The recent Bolt Ace errata did a lot to clean up the class, giving greater weapon proficentcy with crossbows, removing the battered firearm, and barring abuse of Sharp Shoot.
crossbows are still inferior to guns, and at best the Bolt Ace is a poor impression of its base class. I've made a couple of additions to expand the archetype without overpowering it. I'd love some opinions.
changes in bold
Starting at 5th level, a bolt ace can select one specific type of crossbow, such as hand crossbow or heavy crossbow. She gains a bonus on damage rolls equal to her Dexterity modifier with that crossbow. Furthermore, when she scores a critical hit with that type of crossbow, her critical modifier increases by 1 (a x2 becomes a x3, for example). Every 4 levels thereafter, she can pick a different type of crossbow, gaining the bonus damage and increased critical multiplier with that type of crossbow as well. A Bolt Ace only adds half her Dexterity modifier to off-hand damage rolls while Two-Weapon Fighting.
This ability replaces gun training.
Deeds
A bolt ace can perform any Grit Feat and the following deeds with a crossbow instead of a firearm: gunslinger initiative, pistol-whip, dead shot, targeting, bleeding wound, death's shot, and stunning shot.
The bolt ace swaps the following deeds.
Inexplicable Reload (Ex): At 11th level, loading a crossbow becomes unthinking and automatic for a bolt ace. As long as she has at least 1 grit point, she always starts each round of combat (even a surprise round) with her crossbow loaded. Also the amount of time needed to reload a crossbow decreases by one step: a standard action becomes a move action, a move action becomes a swift action, a swift action becomes a free action, and a free action becomes not an action and does not require a free hand
This deed replaces lightning reload.
|
Oh man, you think the Bolt Ace is the poor man's Gunslinger? Wow, that's actually kind of shocking. Crossbows are cheaper, no misfire, no noise on attack, far more accessible than firearms, don't require a secondary component (gunpowder) to work, better crit range, WAY better distance (even hand crossbow beats out pistol), and doesn't require reliable or lucky as enchantment to their weapons to function at full power (dropping that 1-2/3 misfire down to a 0), and can even have endless ammunition to make a (minotaur) double crossbow a viable option, which damage wise blows everything aside from TWF with dual barreled pistols out of the water.
I'm not sure why you're straight nerfing Crossbow training for no reason, and waiting until 11th level to be able to reload without a free hand when any dedicated build has found one of the several ways around this (Juggler Bard 2/Feral Gnasher Barbarian 2/Alchemist 2/etc) seems very against the idea of the class. If the first change actually allowed you to reload without an open hand, it'd be fine, possibly some form of quick sheathing action (which would sadly require a quick draw feat, but so does gun twirling, it's the price we pay), it might be worth considering, but right now a dip is a far more solid way to twf with CBs.
the nerf to Crossbow Training brings the Dex bonus in line with normal two weapon fighting peniltys. Since most gunslingers go the Rapid Shot route the original Crossbow Training didn't need to taken into account.
Misfire is a non-issue for any gunslinger with Quick Clear. The majority of firearms have a x4 modifier, which is the equivelent of a 18-20 crit range from a DPS standpoint. The price of ammo is also drastically reduced by gunsmithing.
Misfire is a non-issue for any gunslinger with Quick Clear.
Thank you for that. I haven't had a good laugh in awhile!
am I missing something?
Here is the order of action in my experence;
- roll natural 1, gun missfires, gains broken condition
- if PC has grit free Quick Clear a Move Action, otherwise Standard.
- continue busness as usual
or alternately switch to your backup weapon
If reload as a move action:
TURN 1
TURN 2
TURN 3
If reload as free action:
TURN 1
TURN 2
In the first scenario, you lost two turns. In the second scenario, you lost at least one of your attacks. If you can attack many times a round (which increases the likelihood of you misfiring), that can be utterly devastating. Even a single misfire can screw you up big time. Imagine getting more than one? A gunslinger can end up useless for a whole combat or half a session.
Changing weapons doesn't help because that requires at least a move action.
there's a little thing called quickdraw
there's a little thing called quickdraw
No need to be snooty with me. It still takes a move action to stow your weapon, and dropping the gun is risky because firearms are really expensive. And if you don't have Quick Draw, you're worse off switching weapons than using Quick Clear as a standard action.
My point still stands. Misfires completely screw up your action economy and can make your character worthless for at least half a combat. They're not to be taken lightly.
you realise dropping your weapon causes no damage to it right? also half the combat? I count 1 round before you're attacking again.
Also all of this is moot as of level 11
you realise dropping your weapon causes no damage to it right?It's then unattended, and unattended objects are fully effected by AoE spells, can be easily stolen, and so forth.
if only you had a class feature that allowed you to repair firearms.
Also if stolen, beat up the theif and get it back. Dropping you weapon is no different from any switch hitter build.
First off, you can't guarantee you will get the weapon back if it gets stolen, especially when you're less equipped to take them down since you lost your primary weapon.
Secondly, quick clear only fixes broken conditions caused by misfires, and you can't fix a gun that's destroyed. Projectile weapons only have 5 hit points and a hardness of 5, so a stray fireball or even a burning hands can blow up your gun.
And unlike a switch hitter, your class features only work with firearms, which are much more difficult to replace than bows. Even with the Gunsmithing feat, replacing a pistol costs 5 times as much as buying a bow. It's just not worth risking.
Finally, even if I concede your point, misfires still significantly burden the character. Even when I houseruled quick clear as a swift action, misfires were still such a massive frustration for my player that after he endured them for a year, he begged me to make a houserule to eliminate them, even if that meant taking away touch attacks from firearms. He's been happier ever since.
there's a little thing called quickdraw
Which forces you to use a backup weapon, likely with fewer or no enchantments. And it represents a feat tax, and you have to spend more to have at least one backup of the most expensive weapon type in the game barring Technologicals. And that's our best case scenario.
Let's not forget that bolt aces get more grit in general, too, since they get twice as many critical threats.
I will admit I've only ever used one-handed firearms, but what about weapon cords if your'e so worried about losing your weapon?