Gestalt Character: Ranged/Minion? (suggestions and alternates welcome)

[RedWarlock]

I'm playing in a gestalt game on Friday night, starting from level 1. It's been a while since I've played, and this group tends to be kind of high-competition. (Not exactly high-optimization, but anything helps.) Previous non-gestalt games with them, I played a Hunter/Soulknife, a merfolk Magus (Eldritch Scion), and Goblin Alchemist (Winged Marauder). The last one was interesting, but didn't last longer than a session or two. (DM and I had some falling out, thus why I've not played in a while.) Would prefer to not repeat, in general.

My leading idea is a Strix Summoner mixed with Gunslinger. Losing out on unique favored class benefits, but not a huge loss. The Eidolon would probably be something melee-centric. The Mysterious Stranger archetype unites the grit and spellcasting stat under Charisma, though I'm open to other ideas.

Strix is honestly my favorite race in PF, so I'd like to stick with that if possible, but I'm open to interesting options. (I prefer monstrous or irregularly-shaped races, generally, or if not that, then classes that become more monstrous, like the sorc bloodline mutations or the barbarian beastial rage traits.) Class-wise, the Vigilante, Alchemist, Witch, and Arcanist all sound like they'd be fun (and the casterish ones might make decent replacements for the summoner since Strix hits -cha), but it's a matter of figuring out a good functional gestalt that doesn't overlap too heavily on non-stacking benefits, while still keeping usable ability scores on the upper end. I don't want to dual-caster if I can avoid it.

As far as I know, psionics and other 3rd party is generally off the table (otherwise I'd be considering trying a Spheres caster mixed in there..). Occult casters haven't been mentioned, we're assuming legal, though it hasn't really caught my eye. (Would a gestalt be a good place to shore up the deficits of the Kineticist?)

Two traits. Ability scores: "18 18 16 16 14 12, arranged as you see fit. You may subtract 4 from any stat to add 2 to any other stat, although no stat can be increased more than once this way." If justified using backstory, I can take one 3.5 flaw for a bonus feat. Considering Strix flight, I've got some ideas there (slow), but I'm not overly-concerned.

[Geddy2112]

I like the idea of the gunslinger summoner-have your eidolon fight in combat and fly around shooting things from the sky. With mysterious stranger you get a really strong mesh, but you could go vanilla with that stat array-gunslingers don't need all that much grit, and it regenerates fairly quickly. Also, if you are eidolon focused you won't be summoning that many monsters, and if you don't use a lot of spells that have save's then again, you don't need that much charisma. For being a strix, I would replace suspicious with tough, fort saves are more important than reflex, you are dex based, and illusions are not all that common.

You get a good mesh of skills between summoner/gunslinger, full BAB on a half BAB class, and all good saves. Using a gun, only having light armor, and being a god stat, your most important ability score is dexterity, so I would put an 18 there, making it 20 with your racial bonus. Even with high dex, d10HD and good fort saves con is important for everyone, I would put a 16 here. Summoners are CHA based, so put your other 18 here; a 16 is strong early game and you don't need it as much as you are using more eidolon and less summon monster. You get 4 ranks/level, but you have a lot of useful skills so 16 int is probably your best bet.

If you go mysterious stranger, you don't need wis at all. Lucky boosts your will saves, and the summoner is strong off the bat, so put your 12 there. You could even dump it to 8 and boost your dexterity. At level 1 encumberance matters-armor and a gun alone is a lot of crap to haul, so a 14 strength is not bad. If you have a party mule, you can dump this to 10 and boost cha to 18. If you go nilla slinger, 14 wis is enough to have 2 grit points, and 12 strength is probably sufficient to carry at least your weapon and armor.

At first level you need point blank shot, as it is prereq for precise shot. Try to pick off enemies not in combat with your allies, although aiming for touch at level 1 you should be able to hit them even with a -4. With 20/22 dex and your full bab, you are still getting a +2/+3 to hit(+1 to that in 30 ft) and most touch AC's won't be above 12/13 at level 1. Against an enemy not engaged with allies, you are almost certain to hit. You could opt for rapid reload, giving you the option of shooting every turn, and it is needed to do so for a musket. With a pistol, using alchemical cartridges will get you down to a move action to reload. You get a bonus feat at level 4 meaning you can grab point blank at 3 and precise shot at 4. Otherwise grab precise at 3 and rapid reload at 4.

For your eidolon, pick whatever flavor of killer monster quadraped you want, and load it up with beefy natural attacks and powers a la carte. If the thing dies, start summoning monsters. You need to know the spell rejuvinate eidolon, as it only comes back with half HP if dropped to zero, and otherwise cannot heal normally. Guidance is a really strong cantrip as you can spam it for +1 in any situation, as is detect magic. Pick whatever other cantrips and spells you like.

For skills, you have all knowledge skills so you could go party textbook. It is probably eventually worth putting a rank in all of them, but pick one or two to max out over the course of the game, depending on your party. With gunslinger getting intimidate and a decent CHA, you could consider maxing that. Get the +2 from your race by replacing nocturnal with frightening. Max bluff if you wanna be a face but it is not required. You need a rank in fly and to keep adding ranks until you can always pass a DC15 to hover(a +14 modifier). You want a rank in craft(alchemy) to make alchemical cartridges(just requires a rank, no check). UMD is a good skill to max out, 3 ranks in acrobatics gives you poor man's combat expertise, perception maxed of course, and then 1 rank in the rest of the skills for the class skill bonus when you can.

For traits, consider rich parents to make your gun masterwork and get nicer swag, but not required. Reactionary is +2 initiative and arguably the best trait in the game. If you go mysterious stranger, grab irrepressible, as it allows you to use CHA instead of WIS for charm and compulsion saves. Otherwise grab a class skill or a trait to boost your will or whatever.

[Psyren]

The Cha penalty isn't a dealbreaker (especially with stats like that) - but personally I would avoid it by going Spiritualist instead of Summoner. This is a Wis-based pet class rather than Cha-based, granting you a Phantom instead of an Eidolon. In addition, Gunslinger is natively also Wis-based, so you aren't forced into Mysterious Stranger and can pick another archetype instead. Psychic Spellcasting means you can have both hands occupied (e.g. dual-wielding) and still cast spells.

[RedWarlock]

The Cha penalty isn't a dealbreaker (especially with stats like that) - but personally I would avoid it by going Spiritualist instead of Summoner. This is a Wis-based pet class rather than Cha-based, granting you a Phantom instead of an Eidolon. In addition, Gunslinger is natively also Wis-based, so you aren't forced into Mysterious Stranger and can pick another archetype instead. Psychic Spellcasting means you can have both hands occupied (e.g. dual-wielding) and still cast spells.

Yeah, but I lose out on the cool creature construction aspect. Phantom loses out by being just a ghost, whereas I like monstrous creatures.

[Ellrin]

I'd like to point to druid//gunslinger as another alternative. Your animal companion isn't as good as a summoner's eidolon, certainly, and SNA can't quite match summon monster, but you become pretty exclusively Wis/Dex dependent, and can still litter the battlefield with bodies and other impediments. You can also dump Wild Shape (you can fly anyway, and you can't fire a gun in wild shape) in favor of the Nature Fang archetype, which gives you access to slayer talents every two levels (starting at fourth), meaning you get feats galore, and can get early access to important ranged feats via Ranger Combat Styles. You also get a slayer's studied target to add some much needed per hit damage bonuses to your gunslinging.

[RedWarlock]

It could work. I was hesitant to repeat the Hunter too much, but I could see that working.. Better casting, too.

[RedWarlock]

So here's what I settled on. Still need to actually sheet him up, but that's going to happen on paper. (I have no laptop right now, just my cellphone.)

Kila’skorazzilak, or “Skoraz” (SKOR-azz)

CN Strix Gunslinger//Druid (Nature Fang), with Allosaurus companion

Homebrew Origin bonus: Fey Pact (variation of the Infernal pact, familiar gains the Fey creature template instead of Fiendish template), Archaeopteryx familiar

Backstory
As a young boy of around 7 years (around 10-12 in human years) on a hunting trip in the Devil’s Perch, he was separated from his group in a raging, days-long storm. Lost, hungry, and frightened, he was discovered by a Chelish human and his companions, who offered him food, a warm bed, and regaled him with stories of far-off lands with magic, monsters, and treasure.

Of course, it was a trap.

The next morning, he awoke to find an enchanted collar locked around his neck, and his hands, feet, and wings bound. The collar was linked to a similar wristband worn by the Chelish adventurer who had ‘saved' him from the storm; the enchantment which bound him kept him from harming the human or escaping beyond a few hundred feet. His new master, Brevan Arkarios, was a thief, treasure-seeker, and gunslinger. He used the boy for scouting, as distraction for thievery, and as a manservant at home.

Several years later, as they traveled into the heavy jungles of the Mwangi Expanse, looking for lost treasures and rare dinosaur hides, Skoraz noticed they were being watched by a strange, colorful toothed bird, which had been following them for the last day or so, possibly longer. He even saw the bird in his dreams, where it spoke to him. It was a great fey spirit, it claimed, curse-bound to the body of an Archaeopteryx. It would give him power, it claimed, and freedom, if he would but agree to a pact with it. He was wary of freeing himself from one captor, only to sell himself into the service of another, but he was desperate.

Having watched his master use the firearm to do amazing deeds, Skoraz needed little instruction in how to use the weapon. As he jammed the nose of the gun under Brevan’s jaw, he looked his captor in the eye as the man desperately grabbed for his useless trinket, but the explosive boom of the weapon shattering the man’s skull brought him no joy.

The fey spirit taught him many things, strange, primal magics, the secrets of the dinosaurs and plants of the prehistoric jungle, but he was a long way from home. Even if he traveled across the sea, searched for his people, by the time he did make his way back to his people’s harsh homeland, who would be left? He had long lost the bones of his ancestors, discarded by the Chelish thief as garbage years before. Would his tribe remember him, or treat him as an outsider to be feared?

We also have a mini-questionnaire to fill out, which nets you a bonus feat and a handy haversack with the DM's approval (at level 1, no less!)

1. How would you describe your character's outlook on life?
Skoraz is lost, both in location and in mind. He looks to find a new purpose, a new drive. He could go home, but he fears the worst result, that they would recoil in horror at who he has become.

He has an instinctual hatred of humans, though he’s learned to temper that feeling into just disliking humans of Chelish descent. Other races are a mystery to him; while he’s travelled amongst them, found his way to (wherever we are now), he still has trouble understanding the customs of others. He sees anything beyond the most utilitarian activity as needless ritual. (Magic is different, as it has explicit purpose in controlling the supernatural forces.)

Strix have no major religions beyond ancestor worship, and under Brevan’s control, his exposure to Cheliax’s Asmodean faith was nothing short of horrific.

2. What kind of Legacy would your character like to leave?
In his wildest dreams, he would see the nation of Cheliax destroyed, and his people granted control of the ruins, if they would take it. (His more-rational memories recall that his people desired only isolation, not power over their oppressors, but it is a WILD fantasy...)

In his less-wild fantasies, he remembers the oral traditions, the mythical Syrinx masters who led their people to glorious ascendancy, before they were divinely cursed and banished to Cheliax. Perhaps those stories are true? Maybe these masked lords could be found, and his people led out of their cursed exile?

3. What kinds of things does your character like.
Sweet fruit is his favorite treat, but he prefers to stay lean, so he knows to not over-indulge. He enjoys flying, as the collar he used to wear limited the distance he was allowed to travel, which made soaring for relaxation entirely impossible.

He enjoys music, especially drums and trilling flutes which remind him of the music of his lost home. He winces around sharp notes from bowed string instruments, like violins, which were Brevan’s favorites, though long, gliding notes have reminded him of flying.

4. What sorts of things are your character best at?
For all that the human who owned him was an abusive, manipulative monster, Skoraz did wonder at his acrobatic gunplay. Perhaps the only reason he kept the man’s weapon after freeing himself, learning how to use it with great skill.

Skoraz has also learned to hide himself, disguising his wings as a mantled cloak while in humanoid settlements, to avoid drawing suspicion. (Bonus feat reward for this questionnaire: Cloak of Feathers, Inner Sea Monster Codex, p53)

5. Why does your character go adventuring?
Skoraz feels he is tarnished by his slavery, and he seeks to redeem himself before he would head home. He needs great deeds to rebuild his mental self-image, to make himself worthy of walking into his long-lost village after all these years.

6. What friends or family are important to your character (if any)?
He lost contact with his family years ago. If he ever did make his way back into the mountains of his homeland, he doesn’t know if they would recognize him as one of their own.

As for friends, he’s made few, if any, humanoid contacts of personal note, though there are those who might view his relationship with them as more connected from their perspective. (Open to interpretation, former traveling companions might consider him a good friend, whereas he simply considers them non-disagreeable associates. Feel free to invent or connect prior companions.)

And of course, there’s his animal companion, a young Allosaurus he’s still figuring out the true name (and gender) of, though for now he calls it “Egg". In his tribe's tradition, animals earn a name other than their species moniker by a major deed the beast accomplishes, to avoid becoming attached to a likely-food animal.