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The answers to most of your questions depend on a little more information.
Are you starting a new character at level 10 or are you currently level 10 and soon to be level 11?
What level do you expect the campaign to get up to?
Improved Critical is definitely worth it for a Bolt Ace. The increased threat range combined with the increased multiplier you get at level 5 is amazing. More damage and thanks to Improved Critical you regain grit more often. The other critical feats aren't bad, but it really depends on what else you are giving up. Those really shine with an 18-20 critical weapon since that gives them a 10% higher chance to trigger (with Improved). You probably don't want Critical Focus unless you are taking other critical feats, you will confirm often enough without it.
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Given that information I wouldn't dip. At the end of the campaign - when, presumably, the hardest things are going to be thrown at you - a 15th-level gunslinger would get Evasive and Slinger's Luck. Which makes you a defensive beast.
Other feats you definitely want: Clustered Shots, Deadly Aim, and Signature Deed (see below).
You also want Point-Blank Master but I don't know of a way to get that without dipping (or being a Ganzi who happened to have rolled the oddity that lets you take fighter-only feats regardless of class) since it requires Weapon Specialization as a prereq. Improved Precise Shot is a maybe. Most ranged attackers want it if they can get it, but your shooter's resolve class feature does the same thing (at the cost of a grit point). I would take Signature Deed (Vigilant Shooter) at 11th level to shoot without provoking and without using grit but not take Improved Precise and just trust that I will have enough grit to use Shooter's Resolve when I need it.
You may want to consider Combat Reflexes and the Snap Shot line of feats but that's just something to consider, not a firm endorsement.
Other than that, yeah. It sounds like Critical feats might be right up your alley.
(If you find yourself short of feats, you might want to consider using a light crossbow as your primary weapon. It saves you a feat (crossbow mastery) at the cost of 1 less average damage than a heavy crossbow.)
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To expand on my "short on feats" comment, here's a list of all the feats most Bolt Aces would like to have at 11th level. There are 11 of them. But the gunslinger will only have 8 feats (9 if human). The ones in italics are the ones I would cross off my wishlist first. (Which explains why I would use a light crossbow so I wouldn't have to take Crossbow Mastery and why I wouldn't take Improved Precise Shot.)
Point Blank Shot
Precise Shot
Deadly Aim
Rapid Reload
Rapid Shot
Clustered Shots
Improved Critical
Signature Deed
Weapon Focus
Crossbow Mastery
Improved Precise Shot
So even if you do want to take Critical feats, you are probably going to have to wait a bit.
Improved Critical is absolutely worth it for a Bolt Ace.
And anyone playing a ranged character interested in chasing criticals should really consider Impact Critical Shot...
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Point-Blank Shot, base attack bonus +9.
Benefit: Whenever you score a critical hit with a ranged attack, in addition to the normal damage your attack deals, if your confirmation roll exceeds your opponent’s CMD, you can push your opponent back as if from the bull rush combat maneuver or knock that target prone as if from a trip combat maneuver. If you choose to bull rush, you cannot move with the target. Your maneuver does not provoke an attack of opportunity.
Normal: You must perform a bull rush combat maneuver to bull rush an opponent, and you must perform a trip combat maneuver to trip an opponent.
Combat Trick (from the Combat Stamina feat)
Source Pathfinder Unchained pg. 122
When you confirm a critical hit and use this feat to either bull rush or trip the target, you can spend 5 stamina points to perform the other combat maneuver as well. Use the confirmation roll for the combat maneuver check of both maneuvers.
Site Owner: Blake
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@ Belafon
Well get to level 15
New Character Starting At Level 10
I had a character but had to drop out of the game for a while and lost my character Sheet.Recommend feats Besides PBS/Precise Shot And Rapid Shot.
Also I am of course taking Rapid reload and Crossbow Mastery
But am wondering if there are any else worth it in place of critical focus
Have you considered heavy dwarven pelletbow instead? It is almost unfair powerfull compared to heavy crossbow.
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Have you considered heavy dwarven pelletbow instead? It is almost unfair powerfull compared to heavy crossbow.
It is unfairly powerful, but there's some messy rules interactions you would need to sort out with your GM.
Feats and special abilities that don’t involve proficiency (that don’t depend on dealing piercing damage or firing bolts) that apply to a heavy crossbow also apply to a dwarven heavy pelletbow, and those that apply to a light crossbow also apply to a dwarven light pelletbow.
1) Is a pelletbow a crossbow? Does the Bolt Ace need to spend a feat on Exotic Weapon Proficiency? The last paragraph of the item description says that special abilities that don't involve proficiency apply, so Crossbow Maven wouldn't directly apply. On the other hand the pelletbow is "crossbowlike" and is in the crossbow fighter group. I can take it for Crossbow Training, right?
2) If I'm using a heavy pelletbow do I need to take Rapid Reload AND Crossbow Mastery? That quote above says that feats that apply to a heavy crossbow apply to a heavy pelletbow. Rapid reload isn't "reduce the action to load by one step," it's specifically "reduced to a move action (for a heavy crossbow)" which wouldn't do anything by itself. So I'd have to take Rapid Reload as a prereq for Crossbow Mastery?
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Yes Pelletbow has fluffy wording.
So check with your GM.
And check if he approves of a fastshooting ranged weapon dealing 1d6+dex 17-20/4 (with improved critical and Crossbow Training).
And you don’t get much out of staying in the Bolt Ace past level 5.
If you multiclass consider Half elf for the extra favored class bonus and it opens up exotic weapon profiency with ancestral arms trait if needed.
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And you don’t get much out of staying in the Bolt Ace past level 5.
If you multiclass consider Half elf for the extra favored class bonus and it opens up exotic weapon profiency with ancestral arms trait if needed.
I might have suggested this if ThecrimeForceDragon was starting at a lower level. I played a "WarAce" (Bolt Ace 5/Molthuni Arsenal Champion X) for a while. Started out as a backstory building exercise ("What if a crossbowman in the Molthune army had a religious experience and decided to become a MAC?") but I ended up optimizing it and she was insanely good in combat.
But I was playing that character up through the levels. The OP is 10th level, soon to be 11th. And the 11th-level deeds are really good for a Bolt Ace. Then you get a feat and +1 to all saves at 12th level, then you're only 3 away from the defensive deeds at 15...
