] (Now you can spend a grit point to Feint and deal 2d6 extra sneak attack damage! Retrain Amateur Gunslinger from the first level and pick up Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot, Extended Bane, etc.)
9. Whatever you want (Gunslinger, Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim, Extended Bane, etc.)

Dunno. Might be fun?

[CWheezy]

You need a gunslinger level in order to use guns in pfs.

I would go pistolero because you need three levels in musket master to make it work. You probably still want five gunslinger levels.

You could go the shield marshal prc instead, they are like an inquisitor but no spells.

[Gilarius]

Without 5 levels in gunslinger, mechanically you'd be better off using a bow.

If it's for the flavour, just get 1 level of pistolero and be a better inquisitor.

[cnetarian]

you mean "reloading as a free action", using an alchemical cartridge you can reload a musket as a move action at level 1 when you get rapid reload (muskets).

reloading as a free action is important when the number of attacks per round exceeds 1, because otherwise you cannot make more than 1 attack per round. Most characters which use guns try to get this as soon as possible by using rapid shot, but since bane is arguably a better choice than a second musket attack, the gunfighter/inquisitor can go musket master for one level then inquisitor for five levels then musket master for two more levels hitting +6/+1 BAB as a MM3/inquisitor5.

I think the extra attack of rapid shot is worth more than bane. An extra musket attack does 1d12 + static bonuses for -2 to hit while bane is just +2d6 to damage and +2 hit and hit bonuses aren't as important for gunslingers as other classes. Further if you go MM3 then Inquisitor with rapid shot you will have BAB +6/+1 at level 7 and be making 3 attacks per round because gunslinger is a full BAB class while inquisitor is a 3/4th BAB class.

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All that said, you're probably better off going vanilla gunslinger 1/inquisitor X if your character is intending to be a firearm using inquisitor. There is no real advantage to going pistolero 2 instead of gunslinger 1, nimble is nice but not worth delaying and weakening just judgement, and the up close and deadly deed is going to be less useful than the deadeye deed.

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Also if you are doing Iron Gods/Reign of Winter with their firearms which don't need to be reloaded every shot and longer ranges then the necessity of free action reload becomes less important.

[Tarondor]

CWheezy wrote:

You probably still want five gunslinger levels.

Why?

[DinosaursOnIce]

Tarondor wrote:

CWheezy wrote:

You probably still want five gunslinger levels.

Why?

My guess is to get Gun Training 1 (or the Archetype equivalent) for dex to damage.

[Tarondor]

The tiny amount of additional damage hardly seems worth two to three extra levels. Sure, it's probably +5 to damage, but with Inquisitor 5 I'm getting Bane (average +7 damage) and more spells.

[Necrovox]

Tarondor wrote:

The tiny amount of additional damage hardly seems worth two to three extra levels. Sure, it's probably +5 to damage, but with Inquisitor 5 I'm getting Bane (average +7 damage) and more spells.

The idea is you can't have bane active 24/7 where as training is always active.

[Tarondor]

So assuming I'm not doing 5 levels of gunslinger but that I am doing some, am I better off as Pistolero 2/inquisitor X or as Musket-Master 3/Inquisitor X?

[LoneKnave]

Why pistolero 2? Just for Nimble? Not worth it imo.

[cnetarian]

Tarondor wrote:

So assuming I'm not doing 5 levels of gunslinger but that I am doing some, am I better off as Pistolero 2/inquisitor X or as Musket-Master 3/Inquisitor X?

If those two are your only choices go MM3/InqX.

If you can, going vanilla gunslinger1/InqX who uses a pistol would be better. deadeye is a better deed than up-close-and-deadly.

Vanilla Gunslinger beats the pistolero for dabblers in firearms, it isn't until the pistolero has some levels in the archetype that it takes off in daamge dealing. There isn't enough advantage in taking 2 levels of pistolero (vanilla) to make it worth delaying inquisitor abilities coming online.

[Cap. Darling]

Musket Master if you take 5 levels or at least 3, normal gunslinger if you take 1 or 2 levels and pistolero if you take 11 levels. If you only take one gunslinger level the inquisitor archtype that get slayer talents May be a good.

[Tarondor]

LoneKnave wrote:

Why pistolero 2? Just for Nimble? Not worth it imo.

I can't now remember why I thought I needed 2nd level in pistolero. I could have sworn that they got reload as a free action at that level. Ummm... Never mind!

Given that, I might agree with cnetarian that no archetype and one level is superior to musket-master and three levels. I just like the -image- of a musket-totin' lawman. Sigh.