The Gunslinger

A drow fiddles with her janky rifle, unjamming a fleshy tendril of illithid flesh that spattered her weapon. With a grimace, she begins to work, fastening the rubbery hide onto her barrel with a piece of twine. A dragonborn sheriff calls out to the paladin, as an undead abomination reaches out towards his friend with a blood curdling screech. In the blink of an eye, the sheriff forces the creature back with a shot, before giving knowing nod to the paladin. As the creature flinches, the paladin follows up with a smiting blow. A minotaur covered in mud splashes through a bog alongside her allies. As she raises her fist, they halt, as the party notices a small group of bandits with cages filled with townsfolk. With a gout of smoke and a hail of fire, the bandits scramble as the minotaur emerges, diving between trees and unloading a torrent of gunfire from her modified repeater.

Gunslingers are quick with their wits and faster with their hands. Coupled with their personalized firearms, a gunslinger is a force to be reckoned with. Whether they are an expert marksman or a dual-wielding pistolero, a gunslinger can force grazing shots to become a fatal wounds and utilize special upgrades to their firearms to quickly turn the tide of an ensuing battle. Though their way of life often gets them into trouble, a gunslinger is more than prepared to handle it alongside their fellow adventurers.

Rebels and Pioneers

As firearms become more commonplace, gunslingers are beginning to become more common as adventurers. Though to a gunslinger, the simple act of picking up a gun doesn't make you a gunslinger. The firearm of many gunslingers is extension of their personality and their struggles, reflected through their unique upgrades which differ from each of the frontiers they walk. A gunslinger is often defined by their individuality, often meaning that no two gunslinger's firearms resemble one another aside from their ability to shoot. Just as they are pioneers on the frontier of weapons technology, they are pioneers on the frontiers of the lands they are typically born from or set out to.

Creating a Gunslinger

When creating a Gunslinger consider what drove your character to become one in the first place. Were you once a knight driven to gunfighting for your lord when firearms became more common? Was your firearm a family heirloom, or a device you created all on your own? Does your gunfighting have a cause or purpose or do you just do it for money or fame? Consider how your skills as a gunslinger might have affected you as you lived your life. Perhaps you are haunted by a mysterious past, filled with grief, debt, or revenge. Or perhaps, you hope to show the world the true potential of your firearm, ushering the world into the next era.

As a gunslinger, remember that you are no mere commoner wielding a gun. Treat your firearms as extensions of your gunslinger character, adding as much flair in your firearm's descriptions as you would describe the gunslinger itself.

Class Features

As a Gunslinger, you gain the following class features

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• A leather coat
• (a) scale mail or (b) leather armor
• A dagger and (a) two revolvers and 20 rounds or (b) one hand cannon and 10 cartridges
• Any non heavy two-handed firearm with (a) 20 rounds or (b) 10 shells or (c) 10 cartridges.
• Tinker's Tools
• (a) an explorer’s pack or (b) a dungeoneer's pack

Gunslingers and Technology

Playing as a gunslinger invites a ton of questions about the level of technology in the world you are playing in. While some DM's welcome this readily in their fantasy, be sure to talk to your DM about the technology in the world you are playing in to see if this class is a right fit for the group. Consider also reflavoring these firearms as advancements in crossbow design if it is more fitting for the world.

The Gunslinger

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Gunsmith Upgrades
1st	+2	Deadeye, Fast Hands	—
2nd	+2	Gunsmithing	2
3rd	+2	Gunslinger Frontier	2
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement	3
5th	+3	Extra Attack, Quick Draw	3
6th	+3	Gunslinger's Intuition	3
7th	+3	Gunslinger Frontier Feature	4
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement	4
9th	+4	Forced Critical (1 use)	5
10th	+4	Gunslinger Frontier Feature	5
11th	+4	Major Upgrades (2)	5
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	6
13th	+5	Forced Critical (2 uses)	6
14th	+5	Grit	6
15th	+5	Gunslinger Frontier Feature	7
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	7
17th	+6	Forced Critical (3 uses)	7
18th	+6	Gunslinger Frontier Feature	8
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement	8
20th	+6	Live by the Gun	8

Deadeye

Starting at first level, whether by luck or mounting pressure, each shot you make brings you closer to a fatal attack. Your ranged weapon attacks made with a firearm have a reduced critical threshold for each of its spent shots, reducing the roll necessary for a critical hit by 1 per shot up to a maximum of a critical hit scored on a roll of 15-20.

When a shot is reloaded or if you score a critical hit with this firearm, this threshold is reset until all of this firearm's shots are reloaded.

Fast Hands

Also at first level, when a firearm you are holding has all of its shots expended or if you scored a critical hit on an attack made with it, you can choose to immediately reload all of your firearm's shots as a bonus action.

You can use this feature an amount of times equal to your Dexterity modifier + 1. You regain all of this feature's uses when you finish a short or long rest.

Gunsmithing

By 2nd level, you learn to efficiently craft firearms and firearm ammunition, and can do so at half the cost. In addition, you gain the ability to customize your firearms through personally made upgrades.

Gunslinger Frontier

By the time you reach 3rd level, you have begun your journey to trailblaze a frontier, building off an old creed of gunslingers or forging an entirely new one. Each frontier adopts a different kind of gunslinger, and is an embodiment of their virtues and gunfighting ability. Choose Commando, Peacekeeper, or Stalker all detailed at the end of the class description. The frontier you choose grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Extra Attack

Starting at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once when you take the Attack action on your turn.

Quick Draw

Also at 5th level, when you take the Attack action on your turn, you can choose to stow one of your firearms and draw another to use for each of your attacks.

Gunslinger's Intuition

At 6th level, you can add your Wisdom modifier to your initiative rolls. In addition, when you roll for initiative, you can choose to draw one of your firearms and immediately move up to half of your speed.

Forced Critical

Beginning at 9th level, you can force even glancing shots to become lethal. When you hit a creature with a firearm attack, you can force that attack to become a critical hit instead. You can use this feature once before requiring a short or long rest to do so again. In addition, when you score a critical hit with a firearm attack, you can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the attack's extra damage.

You gain an additional use of this feature at 13th level, and a third use at 17th level. Your additional damage die increases by one for each of these levels for a total of three at 17th level.

Major Upgrades

By 11th level, your mastery over gunsmithing allows you further tune your upgrades. When you attach an upgrade to a firearm, you can choose to turn that upgrade into a major upgrade instead. Major upgrades gain additional benefits as listed in the gunsmith upgrade list. You can have two major upgrades when you gain this feature, which increases to three at 15th level, and four at 18th level.

Grit

At 14th level, you gain proficiency with Constitution saving throws.

Live by the Gun

At 20th level, when you score a critical hit with a firearm attack against a creature with 50 or fewer hit points, it dies.

Commando

Hyper lethal vectors and guerilla fighters, commandos are deadly gunslingers who have mastered the art of shock tactics. Gunslingers who trailblaze this frontier are often used by militaries as raiders and guerilla soldiers, battling in urban combat amid towns and dungeons. In order to combat threats in such confined areas, commandos specialize in hit and run combats with small units consisting of a handful of allies, not too dissimilar from the average adventuring party. While commandos often work with other commandos, most have already lost their unit by the time they decided to take up adventuring themselves.

Commandos are well known for their tactics, and each has a special upgrade they can attach to their firearms allowing them to fire gouts of smoke alongside their shots to create an advantageous position in the midst of battle. Using this upgrade, they can attack an entire squadron of foes at once before disappearing amid their own hail of smoke and gunfire. Due to their rigorous training, gunslingers who follow this frontier learn to blend into an environment quickly, allowing them to reposition themselves at a rapid rate during a deadly ambush.

Frontier Upgrade: Smoke Screen

Also at 3rd level, you can attach the Smoke Screen upgrade onto all of your upgraded firearms. This upgrade can be removed and attached later to another firearm, but it cannot be replaced with another upgrade and does not count towards the total number of upgrades you can attach onto your firearms.

Smoke Screen

As a bonus action, you can expend one of your firearm's shots to fire a cloud of smoke from your firearm to a point you can see within 60ft. of you.

This cloud expands from this point to fill a 15-foot radius sphere, spreading around corners. The smoke remains for 1 minute, during which time this area is considered to be heavily obscured, though this effect ends early if a strong wind disperses the smoke. You can use this upgrade an amount of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (min 1).

You regain all of this upgrade's expended uses when you finish a short or long rest.

Major Upgrade. Once per turn when you make an attack with your firearm, you can cause your weapon to fire a brief gout of smoke in a 5-foot area around you which lasts until the end of your next turn. This area is considered to be lightly obscured, though this effect ends early if a strong wind disperses the smoke.

Going Commando

At 7th level, when you take the Hide action, your speed is increased by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. When you reach 15th level, this bonus speed is increased to 20 feet instead.

Predator

When you reach 10th level, you are considered to be invisible to other creatures when you take the Hide action to hide in an area that is lightly or heavily obscured. This invisibility lasts until the start of your next turn. This effect ends early if you make an attack or perform an action.

First Blood

Starting at 15th level, your first strike is always your deadliest. When you hit a creature that has all of its hit points with a ranged weapon attack, you score a critical hit instead.

Shock and Awe

By 18th level, the invisibility granted by your Predator feature no longer ends early, and lasts until the end of your next turn instead.

Peacekeeper

Where some see the frontier as an opportunity to prey upon others for wealth and personal gain, you set off with one noble goal in mind; keeping the peace in a lawless land. Peacekeepers are defensive gunslingers who use their tool of choice to harry their foes and defend their allies. Peacekeepers aren't always lawmen, in fact, some peacekeepers are drifters or vagabonds seeking to hunt down vile creatures and wanted humanoids whether for coin, glory, or just to do the right thing. While many gunslingers who follow this frontier are appointed to this position by a town, lord, or sheriff, some gunslingers in more remote areas of the world have easily instilled this power to themselves.

To uphold the peace alone is a daunting task, and so peacekeepers often appoint a deputy to aid them. Some deputies are close friends or even lovers, but peacekeepers usually aren't ones to reject help from anyone when its offered considering how many enemies they'll make along this frontier. Peacekeepers use a special upgrade that allows them to harry foes before they can even make their attacks, allowing allies to then capitalize on their disoriented foe.

Deputize

When you choose to walk this frontier at 3rd level, you can extend your vow to uphold the peace to another creature, allowing you to choose a friendly creature within 30 feet of you to become your deputy as an action. A creature remains your deputy until it is killed, or until you use your action to select another deputy.

When you can see your deputy and your deputy is the target of an attack, you can use your reaction to make a single weapon attack against the attacker, provided that you can see the attacker and the attacker is within range of your weapon as normal.

When you deputize a creature, you cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Frontier Upgrade: Suppressing Shot

Also at 3rd level, you can attach the Suppressing Shot upgrade onto all of your upgraded firearms. This upgrade can be removed and attached later to another firearm, but it cannot be replaced with another upgrade and does not count towards the total number of upgrades you can attach onto your firearms.

Suppressing Shot

Prerequisite: Peacekeeper Frontier

You can harry foes with suppressing shots, allowing your shots to hinder their attacks or disarm them. Once per turn when you hit a creature with an attack made with your firearm, that creature must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, you choose whether that creature has disadvantage on its next attack roll made until the end of your next turn, or if that creature drops one object of your choice that it is holding. That object drops to its feet. If you scored a critical hit, your target automatically fails this save.

Glad Hand

When you reach 7th level, your always willing to lend a hand. You can take the Help action as a bonus action. If you take the Help action, you can aid a deputy in attacking a creature you can see, granting this deputy advantage on their next attack roll made against that creature before the end of their next turn.

Rallying Criticals

By the time you reach 10th level, helping others sometimes means allowing them to help themselves. When you score a critical hit on a weapon attack, you and your deputies that can see or hear you gain temporary hit points equal to your gunslinger level + your Wisdom modifier that last until the end of your next turn.

Posse

At 15th level, when you use your action to deputize a creature, you can deputize an additional friendly creature as part of the same action. In addition, you gain an additional reaction, which you can use to make a weapon attack against a deputy's attacker as per the Deputize feature.

United We Stand

By 18th level, you and your deputies have become an indivisible fighting force. While you are conscious, your deputies cannot be killed, though they can still be reduced to 0 hit points and knocked unconscious.

Stalker

Graverobbers, scavengers and wastelanders, stalkers are versatile gunslingers who are mostly known for their scavenging. The frontier of a stalker accepts both the wayward and the destitute, though any gunslinger seeking treasure in abandoned ruins and the corpses of once great magical cities could be accepted among this loose congregation of gunslingers. Stalkers learn quickly to become adaptable, carrying curiosities and baubles from their expeditions to bolster their own abilities as they navigate through these treacherous zones in search of fortune. These alien curiosities come at a cost however, maligning the stalker as much as they aid them, but allowing them to upgrade their firearm's to fire a single overloaded shot to devastating effect.

Stalkers must always come prepared, and so they've trained themselves to tear down their firearm at a moment's notice to adapt to the harsh reality of their frontier. Though every stalker hopes to find a hoard of gold and magic, they also have a keen eye to find such treasures even in simple items others would consider to be trash. They have an eye for value, knowing when the merchants they trade these items to are cheating them. But in the end, each stalker hopes to find the greatest relic among the ancient civilizations, a device that could makes one's wishes become a reality. For many stalkers, it seems such a far fetched dream is exactly that, for surely such a device would come at a great cost.

Curiosities

When you choose to walk this frontier at 3rd level, you have learned to scavenge artifacts amid trash and rubble from the remains of lost civilizations and abandoned dungeons known as curiosities. Each curiosity provides a unique positive and negative effect and can only be equipped or unequipped after finishing a long rest. You can equip a number of curiosities equal to your Wisdom modifier (min 1).

Using the Wishmaker

Each boon granted by the Wishmaker feature comes at a cost, as determined by your DM, though you should work together on something thematically and narratively appropriate without invalidating the benefits granted by the boon itself or invalidating the story of your campaign. Perhaps your immortality forces you to make a DC 20 Intelligence saving throw each year or you lose an important memory forever, or that your worldly adoration affects everyone but the person or people you love, whom you have disadvantage on Charisma checks with instead. If you and your DM decide this feature might damage the narrative of your campaign, consider the following 18th level feature instead.

Anomaly

By 18th Level, your body has become accustomed to the malign effects of your curiousities. Your curiosities no longer provide a negative effect.

Curiosities

Curiosities are strange artifacts used by stalkers to aid themselves as they travel and survive, though each curiosity comes at a cost. Each curiosity provides a feature, and a negative effect associated with it as listed below each curiosity's description.

• Aetheric Counter. Infamous for its iconic clicking, this device can be handheld or even attached to your firearm to detect magical signatures. You can use your action to activate your aetheric counter. Until the end of your next turn, you detect whether any place or object within 60 feet of you has been been affected by a spell within the last 24 hours. If an object is a magic item, you detect it as well, though you do not learn the properties of the item. You also detect the school of the spell cast, but not the exact spell itself. If it is still being affected by this spell, you know that as well.

  Negative. While the counter is active, you have disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks as the counter makes a loud clicking sound, audible out to 30 feet away from you.

• Black Eyes. These strange beads are cold to the touch and always seem to be staring back out at you. While in your possession, you have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. In addition, if a creature relies on darkvision to percieve you, it has disadvantage on attack rolls made against you.

  Negative. Your attacks made while in direct sunlight are made with disadvantage.

• Blinking Compass. Resembling a small compass, this strange device creates an illusory representation of the surrounding area. When traveling, you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to navigate the wilderness and you and friendly creatures within 30 feet of you cannot be surprised while you are conscious.

  Negative. This illusion layers itself faintly over your own vision, causing you to have disadvantage on Wisdom checks.

• Empty Vessel. This peculiar artifact resembles two symmetrical disks that cannot be separated from one another, no matter how much force is applied. When you are dealt acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, you can use your reaction to gain resistance to this damage type until the start of your next turn. Also, the first time you hit with an attack on your next turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 damage of the triggering type, and this effect ends.

  Negative. After this effect ends, the vessel hungers for energy, coating you in a magical field that draws in power. You become vulnerable to this damage type until the start of your next turn or until you are dealt acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage.

Barrage

Prerequisite: Firearm with the Scatter Property

When you make an attack with your firearm, your attack fires in a cone in front of you that extends outward from you up to half of your weapon's normal range, or 10 feet if half of your weapon's normal range is longer than 10 feet. The area is sprayed with a hail of gunfire, causing every other creature in this area to take damage of your firearm's damage type equal to your Dexterity modifier.

Major Upgrade. When you miss an attack roll against a creature with this weapon, they take this damage instead. Additionally, your attacks made with this weapon ignore half and three-quarters cover.

Bayonet

You attach a bayonet or pair your firearm with a blade. As a bonus action, you can make a melee weapon attack against a creature within 5 feet of you with this bayonet, dealing piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier on a hit. When you hit a creature with a bayonet attack, they cannot make opportunity attacks against you until the start of your next turn. You are considered to be proficient with attacks made with this bayonet.

Major Upgrade If you moved at least 20 feet in a straight line toward a creature and then hit it with a bayonet attack on the same turn, this attack deals 3d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage instead and your next ranged weapon attack made against this creature before the end of your turn is made with advantage.

Dead Chamber

Prerequisite: Firearm without Extended Magazine Upgrade

While your firearm has this upgrade, half of its shots (rounded down) are always expended. These shots cannot be reloaded by any means while it has this upgrade. Your firearm is considered to be fully reloaded in regards to your Deadeye feature when all shots except these expended shots are reloaded.

Major Upgrade. All of your firearm's shots, except one, are always expended instead. If this shot is a critical hit, your attack deals its maximum damage on this roll. After making an attack with your firearm, you cannot make any additional attacks with it until the end of your next turn.

Double Barrel

Once on each of your turns when you miss an attack with your firearm, you can spend one of its shots to reroll the attack roll. While this upgrade is attached to your firearm, you can choose to reload two of your firearm's shots instead of one when you reload a shot.

Major Upgrade. After taking the Attack action, you can make a single ranged weapon attack against the same target as a bonus action, expending a shot as normal.

Entrenched Sights

Prerequisite: 3rd level; Firearm with the Accurate property

If you have used your bonus action to aim, the first attack made with your firearm at the start of each of your turns is made with advantage instead of the usual bonus for aiming.

This bonus is lost immediately if you move or are moved.

Major Upgrade. If you are prone or behind cover at the start of your turn, you are considered to be aiming until you move or are moved. While you are prone, you do not have disadvantage on your ranged weapon attacks.

Extended Magazine

Prerequisite: Firearm without Dead Chamber Upgrade

Improvements to your firearm's ammunition supply allow your firearm to make an additional amount of shots equal to your Wisdom modifier (min 1).

Major Upgrade. Your firearm gains double this amount of additional shots instead.

Flare Gun

As an action, you can spend one of your firearm's shots to fire a flare at a point within 120 feet away from you in a space that you can see that ignites for 1 minute. While the flare is ignited, it sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. While a creature is within bright light made by this flare, ranged attacks made against it are made with advantage. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Grapple Gun

Prerequisite: 7th level

As an action, you can spend one of your firearm's shots to fire a grappling hook from your firearm towards an object or creature within 30 feet of you. You can choose to immediately pull yourself in a straight line towards your target to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of it, or you can use your reaction on another creature's turn to do so. While being pulled in this way, you provoke opportunity attacks from creatures as if you had moved yourself.

Grease Gun

As an action, you can spend one of your firearm's shots to fire a spray of alchemical grease from your firearm at a point within 30 feet of you.

New Feat

If you would like to add the flavor of this class to another, consider the following feat.

Firearms

In many campaign settings, firearms are typically represented as being the forefront of their world's weapons technology. This document makes the assumption that firearms are somewhat uncommon in your world, but are produced by several gunsmithing guilds, companies, or legendary figures within the industry. In this instance, a local blacksmith can just as easily produce barrels for rifles just as they would the blade for a longsword, though this may not mean they are a particularly experienced gunsmith.

Be aware that adding firearms to your campaign makes a few assumptions about your world's technology. When deciding whether or not to add firearms to your campaign, consider how you might implement them into your world.

Is a firearm a technological or magical marvel? Or perhaps your firearms are both, as magical industry powers the industry of gunsmithing? Or are guns simply an anomaly? Relics of an ancient and misunderstood time in your world where the predominant civilzations were far more advanced?

Firearm Ammunition

Ammunition Die (Optional Rule)

• Misfire. Rolling a 1 on an attack roll with a firearm causes your firearm to jam. While it is jammed, it cannot be used again until you repair it as an action. You must have tinker's tools and be proficient with them to perform this action.
• Stopping Power. Firearms deal more damage than other ranged weapons. All firearms deal an additional die of weapon damage.
• Earlier Firearms. Firearms cannot be fired while underwater. Firearms also have the loading property.

Art Credits

Credits

This class was created by me, u/nihllus556, but could not have been done without the help of my brother who talked me off the ledge multiple times with this class (we both still agree it needs a lot more work). He is currently working on his own blog to discuss topics of dungeon delving and implementing OSR (Old School Renaissance) principles in your games, including in DnD 5e. Link will be posted soon.

I would also like to extend thanks to the following:

• Middle Finger of Vecna for their Gunslinger Class (Love it but I really wasn't a big grit point fan)
• Matthew Mercer for his Gunslinger Fighter subclass
• u/heavyarms_ for his Gunslinger which the Deadeye feature was entirely based on. (Loved your work on the armorer's handbook btw!)
• The video games Borderlands, Destiny, West of Dead, and Red Dead Redemption for reintroducing me to the gunslinger concept and making me rewatch old westerns.
• Blades in the Dark, the idea of clocks kind of made me want to have a bullet countdown mechanic in the first place. Also its a great game and you should play it.
• Paizo, more specifically for its work on Pathfinder 2nd Edition which has been a blast to play. Our original work on this class came from playing a hexcrawl set in our in home Weird West Fantasy setting.
• Deadlands for inspiration on weird steampunk firearms. (Beware Gatling shotguns)
• Shaun James, Ben Nichols, and Darren Korb who I am a big fan of and whose music I had playing constantly as I worked on this class. For those interested Here is the link to my working playlist for "Old West" styled campaigns
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky for inspiration for the Stalker subclass, as well as Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, and the games Metro 2033 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl.