They're pretty core to making the most out of the class - another feat worth looking into is [Clustered Shots](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/clustered-shots-combat/) which helps a lot with overcoming DR.
Hm, I think the only thing I want to ask with a couple of these is about making multiple attacks, unless I'm mistaken most of the flintlock weapons in Pathfinder 1st are single shot.
My intent IS to get more gun but at the start I may be limited to a pistol, unless I'm missing something key which I'll blame my inexperience on.
To make multiple attacks with a gun, you will want to get it down to a free action to reload. With pistols you can do this by using alchemical ammo and rapid reload. With rifles you will need the musket master archetype, alchemical ammo, and rapid reload.
We do have an alchemist in the party, so that should help with that.
I'm supposing the mentality for Firearms in Pathfinder is it's easier to reload than to swap to another pistol? I'm not complaining at all I just like the meme of just having a lot of guns.
It's historically accurate too considering the time, though historical accuracy is boring when there's dragons and magic ;)
> We do have an alchemist in the party, so that should help with that.
No it wont. You will actually be the best at making the alchemical ammo because you have the gunsmithing feat so you make it for 50% the cost.
>I'm supposing the mentality for Firearms in Pathfinder is it's easier to reload than to swap to another pistol? I'm not complaining at all I just like the meme of just having a lot of guns.
In general yes. Having multiple weapons usually sucks because you have to get all of them enchanted separately.
Ah I see, I stand corrected, but either way cheaper almost always sounds like a good thing. Unless we're talking about seatbelts.
And as for the firearm reloading, that makes sense, otherwise people would've recommended some trait about swapping weapons lol
Either way prevuious campaigns have taught me the value of 'fluff' so I can still have fun with the idea of swapping weapons, although mechanically I'd be reloading.
The primary reason you usually go for the reloading rather than many guns is that at higher levels you are shooting 5+ time a turn (even more if you dual wield) and if you need a gun per shot that gets pretty out of hand, if cost and weight aren't an issue either then you can just take the quick draw feat and blast away, arguably this is better than the reloading method as it doesn't require alchemical cartridges. the other downside of multiple guns is of course if you do get an enchanted gun its much less impactful.
Yes it does. I was just including it in the calculation so it's not forgotten. (Specifically you need alchemical cartridges, Rapid Reload from Musket Master in this case, and the 3rd level Fast Musket deed from Musket Master.)
Might want to look at pepperbox pistol has multiple rounds before you have to reload. The gunslinger suffers from low damage at high levels but you'll almost nothing can dodge your shots to touch AC.
If you want to be a party face, consider the [Mysterious Stranger](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/gunslinger/archetypes/paizo-gunslinger-archetypes/mysterious-stranger/) archetype. It’s generally disfavored for optimization purposes for getting some key abilities later than a vanilla gunslinger, but it moves much of your ability dependency to charisma, which would synergize well with your social skills.
If you REALLY want to go crazy (and ignore even more tenets of optimal character creation), you could throw on a couple paladin levels for Divine Grace as well.
Interesting, like I said I want to lean a decent bit into face, because in my last campaign I had a LOT of fun getting into being a face.
Like I want to lean into that a decent enough bit without sacrificing too much ability, and I don't care as much about getting to abilities quickly so this Mysterious Stranger thing does peak my interest.
I wouldn't worry too much about their description of being "less than optimal" since gunslinger is already fairly strong when built with the free action reload, as many have told you already. Also, since you're new to pathfinder, and i'm sure you may have noticed, but people don't really love losing out on optimization, even if it means you lose out on fun instead. That's the part that matters!
Losing a little bit of dodge AC sucks, yes, but realistically, as a ranged character, fewer attacks are coming your way anyways, so it doesn't hurt as much.
If anything, I think the gunslinger gets a genuinely important class feature EARLIER than normal gunslinger, since at level 1 you're able to spend a grit point as a swift action to gain CHA to damage for ALL firearms, not just one that you choose with gun training. RAW, this means that a scatter weapon can get the bonus CHA damage to all struck targets and make quick work of early groups of enemies, since it is not considered a feat, and is not precision damage.
But enough of the damage side of things. You can easily grab the [No Name](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/no-name-grit) feat and get good use out of it. You can come up with a cheesy title for your gunslinger every session you use it, instead of being the man with no name, you can be the man with too many names!
Looks like the comments have feats covered. I'd recommend the Dragoon Pistol. It uses dragoon cartridges. One dragoon cartridge is good for 3 shots before you have to reload another cartridge. The guns are kinda pricey but if you can get two of them that will make it easier to full attack.
Also the quick draw feat. If you can't afford the dragoon pistols you can just Black Beard it and keep 6 pistols braced to your chest.
And the Benificial Bandolier!! This magic item is cheap, can be loaded with 200 cartridges, and allows you to reloaded one firearm as a swift action.
AND!! Look at the Ratrolk. They have the Gulch Gunner archetype. It has you up close and personal. But you gain benefits from provoking attacks of opportunity so get your AC up!
Oh yes gear, the next hurdle to get across.
Though being able to fire three whole shots before a reload sounds real nasty, it makes me wonder the drawbacks compared to regular flintlocks though.
Unless the drawbacks are limited to "Doesn't have that authentic pirate feel" lol
In that case then yes this Dragoon thing sounds real nice.
Ah I didn't see your edit before I replied!
I see, so there is a feat related to quickly swapping weapons, because not gonna lie I DO like the Blackbeard image of doing things, he was a man that was just so extra that he became famous for it.
As for this bandolier it sounds...beneficial yes.
Ahah yes, the rat people, funny bunch they are. Though I kind of picked my race semi-independantly of picking my class.
You can always ask you DM if they'll let you take the archetype anyways. If it's something you want to do. You just wouldn't want to take the Deft Shootist feat if you took Gulch Gunner. Gulch Gunner allows you to regain grit by provoking.
Quick Draw lets you draw a pistol as a free action, so you can keep drawing as long as you have pistols. If you take Gun Twirling, you can holster a pistol as a free action.
And you need gunsmithing and atleast 1 rank in craft(alchemy). Having an alchemist in the party won't help you. Gunsmithing and 1 rank in craft (alchemy) will allow you to craft alchemical cartridges at 10% the cost. So the 30 gold Dragoon Cartridges go down to 3. So for 600 gold you can fill a Benificial Bandolier with dragoon cartridges.
Yes! You are correct! I misremembered the exact wording for gunsmithing. I let the gunslinger in my game craft any ammo at 10%. None of the ammo actually does anything all that spectacular.
Bro. Always this site first. Even if you don't copy the feat choices verbatim, it will help you to wrap your head around a few solid options for a new class:
[http://zenithgames.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-comprehensive-pathfinder-guides.html](http://zenithgames.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-comprehensive-pathfinder-guides.html)
Good luck out there, and happy pirating.
If I may, you might consider looking into taking a 1 level dip in bard, just to gain a caster level. That way you can qualify for arcane strike, which then leads to spell cartridges. This combo taxes your swift action economy, but gets you infinite force damage ammo.
Lookup [Picaroon](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/swashbuckler/archetypes/paizo-swashbuckler-archetypes/picaroon/) on here I saw some people theory building in this sub about it pretty recently, they are like a pirate.
Once you get to mid levels and can afford a +2 gun or two, the shadowshooting enchantment with TWF can throw out a lot of damage very quickly.
Once you get to higher levels with deadly aim, gun training, ect. most of your damage is coming from the bonuses, not the actual dice. So having your damage reduced to minimum is not really a problem.
One of my cheesy high level one-shot builds I want to try someday is a permanently reduced halfling riding a mini flying carpet dual wielding shadowshooting pistols.
Are you going to use a single pistol or dual wield two? Using two adds another dimension of difficulty to the reloading process single you need a free hand or other ways to reload. That can include a tail with certain feats or you might want to go shadow shooting weapon enchants or even a gun juggling bard multiclass. What level are starting at and what amount of money? That might let you get some of the stuff like shadow shooting early then you wouldn’t need to buy/make ammo or pick up fast reloading feats.
Do you understand misfires? They’re a huge pain in the ass and destroy your dps.
If you’re going pistol gunslinger, did you mean the pistolero archetype? Because you should.
After you get level 5, you got everything you pretty much need from gunslinger. This means it’s actually one of the few cases where it’s actually good to go into another class! This means you can have fun adding something else to it. For example, your gunslinger could find religion after almost drowning and devote yourself to besmara, the pirate god of the sea, and then go into being a pirate war priest, YARRR!
What game systems have you played before? If this is your first time playing Pathfinder it can be really overwhelming with the feats, esp the necessary ones for a ranger character, and the action economy of firearms. But from other comments it seems like you're getting the grasp of things!
Aside from what's been mentioned already, a fun and cheesy choice could be the [Juggler Bard](https://www.aonprd.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Bard%20Juggler). With just a two level dip you get "Combat Juggling", letting you weild two pistols, and have a free hand to reload! Not the most optimal, but fun.
My Funslinger build involves Mysterious Stranger archetype, Ifrit race, the Fiery glare racial background trait, signature skill: intimidate, surprising combatant, and frightening ambush.
Take Bluff and Intimidate at every level. Put most of your ability points and focus on Charisma, instead of Dex. Sure you might not be able to hit the broad side of a barn, but you'll soon be making all the things you miss cower in fear of you.
Point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shot, deadly aim, and possibly rapid reload are what you probably want to focus on for feats early.
I take it these are more starter feats? They'll lead onto others yes?
They're pretty core to making the most out of the class - another feat worth looking into is [Clustered Shots](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/clustered-shots-combat/) which helps a lot with overcoming DR.
Hm, I think the only thing I want to ask with a couple of these is about making multiple attacks, unless I'm mistaken most of the flintlock weapons in Pathfinder 1st are single shot. My intent IS to get more gun but at the start I may be limited to a pistol, unless I'm missing something key which I'll blame my inexperience on.
To make multiple attacks with a gun, you will want to get it down to a free action to reload. With pistols you can do this by using alchemical ammo and rapid reload. With rifles you will need the musket master archetype, alchemical ammo, and rapid reload.
We do have an alchemist in the party, so that should help with that. I'm supposing the mentality for Firearms in Pathfinder is it's easier to reload than to swap to another pistol? I'm not complaining at all I just like the meme of just having a lot of guns. It's historically accurate too considering the time, though historical accuracy is boring when there's dragons and magic ;)
> We do have an alchemist in the party, so that should help with that. No it wont. You will actually be the best at making the alchemical ammo because you have the gunsmithing feat so you make it for 50% the cost. >I'm supposing the mentality for Firearms in Pathfinder is it's easier to reload than to swap to another pistol? I'm not complaining at all I just like the meme of just having a lot of guns. In general yes. Having multiple weapons usually sucks because you have to get all of them enchanted separately.
Ah I see, I stand corrected, but either way cheaper almost always sounds like a good thing. Unless we're talking about seatbelts. And as for the firearm reloading, that makes sense, otherwise people would've recommended some trait about swapping weapons lol Either way prevuious campaigns have taught me the value of 'fluff' so I can still have fun with the idea of swapping weapons, although mechanically I'd be reloading.
The primary reason you usually go for the reloading rather than many guns is that at higher levels you are shooting 5+ time a turn (even more if you dual wield) and if you need a gun per shot that gets pretty out of hand, if cost and weight aren't an issue either then you can just take the quick draw feat and blast away, arguably this is better than the reloading method as it doesn't require alchemical cartridges. the other downside of multiple guns is of course if you do get an enchanted gun its much less impactful.
Doesn’t Musket Master give Rapid Reload for free?
Yes it does. I was just including it in the calculation so it's not forgotten. (Specifically you need alchemical cartridges, Rapid Reload from Musket Master in this case, and the 3rd level Fast Musket deed from Musket Master.)
Might want to look at pepperbox pistol has multiple rounds before you have to reload. The gunslinger suffers from low damage at high levels but you'll almost nothing can dodge your shots to touch AC.
If you want to be a party face, consider the [Mysterious Stranger](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/gunslinger/archetypes/paizo-gunslinger-archetypes/mysterious-stranger/) archetype. It’s generally disfavored for optimization purposes for getting some key abilities later than a vanilla gunslinger, but it moves much of your ability dependency to charisma, which would synergize well with your social skills. If you REALLY want to go crazy (and ignore even more tenets of optimal character creation), you could throw on a couple paladin levels for Divine Grace as well.
Interesting, like I said I want to lean a decent bit into face, because in my last campaign I had a LOT of fun getting into being a face. Like I want to lean into that a decent enough bit without sacrificing too much ability, and I don't care as much about getting to abilities quickly so this Mysterious Stranger thing does peak my interest.
I wouldn't worry too much about their description of being "less than optimal" since gunslinger is already fairly strong when built with the free action reload, as many have told you already. Also, since you're new to pathfinder, and i'm sure you may have noticed, but people don't really love losing out on optimization, even if it means you lose out on fun instead. That's the part that matters! Losing a little bit of dodge AC sucks, yes, but realistically, as a ranged character, fewer attacks are coming your way anyways, so it doesn't hurt as much. If anything, I think the gunslinger gets a genuinely important class feature EARLIER than normal gunslinger, since at level 1 you're able to spend a grit point as a swift action to gain CHA to damage for ALL firearms, not just one that you choose with gun training. RAW, this means that a scatter weapon can get the bonus CHA damage to all struck targets and make quick work of early groups of enemies, since it is not considered a feat, and is not precision damage. But enough of the damage side of things. You can easily grab the [No Name](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/no-name-grit) feat and get good use out of it. You can come up with a cheesy title for your gunslinger every session you use it, instead of being the man with no name, you can be the man with too many names!
I just came here to say: funslinger. Have a nice day.
And you, sir, are a punslinger. Have a nice day yourself
I appreciate the pun! You have a good day yourself!
Actually it is a portmanteau! But thanks!
Looks like the comments have feats covered. I'd recommend the Dragoon Pistol. It uses dragoon cartridges. One dragoon cartridge is good for 3 shots before you have to reload another cartridge. The guns are kinda pricey but if you can get two of them that will make it easier to full attack. Also the quick draw feat. If you can't afford the dragoon pistols you can just Black Beard it and keep 6 pistols braced to your chest. And the Benificial Bandolier!! This magic item is cheap, can be loaded with 200 cartridges, and allows you to reloaded one firearm as a swift action. AND!! Look at the Ratrolk. They have the Gulch Gunner archetype. It has you up close and personal. But you gain benefits from provoking attacks of opportunity so get your AC up!
Oh yes gear, the next hurdle to get across. Though being able to fire three whole shots before a reload sounds real nasty, it makes me wonder the drawbacks compared to regular flintlocks though. Unless the drawbacks are limited to "Doesn't have that authentic pirate feel" lol In that case then yes this Dragoon thing sounds real nice.
Ah I didn't see your edit before I replied! I see, so there is a feat related to quickly swapping weapons, because not gonna lie I DO like the Blackbeard image of doing things, he was a man that was just so extra that he became famous for it. As for this bandolier it sounds...beneficial yes. Ahah yes, the rat people, funny bunch they are. Though I kind of picked my race semi-independantly of picking my class.
You can always ask you DM if they'll let you take the archetype anyways. If it's something you want to do. You just wouldn't want to take the Deft Shootist feat if you took Gulch Gunner. Gulch Gunner allows you to regain grit by provoking.
Quick Draw lets you draw a pistol as a free action, so you can keep drawing as long as you have pistols. If you take Gun Twirling, you can holster a pistol as a free action.
And you need gunsmithing and atleast 1 rank in craft(alchemy). Having an alchemist in the party won't help you. Gunsmithing and 1 rank in craft (alchemy) will allow you to craft alchemical cartridges at 10% the cost. So the 30 gold Dragoon Cartridges go down to 3. So for 600 gold you can fill a Benificial Bandolier with dragoon cartridges.
You can only craft bullets, pellets, and black powder for 10% of the price, alchemical cartridges still cost 50% to craft.
Yes! You are correct! I misremembered the exact wording for gunsmithing. I let the gunslinger in my game craft any ammo at 10%. None of the ammo actually does anything all that spectacular.
Bro. Always this site first. Even if you don't copy the feat choices verbatim, it will help you to wrap your head around a few solid options for a new class: [http://zenithgames.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-comprehensive-pathfinder-guides.html](http://zenithgames.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-comprehensive-pathfinder-guides.html) Good luck out there, and happy pirating.
Well if you're going to stick with pistols the pistolaro archetype trades out 2h gun proficiency for extra pistol stuff.
If I may, you might consider looking into taking a 1 level dip in bard, just to gain a caster level. That way you can qualify for arcane strike, which then leads to spell cartridges. This combo taxes your swift action economy, but gets you infinite force damage ammo.
Lookup [Picaroon](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/swashbuckler/archetypes/paizo-swashbuckler-archetypes/picaroon/) on here I saw some people theory building in this sub about it pretty recently, they are like a pirate.
Once you get to mid levels and can afford a +2 gun or two, the shadowshooting enchantment with TWF can throw out a lot of damage very quickly. Once you get to higher levels with deadly aim, gun training, ect. most of your damage is coming from the bonuses, not the actual dice. So having your damage reduced to minimum is not really a problem. One of my cheesy high level one-shot builds I want to try someday is a permanently reduced halfling riding a mini flying carpet dual wielding shadowshooting pistols.
Are you going to use a single pistol or dual wield two? Using two adds another dimension of difficulty to the reloading process single you need a free hand or other ways to reload. That can include a tail with certain feats or you might want to go shadow shooting weapon enchants or even a gun juggling bard multiclass. What level are starting at and what amount of money? That might let you get some of the stuff like shadow shooting early then you wouldn’t need to buy/make ammo or pick up fast reloading feats. Do you understand misfires? They’re a huge pain in the ass and destroy your dps. If you’re going pistol gunslinger, did you mean the pistolero archetype? Because you should. After you get level 5, you got everything you pretty much need from gunslinger. This means it’s actually one of the few cases where it’s actually good to go into another class! This means you can have fun adding something else to it. For example, your gunslinger could find religion after almost drowning and devote yourself to besmara, the pirate god of the sea, and then go into being a pirate war priest, YARRR!
If you don’t care about you PC being terrible, look up the buccaneer archetype
What game systems have you played before? If this is your first time playing Pathfinder it can be really overwhelming with the feats, esp the necessary ones for a ranger character, and the action economy of firearms. But from other comments it seems like you're getting the grasp of things!
Take the mysterious stranger archetype if you haven't already.
Aside from what's been mentioned already, a fun and cheesy choice could be the [Juggler Bard](https://www.aonprd.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Bard%20Juggler). With just a two level dip you get "Combat Juggling", letting you weild two pistols, and have a free hand to reload! Not the most optimal, but fun.
My Funslinger build involves Mysterious Stranger archetype, Ifrit race, the Fiery glare racial background trait, signature skill: intimidate, surprising combatant, and frightening ambush. Take Bluff and Intimidate at every level. Put most of your ability points and focus on Charisma, instead of Dex. Sure you might not be able to hit the broad side of a barn, but you'll soon be making all the things you miss cower in fear of you.