Cowboys in Dungeons?

[Zorahai]

(DM’s don’t let your players grow up to be cowboys!)

So I’ve been playing 5e for a bit and got curious if it would be possible to create a “cowboy” type character despite the lack of the iconic six-shooters and other Old West stuff. Now, I understand that home brew can make anything but I’m curious about working within the rules first.

Currently, I’ve been tinkering with DEXTERITY based fighters but I’m open to other ideas.

Feats that’s I think would work well include:

Crossbow Expert
Duel Wielder
Sharp Shooter
Mounted Combatant (may not be needed if going with Cavalier archetype)

Skills (In general for a cowboy type):
Perception
Animal Handling
Survival
Athletics
Acrobatics

Weapons:
Hand Crossbow (obvious choice)
Any other crossbow (obvious again)
Scimitar (it’s finesse and could work while on a mount)
Whip (because it’s kinda cowboy and fun)

Race: Any but maybe ones with good Dex and either Wis or Con?


These are just my starting thoughts. What do you all think?

[Madfellow]

I'm currently dming Princes of the Apocalypse, which takes place in an old frontier, small town kind of place. One of my players is playing a gunslinging warlock, another is a drunken brawler, and another is a renegade wizard on the run from the law. The blend of DnD with Wild West themes works quite well, and I don't think it's really limited to one character build or concept.

[Zorahai]

I'm currently dming Princes of the Apocalypse, which takes place in an old frontier, small town kind of place. One of my players is playing a gunslinging warlock, another is a drunken brawler, and another is a renegade wizard on the run from the law. The blend of DnD with Wild West themes works quite well, and I don't think it's really limited to one character build or concept.

I understand that, but what I’m kinda thinking of doing is more of the iconic thought of a cowboy. I get that the Old West theming has tons of types of characters and you can make variations of them for D&D.

Also, how can a warlock be a gunslinger? Is it just using eldritch blasts like a hand gun or something?

[ImproperJustice]

Hey? Have you ever played Wild Arms on the Playstation? Especially 1 or 3?

What aspects of a Cowboy do you want to emphasize?

Their wilderness skill? Horsemanship? Lasso Use?
Gunplay?

It looks like you have a pretty good start.

Would your GM let you refluff a net or whip sonit could be used as a lasso?

Mounted Combat is a must. Could you refluff Cavalier for the master of the saddle in some way?
Like grab three levels in Fighter then go Swashbuckler or Kensai monk for that Cowboy swagger/ fist fighting/ gun play?

[samcifer]

(DM’s don’t let your players grow up to be cowboys!)

So I’ve been playing 5e for a bit and got curious if it would be possible to create a “cowboy” type character despite the lack of the iconic six-shooters and other Old West stuff. Now, I understand that home brew can make anything but I’m curious about working within the rules first.

Currently, I’ve been tinkering with DEXTERITY based fighters but I’m open to other ideas.

Feats that’s I think would work well include:

Crossbow Expert
Duel Wielder
Sharp Shooter
Mounted Combatant (may not be needed if going with Cavalier archetype)

Skills (In general for a cowboy type):
Perception
Animal Handling
Survival
Athletics
Acrobatics

Weapons:
Hand Crossbow (obvious choice)
Any other crossbow (obvious again)
Scimitar (it’s finesse and could work while on a mount)
Whip (because it’s kinda cowboy and fun)

Race: Any but maybe ones with good Dex and either Wis or Con?


These are just my starting thoughts. What do you all think?


You could re-skin the dagger as a knife as in the real wild west guns were rare and knife fights were much more common than shootouts as guns were expensive (as were bullets) and the guns weren't very accurate.

[samcifer]

Would your GM let you refluff a net or whip sonit could be used as a lasso?



When I made a gunsmith artificer, I took Rope of Climbing as one of my wondrous items and the dm let me use it like a lasso.

[Zorahai]

Hey? Have you ever played Wild Arms on the Playstation? Especially 1 or 3?

What aspects of a Cowboy do you want to emphasize?

Their wilderness skill? Horsemanship? Lasso Use?
Gunplay?

I haven’t played those games, but I’ll look them up.

As for aspects of cowboy I’m mainly thinking:

Horsemanship/ Riding Skill
Gun/Crossbow Play
Wilderness skill

There may be more in time, but those are just my first thoughts.


Mounted Combat is a must. Could you refluff Cavalier for the master of the saddle in some way?
Like grab three levels in Fighter then go Swashbuckler or Kensai monk for that Cowboy swagger/ fist fighting/ gun play?

What do you mean by refluffing to “master of the saddle”? As a cavalier the player has advantage to staying in the saddle of a mount. Am I missing something?

That multiclassing aspect is interesting though and I’ll play around with it. Thanks,


You could re-skin the dagger as a knife as in the real wild west guns were rare and knife fights were much more common than shootouts as guns were expensive (as were bullets) and the guns weren't very accurate.

I’m not really interested in making this “historically accurate” as I’m already abstracting the idea of a cowboy by putting it into D&D. What I’m kinda going for is the iconic thought of a cowboy which doesn’t always reflect what reality was back then.

Why would I need to re-skin a dagger as a knife? Knives exist in 5e but are mostly tools (at least I couldn’t find a table with stats for them). Plus, one might call the “dagger” a Bowie knife or something similar.

[Beelzebubba]

Nah, what you want is a Warlock

Eldritch Blast + spell focus is an iron metal rod with a wooden handle
= 6-shooter that never runs out of ammo, and gets more and more shots/power as he levels

Thorn Whip
= An actual whip

Find Familiar
= A hawk that follows him around

Create Bonfire
= Molotov cocktail

Thaumaturgy
= Creepy haunting harmonica noise when he walks in the room

You can go on and on with this.

[Madfellow]

Also, how can a warlock be a gunslinger? Is it just using eldritch blasts like a hand gun or something?

No, he has an actual musket (rules for which are in the DMG) as his pact weapon. He doesn't even have Eldritch Blast, as far as I know.

[MrWesson22]

Have you seen Matthew Mercer's gunslinger archetype for fighters?

[Grear Bylls]

Nah, what you want is a Warlock

Eldritch Blast + spell focus is an iron metal rod with a wooden handle
= 6-shooter that never runs out of ammo, and gets more and more shots/power as he levels

Thorn Whip
= An actual whip

Find Familiar
= A hawk that follows him around

Create Bonfire
= Molotov cocktail

Thaumaturgy
= Creepy haunting harmonica noise when he walks in the room

You can go on and on with this.

The last part is the most lit thing about this build

[Vogie]

UA actually had an Arcane Gunslinger invocation that allowed you to "create a pact weapon that is a sidearm or long arm, and you can transform a magical sidearm or long arm into your pact weapon" for blade pact warlocks.

Bladelocks can also summon, and gain automatic proficiency with, whips

Go raven queen warlock to get a faux-miliar even while being a bladelock

After 5 levels of RQ Bladepact warlock with Arcane gunslinger invocations, go Lore Bard! Harmonica-based Bardic inspirations, weaponized insults, and you can pick up find steed at Bard level 6. Now you're at 11.

And lastly, if you want to smooth everything out, but limit the spellcasting... Fighter 9! Most people would say use Champion for crit fishing or Battlemaster because it works for everything, but I'd suggest Scout. Or Monster Hunter, if it fits in the Campaign...