I was having a friendly discussion today with a stranger on Reddit. His build for a ranged rogue was a scoundrel using Pistol Twirl from the Pistol Phenom dedication while wielding a Gauntlet Bow and a shortbow.
Would you allow a Gauntlet Bow to trigger Pistol Twirl? Can it even be twirled? I'd assume it was locked in one orientation on the gauntlet, otherwise it would spin on you when you were trying to fire it, or require a 2nd hand to lock the position/steady it.
Would you also allow a shortbow (not a loaded, 1-handed firearm) to benefit from "the foe is flat-footed against your melee and ranged attacks, rather than only your melee attacks." benefit of Pistol Twirl? This to me feels like it violates the spirit of a feat/dedication based on firearms/crossbows.
Do you stop wielding the gauntlet bow as soon as you use that hand to nock an arrow? I ask since the Free-Hand trait says "When you're not wielding anything and not otherwise using the hand, you can use abilities that require you to have a hand free as well as those that require you to be wielding a weapon in that hand."
As I said, it was a friendly discussion. I'm not trying to "win the argument". I'm just wondering if I should change my outlook on the subject, or a ruling if I was GMing for a player who wanted to do this to build a ranged Rogue.
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Would you allow a Gauntlet Bow to trigger Pistol Twirl? Can it even be twirled? I'd assume it was locked in one orientation on the gauntlet, otherwise it would spin on you when you were trying to fire it, or require a 2nd hand to lock the position/steady it.
Yes, I would allow that. The names, description, and default narrative of these feats are there to make the feats memorable and engaging. They aren't there to restrict otherwise valid options that don't match the flavor of the feat.
So the Pistol Twirl feat requires "You're wielding a loaded one-handed ranged weapon." and "You Feint against an opponent within the required weapon's first range increment". Both of those can be done with the Gauntlet Bow.
The player will have to come up with a modified narrative to describe how that works since the Gauntlet Bow doesn't twirl like a pistol in an old western movie. But that doesn't make the game mechanics not work.
Would you also allow a shortbow (not a loaded, 1-handed firearm) to benefit from "the foe is flat-footed against your melee and ranged attacks, rather than only your melee attacks." benefit of Pistol Twirl? This to me feels like it violates the spirit of a feat/dedication based on firearms/crossbows.
Similarly, this feels you are putting too much mechanics weight onto the 'pistol' part of the feat name.
If it was supposed to only work with firearms in addition to melee weapons, then the feat could easily say that instead. But it says 'ranged attacks'. The shortbow should benefit. So would a ranged unarmed attack like Leshy Seedpod.
Similarly, this feels you are putting too much mechanics weight onto the 'pistol' part of the feat name.
If it was supposed to only work with firearms in addition to melee weapons, then the feat could easily say that instead. But it says 'ranged attacks'. The shortbow should benefit. So would a ranged unarmed attack like Leshy Seedpod.
It's more that the feat is granted by a dedication which requires you to be trained in a 1 handed firearm, not a 1 handed ranged weapon. All of the archetype feats except Trick Shot (which comes from other archetypes) requires a firearm. It feels like an assumption was made when Pistol Twirl, which sounds like it's naturally about pistols, was carried over from Bullet Dancer.
The archetype was also made at a time when there was no Gauntlet Bow. Until TV came out, this wasn't possible.
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The assumptions about Pistol Twirl are more because it is a feat borrowed from Gunslinger. Which despite the name of the class, is designed to work just as well with crossbows as it does with firearms in cases where the campaign setting doesn't have even the flintlock technology tier of firearms.
It is certainly reasonable for you as the GM to add the restriction that Pistol Twirl only triggers from firearms and only provides its benefits to a firearm or melee weapon because of the theme of Bullet Dancer that the character is getting the feat from. But do realize that you are adding that restriction as a houserule and you may get some pushback from the player of the character. It is something that ideally you will discuss with them when they first take the archetype rather than springing it on them mid-combat when they try to use Pistol Twirl with a crossbow.