GUNSLINGER: Does Menacing Shot also affect allies...?

[Barachiel Shina]

Why does Menacing Shot state: "affect all living creatures within a 30-foot-radius burst as if they were subject to the fear spell."

This would affect allies no? That'd be dumb, why would the allies run in fear from their gunslinger party member? Shouldn't the RAI for this affect enemies only?

[Diego Rossi]

The goal seems to be to stop a fight and/or disperse a mob.
RAW, it clearly affects friends and foes.
RAI, probably it is meant to affect friends and foes indiscriminately. It is the job of the gunslinger to place himself so that as few allies as possible are affected.

[Barachiel Shina]

That's strangely odd, it doesn't make sense on any level. Why should the allies fear their own menacing Gunslinger and his shot? We've decided that Paizo wasn't thinking clearly when they wrote this and decided it only affects enemies. I'm just wondering if there was any errata or developer that could weigh in on this slip-up.

[VoodistMonk]

I have come across things like this before, and I came to the conclusion it was intentional. I can't remember the abilities worded the same off the top of my head, right meow, but I think there might be Order abilities or Rage Powers with similar effects.

This is absolutely the best answer:
"It is the job of the gunslinger to place himself so that as few allies as possible are affected."

[zza ni]

poor design?

i keep finding stuff like this which result in friendly fire.

my favorite is the sonic boom special weapon ability (+3), which as written hurt and maybe deafen the user every time he shoot the gun:

"..Attacks with a sonic boom weapon deal an additional 1d6 points of sonic damage to the target and 1d6 points of sonic damage to all creatures adjacent to the bullet’s path within one range increment of the wielder, or adjacent to the cone of a scatter shot. Creatures that take sonic damage from the boom must succeed at a DC 16 Fortitude save or be deafened for 1 minute."

unless one can shoot his gun remotely i can't picture a way to shoot this very expensive weapon\ammo (+3 ability = minimum +4 weapon\ammo) without effecting the user.

[Negative Party Prognosis]

Let's not forget this beautiful addition to the game, which can result in breaking an entire PVP encounter and cause your teammates to dishonor you if they intervene *at all* (including healing you).

Some things are meant purely for flavor and unique encounters, not as normally-used game mechanics. Don't go "Menacing Shot"ing every encounter, your teammates are gonna get severe shell-shock, the same way a swashbuckler shouldn't randomly challenge someone to a duel at every encounter. It's meant for very specific scenarios.