How would you go about building a Gun weilding Necromancer?

[Zayol]

Was thinking of a character concept for a gun weilding Necromancer using legal classes, and was wondering how you guys would build one.

I was thinking maybe something along the lines of a battlesmith Artificer with some necromancer wizard levels.

anyways what would you all go for, feats and all?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Death domain Cleric maybe, you wouldn't need to multiclass since that gets martial weapon proficiency. In any case be sure to name him Vincent Godfrey (https://www.wowhead.com/npc=46964/lord-godfrey).

[Anymage]

What kind of guns?

If you want your guns to be a meaningful part of your character's combat capability, you're going to need some artificer(artillerist) levels. Your cannon can be quite easily fluffed as a gun.

If you want a gun as a backup weapon and are high enough level that you have no problem buying expensive mundane equipment, ask your DM about the renaissance weapons from the DMG. Some people dislike firearms thematically, but they're just slightly better and much pricier crossbows. Note that if you go this route, ask yourself how often your average mage uses their crossbow once they have a few levels under their belt.

[Zayol]

What kind of guns?

If you want your guns to be a meaningful part of your character's combat capability, you're going to need some artificer(artillerist) levels. Your cannon can be quite easily fluffed as a gun.

If you want a gun as a backup weapon and are high enough level that you have no problem buying expensive mundane equipment, ask your DM about the renaissance weapons from the DMG. Some people dislike firearms thematically, but they're just slightly better and much pricier crossbows. Note that if you go this route, ask yourself how often your average mage uses their crossbow once they have a few levels under their belt.

im thinking of probably Pistol, focus mostly on necromancy spells until he can start animating the dead, going battle smith allows for INT for dmg rolls and to hit rolls over dex.

Death domain cleric could be cool, but he wouldnt be able to maintain his guns like an artificer could. and would needto spread his stats around more.

Going Battle smith i would only need to focus mostly on INT and CON.

Artillerist from what I have read is more you craft a cannon on an empty space and you can only craft one per long rest.

Eldritch Cannon
Cannon Activation
Flamethrower The cannon exhales fire in an adjacent 15-foot cone that you designate. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC, taking 2d8 fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one. The fire ignites any flammable objects in the area that aren’t being worn or carried.
Force Ballista Make a ranged spell attack, originating from the cannon, at one creature or object within 120 feet of it. On a hit, the target takes 2d8 force damage, and if the target is a creature, it is pushed up to 5 feet away from the cannon.
Protector The cannon emits a burst of positive energy that grants itself and each creature of your choice within 10 feet of it a number of temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
refluffing any of these to being a carriable weapon would be kind of op lol

[Anymage]

At 3rd level, you learn how to create a magical cannon. Using woodcarver's tools or smith's tools, you can take an action to magically create a Small or Tiny eldritch cannon in an unoccupied space on a horizontal surface within 5 feet of you. A Small eldritch cannon occupies its space, and a Tiny one can be held in one hand.

Once you create a cannon, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest. or until you expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher. You can have only one cannon at a time and can't create one while your cannon is present. The cannon is a magical object ... It disappears if it is reduced to 0 hit points or after 1 hour. You can dismiss it early as an action.

When you create the cannon, you determine its appearance and whether it has legs. You also decide which type it is, choosing from the options on the Eldritch Cannon table. On each of your turns, you can take a bonus action to cause the cannon to activate if you are within 60 feet of it. As part of the same bonus action, you can direct the cannon to walk or climb up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space, provided it has legs.

A tiny, handheld cannon can look like a gun and be fired with a bonus action. You'll need to burn slots for guns after the first, but bonus action shots means you can squeeze them off even while casting proper spells.

If you just want a gun as a backup weapon instead of the more traditional cantrips, just make Dex your second priority and ask your DM if you could come from somewhere with renaissance tech. Investing much past that runs into the problem that the attack action to shoot at things competes with all the other things that spellcasters like to use their actions for.

[Zayol]

At 3rd level, you learn how to create a magical cannon. Using woodcarver's tools or smith's tools, you can take an action to magically create a Small or Tiny eldritch cannon in an unoccupied space on a horizontal surface within 5 feet of you. A Small eldritch cannon occupies its space, and a Tiny one can be held in one hand.

Once you create a cannon, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest. or until you expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher. You can have only one cannon at a time and can't create one while your cannon is present. The cannon is a magical object ... It disappears if it is reduced to 0 hit points or after 1 hour. You can dismiss it early as an action.

When you create the cannon, you determine its appearance and whether it has legs. You also decide which type it is, choosing from the options on the Eldritch Cannon table. On each of your turns, you can take a bonus action to cause the cannon to activate if you are within 60 feet of it. As part of the same bonus action, you can direct the cannon to walk or climb up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space, provided it has legs.

A tiny, handheld cannon can look like a gun and be fired with a bonus action. You'll need to burn slots for guns after the first, but bonus action shots means you can squeeze them off even while casting proper spells.

If you just want a gun as a backup weapon instead of the more traditional cantrips, just make Dex your second priority and ask your DM if you could come from somewhere with renaissance tech. Investing much past that runs into the problem that the attack action to shoot at things competes with all the other things that spellcasters like to use their actions for.

ok, I misinformed you on the theme I am looking for, I am looking more for a gunslinger type character with necromancer abilities. so he would focus more on shooting things after he has animated undead and such.

[Lavaeolus]

Now, guns are an optional rule, so we do need to keep some things in mind. I'm taking the assumption here that we'll be using the Renaissance firearms, and you're leaning towards the pistol.

First, firearm proficiency is kind of left up to the DM. I don't think that a Wizard would get it, and I'm pretty sure a Fighter should -- but the call would ultimately be down to your DM. They're technically martial weapons, but the DMG also says that characters in many D&D worlds wouldn't have proficiency with them anyhow. Secondly, a firearm is not a crossbow, and so by default the important features of Crossbow Expert cannot be assumed to work with it.

Fortunately, Artificers synergise with pistols and muskets pretty well:

They're specifically said to get firearm proficiency using the DMG rules, so long as they've "been exposed to the operation of such weapons".
Repeating Shot gets rid of loading and prevents you from having to buy bullets, which are more expensive than arrows or bolts. For pistols, it means your free hand is, well, freer.

Drop the necromantic requirement and a Fighter X / Artificer 2 is, as an example, a powerful gunman build, although Artificer is less necessary if your DM lets you take advantage of Crossbow Expert or an equivalent homebrew feat.

Both Artillerist and Battle Smith can work. Artillerist best serves as a gunslinger as an alternative to the usual firearm rules. They can carry around their cannon if it's Tiny-sized, which allows them to essentially use it as, well, a gun. You could flavour it as occasionally pulling out a second gun, except this one is more maintenance heavy... but can also shoot fire or heal people, a fair trade-off. It's a magic gun! Their arcane firearm also allows them to fling destructive spells through a gun-like device. Your actual pistol might feel pretty ancillary, though.

Battle Smith, meanwhile, will do less damage per turn but synergise better with the specific Renaissance firearm rules. You'll get Extra Attack, your pistol will eventually do a bit of extra damage, and you'll be able to sacrifice DEX when attacking with your pistol. You'll also get a robo-dog and some extra support spells -- which, hey, if you're not going to be taking advantage of many destructive spells, maybe you'll at least get some mileage out of these.

Unfortunately, the Wizard's School of Necromancy doesn't start directly enhancing undead-summoning until Wizard 6. So could we drop it? Alas, any Artificer won't get us the necromancy spells we want. We'll need to get to at least Wizard 5 before we get to start picking up some good ol' undead-raising spells. Wizards, being full casters, are also even less suited to shooting people over focusing on spellflinging than Artificer is. If we're starting at a really high level, maybe this isn't a problem, maybe we can start at Artificer 5 / Wizard 5 -- but otherwise it'll take a while for us to come online. If we're happy with just the low-level necromancy spells, however, this is less of a problem, and Artificer will be able to grab a spell or two of those themselves.

Weighing that up in mind, delaying Battle Smith 5 would probably sting more than Artillerist 5, but Artillerist could mean more DEX investment. For what it's worth, the Death Domain Cleric might get firearm proficiency, as they gain proficiency with martial weapons, but while they have some bonuses to their weapon attacks they're still a full caster like any Cleric. I could consider starting as one and then later taking Fighter levels, but it's also slow to come online -- and it won't RAW overcome firearms' loading issue, if you wanted to take advantage of Fighter's Extra Attack.

[Dr. Cliché]

Do the guns have to be 'real', or would you settle for some Warlock levels, re-flavouring Eldritch Blast as you firing a couple of magical pistols?

[Zayol]

Now, guns are an optional rule, so we do need to keep some things in mind. I'm taking the assumption here that we'll be using the Renaissance firearms, and you're leaning towards the pistol.

First, firearm proficiency is kind of left up to the DM. I don't think that a Wizard would get it, and I'm pretty sure a Fighter should -- but the call would ultimately be down to your DM. They're technically martial weapons, but the DMG also says that characters in many D&D worlds wouldn't have proficiency with them anyhow. Secondly, a firearm is not a crossbow, and so by default the important features of Crossbow Expert cannot be assumed to work with it.

Fortunately, Artificers synergise with pistols and muskets pretty well:

They're specifically said to get firearm proficiency using the DMG rules, so long as they've "been exposed to the operation of such weapons".
Repeating Shot gets rid of loading and prevents you from having to buy bullets, which are more expensive than arrows or bolts. For pistols, it means your free hand is, well, freer.

Drop the necromantic requirement and a Fighter X / Artificer 2 is, as an example, a powerful gunman build, although Artificer is less necessary if your DM lets you take advantage of Crossbow Expert or an equivalent homebrew feat.

Both Artillerist and Battle Smith can work. Artillerist best serves as a gunslinger as an alternative to the usual firearm rules. They can carry around their cannon if it's Tiny-sized, which allows them to essentially use it as, well, a gun. You could flavour it as occasionally pulling out a second gun, except this one is more maintenance heavy... but can also shoot fire or heal people, a fair trade-off. It's a magic gun! Their arcane firearm also allows them to fling destructive spells through a gun-like device. Your actual pistol might feel pretty ancillary, though.

Battle Smith, meanwhile, will do less damage per turn but synergise better with the specific Renaissance firearm rules. You'll get Extra Attack, your pistol will eventually do a bit of extra damage, and you'll be able to sacrifice DEX when attacking with your pistol. You'll also get a robo-dog and some extra support spells -- which, hey, if you're not going to be taking advantage of many destructive spells, maybe you'll at least get some mileage out of these.

Unfortunately, the Wizard's School of Necromancy doesn't start directly enhancing undead-summoning until Wizard 6. So could we drop it? Alas, any Artificer won't get us the necromancy spells we want. We'll need to get to at least Wizard 5 before we get to start picking up some good ol' undead-raising spells. Wizards, being full casters, are also even less suited to shooting people over focusing on spellflinging than Artificer is. If we're starting at a really high level, maybe this isn't a problem, maybe we can start at Artificer 5 / Wizard 5 -- but otherwise it'll take a while for us to come online. If we're happy with just the low-level necromancy spells, however, this is less of a problem, and Artificer will be able to grab a spell or two of those themselves.

Weighing that up in mind, delaying Battle Smith 5 would probably sting more than Artillerist 5, but Artillerist could mean more DEX investment. For what it's worth, the Death Domain Cleric might get firearm proficiency, as they gain proficiency with martial weapons, but while they have some bonuses to their weapon attacks they're still a full caster like any Cleric. I could consider starting as one and then later taking Fighter levels, but it's also slow to come online -- and it won't RAW overcome firearms' loading issue, if you wanted to take advantage of Fighter's Extra Attack.

Thx for all that!
So yah we could def drop the necro lvls, I just thought the battle smith using int for attack could synergize well with another int class and of course wizard first popped to mind

Now I'm already in the process of discussing this build with my DM, and I would be using 1 pistol and to see if he would refluff xbow expert to pistol expert.

Now maybe some fighter dips could work and maybe pick eldritch knight at 3rd if I go that route.
I'm really set on taking Battle smith though and focus on infusing equipment for group and on that int to dmg and rolls, and also pick up some utility spells, such as that conjure barrage the battle smith gets (throw a bullet to have it multiply and hit all enemies in a 60ft cone, then on next turn cast animate object on 10 bullets in range would be a pretty neat combo)
Maybe see if I can focus on those fighter lvls as a dip instead of wizard or see if I cant refluff a blade singer wizard into a gunsinger if dm let's me.

[DrKerosene]

Do the guns have to be 'real', or would you settle for some Warlock levels, re-flavouring Eldritch Blast as you firing a couple of magical pistols?

Personally, I was thinking Warlock too, Fiend or Hexblade.

Refluff an arcane focus (wand) as a pistol, pick up a bunch of ray cantrips like Firebolt, Ray Of Frost, and obviously Eldritch Blast. Also Chill Touch if you don’t mind reflavoring it as a ray.

Warlocks can cast Danse Macabre, and Finger Of Death.

I figure you can pick other spells at various levels and pretend they’re special “ammunition”, like Hellish Rebuke being a quick revenge shot, Scorching Ray a burst fire, Fireball as a high-explosive “hot shot”, and Burning Hands could be a dragon’s breath shotgun round.

Though Hexblade’s Curse + Hex is solid, and Elemental Weapon is cool, if you’re using a Crossbow Expert build.

[Throne12]

First what level are you going to? Next is this just a thought build?

So if you stopping between 5th-10th I go with a bladesinger wizard with a hand crossbow/gun this gives all your wizard spells and you get extra attack. These are the big things you want.

Anything going pass 15th level I'll go with 5 levels of battlesmith artificer. Again crossbow with infusion of magical reload. You get extra attack use int as casting and attacking. Then go necromancer wizard. Easy build. Artillerist may sound like the sudclass to go with but it's a trap because you need your bonus action to command your squid of undead soldiers.