Matt Mercer Gunslinger or battlemaster fighter?

[curious-puzzle]

So one of my players was looking at the gunslinger archetype for an upcoming game, but I wasn't having any luck finding it as a module for Fantasy grounds Unity (found a module, but it's for classic and several of the comments state that wasn't working in Unity). Before I go figuring out how to make a custom version or something like that, though - would he possibly be better off playing a Battlemaster fighter instead, and can just swap something out for Firearms proficiency (like heavy armor)? The superiority dice and maneuvers seem like they function as well or better than the Grit and trick shots.

[Zhorn]

It's what I've always directed my players to if they've wanted to be a gunslinger.
Overall it's much less clunky to use a Battlemaster instead of Mercer's homebrew, and just forget about that misfire mechanics houserule completely.
Also, the Gunner feat now being official in Tasha's makes it simple to build into without swapping any proficiencies about. Though if you want to have it before the 4th level ASI it does limit you to V.Human or Custom Lineage for the 1st level feat. But using a heavy crossbow up till them isn't much of an issue, you'll not have Extra Attack yet anyway, and the damage is comparable.

[Amnestic]

Don't fighters already have proficiency with firearms as standard? They're a martial weapon. Gunner feat is still good for other reasons though.

[Zhorn]

Don't fighters already have proficiency with firearms as standard?
It's not a given, and in general not without DM permission.

Proficiency
It's up to you to decide whether a character has proficiency with a firearm. Characters in most D&D worlds wouldn't have such proficiency. During their downtime, characters can use the training rules in the Player's Handbook to acquire proficiency, assuming that they have enough ammunition to keep the weapons working while mastering their use.
One DM might read it as you do and agree that any martial weapon will be in the Fighter's wheelhouse, while another will rule that weapons not listed in the PHB are their own special proficiencies, and use that passage in the DMG as their justification.
Gunner feat on the other hand doesn't rely on such DM whims or permissions.

[Mastikator]

TBH if guns are the standard weapon for warriors then the martial classes should have them by default. The whole misfire thing makes them undesirable IMO, it's not even that powerful.

[Zhorn]

The whole misfire thing makes them undesirable IMO, it's not even that powerful.
From what I understand, Mercer put those in his Gunslinger homebrew because it was a carry over from Pathfinder, what their homegame was before it got ported over into 5e to become Critical Role.
I'd imagine if they were more familiar with the system at the time, Percy would have just been made into a Battlemaster and they wouldn't have bothered with the Gunslinger homebrew, but as it was they were looking for a closer 1-to-1 conversion on some things, and going by the PHB alone 5e didn't have a "Gunslinger" in the same fashion as Pathfinder. Hence Misfires, Grit points based on Wisdom, etc.

[zinycor]

While I completely think of the misfire as undesirable, for many (Including a fellow player) the chance for a misfire is exactly what they want.

Sane reasoning for picking wild magic Sorcerer. I wouldn't do it; but there are many who love the idea.

[Witty Username]

I favor official content, then home brew when an idea is untenable. Battle master is very flexible so I would probably use it over gunslinger, unless there was a mechanic that a player particularly wanted (I might steal the peeper-box for example).
I enjoy critical role but that doesn't mean the home brew is a good fit for your game.

On the subject on normal martial weapon vs gunner feat. I would call that based on availability. If guns are readily available, then they are normal martial weapons, if not (like say they are only available to a particular faction or the player is wanting to invent guns) then I would use the gunner feat or downtime.

Sidenote: I think I would be fine with people getting the gunner feat as part of downtime, or things like chef or poisoner. It may give some players an incentive to take downtime or something to occupy time when another player wants downtime.

[Gale]

I'm unfamiliar with the Gunslinger class's actual effectiveness. But someone wrote an article recently discussing how bad their misfire mechanic can affect them. Here's the link. (https://thinkdm.org/2021/03/06/gunslinger/)

I would strongly consider reading it over first before implementing the class into your game. If anything, consider toning it down so the misfire chance happens less often, or make repairing the weapon a resource-less bonus action at all levels.

[GearsX]

He can always grab a class such as artificer, they auto get prof in firearms plus u can get mending, so if the weapon breaks or something its an easy fix!

[curious-puzzle]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[Darthnazrael]

I'll actually suggest Option C: Samurai. With Elven Accuracy (assuming you're an elf) and a higher-than-medieval-weapons damage die, you can score some great crits. This only gets better with Piercer from Tasha's, later on. And the level subclass 7 feature makes for a suave, cool, and collected gunslinger.