Seeking input on Knowledgeable Gunslinger Build

[Kilgore Trout73]

Hi -

Have been toying with creating a Gunslinger for PFS and have read some of the guides out there, so I have a good idea as to what feats, attributes, etc. are needed for an effective character in combat.

But I have a character concept in mind and am soliciting ideas for how to make this work effectively. This gunslinger would be something of a wanderer, gathering knowledge and experience about all things wherever he travels, knowing a little bit about everything as he satisfies his unquenchable curiosity about the world and life.

So, the base of this Gunslinger is Breadth of Experience Feat at Level 1. Would also take Fleet Footed Racial Trait for Elf for initiative bonus. Then, I would proceed with Gunslinger (Musket Master) feats, i.e. pb shot, precise shot, deadly aim, rapid shot, etc.

I was thinking about how I could gain more knowledge skills as class skills, and this is where I'm soliciting advice from the forums. Here are my thoughts:

1 - Dip 1 Level in Wizard - added bonus of Divination or Transmutation special abilities as well as bump to will save...not sure which spell would come in handy, maybe Grease or Shield?

2 - Dip 1 Level in Bard - added bonus of lots of skill points and additional class skills...good flavor, too. Charisma likely wouldn't be high, so wouldn't get a lot of use out of Inspire Courage, but that would be OK. Also wondering what kind of spells might come in handy if I went this route.

3 - Take a couple of traits that add Nature and Arcana (open to other suggestions as well) as class skills and just focus on those, especially since not all Knowledge Skills get a lot of play. That would give me 4 knowledge skills as class skills and ALL skills could be used untrained which would work, too. Advantage of not slowing down Gunslinger progression (BAB, HP, etc.)

I kind of like all 3, for different reasons.

Open to other ideas on this concept as well - especially any Elven racial traits that might be better suited than Fleet Footed.

I know it's not optimized or anything like that, but I thought it might be fun to play a character who is still formidable in combat but has the added out-of-combat advantages as well.

Thanks for your input!

KT73

[Harley Quinn X]

More than likely, if you do dip in Wizard, you'd like to take Abundant Ammunition as a spell. A lot of Gunslingers get it on wands, so being able to do it without would save you some cash (albeit not a huge amount).

[The Fox]

Another possibility: Horizon Walker prestige class. It fits very thematically with what you describe. The earliest you could take it is 7th level, and you need Endurance first.

One nice thing about the Horizon Walker is that you get to count your favored terrain bonus as a favored enemy bonus against creatures native to that terrain for some of your favored terrains. Also, it counts as a bonus to your Initiative when you are in your favored terrain. By level 12, one of your favored terrains will be at +8. If you dip 2 levels into slayer, you can get that even higher, but it uses feats, and cuts down on the total number of terrains you can dominate.

Just an idea.

[Hazrond]

VMC Bard would givve you Bardic Knowledge as well as some bonuses to your To-Hit

[Kilgore Trout73]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone!

I didn't know about the Horizon Walker - sounds cool, but not sure it solves the initial problem. I might look at another character concept built around this at some point.

VMC isn't PFS legal, so that's out, but another good idea.

Need to research how Abundant Ammunition works with bullets and alchemical cartridges (the latter would be used most likely, funds permitting).

In thinking on this further, I'm not sure the bard is a good choice as it's a bit redundant with the Breadth of Experience feat...I like all the skill points, and some of the archetypes fit in well with the character concept (Archaeologist stands out), but would probably be better to pick one over the other....

KT73

[The Fox]

A different idea: go Mysterious Stranger for gunslinger (Cha to grit instead of Wis), then Lore Oracle with the revelation that allows you to use Cha for knowledge checks. Ditch the Breadth of Experience and dip into Bard. Both the Archaeologist and the Archivist archetypes might do the trick for you.

Edit: I just realized that I just posted how I built one of my characters. I will try to put his build up into his profile later today.

[FLite]

Alternately, go mysterious stranger for gunslinger, and dip investigator (sleuth) for free 1d6 added to all your knowledge skills, and double your grit pool and anytime you roll a 6 on those 1d6, you get +1 grit point back.

[Professor Cosmo Berrythwaite]

FLite wrote:

Alternately, go mysterious stranger for gunslinger, and dip investigator (sleuth) for free 1d6 added to all your knowledge skills, and double your grit pool and anytime you roll a 6 on those 1d6, you get +1 grit point back.

That's a really good idea. I might do that with this character!

[Cap. Darling]

I Think spellslinger May be a good second class. 5 levels musket Master 5 levels spell slinger and eldrich knigth from there. Pehaps take 1,2 or 3 levels spellslinger as you get the 5 musket Master levels. This Will give you a good Reason to have a decent int, and Will give you magic that start to frem like more than + somthing to a weapon just about when having High damage numbers wont feel like quite enough. You Will have all knowledge skills but Will need the good int to give you skill points.

[FLite]

Cap. Darling, this is for PFS. That means anything past level 11, is more or less after the character's career is over.

[TGMaxMaxer]

Lore Warden fighter is also a choice, as is Archivist Bard if you go Mysterious Stranger.

Spellscar Drifter Cavalier is another martial choice that isn't gunslinger.

[My Self]

I don't know how comfortable you are taking 2-3 levels in Rogue Unchained, but it's there. Also might be a good source of backup damage after level 5. It's too bad that you can't sneak attack at range reliably.

[Cap. Darling]

FLite wrote:

Cap. Darling, this is for PFS. That means anything past level 11, is more or less after the character's career is over.

Ohh then the spellslinger is out. And the EK is not really making sense.

Good thing is that you never get to the point where damage stops being fun. Then i Think investigator is the dip for you. Either one level or possibly 3 if you take emperist(and pehaps mutagen). Or lore oracle with the Think on it revalation, but then you also need charisma. Or lore shaman two levels will let you use Wisdom for knowledge skills(and if you get 7 levels you Can take named bullet with your wandering hex as a capstone). Or a Two level mindchemist dip.
I Think investigator and alchemist are most thematically suiter for a gunslinger but i Think the shaman Will be the most focused and flexible.
Edit: lore Warden, as already mentioned, Will keep you in the non magic department and going LW after you have 5 gunslinger levels Will give you feats to take skill focus(linguistics) and orator. Open up for specialisation and let weapon training with gloves of dueling be sort of a cap stone.

[Kilgore Trout73]

Sorry to necro this, but wanted to let everyone know who responded that you guys gave me some good ideas!

It's funny - I thought I settled on the Investigator (Spiritualist) as the SLAs seemed to pair nicely with the Elf - Envoy alternate racial trait that I selected (from a role-playing aspect, attributing these abilities to spirits that have been talking to the character since he was a child which spurred him to explore the world) and I was going to build up his UMD score as well by selecting the Pragmatic Activator trait so all this extra intelligence (gave him 14) can go to good use. Plus, being able to roll and additional 1d6 for any trained knowledge/linguistic/spellcraft skill roll is pretty cool. With 1 point in any of these, I'm getting a plus 9-15 for every roll.

Had his first spin in PFS on Saturday and seemed to do OK - was nice to be able to roll a knowledge roll at any time.

Then I spotted the suggestion for Lore Warden. I'd have to take the character in a different direction...he wouldn't be able to take Pragmatic Activator (since he wouldn't have UMD) so if I wanted him to have UMD, it would have to be through Dangerously Curious which would mean no attribute bonus (unless I went Mysterious Stranger and I don't want to do that). I'd be trading some of the SLA of the Spiritualist and the additional 1d6 to those rolls for a little more stead combat advancement....decisions decisions!

Anyways, know I'm rambling a bit - just wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions and give some additional thoughts.

I have another 2 scenarios before I have to make up my mind for good. Both routes (Investigator - Spiritualist and Lore Warden) sound fun, and maybe it wouldn't be too bad to go Lore Warden and take Dangerously Curious for the UMD skill....hmmmmmmmmmm......