Cowboy themed Quick draw dueling gunslinger.

[Backpack]

I was hoping the collective hive mind of the forum could help me help build and plan out a gunslinger (as in someone who uses guns not necessarily limited to the class). The current idea is styled after the classic wester moment of the good guy and bad guy meeting at the center of town and whoever draws first wins.

The one shot one kill build is generally speaking less then ideal I know, so I have been trying to find way to augment it that will be more of a big opening shot with the power decreasing over a couple rounds. IE not built for fights longer then 5-6 rounds.

First let me state the things I think we have locked in. We are going Mostly Human Ifrit, Wildfire Heart, Desert Mirage, and replaced the spell like with a thaumaturgy-esq spell that does the western whistle noise and a tumbleweed appears per the players request.

Second, I am allowing the employee to use a revolver because reasons, but also partially under the understanding that he will not be going a two weapon, make 12 attacks per round build.

Lastly, kind of the original thought on this build was to have fun with frightening ambush and having a very high initiative bonus.

So current build thought is:

Gunslinger(pistelero)/Cavalier(Luring)/Fighter(??)

My current thought is that the first 5 levels of gunslinger are pretty good and pistolero help that initial volley hit really hard, you pick up the dex to damage, some feats and an init bonus.

Luring Cavalier fits that idea of the 1 on 1 duel kinda vibe, picks up a horse mount, and order of the sword gives some pretty ok bonuses.

Fighter right now is really just to grab the feats and because right now we are thinking of grabbing deadly stroke at higher level since I think the plan right now is to build out of frightening ambush into shatter defenses.

I guess right now my concern is that I dont know the orders or really the amounts of class levels to take. There might be classes that do some of this better. I partially feel like getting some sneak attack in here would be powerful since things will be flat footed so often. But if you dont get off the flat footed it'd be worthless.

If anyone has ideas I would appreciate it!

[avr]

Employee? That's player and an evil autocorrect, right?

As far as orders go, order of the guard gives a favored terrain which you can change daily; this is an initiative bonus (useful on the quick draw) and also skill bonuses which may be appropriate. Of the eastern star gives defensive bonuses, of the dragon is about aiding allies, ronin is strangely appropriate to a western gunslinger.

Gunslinger 5 / something else X is a solid way to go. Luring cavalier isn't a bad choice though make sure you get boon companion or horse master to keep your mount from dying under you instantly. Fighter is certainly an option, or slayer or rogue or vigilante or even gun chemist alchemist; I'd probably stick with the second class rather than multiclass again.

[Firebug]

Frightening Ambush (as a concept, not the feat) kinda leads me toward Vigilante. But ... Startling Appearance doesn't work on the stereotypical gunfight at high noon. And the Gunmaster Archetype doesn't really do it for me. If Death’s Shot wasn't limited to 20th level I think it would work though. Basically, Assassinate/Death Attack but requiring a crit instead of prep time.

Speaking of Assassinate, maybe Toxic Sniper with the Assassinate Advanced Talent at 12th? Has a little action economy issue, but a potion of Contingent Action could do it. Since it has some poison buffing class features, maybe pick something that knocks out the enemy (drow poison) on a failed save. Not dead, but one shot one 'kill'. Not sure on the interaction between Toxic Shots and Metal Cartridges, though. Also a little loose is the interaction with Toxic Shots and Studied Target. Toxic Shots allows you to poison a bullet at an increased DC (instead of a penalty with a pitted bullet), and Studied Target increases your Slayer Class Feature DCs. If the GM does let it work, you could be looking at a DC 20 Drow Poison(base 13, +2 Toxic Shots, +3 Studied Target, 4d6 sneak attack-> +2 DC). If you really wanted to lean into the poison aspect though, I would recommend Vishkanya for Sleep Venom since the DC is even more scalable. But that requires two saves and you said the race was locked in regardless.

As far as locking in sneak attack a bit more often... Ranged Feint isn't completely terrible. Granted, you probably want quick draw (which you will probably want anyway) to throw a disposable weapon for the feint. Fluff-wise, something like tossing a cigarette to distract the opponent would be on point.

Of course, I recently read a book titled Infinite Dusk: Cowboy Necromancer book 1, so obviously a Spellslinger with Disintegrate for the one-hit-kill.

[Backpack]

avr wrote:

Employee? That's player and an evil autocorrect, right?

As far as orders go, order of the guard gives a favored terrain which you can change daily; this is an initiative bonus (useful on the quick draw) and also skill bonuses which may be appropriate. Of the eastern star gives defensive bonuses, of the dragon is about aiding allies, ronin is strangely appropriate to a western gunslinger.

Gunslinger 5 / something else X is a solid way to go. Luring cavalier isn't a bad choice though make sure you get boon companion or horse master to keep your mount from dying under you instantly. Fighter is certainly an option, or slayer or rogue or vigilante or even gun chemist alchemist; I'd probably stick with the second class rather than multiclass again.

Oh boy, that's what I get for trying to multitask at work. Yes, I meant player.

Thank you both for the help!

[Wonderstell]

Backpack wrote:

First let me state the things I think we have locked in. We are going Mostly Human Ifrit, Wildfire Heart, Desert Mirage, and replaced the spell like with a thaumaturgy-esq spell that does the western whistle noise and a tumbleweed appears per the players request.

Huh, that's (almost) exactly what I went with for my Mysterious Stranger Black Powder Vaulter Gunslinger 1 / Cyclopean Seer Oracle X build. Which was made to act first and make a single devastating shot. Quite the coincidence.

You add Named Bullet as a 3rd level spell to your list and make use of it to get an automatic crit threat and added dmg with your opening shot.

Being dex-based, an Ifrit, and having a familiar means you end up with great initiative.