Gunslinging Subclasses for 5e

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

We all know, or probably should know, that 5e has both guns as a weapon in the DMG and the Gunsmith as a subclass for the Artificer, which WoTC plans to release officially as soon as they feel all the bugs have been ironed out on DM's Guild.

But... I've been thinking. We all know that D&D is not the kind of game that likes to let guns "stand out" by just being the best possible option, and most of its fanbase doesn't like that idea much either. At the same time, though, it becomes hard to really feel like guns are anything more than window dressing.

In Pathfinder, this is kind of resolved by the existence of the Gunslinger class, and "gunner archetypes" like the Holy Gun Paladin, which makes firearms more meaningful and more controllable by placing access more firmly under DM control.

So, I was wondering: could 5th edition pull off creating gunslinging subclasses? Make guns stand out as more than just a flavorful alternative for Archery Fighters & Rangers?

If you think so, I'd love to hear your ideas on what possible subclasses they could add for more gunslinging orientated campaigns, and how they can function. All I have personally are loose ideas for a "Gun Fuist" themed Monk and a Gun Mage Wizard.

[sflame56]

Its mostly just balancing guns compared to other ranged weapons and make it a valid option with pros and cons. With guns all I can think of is a reloading mechanic that takes a full action to reload after shooting but the weapons have high damage and fixed damage bonus. So if a proficient fighter picks one up, but they mostly all melee, if they ever need a ranged attack this would help with that and allows both dex and str characters equal use to it. Compared to bows you don't need an amazing dex mod while with crossbows they reload at a faster rate. A ranger would rather use a bow then a gun but a rouge might see some potential in it if they enjoy a more in your face fighting style then range.

For a class that use these as a primary weapon then they might be forced to use a bonus action to reload but as they level up they increase the damage of the weapon and can add benefits to it. They shouldn't get extra attack though and act more like a rouge. One shot one kill type of mentality. A gunslinger that is a mage should also be able to cast spells through their gun at longer ranges and add special effects to them. Maybe make aoes single target but increase damage or have them reroll 1s and 2s. A way to balance the amazing spells would be adding a limited supply for it every short rest like how bladesingers gain back bladesong uses.

The idea of a gunslinger would be quite fun and could add an interesting dynamic to the game. I would love to play one and see how interesting they can make guns work.

[miburo]

I had a thread specifically on Arcane Gunslinging last week (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527505-Arcane-Gunslinger). My thought there was that a reflavored Arcane Archer (from the UA on revised subclasses) makes a really good arcane gunslinger. You get some awesome arcane shot abilities which can be flavored as different types of magic bullets or similar.

Otherwise both Battlemaster Fighter and (revised) Hunter Ranger make pretty good gunslingers. Assassin Rogue could as well (although guns and stealth may not go to well together). Paladins not so much as smiting is melee only, but you could probably build a subclass that takes care of that. Similarly Warlocks with EB make good gunslingers out of the box, and with the various UA invocations you can customize it even further.

The only major piece of homebrew you need is a way to get around the loading property of the guns (1/ shot per round) for classes with iterative attacks. Easiest way is to reskin the Crossbow Expert feat as a "Firearms Expert" or similar. I would consider changing the bonus action attack part as that might be too powerful for pistols when compared to hand crossbows. I would probably change it to work only with a melee attack, to get that piratey sword-and-pistol feel going. Maybe something like this:

Firearms Expert
- You gain proficiency with firearms.
- You ignore the loading quality of firearms with which you are proficient.
- When using a one-handed firearm, being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn’t impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
- When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed melee weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a one-handed firearm you are holding.

[Limited Gish]

Middle Finger of Vecna has a pretty dope set of gunslinging classes in their Weird West update. Including a gunslinger base class. I'm currently playing a gun smith Craftsman (another of their classes) on Mondays. It's pretty great.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Ooh, I can contribute to this conversation! I made a gun-based roguish archetype (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20446429&postcount=122) a while back. It always struck me that rogues would be one of the first classes to adopt guns when they enter a setting.

The balance could probably take another look, but I never intended it to be a particularly serious class, given the context.


It's pretty great.

Yay, glad you like them!

The 'school of black powder' gun mage in that book is my design, so if anyone's curious about how I'd approach arcane gunslinger subclasses, that's the place to look. I should note, though, that we dispensed with the 'guns should be balanced against classic weapons' idea and wrote a whole setting around the assumption that most people would have guns. So maybe that's not for everyone.