Sword and Pistol Character

[Th3N3xtGuy]

The idea is pretty simple a guy that can wear medium armor, has the sword and pistol feat or something similar. Weapons and of choice is a revolver and dueling sword. Has the ability to track people. But I have no idea where to start.

[stack]

Sources? The path of war expanded playtest has most of what you need with the buccaneer class template for the warlord or warder, but if you are limited to Paizo then that is obviously not an option. Not up on the swashbuckler enough to say, but the piccaroon archetype might be worth looking at (never used it and only read it once back at release, so may not apply).

[N. Jolly]

The idea is pretty simple a guy that can wear medium armor, has the sword and pistol feat or something similar. Weapons and of choice is a revolver and dueling sword. Has the ability to track people. But I have no idea where to start.

This is an annoyingly hard character concept to pull off due to reloading. You're going to need gun twirling, which means you'll need its prereqs, which means this style doesn't really come online until around 3-5 level. If you're going to make guns worth using, you're going to need either Gunslinger 5 or Gunslinger 1 in a 'guns everywhere' campaign setting or else you're better off with another style. After that I'd probably say go Slayer for your next class, you'll get the tracking and sneak attack, and it's slightly more dip friendly than Ranger.

[Th3N3xtGuy]

Sources? The path of war expanded playtest has most of what you need with the buccaneer class template for the warlord or warder, but if you are limited to Paizo then that is obviously not an option. Not up on the swashbuckler enough to say, but the piccaroon archetype might be worth looking at (never used it and only read it once back at release, so may not apply).



This is an annoyingly hard character concept to pull off due to reloading. You're going to need gun twirling, which means you'll need its prereqs, which means this style doesn't really come online until around 3-5 level. If you're going to make guns worth using, you're going to need either Gunslinger 5 or Gunslinger 1 in a 'guns everywhere' campaign setting or else you're better off with another style. After that I'd probably say go Slayer for your next class, you'll get the tracking and sneak attack, and it's slightly more dip friendly than Ranger.

Okay I'll look into these thing it doesn't have to be strictly pathfinder. Just want to find a way to make this concept work.

[squiggit]

picaroon is sadly pretty bad. The level 1 feature is nice at the start, but losing your swift and panache to avoid provoking hurts and once you can grab sword and pistol it doesn't do anything for you... keep in mind though that you can't full attack in the first place at that level range though, so it loses value in that regard too.
Quick Clear is pretty standard and good, so whatever.
Gun Feint requires a lot of feats to get mileage out of (and improved feint, which is a gateway feat for most feint feats, does nothing for you)
Lightning Reload does literally nothing to alleviate the problem of reloading while dual wielding.
Finesse and TWF for free is awesome though.

Oh and you'd need a feat for medium armor or a dip for that build, since you mentioned that in the OP. I guess it's kinda usable though as long as you remember that most of your class features aren't going to do much for you. In fact I'd probably just dip it for the two free feats and extra panache if anything.


You're going to need gun twirling, which means you'll need its prereqs, which means this style doesn't really come online until around 3-5 level.
Gun Twirling actually does nothing at all to help someone who's going for a sword/pistol build as it only lets you holster guns as a free action. You need to sheathe your sword to reload with your off hand.

So... be a vanara or tiefling with prehensile tail and make sure your DM is okay with that. Or have your DM come up with some other way to make this work, because as written there's basically no way for a sword/pistol character to reload their gun.

[Triskavanski]

Unless your sword is also a gun.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Hmm. If you can somehow get your hands on a revolver, going Savage Technologist barbarian with a one-level dip in Guntank gunslinger might work. Guntank for armor proficiency and gun-related maintenance abilities, with SavTech the rest of the way to actually go sword and gun.

[Th3N3xtGuy]

Hmm. If you can somehow get your hands on a revolver, going Savage Technologist barbarian with a one-level dip in Guntank gunslinger might work. Guntank for armor proficiency and gun-related maintenance abilities, with SavTech the rest of the way to actually go sword and gun.

Well I would only use this character in a steampunk/industrial revolution type of setting so revolver wouldn't be a problem (the first revolver patent was submitted in 1835 so its not a far stretch). I was looking at Gun Tank but Pistolero looked promising as well. But a two level dip in SavTech seems the easiest way to get the sword and gun feat.

On another note how I plan on fighting with this guy is use pistol until forced to melee then use sword and if I have bullets left in the chamber use them.

[Triskavanski]

One thing I'd say is that the Gun Twirling looks like it could help you, but its possible the way you want to do it is having your main hand be a gun-cane blade. That alone should help you much right there, is the blade would count for a 1h firearm.

[N. Jolly]

Gun Twirling actually does nothing at all to help someone who's going for a sword/pistol build as it only lets you holster guns as a free action. You need to sheathe your sword to reload with your off hand.

...I feel like I forgot this, although I don't know if you need a gun in hand to reload it, so depending on that, it COULD work in a very stupid way.

It's still kind of annoying, I mean you could go 2 levels of juggler bard to do this too, the savage technologist way, although really the best way to melee/gun is with a cestus/unarmed strike. The idea of dual wielding dagger pistols with either of the above or gun twirling would look pretty sick too.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Well I would only use this character in a steampunk/industrial revolution type of setting so revolver wouldn't be a problem (the first revolver patent was submitted in 1835 so its not a far stretch). I was looking at Gun Tank but Pistolero looked promising as well. But a two level dip in SavTech seems the easiest way to get the sword and gun feat.

On another note how I plan on fighting with this guy is use pistol until forced to melee then use sword and if I have bullets left in the chamber use them.

I recommended guntank because you mentioned medium armor, since neither normal gunslingers nor savage technologists gain medium armor. Savage technologist is actually one of the better gun-oriented archetypes, because they actually get the dex-to-damage at the same time as gunslingers, even if it is conditional; while the archetype offers support for sword-and-gun, it functions just as well as a mostly-ranged character. The only thing it lacks is the chassis to actually maintain his firearms that the gunslinger has... which you can get for a one-level dip. The archetype itself doesn't even really need the feat, as long as you rage while attacking.

[Crake]

So... be a vanara or tiefling with prehensile tail and make sure your DM is okay with that. Or have your DM come up with some other way to make this work, because as written there's basically no way for a sword/pistol character to reload their gun.

Just make sure the gun has a big enough clip to mean you don't NEED to reload until the combat is over. A revolver has 6 shots to begin with after all.

[Th3N3xtGuy]

Just make sure the gun has a big enough clip to mean you don't NEED to reload until the combat is over. A revolver has 6 shots to begin with after all.

Yeah which is why I'm fine with not having to reload if in melee. Plus I have a sword maybe two shots left in the chamber is fine. The guy is Shoot range until I get charged then use sword and whatever I have in the chamber. Maybe a autoloader mod if the DM allows it for later game.

Which bring me to my Second point So I was thinking 13 pistolero/2 Slayer/5 Swordlord(for melee competence)not necessarily picked up in that order.

[grarrrg]

Which bring me to my Second point So I was thinking 13 pistolero/2 Slayer/5 Swordlord(for melee competence)not necessarily picked up in that order.

Why Pistolero level 13? 12 is a great stopping point. All 13 gets you is +1 damage with Pistols. 15 is also a solid stopping point. But 13 and 14 are just full of "eh".

Slayer is fine enough, but 2 levels isn't going to get you all that much.

And Swordlord? Why? You lose Armor Training for +1 AC when making a Full Attack. And you lose Weapon Training (and thereby also Weapon Training Boosters (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/e-g/gloves-of-dueling)) in exchange for...being able to do (nerfed) damage on Disarm attempts... yeah...no...
In this case I'd say even straight-Fighter is better.
(unless you somehow meant the Swordlord PrC in which case...HECK NO!)

[RedMetal]

Why Pistolero level 13? 12 is a great stopping point. All 13 gets you is +1 damage with Pistols. 15 is also a solid stopping point. But 13 and 14 are just full of "eh".

It used to be that at level 13, Pistoleros and Musket Masters ignored misfire chances with one & two handed firearms respectively. Though apparently they changed that in the last printing of Ultimate Combat.

[avr]

A couple of levels of Juggler Bard makes reloading possible. Then you want dex to damage with the gun which you can do with 5 levels either of savage technologist barbarian or of most archetypes of gunslinger. The first is better for someone in close combat, though you'll want the amateur gunslinger feat to avoid misfires.

Tracking is covered by the survival skill (not hard), medium armor use by the barbarian, though you'll want to pick a couple of bard spells which you can cast far enough in advance to change into and out of your armor when using them.

Past that point you could stick with the barbarian, get the Endurance feat and go into horizon walker, or go into a feat-rich class to keep up with all the melee and ranged feats that you can want.

[Th3N3xtGuy]

Why Pistolero level 13? 12 is a great stopping point. All 13 gets you is +1 damage with Pistols. 15 is also a solid stopping point. But 13 and 14 are just full of "eh".

Slayer is fine enough, but 2 levels isn't going to get you all that much.

And Swordlord? Why? You lose Armor Training for +1 AC when making a Full Attack. And you lose Weapon Training (and thereby also Weapon Training Boosters (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/e-g/gloves-of-dueling)) in exchange for...being able to do (nerfed) damage on Disarm attempts... yeah...no...
In this case I'd say even straight-Fighter is better.
(unless you somehow meant the Swordlord PrC in which case...HECK NO!)


A couple of levels of Juggler Bard makes reloading possible. Then you want dex to damage with the gun which you can do with 5 levels either of savage technologist barbarian or of most archetypes of gunslinger. The first is better for someone in close combat, though you'll want the amateur gunslinger feat to avoid misfires.

Tracking is covered by the survival skill (not hard), medium armor use by the barbarian, though you'll want to pick a couple of bard spells which you can cast far enough in advance to change into and out of your armor when using them.

Past that point you could stick with the barbarian, get the Endurance feat and go into horizon walker, or go into a feat-rich class to keep up with all the melee and ranged feats that you can want.

I'm trying to avoid more then two non-PrC. But I did look into classes that would have feat rich. So I thought 12 Gunslinger/ 8 Fighter not necessarily in that order get 5 extra bonus feat by the time I reach lvl 8 fighter. Then I can pick up Quick Draw, Weapon Juggling, Endurance and Sword and Pistol along the way somewhere.

[Secret Wizard]

Cestus + Pistol works perfectly fine.

Best class to try out this strategy is probably Trench Fighter, Savage Technologist Barbarian or some sort of Warpriest.

[Eldaran]

Mixed Combat (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/feats/mixed-combat-combat) would let you reload just fine, and is also useful for shooting people in the face.

[Ravens_cry]

Sword and Pistol (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/sword-and-pistol-combat) is a first party Pathfinder feat that does at least some of what you want.