The Gunslinger

They all laughed at him. “The fastest shot in the world”. A juggler and a bard, claiming to be the fastest shot in the world? A ridiculous claim. The mysterious man had walked into the saloon and made that claim boldly after giving his evening performance, which was admittedly impressive, but there was a limit at the theatrics. He sported four pistols, two at his hips, two strapped to his chest. It was ridiculous.

The mysterious man smiled at their laughter. He had kept vengeance toward this town, which he was banned from twenty years ago now, burning his heart and tonight, he had a last performance to give, he thought, caressing the hammer of one of his pistols…

This build is painfully close to making the Top 10, but doesn’t quite make it for 2 reasons:

1-There is a ridiculous FAQ Errata that power nerfs a certain ability to the ground. Now, FAQ and Errata are always subject to GM review, and this one in particular is usually wildly disregarded by most Game Masters, but it is unfortunately a concern that, combined with the second element makes it just miss the Top 10.

2-The other reason being that it is a gunslinger build. Guns are a hit or miss for many GMs and even if they are canonical within Pathfinder’s official setting, Golarion, many GM will use the regional excuse to heavily limit them. And because of these two factors this build misses on being on my top 10. Unfortunate as it is this build truly is a very fun one that I can only highly recommend for a Gunslinging enthousiast!

Race

Human with the Military Tradition Alternative Racial Feature

Class

Battle Host Occultist 1/Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger 1/Trench Fighter 3/Bard Juggler 7/Luring Musketeer Cavalier 8

Traits

Both are open to grab, have fun kids!

Ability Scores

As a Gunslinger, this will probably shock you, but we need Dexterity. We also need Charisma and some amount of Intelligence for our first Level.

15Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 17/Con 10/Int 13/Wis 10/Cha 14

20Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 18/Con 10/Int 13/Wis 10/Cha 15

25Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 18/Con 12/Int 13/Wis 10/Cha 16

Favored Class Bonus

Yep, it is, in fact, HP. Don’t look at me like that, our Con sucks.

Skills

Perception and Sleight of Hands are mandatory for this build. Everything else is gravy so have fun! Take Acrobatics if you want better mobility, various Social Skills to be a decent face, Survival for the gritty, mysterious stranger feel, etc.

Feats by Level

1-Point-Blank Shot

Human Bonus-Exotic Weapon Proficiency(Pistols, Rifles)

Bonus 2-Gunsmithing

3-Precise Shot

Bonus 3-Two Weapons Fighting

Bonus 4-Rapid Reload(Pistols)

5-Deadly Aim

Bonus 6-Deflect Arrow

7-Rapid Shot

9-Improved Two Weapons Fighting

Bonus 10-Snatch Arrow

11-Dodge

Bonus 13-Teamwork Feat of your Choice

13-Mobility

15-Leaping Shot Deed

Bonus 16-Rapid Reload(Rifles)

17-Deft Shootist Deed

Bonus 18-Weapon Focus(Pistols)

19-Greater Two-Weapons Fighting

Precise Shot is pretty much mandatory for any ranged build and so is Deadly Aim. We get Rapid Reload for two types of firearms so that’s fun, we have all three Two-Weapons Fighting main feats, and with Leaping Shot Deed and Deft Shootist Deed, we no longer provoke when shooting in melee and we can move and shoot all our firearms we are wielding(4 due to juggling) as we move which significantly improves our mobility in battle.

Equipment

We start, for free, with a Masterwork Pistol that is immune to the Broken Condition. Which means we don’t fear misfiring at all with that weapon. Which is the FAQ problem I mentioned. So we are free to do whatever we wish with our starting money. Eventually we will want a second Pistol of some sort, and even a third and fourth ones for when we multiclass into Bard. Do consider a Rifle for variances or when you do need some extreme range. You can get away with wearing a Chainshirt as your main armor with no problem.

Final Thoughts on the Build

As per usual you get your Dex to damage, on top of your 8 Attacks per round if you stay immobile, 4 if you move, you can snatch projectiles shot at you, you get extra AC behind cover, you count as having Improved Critical with your firearms, you attack against Touch AC within two Range Increments, ignore range penalty up to three range increments, can cast Spells, have Evasion, a bunch of skills, can spend Grit to add your Charisma modifier to all your damage rolls within a round, and on top of all of that you get to choose a Cavalier’s Order and get to add even more bonuses when Challenging someone. This build can deal some tremendous damage at range while still being extremely mobile and having quite a few backup options. This is a ridiculously good build.