Z's Cowboy Gunslinger

Introduction

"To the town of Agua Fría rode a stranger one fine day.

Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say.

No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip.

For the stranger, there, among them, had a big iron on his hip."

Hit Points

• Hit Dice: 1d8 per gunslinger level
• Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 5 (or 1d8) + your Constitution modifier per gunslinger level after 1st

Proficiencies

• Armor: Light armor.
• Weapons: All simple weapons, all ranged weapons and all firearms.
• Tools: Any two of your choice.
• Saving Throws: Dexterity, Charisma
• Skills: Choose two between Sleight of Hand, Acrobatics, Stealth, Survival, Perception, Insight and Intimidation.

Equipment

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

• (a) A revolver or (b) a rifle.
• (a) An explorer’s kit or (b) a burglar's pack.
• Any simple weapon.
• Leather armor.

Trained Skills

You have trained your senses and mind to excel at certain situations, even if you would normally be mediocre at that skill. Choose two of these options. You add double your proficiency bonus to those checks:

• Survival and Investigation checks made to track a creature (searching for footprints, carriage tracks, broken branches...).

• Insight checks made against a humanoid to determine whether they are lying or not about something crime-related (who they work for, if they did commit a crime or not...).

• Any Sleigh of Hand check made to draw a revolver.

• Intimidation checks made while pointing a firearm at the target creature(s) if said creature(s) know what a firearm is and that it is dangerous.

• Any kind of Intelligence check made to both better understand how a weapon or mechanism that uses gunpowder works and modify said kind of technology.

• Performance checks made to do tricks with guns.

Whichever you pick, you also gain proficiency in the Animal Handling skill. These bonuses do not stack with either proficiency or the Expertise feature, and you cannot choose one of these options more than once even if you get to choose more later. You choose one additional option at 13th level.

Run Red Run

You are always quick on your feet and ready to act, reposition or run away. You can Dash as a Bonus Action and gain a bonus to your initiative equal to your Proficiency Bonus.

Iron Sight

Your gun's default sight. Its properties are not altered.

No Sight

Your gun’s normal and long ranges are reduced by half, but you gain a +2 bonus to hit to any ranged attack rolls you make with it.

Scope

Both your gun’s normal and long range are doubled, and you ignore both half and 3/4 cover, but any ranged attack roll you make with it suffers a -2 penalty.

Luck Points

Starting at 2nd level, your ranged firearm attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or higher. If your charisma is at least 18, this feature increases further to 18 or higher.

From now on, whenever you land a critical hit you gain a Luck Point but deal normal damage instead of rolling twice as many dice to calculate the attack's damage.

You can have a number of LPs of up to your Proficiency Bonus (PB), and start fights with 0 LPs. You lose all LPs once combat ends.

You may use luck points for Luck Strikes (LS), and there is no limit to how many LS you can use in one attack nor round, although they may come with their own caveats.

If you have any feature that affects the damage critical hits deal, similar to what the Half-Orc's Savage Attacks does to melee weapon attacks, this bonus damage only applies to attacks under the effect of the Stored Luck Luck Strike.

Similarly, if an effect makes it so that an attack you land is a critical hit, such as attacking a paralyzed target within 5 ft of it, that attack is instead under the effects of the Stored Luck Luck Strike.

The Desperado

It was high noon when the sheriff stepped in the middle of the now empty street, shortly followed by the outlaw. They both knew this day would be either their happiest or their last.

Tempting with their fingers their guns sheath and looking each other in the eyes, a few seconds went by in which only the howl of the wind killed the cold silence. A sudden and quick movement that ended as quickly as it started marked their two fates. A shot echoed through the valley, announcing the death of one man and the victory of another.

The outlaw took a deep breath and a sigh of relief, for he knew that, from now on, he would be truly free.

Don't let the name fool you; both criminals and agents of the law use the abilities granted by this path to fight their opposites. Swift and nimble, they are often able to take down the deadliest of foes before they even have the chance to act, which added to how difficult they are to pin down, makes them a constant threat on the battlefield.

The Marksman

A group of adventurers is gravely hurt after a tough fight against a red dragon. While the wounded beast retreats, the party licks their wounds, watching as their hard-earned victory flies away into the horizon.

The Gunslinger, however, lays on the ground and takes a deep breath. The dragon is by now more than a thousand feet away, its an almost impossible shot.

The Marksman pulls the trigger, hoping for the best and knowing this may very well be the last shot she ever takes, and falls unconscious shortly after.

The dragon's body hits the ground moments later.

As a Marksman, you prefer quality over quantity, taking fewer shots but making them count. No matter how far the target is or how impossible a shot may seem, you have polished your aim to put bullet where you put your eye.

Firearms

Firearms are their own category of ranged weapons. The damage of ranged firearm attacks cannot be reduced by the Monk's Deflect Missiles ability.

A character needs to be proficient with firearms to use them. A character who is not proficient with firearms can acquire this proficiency by spending 100 hours training with a firearm, spending 50 bullets every hour. Once these conditions are met, the character becomes proficient with both revolvers and rifles.

Range

A firearm's range is written as x/y ft, where x is the gun's normal range and y is the long range. You can shoot enemies that are within your long range at disadvantage, and those that are within your normal range without disadvantage. You cannot shoot enemies that are not within your long range distance.

Reload

The weapon can be fired a number of times equal to its reload score before you must spend 1 attack or 1 action to reload. You must have one free hand to reload a firearm.

You can only ignore this property if the weapon is under the effects of the Repeating Shot infusion or a similar magical effect, but not by any non-magical means.

Light

You can wield a revolver in one hand and another weapon or a shield in the other as long as you have the required proficiencies.

Dual-Wielding

You can only dual-wield revolvers. Unlike dual-wielding melee weapons, dual-wielding does not allow to make any extra attacks unless you have the Twice as Deadly feat.

Two-handed

To shoot a rifle, you must have both hands free.

Dynamite Sticks

Dynamite sticks are an optional addition that comes with this class. You can choose to have them in your game or not, as it doesn't affect in any way the Gunslinger class, and they can in fact be used by any class, or even NPCs with no class such as commoners.

You can hurl a dynamite stick as an action up to 60 ft from you. It then explodes at the start of your next turn, dealing 6d6 thunder damage to any creature, items that are not being worn or carried and structures within 10 ft of the explosion.

If a dynamite sick or pack that is not being worn or carried takes at least one point of fire damage, it explodes instantly.

You may tie a dynamite pack or stick to an arrow as a bonus action, in which case the dynamite travels with the arrow. Even if you hit a creature with the arrow, it falls to the ground.

Lasso

Lassos are similar to nets, but they have a 30/60ft range.

Close Quarters Veteran

You learn how to properly use firearms in close range, gaining these benefits:

• Attacking an enemy within 5 ft of you with a firearm doesn't impose disadvantage, and grants you advantage if you are using a revolver. You don't get this benefit if you are using a scope.

• You ignore half and 3/4 cover when attacking with a firearm within normal range.

• You can make a special melee firearm attack against an enemy within 5 ft of you that deals damage equal to 1d4 + your strength modifier by replacing one of the attacks made as part of the Attack action or as a bonus action.

Powder Ganger

You become an expert in the use of explosives, gaining these benefits:

• You can tie up to 4 dynamite sticks together to make a dynamite pack, adding each 2d6 extra damage and 5 ft to the radius, as either a bonus action or an action.

• You can throw dynamite sticks and packs as a bonus action and twice as far.

• You learn the Pull! Luck Strike if you have at least two levels in this gunslinger class.

• You can set a precise timer to trigger the explosion of dynamite, which cannot be shorter than one round and must be shorter than 2 hours, and can set it to trigger multiple explosions at once if you can connect the dynamite via string.

Lucky Shooter

You learn how to better implement luck in your fighting style, gaining these benefits:

• Before you make an attack with a ranged weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a +5 bonus to the attack roll. If that attack hits, its damage takes a -10 penalty, to a minimum of 0 damage.

• Your firearms' normal range is now equal to their long range.

• If you have at least two levels in this gunslinger class, your Luck Point maximum is increased by one and you gain one extra Luck Point whenever you roll for initiative, up to your maximum LP capacity.

Twice as Deadly

You are now so skilled in using revolvers that you can wield and shoot two of them at the same time, gaining these benefits when you do so:

• You can make twice as many attacks whenever you take the Attack action. If you use this feature, you don't add your dexterity modifier to the attack rolls nor the damage of the ranged firearm attacks you make as part of that Attack action. Attacks made with this feature have their critical hit range reduced to 20, or 19 or higher if your charisma is at least 18.

This feature applies to extra attacks as long as they are part of the Attack action, like those granted by Quick Burst. To use this feature, you must attack at least once with every revolver. Attacks made as with this feature ignore the effects of sights.

• You can use a bonus action to reload every revolver you are wielding, even if you have no free hands.

In addition, you can now draw or stow two revolvers when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.