Gunslinger Gun Training & Weapon "Type"

[Zaphod42]

I found this old thread about Weapon Focus and what selecting a weapon "type" means.
https://www.paizo.com/threads/rzs2l17f?Weapon-Focus-and-Weapon-type

Gun Training for Gunslingers has essentially the same wording as Weapon Focus, referencing choosing a weapon "type".

Now, I'll agree that "type" does not mean damage type as suggested in the above thread.

But does "type" mean a single specific gun, or a family of guns? I.e., do I need to pick literally A specific gun and it applies to only that 1 gun, or does it apply to, for example, "pistols" in general if I have both a single and double-barrel pistol in my inventory, but would obviously not apply to muskets or other 2 handed guns (if I indeed chose pistols)?

Or possibly it applies to all single-barrel pistols but not double-barrel, or vice versa?

If it applies to a gun family like "pistols", would that then also include technological pistols vs. normal "early" firearms? We're playing the Iron Gods adventure path so we are running into technological weapons.

[willuwontu]

You select a specific weapon, e.g. pistol, this ability doesn't apply to any other weapons, e.g. a double pistol.

[Claxon]

Single specific weapon.

Like "falcata" or "greatsword" or "double barrel pistol".

You don't get to choose "pistols" and have it cover all pistols.

[MrCharisma]

So it doesn't have to be the exact weapon you're holding (eg. the Pistol made by your great-great-grandmother that was passed down through the generations), but the choice wouldn't let you choose "1-handed early firearms" for example.
If you chose "Weapon Focus: Longsword" it would give you a bonus when using Longswords, and wouldn't give you the bonus for Short Swords/Bastard Swords/Great Swords/etc.
In the same way, if you chose "Gun Training: PISTOL" then you'd get the bonus with all PISTOL's, but you wouldn't get any bonus when wielding a COAT PISTOL, DAGGER PISTOL, DOUBLE BARRELED PISTOL, DRAGON PISTOL, DRAGOON PISTOL, PADDLE FOOT PISTOL, SWORD CANE PISTOL, etc.

For reference, look at the vanilla Gunslinger vs the Pistolero archetype.

GUNSLINGER wrote:

Gun Training (Ex): Starting at 5th level, a gunslinger can select one specific type of firearm (such as an axe musket, blunderbuss, musket, or pistol). She gains a bonus equal to her Dexterity modifier on damage rolls when firing that type of firearm. Furthermore, when she misfires with that type of firearm, the misfire value of that firearm increases by 2 instead of 4.

Every four levels thereafter (9th, 13th, and 17th), the gunslinger picks up another type of firearm, gaining these bonuses for those types as well.

PISTOLERO wrote:

Pistol Training (Ex): Starting at 5th level, a pistolero increases her skill with one-handed firearms. She gains a bonus on damage rolls equal to her Dexterity modifier, and when she misfires with a one-handed firearm, the misfire value increases by 2 instead of 4. Every four levels thereafter (9th, 13th, and 17th), the bonus on damage rolls increases by +1. This ability replaces gun training 1 to 4.

So the Pistolero gets to use a big group of weapons, but the choice of "group" is restricted. The Gunslinger only gets to choose one weapon-type every few levels, but they have a wider pool to choose from.