Gunslinger (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

For a renegade few, battle sounds different than it does for the typical fighter. The clash of steel and the sizzle of spell energy are drowned out by the thunderous rhythm of gunfire—the pounding beat of the gunslinger.

Why Unchained?

Why bother with an unchained gunslinger? Well, the original gunslinger is lacking several things, meaningful career choices most of all. All gunslingers get the same deeds. But more than that, there are several deeds that are not worth their salt, and the class as a whole is very back-loaded, starting out and becoming a damage dealer against which there basically is no defense at higher levels. This version tries to spread the goodness out and put in some brakes at the higher levels.

Gunslingers are a bold and mysterious lot. While many treat the secrets of black powder with the same care and reverence that a wizard typically reserves for his spellbook, most gunslingers know that firearms are a secret that cannot remain concealed forever. While current firearms are simple, often imprecise, and even dangerous devices, they are a technology on the move, and one that will become even more powerful when it is fully fused with magic.

Role: Gunslingers are thunderous artillery, often found where the fighting is fiercest. Brave, clever, and frequently foolhardy, many gunslingers push to position themselves at close range, barrels blazing, to take down their foes and demoralize their enemies. Other gunslingers are masters of distant death, picking off enemies from afar with their strange and wondrous weapons.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Wealth: 5d6 x 10 gp (average 175gp) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less, and the gunslinger begins with her starting firearm.

Class Skills

The gunslinger’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Grit, Luck, and Panache

Grit, luck, and panache represent three different means by which heroes can gain access to the same heroic pool, using it to accomplish fantastic feats. For characters with a mix of grit, luck, and panache, they pool the resources together into a combined pool. (Those who use panache and luck gain twice their Charisma bonus in their pool.) For feats, magic items, and other effects, a panache user can spend and gain luck points in place of grit or panache points, and vice versa. A luck user does not count as a grit or panache user to satisfy feat prerequisites.

Class Features

The following are class features of the gunslinger.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Gunslingers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with all firearms. They are proficient with all light and medium armor and with bucklers.

Grit (Ex)

A gunslinger makes her mark upon the world with daring deeds. Some gunslingers claim they belong to a mystical way of the gun, but it’s more likely that the volatile nature of firearms simply prunes the unlucky and careless from their ranks. Whatever the reason, all gunslingers have grit. In game terms, grit is a fluctuating measure of a gunslinger’s ability to perform amazing actions in combat. At the start of each day, a gunslinger gains a number of grit points equal to her Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). Her grit goes up or down throughout the day, but usually cannot go higher than her Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), though some feats and magic items may affect this maximum. A gunslinger spends grit to accomplish deeds (see below), and regains grit in the following ways.

Critical Hit with a Firearm: Each time the gunslinger confirms a critical hit with a firearm attack while in the heat of combat, she regains grit points equal to half the firearm's critical hit multiplier. Confirming a critical hit on a helpless creature or on a creature that has fewer Hit Dice than half the gunslinger’s character level does not restore grit.

Killing Blow with a Firearm: When the gunslinger reduces a creature to 0 or fewer hit points with a firearm attack while in the heat of combat, she regains 1 grit point. Destroying an unattended object, reducing a helpless or unaware creature to 0 or fewer hit points, or reducing a creature that has fewer Hit Dice than half the gunslinger’s character level to 0 or fewer hit points does not restore any grit.

Dares: Learned abilities similar to deeds in that they grant a gunslinger extra abilities based on grit, but unlike deeds, dares become active when the gunslinger runs out of grit, and become inactive once the character regains any points of grit. They grant the gunslinger a benefit and a new ability to regain or increase the ability to regain either grit or panache. See dares below.

Daring Act: The following method for regaining grit points requires a measure of GM judgment, so it is an optional rule. Each time a gunslinger performs a daring act, she can regain grit. As a general guideline, a daring act should be risky and dramatic. It should take a good deal of guts, and its outcome should be in doubt. If it is successful, the gunslinger regains 1 grit point.

Before attempting a daring act, the player may ask the GM whether the act qualifies. The GM is the final arbiter of what’s considered a daring act, and can grant a regained grit point for a daring act even if the player does not ask beforehand whether the act qualifies.

Examples of daring acts are moving out of cover to get into point-blank range, preventing one or more opponents from acting in a round through clever stunts, and stealing an opponent's weapon to use it against them.

Deeds (Ex)

Gunslingers spend grit points to accomplish deeds. Most deeds grant the gunslinger some momentary bonus or effect, but there are some that provide longer-lasting effects. Some deeds stay in effect as long as the gunslinger has at least 1 grit point. The following is the list of gunslinger deeds. Unless otherwise noted, a deed can be performed multiple successive times, as long as the appropriate amount of grit is spent to perform the deed. Unless noted, all deeds are extraordinary abilities.

The gunslinger gains 3 deeds at first level, selected among the level 1 deeds. At level 3, and every four levels thereafter, she gains another three deeds, selected among the deeds listed for her level or lower. Additional deeds are available by taking the Additional Deed feat.

Upon reaching 3rd level, and every four levels thereafter, a gunslinger can choose to learn a new deed in place of a deed he has already learned. The new deed must be selected for a deed she could have chosen at the level that deed was gained. The gunslinger loses the old deed in exchange for the new one. A gunslinger can only change one deed at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the deed at the time he gains new deeds for the level.

Marinn selected the fast musket deed at level 3. At level 7 she can retain this deed for any deed available to a 3rd level gunslinger. If she had taken fast musket at 7th level, she can retrain it for any 7th level or lower deed at level 11. If she retrained fast musket into another 3rd level deed at level 7, she cannot retrain it into a level 7 deed at level 11; it remains a deed she learned at level 3.

Deeds are described in their own section, below.

Fog of War

A gunslinger's position quickly becomes covered in the thick smoke of black powder. At the end of each round, total the number of firearms attacks the gunslinger made (dead shot counts as a single shot for this purpose). Add any fog of war from the round before and subtract the gunslinger's Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). The result is the gunslinger's fog of war rating.

The gunslinger suffers a penalty on Perception and Stealth checks and on ranged attack rolls equal to her fog of war rating.

Moving more than 10 ft. removes all the gunslingers fog of war rating, resetting it to zero.

Gunsmith

At 1st level, a gunslinger gains one of the following firearms of her choice: blunderbuss, musket, or pistol. Her starting weapon is battered, and only she knows how to use it properly. All other creatures treat her gun as if it had the broken condition. If the weapon already has the broken condition, it does not work at all for anyone else trying to use it. This starting weapon can only be sold for scrap (it’s worth 4d10 gp when sold). The gunslinger also gains Gunsmithing as a bonus feat.

Nimble (Ex)

Starting at 2nd level, a gunslinger gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC while wearing light or no armor and not using a shield. Anything that causes the gunslinger to lose her Dexterity bonus to AC also causes the gunslinger to lose this dodge bonus. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd level (to a maximum of +5 at 20th level).

Bonus Feats

At 4th level, and every four levels thereafter, a gunslinger gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained by normal advancement. These bonus feats must be combat or grit feats. A gunslinger cannot take a grit feat and a deed with the same name, but deeds with the same name as a grit feat counts as that feet as a prerequisite.

Gun Training (Ex)

Starting at 5th level, a gunslinger can select one specific type of firearm (such as an axe musket, blunderbuss, musket, or pistol). She gains a bonus equal to her Dexterity modifier on damage rolls when firing that type of firearm. Furthermore, when she misfires with that type of firearm, the misfire value of that firearm increases by 2 instead of 4. Every four levels thereafter (9th, 13th, and 17th), the gunslinger picks up another type of firearm, gaining these bonuses for those types as well.

True Grit (Ex)

At 20th level, a gunslinger picks two deeds that she has access to and that she must spend grit to perform. She can perform these deeds for 1 grit point fewer (minimum 0) than usual. If the number of grit points to perform a deed is reduced to 0, the gunslinger can perform this deed as long as she has at least 1 grit point. If a deed could already be performed as long as she had at least 1 grit point, she can now perform that deed even when she has no grit points.

Table: Gunslinger

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+2	+2	+0	Deeds (deadeye, gunslinger’s dodge, quick clear), grit, gunsmith, fog of war
2nd	+2	+3	+3	+0	Nimble +1
3rd	+3	+3	+3	+1	Deeds (gunslinger initiative, pistol-whip, utility shot)
4th	+4	+4	+4	+1	Bonus feat
5th	+5	+4	+4	+1	Gun training 1
6th	+6/ +1	+5	+5	+2	Nimble +2
7th	+7/ +2	+5	+5	+2	Deeds (dead Shot, startling Shot, targeting)
8th	+8/ +3	+6	+6	+2	Bonus feat
9th	+9/ +4	+6	+6	+3	Gun training 2
10th	+10/ +5	+7	+7	+3	Nimble +3
11th	+11/ +6/ +1	+7	+7	+3	Deeds (bleeding wound, expert loading, lightning reload)
12th	+12/ +7/ +2	+8	+8	+4	Bonus feat
13th	+13/ +8/ +3	+8	+8	+4	Gun training 3
14th	+14/ +9/ +4	+9	+9	+4	Nimble +4
15th	+15/ +10/ +5	+9	+9	+5	Deeds (evasive , menacing shot, slinger’s luck)
16th	+16/ +11/ +6/ +1	+10	+10	+5	Bonus feat
17th	+17/ +12/ +7/ +2	+10	+10	+5	Gun training 4
18th	+18/ +13/ +8/ +3	+11	+11	+6	Nimble +5
19th	+19/ +14/ +9/ +4	+11	+11	+6	Deeds (cheat death, death’s shot, stunning shot)
20th	+20/ +15/ +10/ +5	+12	+12	+6	Bonus feat, true grit

Favored Class Bonuses

Instead of receiving an additional skill rank or hit point whenever they gain a level in a favored class, some races have the option of choosing from a number of other bonuses, depending upon their favored classes. The following options are available to the listed race who have fighters as their favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the listed favored class reward.

• Dwarf : Reduce the misfire chance for one type of firearm by ¼. You cannot reduce the misfire chance of a firearm below 1.
• Elf : Add +⅓ on critical hit confirmation rolls made with firearms (maximum bonus of +5). This bonus does not stack with Critical Focus.
• Gnome : The gunslinger reduces the amount of time needed to restore a broken firearm using the Gunsmithing feat by 5 minutes (maximum reduction of 50 minutes).
• Half-Elf : Add +¼ point to the gunslinger’s grit points.
• Half-Orc : Add a +⅓ bonus on attack rolls when using the pistol whip deed.
• Halfling : Add +¼ to the dodge bonus to AC granted by the nimble class feature (maximum +2) or +¼ to the AC bonus gained when using the gunslinger’s dodge deed.
• Human : Add +¼ point to the gunslinger’s grit points.
• Goblin : Add +⅓ on critical hit confirmation rolls made with firearms (maximum bonus of +5). This bonus does not stack with Critical Focus.
• Grippli : Add a +¼ bonus on attack rolls when making a utility shot or a dead shot.
• Hobgoblin : Add +¼ to the gunslinger’s grit points.
• Ifrit : Add +½ to the bonus on initiative checks the gunslinger makes while using her gunslinger initiative deed.
• Kobold : Add +¼ to the dodge bonus to AC granted by the nimble class feature (maximum +4).
• Ratfolk : Add a +½ bonus on initiative checks when the gunslinger has at least 1 grit point.

Feats

The following feats enhance the gunslinger.

Additional Deed (Grit)

You gain an additional deed from the list of deeds available for your class.

Prerequisite(s): Deed class feature with a list of deeds to select from.

Benefit: Select an additional deed available at your class and level.

Special: This feat can be taken several times. Each time, select a new deed you qualify for.

Advanced Deed (Grit)

You focus your development on certain deeds.

Prerequisites: Deed class feature.

Benefits: Select one deed with a level requirement higher than your level in the class the deed belongs to. Reduce the level requirement of this deed by two.

Special: You can take this feat several times, the benefits can stack or you can select different deeds to apply the benefit to. When you have achieved the level required to use the selected deed without this feat, you can select another deed to apply this feat to. At level 19, trade all instances of this feat for Signature Deed.

Multiclass Deeds (Grit)

You learn the deeds of someone of your Hit Dice.

Prerequisites: Deeds class feature, multiclass levels or racial Hit Dice.

Benefit: Increase your effective level in a class that gains deeds by four for the purpose of learning and using deeds. You must have at least one level in the selected class. This increased level can never be higher than your number of Hit Dice. If you have several classes that give deeds, you must choose one of these classes to apply this feat to.

Special: You can take this feat multiple times. The effect does not stack. You must select a different class each time.

Share Grit (Grit)

You can share your grit with allies.

Prerequisite: Grit class feature or feat ability, Sense Motive 3 ranks.

Benefit: As a free action, you can expend a point of grit and give it to an ally within 30 ft. The beneficiary cannot exceed his maximum grit pool this way. Characters that lack a grit (or similar) pool cannot benefit from this.

External Links

• Drake Rocket's Guide to Grand Gunslinginger Greatness
• Surpassing even The Boss N. Jolly's guide to the Pathfinder Gunslinger

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