So more that one Weapon?

[MerlinCross]

Friends are trying to drag me into a Starfinder game. Thinking about going former 'space cop' or something. Idea is either double pistols, or maybe long rifles. Or just pistol and shield since they added those in.

Though a question occurs. You don't seem to get more attacks when duel wielding anymore it seems, so what's the point of going double pistol?

Best I could come up with was having more than one elemental property as Starfinder seems to be big on resistances.

[Wingblaze]

Generally speaking, Starfinder doesn't do tons of attacks like some other systems. Dual wielding, higher levels, and the other ways people would typically get more attacks in a round - those things don't happen as much or as well in Starfinder.

You could have dual guns and use different types of weapons or elements.

[Peg'giz]

You can fire both as a full-attack.
So the "bonus" you have by having two guns is:
- different damage types
- different weapon attachments
- more ammunition
- be able to fire unwieldy weapons "twice" in one round (by having one unwieldy in each hand)
- if one is disarmed or jammed, you still have another one to shot with
- looks cool :D

[Dracomicron]

Peg'giz wrote:

- be able to fire unwieldy weapons "twice" in one round (by having one unwieldy in each hand)

This one doesn't work, since you can't use an unwieldy weapon as part of a full attack.

The real benefit to two pistols is this feat:

Multi-Weapon Fighting (Combat)
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 160
You know how to fight with several lighter weapons at once and how to take advantage of your multiple attacks.

Benefit: When you make a full attack with two or more small arms or with two or more operative melee weapons (see page 184), reduce the penalty for making a full attack by 1.

So you can make two attacks at a slightly lowered penalty.

Soldiers can also get a couple feat boosts that get a little extra oomf to the style.

Multi-Weapon Strike (Ex; Multi-Weapon Fighting)
As a standard action, you can make two attacks against a single foe, taking a –3 penalty to each attack. Both attacks must be made using small arms or operative melee weapons. If both attacks hit and deal the same type of damage, combine the damage and apply damage reduction, resistances, vulnerabilities, and similar effects only once.

Multi-Weapon Versatility (Ex; Multi-Weapon Fighting)
You treat all one-handed melee weapons as if they had the operative special property for the purpose of determining whether they benefit from the Multi-Weapon Fighting feat and any other combat feats and feat boosts that list Multi-Weapon Fighting as a prerequisite.

[The Ragi]

MerlinCross wrote:

or maybe long rifles.

Definitely stick to longarms.

[Ixal]

Peg'giz wrote:

You can fire both as a full-attack.

So the "bonus" you have by having two guns is:
- different damage types
- different weapon attachments
- more ammunition
- be able to fire unwieldy weapons "twice" in one round (by having one unwieldy in each hand)
- if one is disarmed or jammed, you still have another one to shot with
- looks cool :D

Downside is that because of the wealth rules and item prices one of the guns will be outdated, so you sacrifice several dice of damage for +1 to hit with full attacks compared to firing twice with the same gun if you have Multi-Weapon Fighting.

[Telok]

It works out OK on operatives up to the low teens levels. You're using two pistols for damage type coverage and ammo/reloading efficency. Run with a 90' range laser using a cold damage fusion and something else with shorter range but better damage types or options (sonic/electric or non-lethal options).

Eventually you'll let one of the pistols lag behind once you get into the 4+ dice guns. The whole thing works only because operatives get their main damage boost from the class features and not the gun damage. As a bonus you can bayonett a plasma kukri on a pistol so you don't have to worry about swapping to a melee weapon.

[MerlinCross]

I was thinking Soldier to take advantage of Pistol Dancer fighting style

[HammerJack]

Well, soldier does have the option of using Multi Weapon Strike to be able to make a double attack as a standard action, with multiple weapons. So you might be able to salvage some functionality.

Outside of the kind of campaign where concealing weapons comes up a lot, though, you will be contending with pistol damage being the weakest of all options (even worse than operative melee weapons), but at least the Pistol Dancer can hit people with them for decent effect.

[Claxon]

MerlinCross wrote:

Friends are trying to drag me into a Starfinder game. Thinking about going former 'space cop' or something. Idea is either double pistols, or maybe long rifles. Or just pistol and shield since they added those in.

Though a question occurs. You don't seem to get more attacks when duel wielding anymore it seems, so what's the point of going double pistol?

Best I could come up with was having more than one elemental property as Starfinder seems to be big on resistances.

There a few very specific class options that offer options for dual wielding weapons...but in general more weapons don't mean more attacks.

And those options (in my opinion) are arguably worse than just firing a longarm (assuming proficiency with weapon specialization) in terms of damage, but might have some niche purpose.

This game just doesn't really promote the concept of dual wielding either pistols or melee weapons, and honestly I prefer it.

Even the pistol style soldier is just trying to make up for the fact that you chose pistols.

[The Diehard Bard]

The Solar Flare Solarion also makes an excellent pistolero type law man, if you can make the fact that the six shooter is made out of star magic fit your concept

[Claxon]

The Diehard Bard wrote:

The Solar Flare Solarion also makes an excellent pistolero type law man, if you can make the fact that the six shooter is made out of star magic fit your concept

Gene Starwind?

[Dracomicron]

Claxon wrote:

The Diehard Bard wrote:

The Solar Flare Solarion also makes an excellent pistolero type law man, if you can make the fact that the six shooter is made out of star magic fit your concept

Gene Starwind?

Saint of Killers from Preacher might be a good graviton-aligned ranged solarian.

[Metaphysician]

Dracomicron wrote:

Claxon wrote:

The Diehard Bard wrote:

The Solar Flare Solarion also makes an excellent pistolero type law man, if you can make the fact that the six shooter is made out of star magic fit your concept

Gene Starwind?

Saint of Killers from Preacher might be a good graviton-aligned ranged solarian.

While unintended, I have to note that neither "good" nor "aligned" should probably be used when describing the Saint of Killers. ;)

[kadance]

He's good at aligning bullets with faces.