Gunslinger
Gunslingers are, as the name implies, firearms experts. The slow advance of firearm technology out of Secord and Summerfall has grown a few schools of shooting. Some naturally gifted individuals pass their craft on from master to apprentice. Both manufacturers are generally willing to sell their older model weapons to trusted folks (although you’re not getting a coilgun out of Secord or a Spellshot out of Summerfall) and that exposure is slowly advancing the art of sharpshooting.
Armor: Gunslingers are trained in light armor. Heavy armor complicates reloading and doesn’t leave enough space for ammo junkies to carry reams of magazines. They're explicitly forbidden from using shields; Gunslingers more than most people are acutely aware of the limitations and drawbacks of carrying a plank around on your arm.
Weapons: Gunslingers are trained in every variation of firearm, including new ones as they’re developed. They’re also trained in short/medium melee weapons as holdouts or last resorts when (not if) the ammo runs out.
Grit: Gunslinger effects are driven by Grit, as opposed to Mana or Energy. Grit is mechanically identical to Energy but disambiguated here to avoid things like Energy Gems from falling into Gunslinger’s hands and turning a six-shot pistol into a railgun.
Class Feature:
Hard to Kill: Gunslingers that can’t take a hit don’t last long. Gunslingers treat any Kill or Slay effect delivered by voice, bullet, or packet as an un-mitigated Stun effect instead (by which we mean if you've engineered a way to be immune to Stun, HtK overrides this - you don't have to die but you're not walking away, either.). If you want to kill a Gunslinger, use a knife. Or an axe. Dealer’s choice.
Gunslinger Skills
| Category | Name | Prerequisite Skills | Skill Point Cost | Use Cost |
| Damage | ||||
| Accuracy +1 | 15 | - | ||
| Accuracy +2 | Accuracy +1 | 15 | - | |
| Accuracy +3 | Accuracy +2 | 15 | - | |
| Accuracy +4 | Accuracy +3 | 20 | - | |
| Accuracy +5 | Accuracy +4 | 20 | - | |
| Accuracy +6 | Accuracy +5 | 20 | - | |
| Grit (1-40) | 1 | |||
| Pistols | ||||
| Trickshot | 3 | 1 | ||
| Close Quarters | Trickshot | 3 | 3 | |
| Disabling Shot | Rapid Fire | 4 | 4 | |
| Covered Advance | Disabling Shot | 5 | 5 | |
| Rifles | ||||
| Piercing Shot | 3 | 2 | ||
| Called Shot | Piercing Shot | 3 | 2 | |
| Bull's Eye | Called Shot | 4 | 4 | |
| Killshot | Bull's Eye | 5 | 5 | |
| Defensive Skills | ||||
| Roll | 2 | 1 | ||
| Initiative | Roll | 3 | 1 | |
| Countershot | Initiative | 4 | 4 | |
| Tough | Countershot | 5 | 4 | |
| Psych Skills | ||||
| Warning Shot | - | 2 | 1 | |
| Safeties Off | Warning Shot | 2 | Daily | |
| High Noon | 4 | 4 | ||
| Cold Blood | 3 | Daily | ||
| Miscellaneous Skills | ||||
| Crosstrained | 1 | 1 | ||
| Field Strip | 5 | 1 | ||
| Holdout | 1 | Daily | ||
| Lucky | 5 | Daily | ||
| Quickdraw | 2 | Daily | ||
| Ricochet | Tier 1 Pistol or Rifle | 3 | 2 | |
| Weapon Ward | 2 | 1 | ||
| Gunsmithing | 1 | |||
| Fan the Hammer | 8 |
Gunslinger Skill Descriptions
Damage
Accuracy: This is what shooters use to increase firearm damage. Precision gets you a tight group and that’s great for competitions. Accuracy puts you close to center; that’s better if you’re fighting for your life. A tight group ten feet to the right of the ogre bearing down on you is not particularly helpful
Accuracy applies to no weapons outside of firearms. It also carries a limitation Focus and Precision do not - no combination of Accuracy and base weapon damage ever exceeds 10. Gunslingers can surpass this limit momentarily at the cost of Grit but cannot sustain 11+ damage by any mechanism or combination thereof.
This also means that no gunslinger will ever swing more melee damage than the weapon they use. That is correct and intentional. Gunslingers are called primarily for their love of the technology and skill involved. They are not the types to use guns as a surprise. If they can shoot, they will shoot. It’s only if they can’t that they grudgingly go to melee.
Pistols
Trickshot: This costs one energy and absolutely guarantees that a bullet will land exactly where the shooter intends, so long as the intended destination is not an animate target. Trickshots can cut nooses, push buttons across the room, drop chandeliers, and all sorts of other things, but have no direct combat effect. (We realize there’s some gray area here - shooting a pouch off an enemy’s belt, shooting through shoelaces to interrupt footing, etc. For the gray areas, if the marshal rules the shot out of scope, it doesn’t work but also doesn’t cost you any energy.) Trickshot functions to the theoretical range of the weapon rep (This is around 40ish feet (indoors at a decent angle) for standard-issue Nerf Elite-style blasters. I presume shooters carrying superior tech will know the range better than I do.).
Close Quarters: Allows one use of Pierce on pistols per use, for handling shields closing gaps. Close Quarters can also be tagged onto voice-delivered damage, giving you a thin chance of putting a wounded Champion down before he closes the gap and ends the story.
Disabling Shot: Disabling Shot ruins connective tissue, acting as (and called as) "Physical Maim <Limb>". Disabling Shot can in principle be used to ruin inorganic things - a Gunslinger can certainly shoot out the lights or ruin a golem’s leg - but non-Maim uses are probably better handled with Trickshots. Disabling Shot can be used as (an expensive) Disarm if that seems advisable; this is called as "Physical Disarm" if used in this way.
Covered Advance: Covered Advance drops a layer of thick smoke in a small radius, complicating target acquisition. This is announced as “Covered Advance”, and covers up to three friendlies for one activation. Persons under this effect are immune to ranged attacks for five seconds and should be told that when the skill is activated (both to remind them and to avoid incurring additional cogload on people that didn’t sign up to read Gunslinger rules). Gunslingers must indicate the affected people and those people must announced “Covered”.
Rifles
Piercing Shot: This puts a bullet right through a shield, inflicting its usual damage if it hits a shield wielded by someone with the relevant Shield skill. Piercing Shot appends "Pierce" to your verbal. Piercing Shot provides you with two options for the fuel cost:
- Piercing Shot will deliver as many as three unmodified shots through a shield. Unmodified here means whatever damage your Gunslinger delivers without poisons, clips, buffs, or whatever else you can cram on to a bullet to increase that number.
- Piercing Shot can alternately be used on one shot with modifiers on it - if you need to deliver a Killshot to a shieldbearer, Piercing Shot permits this but only once per activation.
Called Shot: A Called Shot delivers up to double the shooter’s usual damage, after modifiers are figured in. This allows a Gunslinger to violate the Accuracy cap. Generally speaking, this’ll deliver 20 points. (We are aware that it’s possible (if wildly inefficient) to push way past the 10-point cap and just leave that damage dormant until Called Shot shows up and does some ridiculous damage call for a fairly cheap cost in Grit. I’ll be mildly disappointed if no one ever gets to 50.)
Bull’s Eye: Bull’s Eye alters one shot to Voice Delivery, adding Critical or Body carriers (decided at time of use). This skill requires line of sight (LoS) to the target.
Killshot: Self-explanatory. Killshot inflicts the Slay effect on one bullet. This is called as "Physical Slay" and in its raw form is blocked by shields. If you need it to stick, we recommend adding Bull's Eye or Piercing Shot to it.
Defensive
Roll: This skill allows the character to negate a portion of an attack. Roll can only be used to defend against attacks that strike the character with a weapon or packet and have a numerical damage value in the call. When used, the defended attack will only deal half damage (rounded down). Roll also removes the Effect of a defended attack.
Initiative: Initiative causes a small pause in melee, enough time for the Gunslinger to step back ten feet from a melee opponent. The opponent may not pursue until the retreat is completed. Wherever possible, avoid Holds for this - simply call Initiative and back off.
Countershot: Countershot is called as a defense to any damaging packet- or bullet-delivered attack. Countershot is called as “Evade”. Obviously, if you’re shooting arrows out of the air, you’ll need a gun in your hand to do it. This is very likely on modules and somewhat less likely sitting in a bar having a drink.
Tough: Tough is how the Gunslingers of old lived to become old Gunslingers. Tough blunts an ass-whuppin; this is called as "Resist Physical".
Psych Skills
Warning Shot: Warning Shot is exactly what the name says; it's a warning against further aggression. This is bullet-delivered as "Physical Fear Pierce" - shields are great at stopping bullets but not great at stopping panic.
Safeties Off: Every world that has Gunslingers knows exactly what it means when one unsnaps his holster or clicks the safety off his weapon. Normal people try to de-escalate rather than face the hail of lead. Safeties Off is called as "Peaceful Aura"; if enemies engage anyway, the user can add the "Surprise" tag to his first attack of the ensuing encounter free of charge. This is purchased as a per-reset skill - there's only so far you can push a threat before you have to carry it out or fold. (We are aware of how this interacts with Fan the Hammer and that combination may or may not work into the future; as much as I love the idea of a hard-to-stop volley as a response to escalation, I worry about hard-to-defend mass attacks. The most likely power reduction is surprise on the first target and only the first target, but I'd like to see how it plays before making that call.) For a bit of further clarification: Safeties Off is an active skill and starts when it's invoked. It does nothing to help you against an ambush, or instantly aggressive opponents. Safeties Off exerts influence over an encounter that may turn violent and adds an edge if that eventuality comes to pass.
High Noon: High Noon calls out an enemy shooter for a duel; this generates Taunt but can only be used on enemies with packets or guns in their hands at the time it's called.
Cold Blood: Gunslingers have a lot of words for cowardice and hate being called any of them. Cold Blood is a reflexive defense to fear effects, regardless of vector or delivery. Cold Blood can also be used as a roleplay effect without being consumed, in any situation where you may care to present yourself as an amoral gun platform. This is purchased on a per-reset basis, like most Resist skills.
Miscellaneous
Field Strip: Field Strip allows a Gunslinger to restore a broken/damaged/destroyed firearm to full working order. This can be done in ten minutes for free, or rushed to Instant for 1 Grit.
Holdout: Holdout produces a weapon when you were not otherwise armed. Holdout puts a gun in your hand if there’s any chance at all you could have had one hidden somewhere. Holdout’s not perfect - if you’re arrested in a town familiar with your flavor of crime you’ll be thoroughly searched before you get tossed in a cell - but for meetings, “diplomatic” events, and similar places that ban weapons but don’t do a thorough search to confirm, it’s priceless.
Lucky: Good shooters will tell you it's all skill. Ace Gunslingers will tell you what they do is half luck and they'll only last til their luck runs out. Lucky alters outcomes in your favor; if you need a jack to finish your straight, Lucky gets you one. It can alter any randomizer by up to 10% in whatever direction works best for you - plus to tracking, minus to being tracked, etc. Lucky can apply to resurrection, if you had one available when you dropped, but be aware that resurrection, life, and death are not the random events they appear and some organizations will want a word with you if you do this. Death is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Lucky is available once per reset per purchase and may stack with itself once - you can use two Lucky to alter an outcome by 20% but no more than that.
Quickdraw: Quickdraw overrides the “must have weapon in hand” restriction on Gunslinger skills. You still need a weapon on your person but you can Quickdraw a Countershot if you get caught out in a bar. Quickdraw also allows for Trickshots without weapons in hand.
Ricochet: This skill allows the character to use the Cleave ability, allowing the character to duplicate the effect of a legal weapon attack they have landed. When the attack succeeds the character calls “Cleave”. They may then make an identical attack which may not target the same individual affected by the first ability. Cleave may not be used in conjunction with Burst or Double Attack. Ricochet can only be used with ranged weapons.
Gunsmithing: Gunsmithing is the same thing as Engineering, except it only builds guns and ammo. (We are aware that firearms are technically explosives and that gunpowder can just as well arm a grenade, and we suggest that you pay full cost for Engineering if you’d like to get into explosive force, detonation radius, fragmentation velocity and composition, and timing fuses.)
Fan the Hammer: Pistol-exclusive. When it’s activated, you can select up to six individuals within 20ft as targets. You can Fan in one of two ways chosen at the time of use:
- You may voice deliver damage to each target. Fan The Hammer used in this fashion violates the Accuracy cap and inflicts that damage +5 to each target.
- You may instead inflict a Pistol special attack on each target. This is individually voice-delivered as “Voice Physical <effect>” and you must pay the Grit cost for one use of whatever technique you’re using.
Gunslinger Powers
Lead Rain: Lead Rain allows you to Fan the Hammer against as many targets as are present when the trigger gets pulled. This changes the call from "Voice <target> <damage>" to "All Enemies, <damage>". Lead Rain is usable once per reset and may only be applied to the damage option of Fan the Hammer.
Longshot: Longshot reduces by one the Grit cost of any Rifle shot taken at twenty feet or farther. Longshot takes effect on hit, not on intent; if you're aiming for a healer 25' away but instead hit his fighter 15' away, Longshot doesn't trigger and the shot costs full price. 20' is admittedly a little fuzzy to compute on the fly in combat; Marshals should be able to discern between a shot taken at decent range and the more usual close-range dart. (Also, laser tape measures are out there that'll nail this to within a couple millimeters and I'm working out the tech to make those practical modifications to Nerf rifles.)
Right Between The Eyes: Right Between the Eyes provides a Double Attack on a single shot (explicitly incompatible with Fan the Hammer), allowing it to punch through one defense. This works twice per reset, and can be purchased multiple times if you keep running into dodgy little bastards.
Gunslinger Heroic Powers are still pending - the class is both new and experimental and it feels premature to legislate high-powered effects until the basics are settled and the class overall is in a good place. Please don't take the absence of Heroic Powers as an indicator that Gunslingers will never have them. They're in the pipeline but haven't bubbled to the top yet.