Core & Ways

Front Toward Enemy: A Guide to the

PF2e Gunslinger

7/22/25 Added Battlecry! options.

by blammit (AKA u/double_blammit)

About the gunslinger & the guide

The gunslinger is somewhat of an odd duck of a martial class. While it boasts the strongest weapon proficiency in the game for firearms and crossbows (progression on par with fighters), for the most part, it’s not quite the single-target damage powerhouse that a fighter is. What a gunslinger does bring to the table largely comes down to the choice of Way, detailed in depth later in the guide. Drifters and Pistoleros come with vibes like those of The Man with No Name and the era of the classic spaghetti westerns. Snipers mete out their justice from afar, hiding in advantageous positions and picking off targets at range. Triggerbrands evoke the flair of Final Fantasy-style gunblade users. Vanguards are somewhat similar, getting into the fray and maneuvering their enemies into submission. Spellshots are the oddest of the bunch, relying on a class archetype and shifting some of their power and potential to their intellect. Each of these Ways brings something largely different to a group, providing potential for a role as a flanking skirmisher, face, ranged striker, athletics controller, or versatile librarian. There is some overlap among these roles depending on how you build. These Ways all have an associated skill and much of the kit revolves around the use of said skill. That said, since each Way only relies on one skill, you have a bit of build flexibility. DEX being your key attribute score means that acrobatics and stealth are great options for any Way, not just Drifters and Snipers. Likewise, thievery isn’t just limited to the purview of Triggerbrands. As for mental stats, INT tends to be the exclusive realm of Spellshots, and CHA, for the most part, the same for Pistoleros. WIS, however, is useful for any build should you be able to fit it in. It shores up a weak will save progression, synergizes well with the third best perception progression in the game, and can open up several encounter mode and exploration mode options.

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The name of the game with gunslingers is action economy. Normal firearm or crossbow usage would generally take up at least two of your actions per turn to Strike and reload. Each Way has a core level 1 feature that eases the action economy of reloading, dictating much of the Way’s early level gameplay. Several of the feats on offer also have to do with improved action economy, allowing for eased mobility and / or multiple attacks within compressed actions. Don’t expect too many reactions, though. There are a few (notably, Fake Out), but it certainly doesn’t hurt to augment your reaction choices with ancestry feats and maybe an archetype feat here and there.

For the most part, this guide focuses on common options, but uncommon options are impossible to avoid with an uncommon class that uses (mostly) uncommon weapons. If your GM allows you to play a gunslinger, they’ve already allowed at least one uncommon option. That is not to say that you should assume uncommon choices will automatically be available in any given game, and it’s entirely possible that your GM will only allow common crossbows for your weapons. For the rest of this guide, if you only see me mention firearms, consider that mention to also imply crossbow usage. With all that said, other than firearms themselves, I try to identify uncommon options where they exist and where they appropriately relate to gunslinger gameplay. Also, within the gunslinger class, there are some major mechanical differences between crossbows and firearms. For example, any of the feats which have misfire outcomes only function with firearms. You can’t choose feats like Risky Reload or Alchemical Shot unless you’re using a firearm, which bear the possibility for misfires.

This is a guide oriented toward optimization, but you should understand that optimization is not achieved in a vacuum in Pathfinder 2e. Your effectiveness will depend on your party, and your party’s effectiveness will depend on you. As such, please recognize that I can’t possibly capture the nuance of every table. I make a lot of generalizations in this guide and point out where situational options are likely to work well, as well as some recommendations regarding how to make certain options work with certain parties. There are plenty of fun choices that are passable and even effective, but may be such only in the right group and under the right circumstances. Please do not consider this guide a comprehensive be-all, end-all.

This guide is designed such that you can jump to any portion of it and get a full understanding of the available options. If you read this guide from start to finish, be aware that you will see repeat information.

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Regarding attribute score optimization, you’re generally going to see the following progression, assuming two free attribute boosts from your ancestry (not including apex item boost):

(1) +4 DEX / +3 / +1 / +1 / 0 / 0 (5) +4↑ DEX / +4 / +2 / +2 / 0 / 0 (10) +5 DEX / +4↑ / +3 / +3 / 0 /0 (15) +5↑ DEX / +5 / +4 / +3 / +1 / 0 (20) +6 DEX / +5 / +4 / +4 / +2 / +1

Or:

(1) +4 DEX / +2 / +2 / +1 / 0 / 0 (5) +4↑ DEX / +3 / +3 / +2 / 0 / 0 (10) +5 DEX / +4 / +4 / +3 / 0 / 0 (15) +5↑ DEX / +4↑ / +4↑ / +4 / 0 / 0 (20) +6 DEX / +5 / +5 / +4 / +1 / 0

If you choose an ancestry with a favorable attribute spread, you may start off with +4 DEX / +3 / +2 / +1 / 0 / -1 or +4 DEX / +3 / +2 / 0 / 0 / 0. Both of those spreads are fine as well.

Your second most important attribute score should, most of the time, be the one tied to your Way skill, although a starting +3 in WIS can help your party out if needed (medicine) and shore up some of your own strengths and weaknesses. In the Ways section, I provide recommendations as to how you can best build your attribute distribution. While you can sort of get away with a starting +3 DEX due to your progression, +4 starting DEX is the better choice because it plays to one of your most important strengths: high crit chance. Additionally, Snipers have the most flexibility in their starting scores since they only realistically need DEX.

If you have questions, comments, or recommendations, please feel free to message me on reddit as u/double_blammit.

Weapon primer

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Since firearms and crossbows are the very core of gunslinger gameplay, this section exists to give you an awareness of how they work at baseline. The idea here is for you to be able to parse the ways that gunslinger interacts with or changes a firearm’s or crossbow’s functions.

Importantly, many firearms bear the fatal (aim) trait, which heavily incentivizes MAP-free ranged Strikes due to the greater likelihood and greater damage value of a crit success. This means that builds incorporating a melee option (including athletics skill actions) generally want their first attack in any given round to be that of their fatal (or sometimes deadly) weapon. This is not always the case, but it is a strong rule of thumb, especially prior to gaining feats that improve melee Strikes.

One feature of firearms you should be aware of for level 1 gameplay is that most firearms are relatively expensive. The cheapest firearm costs 5 gp, though there is one way to get a free firearm at level 1 (uncommon dwarf ancestry feat).

Misfires: For the most part, you don’t need to worry about misfires. The only general occasion for a weapon to misfire is when you don’t maintain it as part of your daily preparations. It should be pretty rare that you aren’t afforded the usual hour every day for daily preparations (and you can generally clean up to five firearms during daily preparations). If you aren't able to maintain your weapon(s), every time you fire your firearm, you have a 20% chance of a misfire (DC 5 flat check). The triggering attack becomes a critical failure and you can’t use the weapon again until you’ve used an Interact action to clear it. For the most part, though, you’re only going to see misfires as a component of various traits and feats. Misfires are primarily used in these traits and feats as a means of balancing a powerful effect, causing you to risk extra strain on your action economy to get those powerful effects.

● A note on familiars: while former Paizo dev Mark Seifter has clarified how familiars with the Independent and Manual Dexterity abilities function when reloading a weapon (they more-or-less don’t; see below), that clarification has not been extended to misfires. The most likely intended way for familiars to function when attempting to clear a jammed weapon is the same as that of reloading, but since that clarification has yet to materialize, you should consult with your GM.

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Range: Your range increment dictates how far you can shoot the weapon. The Range value listed for any given weapon is the maximum of its first range increment, out to which you will not suffer a penalty to attacks. Your maximum range is 6x the number listed in the Range entry for your weapon, with stacking -2 penalties for each range increment beyond the first, to a maximum of -10 out to the furthest part of your sixth range increment. Gunslingers get several means of easing range increment penalties.

Reload: This value dictates how many Interact actions it takes to reload a single round of ammunition into your weapon. After you have made a Strike with your weapon or used certain class feats / features that require you to discharge your weapon, you’ll have to reload in order to perform any of those actions / activities again. With firearms and crossbows that have a Reload value of 2, it’s up to your GM whether or not you can use your Slinger’s Reload or other reload-related feats for each of the required Interact actions, making Reload 2 weapons in general drastically less valuable for you (unless your GM is willing to play ball, in which case they’re just a huge pain instead of totally worthless). Reload 2 weapons are particularly painful in tandem with feats that have a misfire component, requiring a total of 3 actions to shoot again on a misfire. Combination weapons, explored more in the traits section below, offer somewhat of an easier time with Reload 2 weapons due to the fact that you can use them for melee attacks at maximum proficiency in between Reload actions.

● A note on hand usage: while technically you need a free hand to reload a weapon, the actions used to reload automatically include changing your grip to have a free hand and re-gripping the weapon. This is of particular value for two-handed weapons since you won’t have to worry about putting away or dropping anything in order to have a free hand. Additionally, all reloads, including your Slinger’s Reload and reload feats, allow you to re-grip your weapon even if you used the Release basic action to take a hand off your weapon prior to reloading. Also important: that is not the case with one-handed weapons. You have to either drop them (since Releasing a one-handed weapon implies it’s dropped) or stow them in order to have a free hand to reload, unless you have a feature that eases hand requirements for reloading with both hands occupied such as the Dual Weapon Reload feat or the Drifter’s Slinger’s Reload. There are also some trait interactions with the Reload value that I detail below in the traits section.

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● A note on familiars: as mentioned above, Mark Seifter has clarified the way familiars work for reloading when they have the Independent and Manual Dexterity abilities. Reloading requires a creature to be wielding the weapon they’re reloading. As such, in order to have your familiar reload a weapon, you’d have to spend an action to transfer it to the familiar, have the familiar spend an action to reload it, and spend an action to hand it back. All told, it’s a net loss of actions and a nightmare on the action economy. Don’t bother.

Hands: All of the weapons you’ll want to use will have a hand value of either 1 or 2, with some partial exceptions for weapons with the free-hand trait. Drifters and Pistoleros are the primary Ways that will want to use one-handed weapons, though having a free hand open is useful for, say, access to healer’s tools and medicine skill actions. None of your options will have a Hands value of 1+ as those are all bows. As stated above, two-handed weapons actually tend to be easier on hand usage since you have an action-efficient means of re-gripping your weapon after Releasing a hand. Two-handed weapons will be more restrictive while actively using a hand for an activity like Climbing, though.

Traits: The traits your weapon bears will add some capabilities or adjust some facts about how it works.

● Agile: Very few firearms bear this trait, but it will ease your multiple attack penalty (MAP) from the usual -5 / -10 for second and subsequent attacks to -4 / -8. From a raw numbers perspective, your damage will be better on a MAP-affected attack with a higher damage die than with the agile trait. To put that into an example, a d4 agile weapon on a MAP-affected attack will do less overall average damage than a d6 weapon on a MAP-affected attack. ● Alchemical: There’s only one alchemical weapon that matters for the purpose of this primer: the alchemical crossbow. Basically, this trait just serves to distinguish that the alchemical crossbow is an alchemical item, which has some interactions with various feats as detailed throughout applicable parts of the guide (mostly ancestry feats). ● Backstabber: Extra precision damage against off-guard targets. It’s somewhat hard to make targets off-guard against ranged attacks. Consider your (and your party’s) ability to render targets off-guard before you choose a ranged backstabber weapon. It’s generally easiest to accomplish if you’re using stealth, but there are other means available to you.

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● Capacity: This trait always has a numeric value. Whatever that number is, that is the maximum number of bolts / rounds the weapon can hold. Each round must still be reloaded, and changing to another chamber still requires an Interact action. The Interact action required to change to another chamber can be done with your Slinger’s Reload or any reload feat. There are two primary features of a capacity weapon: being able to start an encounter with multiple different ammunition types loaded, and being able to change barrels with your other hand occupied. If you’re using Dual-Weapon Reload, you won’t get any additional reload value from a capacity weapon, but can still use one for the variable ammunition types. If you’re running a single one-handed weapon + free hand build and expect to occupy your free hand with a consumable often (Spellshot with scrolls), you may appreciate the reload function of a capacity weapon. The eventual (though rare) drawback is that it ultimately doubles the number of actions required to reload each bolt / round: an Interact to change chambers, leaving you still needing to use an Interact to reload a round into each empty chamber. Typically, that isn’t an issue, but it may come up for the odd longer-running encounter. ● Cobbled: Weapons with this trait have a 20% chance of misfiring any time your attacks fail or crit fail, making them particularly risky when firing under the MAP. Currently, there are very few cobbled weapons, and the two most accessible of them are both goblin ancestry weapons (shocking, I know). ● Combination: These weapons have both a ranged and melee mode, and switching between them requires an Interact action. Each mode bears its own traits, but there’s some unaddressed weirdness between these traits. The most egregious example is with the melee mode’s forceful and sweep traits, which may or may not work if a turn consists of a ranged Strike, followed by an Interact to switch to melee mode, followed by a melee Strike. Consult your GM as to how they want the traits to work across modes, if it all. If the weapon is loaded, your action sequence can consist of a melee Strike followed by a ranged Strike without having to change modes, with the usual requirement to reload it after in order to use a ranged Strike again. This action order interacts with the MAP as normal and leaves your weapon in melee mode after the two Strikes are completed. Property runes also apply to both modes so long as they would normally apply. For example, a mace multipistol with a flaming rune would apply the extra fire damage regardless of mode. The same mace multipistol with a crushing rune would only apply the crushing rune in melee mode. You can’t add an attached weapon like a reinforced

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stock to a combination weapon. Most Ways will struggle to use combination weapons due to action economy limitations and item power budget distribution. ○ Critical Fusion: I’m listing this trait this way because it is inseparable from combination weapons. It’s technically not a ranged weapon trait because it only exists in the melee mode of combination weapons. Assuming you have melee critical weapon specialization, the critical fusion trait adds two critical specialization effect options to every combination weapon’s melee mode. The most reliable means of gaining access to melee critical weapon specialization is through ancestry feats. You can instead take the Mauler Dedication feat for critical specialization with two-handed combination weapons. With appropriate feat support, you’ll be able to choose between any one of the normal melee weapon group’s crit specialization effect, the normal firearm critical specialization effect (if the weapon is loaded and you discharge it), or (again, if loaded) discharging the weapon and adding two damage per weapon die. The extra two damage per weapon die are not doubled due to the fact that you gain that damage specifically from a critical hit. ● Concealable: Gives you a sizable bonus to stealth checks and DCs to keep the weapon hidden. Useful for infiltration and intrigue/ social-heavy campaigns. ● Concussive: Gives an action-free means of allowing your firearm to overcome resistances / immunities. Your Strikes will automatically change damage type from piercing to bludgeoning as the Strike occurs when the target’s bludgeoning resistance is less than that of its piercing resistance / immunity. This trait does not offer the same benefit for weaknesses. A creature weak to bludgeoning damage will still take piercing damage from a concussive weapon. Additionally, the fact that a weapon can deal bludgeoning damage via the concussive trait does not make it a bludgeoning weapon, which is important for determining which weapons can benefit from the crushing rune. ● Double Barrel: Sort of similar to the capacity trait in that you can have two rounds loaded, can fire both without reloading, and need to spend an Interact action to reload each round individually. Unlike the capacity trait, these weapons can expend both rounds in a row without using an Interact action between, which provides some flexibility for feats and features that allow you to make multiple ranged Strikes in a row. Their reloads function as normal meaning you can't reload them while dual wielding. These weapons also give you the ability to expend both rounds in a single shot for better damage, and

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have some item support with breech ejectors. You can have two different ammunition types loaded and expend them simultaneously to get both ammunition effects at once. ● Fatal: Changes your weapon’s damage die to the listed value when you crit with the weapon, as well as adding a damage die of the same value after the damage has been doubled. For example, a flintlock pistol, which has a d4 damage die and bears the fatal d8 trait, would deal (2 (1d8)) + 1d8 damage on a crit, with the number of baseline damage dice scaling as normal with striking runes. A flintlock pistol with a greater striking rune would deal (2 (3d8)) + 1d8. ● Fatal Aim: These nominally one-handed weapons can be used with a oneor two-handed grip. The one-handed grip only functions if your other hand is not holding a weapon or shield, or otherwise occupied. Switching between the grips is harder for fatal aim weapons, requiring an Interact action to change to the one-handed grip unlike a normal Release free action. They also do not receive the eased Release and re-grip when reloading as weapons without this trait do. The language on how this works is tricky. With any two-handed weapon that doesn’t bear this trait, there outright isn’t a two-handed mode, which makes the order of operations of hand release / reload / re-grip simple. That process is still the same with a fatal aim weapon: if you reload it while wielded in a two-handed grip, you still release, reload, and re-grip as a two handed weapon. What it does not do is allow you to come out of your reload with the weapon instead held in a one-handed grip. ● Free-Hand: These weapons can’t be Disarmed and free a hand up for other uses. While wielding a free-hand weapon, you can (mostly) do anything that would require a free hand. While using said hand for whatever actions you need to do, though, you can’t make attacks with a free-hand weapon. They’re useful for overcoming reload limitations in one-handed weapon builds (namely, Pistoleros) and for keeping a hand free to use athletics skill actions (namely, Drifters). The only ranged weapon in the game right now that bears the free-hand trait explicitly forbids you from reloading it with the hand wielding it, but it does still make dual-wield reloading easier for the other weapon. Additionally, this trait enables some clever play around the action economy when used alongside feats that require a specific status of weapon load to function. If your final action on a turn is to Strike with your primary two-handed weapon, leaving that weapon unloaded, you can free action release your grip to have the free-hand weapon available as a loaded weapon, and the primary two-handed weapon available as an unloaded weapon, for the purposes of either type of feat.

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● Kickback: These weapons give you a penalty to attack unless you have a minimum +2 STR or use a stabilizer like a bipod or tripod. Stabilizers require an action to deploy and either root you in place or require you to use more actions to mobilize and deploy them again. As a tradeoff to the attribute score or action limitations, kickback weapons deal an extra point of untyped damage. This trait is also one of the two traits that interacts with the large bore modifications, a level 5 item which is detailed in the items section of the guide. ● Modular B, P, or S: These weapons allow you to use an Interact action to change between any one of the three physical damage types. All subsequent attacks after you’ve changed the type will deal that damage. They’re heavy on action economy, but give you damage type versatility. These weapons at baseline deal “dX modular” damage, which means these weapons don’t, by RAW, function with a crushing rune. Talk to your GM, though, because if they’re willing to treat these weapons as bludgeoning weapons, the crushing rune is an outstanding improvement. ● Parry: You can use an action to get a temporary +1 circumstance bonus to AC, the same as Raising a Shield with a buckler. ● Razing: Deal some extra damage to objects equivalent to double the number of your weapon’s damage dice. Mostly useful against physical hazards. ● Repeating: These weapons use a magazine of ammunition rather than individual pieces of ammunition. What this means is that they do not need to be reloaded until the currently loaded magazine runs out of ammunition, and that they do not bear a typical Reload value. Once that magazine is out, it requires 3 Interact actions to reload, which can each be done independently and allows you to use each of the 3 required actions as part of your Slinger’s Reload or a reload feat. Depending on the weapon, magazines hold a different amount of ammunition: air repeater (6), barricade buster (8), long air repeater (8), and each repeating crossbow magazine holds 5 bolts. The reduced shot-to-reload economy enables feats and features that allow for multiple ranged Strikes in a row. Additionally, while repeating weapons will benefit from your proficiency, they will not benefit from the extra damage that your Slinger’s Precision feature grants. ● Scatter: These weapons also bear a distinction of either 5 ft. or 10 ft. This number is the range of the splash damage emanation around the target of a scatter weapon’s attack. As these weapons deal splash damage, both the target of the attack and all creatures within the listed range will also take a point of splash damage per weapon die. These weapons are risky for your party since you can damage yourself and allies, but the

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damage is mitigable with a backfire mantle (or greater backfire mantle once you have a major striking rune). They technically have the best possible damage scaling of any weapon, but that depends entirely on how many enemies you can hit with the splash damage. Scatter is the other trait that interacts with large bore modifications, which is detailed in the items section. ● Volley: You’ll take a -2 penalty to attack within a volley weapon’s listed range. Most of the time, the volley trait comes with a range value, such as with the barricade buster (volley 20 ft.).

Ammunition: You’ll be using either bolts or rounds. As such, any alchemical or magical ammunition that lists its type as bolt, round, or any is usable for you depending on whether you’re using a firearm or crossbow. For rounds specifically, there are several important interactions:

● Where arrows and bolts are simply defined, rounds are not. In fact, rounds don’t technically exist: there is no such thing as a baseline round, and mechanical mentions of rounds only occur where you’d see them as an ammunition type (for example, life shot exists as a round) and as an ammunition amount (for example, the harmona gun lists “5 rounds” for its ammunition purchase / crafting stack amount). The closest rules clarification comes from the Guns and Gears Ammunition paragraph on page 150:

A round of ammo can vary in its composition but is typically either a prepackaged paper cartridge, including wadding, bullet, and black powder, or loose shot packed in manually. Some weapons, like hand cannons and blunderbusses, can fire other materials, but their ammunition has the same Price due to the cost of the black powder. Because making rounds of firearm ammunition requires creating black powder, you need the Alchemical Crafting skill feat to make them. Firearm rounds are a valid option for magical ammunition, just like arrows or bolts. Crafting magical firearm ammunition requires you to be able to craft both alchemical and magical items.

None of this text explicitly defines the existence of a baseline round, whether or not black powder should count as the baseline round, or whether magical ammunition which exists

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in the form of a round (whether defined as an “any” or a “round” type of ammunition) inherits the alchemical trait of a black powder round. ● Black powder is (sort of) the standard basis / unit of firearm rounds, but even black powder (like all other special ammunition types, be they alchemical or magical) shows that it exists as a modification to the semi-existent baseline round. Black powder is specifically an alchemical item as it bears the alchemical trait. This fact is what allows backfire mantles to ignore splash damage from firearms with the scatter trait, since the splash damage is being dealt by an alchemical item. ● Any magical ammunition that can be crafted as a round may or may not inherit the alchemical trait of a black powder round. Your GM may allow your feats that grant alchemy benefits to give you magical ammunition so long as it’s of the appropriate type (“any” or “round”). If your GM rules that magical ammunition inherits the alchemical trait of black powder ammunition, backfire mantles will help protect you and your allies against any splash damage from firing magical ammunition with a scatter weapon. ● While magical ammunition has explicitly defined rules, alchemical ammunition does not. Currently, the best answers lie somewhere between “just treat alchemical ammunition the same as magical ammunition” (which brings a whole host of issues) and “alchemical ammunition functions completely separately from magical ammunition and you have to put its mechanical functionality together from clues in disparate locations.” ○ For comparison, magical and alchemical ammunition typically list an “Activate” requirement (usually one Interact action). Magical ammunition has clearly defined action requirements to activate it: “Types of magic ammunition that have an Activate entry must be activated with additional actions before being used. Once you activate the ammunition, you must shoot it before the end of your turn. Otherwise, it deactivates (but it isn’t consumed) and you must activate it again before you can use it. If you shoot the ammunition without activating it first, it functions as non-magical ammunition and is still consumed.” Not only does alchemical ammunition not have any mechanical description whatsoever, it is also explicitly stated in the very first sentence of the Alchemical Items rules that “Alchemical items are not magical.” ○ To make matters worse, even black powder has an Activate: 1 action (manipulate) listing in its rules block. The commonly accepted community approach is that this activation is specifically to set off a black powder packet as a small explosive, not as part of its use as a round of ammunition. This makes

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the most sense for black powder because adding an Interact action on top of reloading in order to make the most accessible, basic type of ammunition usable would utterly wreck firearm action economy and is too bad to be true. There are no rules supporting this interpretation, however. Extrapolating this approach to all alchemical ammunition makes alchemical ammunition significantly stronger action economy-wise than magical ammunition and is likely unintended. ● The action required to activate the ammunition doesn’t alter how many actions it takes to reload. For example, you could activate a beacon shot arrow by touching it with 1 action, then draw and shoot the arrow as part of a Strike as normal. For a beacon shot bolt, you could activate it, load it into a crossbow, then shoot it, or load it into the crossbow, then activate it, and then shoot it. Firearms with activated ammunition bear some issues. Where a bow or crossbow clearly allows you to touch the ammunition after it’s been loaded, firearms may or may not depending on your GM. If your GM does not allow you to touch your ammunition after it’s loaded, activated ammunition requires a specific action sequence: Activate, Interact (reload), Strike. Assuming alchemical ammunition functions similarly to magical ammunition in that it only stays activated until the end of your turn, that sequence is your only means of using activated ammunition with your firearm barring feat support. Do all you can to convince your GM that rules functionality should trump the reality of your ability to touch loaded ammunition. Activated ammunition is difficult enough to employ as-is without your GM making it worse. ● A note on the occasional “firearm ammunition (X rounds)” element that you’ll see on AoN: This rules entry serves to indicate how many individual rounds you get when purchasing or crafting (via the crafting skill, not advanced alchemy) a set of ammunition. The normal rate is 1 sp for 10 rounds. In the case of, for example, the harmona gun, the entry “firearm ammunition (5 rounds)” means that you would instead only get 5 harmona gun rounds for 1 sp. This also sort of serves to distinguish one weapon’s rounds from another: the harmona gun’s rounds are different and function separately from the rounds you’d use for, say, an arquebus, which bears the (AoN) entry “firearm ammunition (10 rounds),” although there’s no actual rule that specifies these rounds should be treated as being any different.

Class features primer

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HP: You’re one of the relatively squishy martials with 8 class HP. You are primarily ranged, though, so you at least have the advantage of being able to stay out of the fray if and when your HP is pressed. If you absolutely need extra HP, you can take an archetype which includes a feat that gives 3 HP per associated archetype feat (fighter, for example), as well as several ancestry options.

Perception: As one of only four classes that gets legendary perception proficiency and the third best perception progression overall, you can get a lot of mileage out of WIS investment and feats that grant you imprecise senses and bonuses to Seek. There are some class feats that help in this area as well, and unsurprisingly, you’re a great resource to Point Out enemies your party might otherwise have difficulty detecting. Having solid perception will also help with initiative quite a bit, although there are some exceptions for stealth builds and, to a lesser extent, deception builds.

Saves: Expert reflex and fortitude right out the gate with master reflex at 11 and fortitude at 17. Both improvements also turn successes into crit successes for their respective saves. Feats and features which shore up your fortitude save against poisons and diseases will help quite a bit through most of the game, though your reflex save should be just fine due to both your DEX reliance and solid proficiency progression. Bonuses to your save DCs against athletics skill actions will also be useful, regardless of whether they’re for your reflex or fortitude DC. Will saves, however, are a bit of an issue: you start off trained, hit expert at 3, and never improve past that. The only additional benefit you get is part of the Stubborn feature at level 3: you get a pseudo-fortune effect on will saves against the controlled condition. As such, feats and features which help against fear, emotion, and mental effects, as well as effects which render you controlled, will be highly valuable, as will WIS investment.

Skills: 3+INT plus a skill from your Way is plenty to cover all you need to do with skills. You’re not a skill monkey. Oddly, Spellshots will have the hardest time with skills despite reliance on INT since they really want all possible Recall Knowledge-based skills (arcana, crafting, nature, occultism, religion, and society at a minimum).

Attacks: You have the best possible attack proficiency progression so long as you’re using a simple / martial firearm or crossbow. Both weapon groups get a precision damage bonus. Combination weapons in melee mode also benefit from your higher attack proficiency. With any

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other weapon, you have standard martial proficiency progression. Drifters and somewhat Vanguards sort of have a lesser ability to hit / crit with melee weapons, but you’re no worse off than your martial counterparts (aside from fighters). There are ways to solve said issue with combination weapons, but doing so can be a bit complicated. Advanced firearms and crossbows progress at the same rate as non-firearm / -crossbow simple and martial weapons, meaning you’re generally best off using martial firearms and crossbows. The mauler archetype can help bring melee weapon proficiency up to par with your firearm / crossbow proficiency, but you’ll only really see that for Vanguards using a reinforced stock. You can also throw bombs at a better proficiency progression than alchemists, and there is a dwarf ancestry feat that makes you the best bomb thrower in the game for levels 13+.

Defenses: Standard martial progression for unarmored, light, and medium armor proficiencies, meaning improvements at levels 13 and 19. For the most part, you should just use light armor or, at level 10 (when you should have a +5 DEX mod) and beyond, explorer’s clothing. While your DEX mod will go higher than the DEX cap of explorer’s clothing, you’ll need the explorer’s clothing to hold runes. Heavy armor is an option with feat support provided you’re willing to deal with the drawbacks of heavy armor.

Class DC: Standard martial class DC progression, although Spellshots fall behind due to their class DC being tied to INT rather than DEX. Additionally, when you reach master class DC proficiency at level 17, you can attack out to your ranged weapon’s third range increment without penalty, giving you potentially massive range and easing distance requirements quite a bit for Ways in or near melee who may be using a shorter-range weapon.

Slinger’s Precision: Extra damage with firearms and crossbows. Firearms deal slightly better damage on average (2.5 3.5), but the difference is more-or-less negligible. You won’t get the extra damage with a repeating weapon. This feature also makes firearmand crossbow-based combination weapons use your full proficiency in melee mode.

Gunslinger Weapon Mastery: Starting at level 5, you get critical weapon specialization with firearms and crossbows. Firearm crits can inflict stunned 1, but give the enemy a chance to immediately ignore said effect with a successful fortitude save versus your class DC. Spellshots are less able to land the stunned 1 condition due to their class DC being tied to INT. The stunned condition will stop a target from being able to take reactions while they are stunned. If

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you stun a target immediately after its turn, you’ll effectively have a full round where you don’t need to worry about its reactions, meaning you can Delay and Ready to set up that pitfall for your enemies. Crossbows deal persistent bleed damage on crits, so they wind up with quite a bit of damage potential even without the fatal trait.

Weapon Specialization: Starting at level 7, you’ll deal extra damage with weapons and unarmed attacks. You don’t have any real reason to use unarmed attacks, but your firearms’ and crossbows’ extra damage will scale at the same rate as that of a fighter. Note that the weapon specialization extra for being legendary is quite a bump over master proficiency, lending value to combination weapons in builds that want to get into melee.

Color/rating guide

Best (): Seriously. You want this. Great (): You almost certainly want this. Good (): Generally worth taking, but not in all cases. Situational (*): You can make it work, but it mostly applies in limited situations. Bad (): Generally, you don’t want this. Sometimes worth taking in rare situations, or requires a lot of effort to make it work.

Identifiers

(U): Uncommon option. Since the class itself is uncommon and relates to so many uncommon features, it is important to note uncommon choices so you can have an informed conversation with your GM about what they will and won’t allow. (F): Firearm-related. This identifier will typically be next to a (U) identifier since most GMs who allow gunslingers will also allow uncommon firearms. It also serves to distinguish against options with a (U) identifier that don’t have anything to do with firearms or are firearm-adjacent, but not necessary to support firearms’ existence in any given campaign. In other words, it’s a good way to pick out options that should logically exist for a table that allows firearms. (MC): This tag is used on magical ammunition that can be crafted with Munitions Crafter. This one is a bit dubious, but the baseline rounds are black powder and pellets. Almost all firearms use black powder ammunition, which bears the alchemical trait. Technically, if you can make

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your magical ammunition for a weapon that uses black powder ammunition, you’re making alchemical ammunition. Discuss with your GM.

Ways

A gunslinger’s Way defines how their class will function and which weapons will be best used. Each Way starts off with a Slinger’s Reload and an Initial Deed. At levels 9 and 15, each Way gets, respectively, an Advanced Deed and a Greater Deed. The Slinger’s Reload will either require some manipulation or use of your weapon(s) or a skill check, granting action compression on top of the specified weapon / skill usage. Deeds are all specialized actions / activities (sometimes free actions or reactions) which will drive your function within your party and how you play your class.

For the Ways which use some form of melee weapon, although there are numerous mentions of being unable to get melee critical specialization, owlbear claws very quickly become a cheap improvement for your melee Strikes. If someone in your party is either a talisman dabbler or can craft (and, specifically, has the Magical Crafting skill feat), you should have ready access to owlbear claws. Alternatively, you can just buy them since they become relatively cheap very quickly. If you use a double barrel weapon, breech ejectors are another valuable consumable to have in stock.

Way of the Drifter

This Way is designed to make you a switch hitter, relying on both a one-handed firearm and a one-handed melee weapon. Being a switch hitter means mobility and flexibility in positioning and your weapons’ uses. Much of your function in a party will come down to the traits on your weapon and how often / well you can take advantage of those traits, plus the all-important flanking. Reach weapons in particular provide opportunities for allies’ mobility and flanking. You will want blazons of shared power. While unarmed attacks may seem like a good idea, blazons of shared power do not work with handwraps mighty blows. As such, keeping runes current for both a weapon and handwraps is cost-prohibitive. Note that, although not terribly common, enemies with Reactive Strike can use it as a reaction to you using a ranged attack while they are within melee range of you. You also become trained in acrobatics, which will primarily be useful to Tumble Through enemies for better positioning. Although you won’t have the most

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damage output, you will have flexibility in how you approach encounters and a safe ranged option when you want / need it. Drifters also have enough action compression that they can kind of get away with a caster archetype for buffs. Into the Fray giving a Stride lets you do that, then two actions for a buff, and round out the turn with a Strike or, even better, Stab and Blast. One particularly strong application of this action set is with the _draconic barrage_ domain spell from the dragon domain, which is most easily available through the cleric archetype.

Attribute spread: STR () / DEX () / CON () / INT () / WIS () / CHA () STR is useful because it’ll add damage to your melee Strikes and, if you’re after higher damage, be the attribute score used for your melee attack rolls. Depending on your choice of melee weapon, STR can also help with athletics skill actions like tripping. CON is a must because you’ll be in melee and probably getting hit. Something’s got to give and, unfortunately, it’s probably WIS. You want at least some WIS, though. Not only will it be great for your perception you get legendary proficiency eventually, after all it’ll help shore up your will save, which caps out at expert proficiency. INT and CHA have no synergy with this Way.

● Slinger’s Reload: Reloading Strike allows you to make a melee Strike and simultaneously reload your firearm without a free hand, which is a noticeable improvement over the usual action economy and limitations of dual wield builds. You can actually use Reloading Strike even if you’re not adjacent to an enemy since you can make a melee Strike against a nonexistent “invisible” enemy, though doing so will increase your MAP. You can use unarmed Strikes with this reload, but as noted above, it’s a bad idea due to the gold cost. Though your ranged Strikes will still trigger reactions, this reload, at least, does not. If you’re using a one-handed reach weapon, reactions will be less of a danger, though you’ll still have to watch out for enemies of greater size (usually huge or bigger) or with reach themselves. Your allies can help you out either by testing for reactions (champion / fighter friends, ideally) or through Recall Knowledge.

● Initial Deed: Into the Fray occurs as a free action when you roll initiative. Sometimes exploration activities take two hands climbing, digging through piles of stuff while Searching, reading a book to Investigate, etc. Into the Fray makes drawing weapons a concern of the past, allowing you to always have your weapons out at the start of an encounter. Some GMs will be more strict about weapon management than others, but you won’t have to worry about that with this Deed. It also gives you a free Stride toward

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a perceived enemy before you take any other actions, which is excellent action efficiency for round 1 positioning. This will be especially valuable to position you for a shorter-range firearm and to set up for a Reloading Strike. Additionally, ancestry-granted imprecise senses will be helpful to overcome hidden enemies.

● Advanced Deed: Finish the Job functions sort of like a fighter’s press action, but without the press trait. With this Deed, you can follow up a failed (but not critically failed) firearm Strike with a melee Strike without suffering the MAP until after the melee Strike. Once again, reach will be helpful. The extra Stride from Into the Fray will help you get into proper position for this Deed. Note that the requirements for this action are “On your last action, you failed… a Strike,” meaning you can’t separate the failed firearm Strike from the followup Finish the Job melee Strike. Additionally, you’re still making two Strikes with this action you generally won’t want to spend your third action on another Strike. Something defensive like an innate _shield_ cantrip is a great follow up. Additionally, this Deed functions very well alongside Stab and Blast as a means to make a no-MAP melee Strike against an off-guard target. As such, it’s not a bad idea for you to be the first person up next to a melee target since you can generate the off-guard condition for yourself and be in place to generate it for a subsequent ally. Initiative bonuses and WIS investment will provide for party synergy if that’s your typical turn 1 M.O.

● Greater Deed: Drifter’s Wake lets you occupy a full (non-quickened) turn with Strikes as long as they’re all against different enemies. Importantly, it specifies Strikes, which means you can’t use actions that have a Strike as a subordinate action during this activity. Similarly, it requires a Stride, so you can’t use your acrobatics to Tumble Through any enemies while using this activity. None of the activity’s Strikes suffer the MAP, but you will still have to contend with only being able to make a single firearm Strike. You can overcome that with a repeating weapon, but you lose out on overall damage at the exchange of easier positioning. Since the Strikes can occur at any point during Drifter’s Wake’s associated single Stride, you can use this activity for all sorts of positioning advantages. Get to the two nearest enemies, melee Strike both of them, and complete your Stride as far away from enemies as possible, capping it off with a firearm Strike if you want to play defensively. Since none of your movement during this activity triggers reactions, you can move about freely as needed. You can also put this activity to good use by setting up flanking for an ally at the end of your Stride. Speed boosts will be

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most welcome with this activity. You can easily get some extra speed from some ancestries, or you can coordinate with your party for speed buffs. This activity does not remove the fact that ranged attacks can still trigger reactions like Reactive Strike, so you should still be somewhat wary of firing while adjacent to an enemy. If used on your first turn, this activity effectively incorporates five actions: two Strides (one from Into the Fray) and three Strikes.

● Level 6 feat: Drifter’s Juke (*)

● Level 14 feat: Disruptive Blur (*)

Drifter Weapons

● Melee: The ratings below assume a starting +3 STR. If you start with +2 STR or less, the weapons without finesse (battle axe, breaching pike, falcata, gnome flickmace, khopesh / temple sword, longsword / pick, shield boss / shield spikes, and warhammer) are less useful. The falcata is an exception because its average damage is still nuts even with a lower starting STR. Agile weapons do less damage overall, but they’ll be great for effects like Reloading Strike when used for MAP-affected attacks. While ancestry-granted unarmed attacks may seem useful in giving you a free hand, blazons of shared power do not work with them. They are cost-prohibitive if you want them to remain relevant. If you’re playing at a table that’s using the Automatic Bonus Progression variant rule, ancestry unarmed attacks are a much friendlier option (assuming you can afford independent property runes). Even at an ABP table, some feats still require you to wield a melee weapon (notably, Sword and Pistol).

● NOTE : Once you’ve got Stab and Blast, its efficiency is unparalleled for melee -> ranged Strike turns. Melee combination weapons are incomparable for this purpose. For ranged -> melee turns, you’re still going to have to do two actions to pull this off, and non-combination weapons will still be fine (especially if you’re built for an ancestry Expertise feat to have max proficiency). If your party composition is such that you usually prioritize melee, you can safely ignore the non-combination weapons. ○ If your party composition is such that you usually prioritize ranged attacks, considerations are a bit different. Since Stab and Blast effectively requires you to

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use a bayonet or a combination weapon, I recommend a bayonet for action efficiency. Using a combination weapon as your primary ranged weapon runs counter to the desire to prioritize ranged Strikes: it will always do less damage than, say, a dueling pistol, and swapping to and from its melee mode introduces Interact action inefficiency. Your other somewhat decent option is to two-hand a piercing wind to maintain ranged damage, but doing so negates safety features inherent in Sword and Pistol (which you won’t be able to use at all with a two-handed weapon) and Reloading Strike, as well as being unusable for Finish the Job. Finish the Job is at least doable with a free-hand weapon like a gauntlet. Technically, you can make the gauntlet setup work with a piercing wind and a gauntlet, but again, action inefficiency to swap to a one-handed grip to do so, on top of losing a lot of damage for not having the fatal d10 trait.

○ Aldori Dueling Sword (): Provided you take Unconventional Expertise or the Aldori Duelist Dedication, you’ll have a max-proficiency d8 finesse melee weapon. ○ Bayonet (): Not a lot of damage, but it’ll free up a hand and benefits from the runes on your firearm / crossbow without needing Blazons of Shared Power (unless you remove it and decide to wield it in a hand). Having a free hand is great for lots of reasons, not least of which are athletics skill actions and consumable usage like alchemical bombs. It also means you don’t have to 100% rely on Slinger’s Reload for reload action economy ease. ○ Breaching Pike (*): Basically just reach and a d6 damage die, but reach is great and you can get crit specialization (inflicting clumsy 1) with it from an ancestry feat. Also has the razing trait for improved object damage, although that’s a situational benefit. Combat-wise, the razing trait will primarily help you bust enemy shields. ○ Chain Sword (): NOTE : this rating assumes you have, ideally, Unconventional Weaponry to be able to treat this weapon as a martial weapon. It’s your best one-handed reach weapon option due to the finesse trait. ○ Crescent Cross (): Low damage, but max melee proficiency and parry for a defensive option. It’s still technically in the bow weapon group, but Treasure Vault has yet to be remastered. It’s clearly stated to be a crossbow.

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○ Dogslicer (): As a goblin ancestry weapon, you can get access to critical specialization effects. Making enemies off-guard on a crit sets you up well for a follow-on ranged Strike, especially once you have Stab and Blast. Its damage isn’t quite as high as that of a falcata, mace multipistol, or rapier pistol, though. ○ Falcata (): NOTE : this rating assumes you have, ideally, Unconventional Weaponry feat to be able to treat this weapon as a martial weapon. Its damage is a bit better than that of the mace multipistol and rapier pistol, even factoring for combination weapon proficiency, and you can get critical specialization for it. Tengu Weapon Familiarity is an option as well. ○ Fangwire (): As a kobold ancestry weapon, you can get access to critical specialization effects. Slowing enemies is awesome, on top of the fact that a crit includes the deadly d8 trait to bring the average damage up a fair bit. Backstabber will give you a little extra damage if you have melee allies with whom you can flank. The grapple trait will give you more value for your STR score and allow you to grapple without a free hand, although you’ll still trigger any enemy reactions if you try to use a ranged Strike against them while they’re grabbed (unless you have appropriate feats). ○ Flyssa / Shortsword (): One (two?) of very few weapons with d6 damage and both the finesse and agile traits. Their damage types are effectively the same since you can choose between piercing and slashing damage on an attack-to-attack basis without any actions spent. Alongside a concussive firearm, you’ll have total physical damage type coverage. ○ Gnome Flickmace (): Reach and d6 damage are solid, and the sweep trait is useful once you have Drifter’s Wake. Also has a great critical specialization in knocking a target prone. ○ Khopesh / Temple Sword (): Good damage and the trip trait. Both weapons are associated with ancestry weapon feats, giving you access to critical weapon specialization. ○ Kukri (**): Consistently useful due to the trip trait. The kukri’s damage will be on par with that of the flyssa & shortsword, you’ll just only be able to deal slashing damage. That’s fine since concussive firearms deal piercing or bludgeoning damage. The kukri is available from a few different ancestry weapon feats (gnome, catfolk, and vishkanya), which also gives access to critical specialization for some bleed damage and exsanguinating ammunition synergy.

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○ Mace Multipistol (*): Max melee proficiency d6, finesse for maximum attack value, and with an athletics action trait to boot. Nearly as much damage as a falcata. It is hard to obtain at level with a 13 gp price tag, though. ○ Rapier Pistol (): Deadly on a weapon with max melee proficiency does a lot to help out this weapon’s d4 damage die. It also bears maximum attack value with finesse and an athletics option with disarm. Nearly as much damage as a falcata. Fairly difficult to obtain at level 1 with a 10 gp price tag, but better than the mace multipistol at least. ○ Scorpion Whip (): If you have access to it, its improvement over the normal whip is that it doesn’t bear the nonlethal trait. Reach and trip are both solid traits. ○ Sword Cane (): If you’re playing in an intrigue-heavy game where you need to keep weapons concealed, you’ll probably like this weapon. Concealable will help you keep it hidden. ○ Tengu Gale Blade (): Basically just a flyssa / shortsword, but with disarm instead of versatile, which will be more useful if you often find yourself facing weapon-wielding enemies. The greater value here is that you can get critical specialization with an ancestry feat. ○ Thorn Whip (): As a ghoran ancestry weapon, you can get access to critical specialization effects, and it’s generally the most usable of any of the whips. Like the scorpion whip, it also does not bear the nonlethal trait. Reach and trip are useful as always. ○ Triggerbrand (*): The only truly reliable way to get crit specialization for extra critical fusion damage, since it’s a sword and used in specific cultures. As such, Tengu Weapon Familiarity can give you crit specialization. Unconventional Weaponry will let you treat it as a martial weapon, in which case its damage is about on par with the rapier pistol or mace multipistl, just with slashing damage rather than disarm / shove. With Stab and Blast and Tengu Weapon Familiarity, you’ll be able to dual wield and land a higher-damage crit compared to the other one-handed combination melee weapons, then still have your other ranged weapon loaded for the second Strike. The triggerbrand also gives you total physical damage type coverage assuming you’re using a concussive ranged weapon. It has the most restrictive access entry out of your better combination weapon options, but so long as your character is from Alkenstar, you shouldn’t have a problem.

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○ Whip (**): The bog-standard reach trip weapon. Available if you have access to nothing else which can accomplish similar results. Reach and trip are great and disarm has some use cases. Having the nonlethal treat makes it significantly less effective against enemies which are immune to nonlethal damage, but fortunately those aren’t terribly common.

● Ranged: Stay away from scatter weapons, for the most part. You can get away with a scatter 5 ft. firearm if you also use a reach weapon, but it’s going to force some action economy issues, namely having to get away from enemies that close in to melee with you. An alternative is to use the backfire mantle, but you’ll have to convince your allies to use them as well.

○ Big Boom Gun (): The modular B, P, or S trait will give you full physical damage type coverage with action economy limitations, and fatal d12 will be awesome on crits (the highest average damage for a one-handed firearm). There are some drawbacks here, though: the cobbled trait can cause it to misfire on any shot, which in turn causes the weapon to deal 1d12 fire damage to you (plus an action economy tax). It’s also only got a 20 ft. range, although you want to be near melee enough that it shouldn’t be too huge a detriment. This is a risk big, win big weapon with explosive consequences, as you might expect from a goblin gun. Be aware of the 10gp price tag if you’re using it at level 1. ○ Clan Pistol (): Good range, damage, and damage type versatility. You can take a level 1 ancestry feat as a dwarf to get this weapon for free at level 1. Otherwise, 5 gp is doable, assuming you have access. Its only real offering over the dueling pistol is extra range, but that is (most likely) at the cost of an ancestry feat. ○ Double-Barreled Pistol (*): The damage on its own isn’t spectacular, nor is the fatal d8 trait. That said, you can expend both rounds of ammunition in a single shot to make it a d6 weapon with fatal d10. This will also give you some reload flexibility in how (and how often) you use Reloading Strike, as well as some flexibility in how (and how often) you use ranged attacks. Concussive gives it damage type versatility. It’s also cheaper than most firearms, coming in at a manageable (for level 1) 7 gp. Breech ejectors are a consumable that you can use for a single one Interact reload for both barrels once per encounter at 10 gp

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each. If you’re using Munitions Crafter, this weapon is a bit better since you can keep one use of alchemical ammunition loaded in the second chamber. ○ Dueling Pistol (*): Slightly less range than a clan pistol, but otherwise a very similar weapon. It carries with it the same concussive and fatal d10 traits, but also bears the concealable trait. If you’re investing in stealth, you’ll be able to sneak this weapon past passive observers more often. 60ft. range will be plenty. Just be aware of the 12gp price tag if you’re trying to use one at level 1. ○ Flintlock Pistol ( / ): Not a particularly great weapon, but it’s more affordable at level 1 than the better options, coming in at 4 gp. Replace it as soon as you can. ○ Hand Crossbow ( / ): At 3 gp, it’s the most cost-friendly option at level 1. If you take Crossbow Crack Shot in preparation for a better crossbow, you can improve its damage a bit after a reload, at least. ○ Rotary Bow (): D8 damage and capacity 4 will make this weapon very easy to use. It’ll deal solid damage at the cost of not having much in the way of interesting traits (it has no concussive trait), but it’s got a lot of flexibility in regards to action economy and consistently strong damage. It’s not as much average damage as a d6 die / fatal d10 weapon, but it’ll be less swingy. At 8gp, it’s fairly affordable. ○ Slide Pistol (**): You won’t be able to afford this weapon at level 1 with its 16 gp price tag. Its average damage is on par with that of the dueling pistol, which is slightly better than that of the rotary bow. Its advantage over the dueling pistol is that you don’t have to use Reloading Strike or a reload feat to keep firing from this weapon, though you can if you want to. You can also keep spare alchemical ammunition loaded in the capacity chambers. Be aware of this weapon’s bulk, especially if you’re playing a relatively low-STR build.

Way of the Pistolero

This Way focuses on the use of one-handed firearms. Your primary role in a party is to debuff enemies and / or try for crits while you’re hidden from Create a Diversion. You’ll have a fairly heavy focus on either deception or intimidation (or both), bringing with them a need for CHA. This is a mid-range Way with little to no use for melee. It has no inherent support for either two-handed or dual weapon usage. If you want to build toward damage, there are feats you can take to give you dual wield capability, which is generally the damage-focused build path for

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Pistoleros. Another viable option is to focus on the alchemy-related feats and leave a hand open for alchemical items. Alternatively, you can embrace a more supportive role and run a single one-handed weapon build to leave a hand free for, say, Battle Medicine.

Attribute spread: STR () / DEX () / CON () / INT () / WIS () / CHA (*) Naturally, you want DEX for firearm usage. CHA is a must for a secondary focus because of the reliance on deception and / or intimidation. Between CON and WIS, it’s really up to you whether you want to capitalize on a strength or shore up a weakness. CON will keep you healthy with some extra HP and complements the eventual master fortitude save proficiency. WIS provides synergy with your eventual legendary perception progression and helps with your poor will save. I am of the opinion that it’s best to not leave a glaring weakness that your party will have to cover, which is why I’ve rated CON and WIS the way I have. If your party is happy to provide buffs and / or counteract outcomes like you becoming controlled, you’ll be okay with less of a WIS focus. STR and INT are unnecessary and have no synergy with this Way.

● Slinger’s Reload: Raconteur’s Reload combines reloading with either the Create a Diversion or the Demoralize skill action. Note that this action does not remove the need for a free hand to reload, and that the manipulate trait from Interacting will still trigger some reactions if you’re in range of them. On its own, Create a Diversion is mostly useful to create the off-guard condition for a single Strike, since you can become hidden prior to said Strike. This works particularly well if someone in your party can consistently apply the stupefied condition or use the Bon Mot skill action to debuff perception. Past your first attempt to Create a Diversion, any foe subjected to the attempt receives a +4 circumstance bonus to their perception DC. There are a few ways to make this somewhat better: take the Confabulator skill feat (sort of helpful to eventually very helpful), and / or take the Lengthy Diversion skill feat. Stealth is another option, though action-heavy. It will require you to use another action to Sneak after Creating a Diversion, which means you will end up devoting two actions to Raconteur’s Reload (which includes the Create a Diversion) and Sneaking away. This option locks two of your three maximized skills into deception and stealth. Alternatively, at a minimum, Lengthy Diversion gives you an extra round of being hidden (with significant limitations, like needing a crit success and not being able to do anything besides Step or Hide). You’ll only need to focus on deception for this benefit. Deception also allows you to use the Feint skill action, but doing so requires you to be in melee not a playstyle supported

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by this Way. You can overcome that issue with feat support (Pistol Twirl), making deception once again much more functional with feats. On the intimidation side, Demoralize inflicts a debuff to all of an enemy’s modifiers and DCs for one round. The biggest drawback to the Demoralize action is that, once you’ve used it against an enemy, that enemy is then immune to your Demoralize for 10 minutes, meaning you’ll have to rely on regular Interact actions, Demoralizing a different enemy, or deception for further Raconteur’s Reloads. ○ One means of gaining a significant and relatively long-lasting buff to Create a Diversion is through the first rank spell fashionista. It’s on the arcane and occult tradition lists. If you’ve got Trick Magic Item and can afford at least trained proficiency in one of the related skills, you can be self-sufficient about getting the buff with a wand or scroll(s). Otherwise, your caster buddy may be willing to throw you a bone, especially once first rank slots become less contested. If you really want to make your occult / caster friend feel like you’re being a team player, you can fund fashionista scrolls for them to cast on you.

● Initial Deed: Ten Paces occurs as a free action when you roll initiative. It’ll add to your initiative rolland allows you to draw a one-handed firearm / crossbow plus a 10 foot Step (if you Step before any other action on your first turn). Higher initiative is always good and potentially frees up some feat choices. The Step can get you out of danger without triggering, although triggering a reaction may not even be an option on the first turn, or safely into range of whatever you need to shoot. If you’re running a single one-handed weapon build, you aren’t likely to be hand-limited while dungeon-delving, but you may sometimes find yourself exploring without a weapon drawn. In those cases, you’ll appreciate not having to use an Interact action to draw your weapon (or one of your weapons, if you, for some reason, use two). If you’re built for two weapons, you’ll be able to walk around with a single weapon drawn for a little flexibility in how you use a free hand.

● Advanced Deed: Pistolero’s Retort is a reaction which only triggers when an enemy critically fails to attack you. If you’re looking for ways to use this reaction (and you should be), that means you should be trying to fire from behind cover and sometimes using the Take Cover action for as much as +4 to your AC. Unfortunately, doing what you can to penalize enemies’ attacks against you is likely to cause them to just attack your allies

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instead. In order to get the most from this reaction, you’ll need to be able to rely on enemies critically failing their attacks against you. If they just never take those attacks, well… this reaction won’t do much. On that note, if you’re hidden from an effect like Create a Diversion + Lengthy Diversion, the miss chance against you is another barrier to the reaction’s trigger, though usually a welcome one. Even when enemies are attacking you, crit failed attacks aren’t exactly common unless you’re often fighting enemies with lower levels. Your weapon will also have to be loaded in order for you to shoot back, meaning you’ll have to plan prior turns such that your firearm is ready to fire ahead of using this reaction. If you’re using two weapons, it’ll be somewhat easier to have a weapon loaded and ready to go for the purposes of the reaction. If the stars align, this reaction will result in a MAP-free attack within your weapon’s first range increment.

● Greater Deed: Grim Swagger lets you mass debuff your enemies within 30 feet. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve focused on deception or intimidation, both achieve the same effect. Inflicting frightened 2 on a group of enemies is great, especially considering the duration of the debuff immunity lies on the enemy and not on yourself. Additionally, it’s a separate immunity from that of Demoralize. As a two action activity, you can easily fit it alongside a single Strike. Being able to land frightened 3 with a crit, plus causing lower level enemies to flee, is a huge debuff that can take enemies out of the fight for a round (technically more, since they have to spend actions returning to the fight). Be aware that your allies (especially melee allies) may not like having to deal with fleeing enemies. Set yourself up on your first turn with Ten Paces’ 10 foot step to maximize the number of enemies you affect with Grim Swagger.

● Level 6 feat: Pistolero’s Challenge (*)

● Level 14 feat: Come at Me! (**)

Pistolero Weapons

Your options exist between dual wielding or retaining a free hand. If dual wielding, you’ll want the level 4 feat Paired Shots. See that feat for damage discussion between weapon sets. If

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you’re running a single weapon build, damage output is not your goal. The free hand will be kept around for uses like tools or items.

● Air Repeater (): This rating assumes you’re playing a dual wield build. It’s not going to have quite the damage output of a RHC, but it also doesn’t require additional feat support. ● Big Boom Gun (): Lots of damage, but it’s risky and requires you to be close to melee. Modular B, P, or S will give you damage type versatility and fatal d12 will be great damage on crits, but it comes with tradeoffs. The cobbled trait means it may blow up in your face on any given shot, deal fire damage to you, and require an Interact action to clear the misfire, plus it only has a 20 ft. range. At least with a dual wield build you’ll be able to better decide when to use it: if a target is debuffed to the gills and you’re not likely to fail an attack roll against it, light it up with this weapon. Plus, with two weapons, you’ll be more resilient against misfires since you’ll have another weapon. Or go full goblin and rock two big boom guns (not actually recommended the MAP is scary with cobbled). Risk big, win big. ● Clan Pistol (): If you have access to it, the concussive and fatal d10 traits give you both some damage versatility and a nice improvement to damage on crits. 80 ft. range is plenty for this Way. ● Double-Barreled Pistol (): Despite needing two reload actions to fully load this weapon, it’s got some value going for it. Double barrel improves the damage at the cost of action economy and ammunition, as well as giving you some flexibility in how you manage reloads and Paired Shots. Breech ejectors make a big difference, too. Importantly, you can Demoralize twice with this weapon to get it fully loaded. If you’re investing in both deception and intimidation, you can instead Create a Diversion and Demoralize to throw down heavy debuffs on a single target. 30 ft. range is a bit limited for this Way, but workable, especially if you’re using Pistolero’s Challenge. ● Dueling Pistol (): Damage and damage type versatility are good, and the concealable trait will be useful in sneaking this weapon past prying eyes. 60 ft. range is plenty for this Way. ● Gauntlet Bow (**): Low damage, but it keeps your hand “free” to reload your other weapon and has a defensive option in the parry trait. Also easier on the overall action economy with capacity 4. Reloading the gauntlet bow while wielding a weapon in your other hand will require Dual Weapon Reload, though you can use the hand wielding the

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gauntlet bow to reload your other weapon. You can, at least, activate the capacity trait without Dual Weapon Reload. Having a “free” hand is also useful if you ever want to do things that require a hand, on top of the fact that the gauntlet bow will keep you prepped for the likes of Fake Out (or other ammunition-expending reactions). ● Hand Crossbow ( / ): At 3 gp, it’s the most cost-friendly option at level 1. If you take Crossbow Crack Shot in preparation for a better crossbow, you can improve its damage a bit after a reload, at least. ● Repeating Hand Crossbow (): This rating assumes you have feat support to be able to treat this weapon as a martial weapon (Unconventional Weaponry). A single repeating hand crossbow paired with a non-repeating firearm or crossbow is your best bet for Paired Shots usage, which is in turn your best source of damage output when you can afford to spend two actions on damage. ● Rotary Bow ( / *): D8 damage and capacity 4 will make this weapon very easy to use. It’ll deal solid damage at the cost of not having much in the way of interesting traits (it has no concussive trait), but it’s got a lot of flexibility in regards to action economy and consistently strong damage. Its damage on its own is a bit less than that of a d6 / fatal d10 firearm, but if you’re using it for Paired Shots, it’s one of the best weapons. At 8gp, it’s somewhat affordable. It’s also a good stand-in for a slide pistol at level 1 if you want to burn all your gold on weapons. ● Slide Pistol (): Sort of skirts around needing Dual-Weapon Reload, although you’re still going to need it if and when your slide pistols run out of ammunition unless you want to add more feats and / or actions into the mix. You’re doubling up on the Interact actions needed to use this weapon every time you change barrels, but it’s an easy means of avoiding hand management issues until all rounds are expended. Also note that you won’t be able to afford even a single slide pistol at level 1 due to its 16 gp price tag. Another issue with slide pistols is their bulk. Since Pistoleros generally can’t fit STR into their builds very well, running around with a 2 bulk weapon is a significant dent in your carrying capacity. If you plan to use a slide pistol, plan your bulk carefully.

Way of the Sniper

This Way is the striker option. If you’ve gone with this Way, it’s because you want to be the single target damage dealer in your group. It revolves around stealth and cover mechanics and synergizes well with longer-ranged weapons. Naturally, your Way skill is stealth. If you’ve got an

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arcane or occult caster ally, do your level best to convince them that they should buff you with fourth rank _invisibility_ as often as possible. Alternatively, put some focus on the arcana or occultism skill and get the Trick Magic Item skill feat plus a wand and / or numerous scrolls of fourth rank _invisibility_. Invisibility Potions are an option too, if you have access to them, but they only give second rank _invisibility_. They do, at least, benefit from the action economy improvement of a potion patch.

Kickback attribute spread: STR () / DEX () / CON () / INT () / WIS (*) / CHA (*) If you’re planning to use a kickback weapon, you want to start +3 STR for maximum weapon damage, getting it up to +4 at level 5. After that, you can ignore STR if you want. You don’t really need anything other than DEX and STR for this type of build, but of course your save-related attribute scores will be useful. I tend to prioritize WIS over CON because I don’t like leaving glaring weaknesses for my party to cover. If your party is okay with accepting your poor will save and its consequences, you may prefer to prioritize CON.

Non-kickback attribute spread: STR () / DEX () / CON () / INT () / WIS (*) / CHA () If you plan to use a weapon without the kickback trait, you can afford to skimp on STR in favor of another attribute. If your party is lacking in INT or CHA, you can help fill that gap somewhat. CHA tends to be a bit better for selfish usage because it gives you access to tools like Create a Diversion and Pistol Twirl. You should consider what will be most beneficial to your party, though. Your casters will likely be very pleased if you do a DEX > WIS > INT > CON > CHA = STR build to support them with Recall Knowledge. Throwing out a Demoralize here and there to help debuff their (and your) priority targets doesn’t go amiss, though.

● Slinger’s Reload: Covered Reload almost requires you to focus on stealth. Technically, if you don’t want anything to do with stealth, you could just position yourself around the Take Cover action, which is doable no matter what if you Drop Prone. Dropping Prone is an action, so it’s not exactly the most friendly with the action economy. It also gives you a -2 to attack, which makes prone an emergency option only. Another option for Take Cover spam is the deployable cover item. Hiding suffers from a similar action economy issue, requiring some prerequisites such as cover or concealment, then followed by a stealth-based skill action. Hiding also technically doesn’t work since, by RAW, you break your hidden condition as soon as you Interact as part of Covered Reload. That should be a pretty easy issue to smooth over with your GM since the Hide action has an “unless

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the GM determines otherwise” caveat. If they insist that one of your most basic class features doesn’t actually work because RAW, they’re a jerk, and you can tell them I called them a jerk. There are some ancestry feats that make Hiding easier (namely those of the halfling ancestry). Action economy issues aside, this is a highly defensive Slinger’s Reload that will grant you a (potentially huge) circumstance bonus to AC or impose a miss chance on enemies who try to target you. Attacking while hidden renders your target off-guad to your attack, giving you an offensive advantage as well.

● Initial Deed: In order to activate One Shot, One Kill, you’ll have to roll stealth for initiative. That shouldn’t be too hard to pull off considering how stealth-focused this Way is. What that should inform about your gameplay is your exploration activities. The easiest means of getting to roll stealth for initiative is to Avoid Notice as often as possible. If you do roll stealth for initiative, you can draw your weapon as a free action on the first round of combat, but that’s about it for the action economy easement. You do at least deal a bit of extra damage on your first Strike of the encounter, which is especially great if you can pull off an attack against an off-guard target, such as from being hidden. The rogue dedication for the surprise attack feature works very well with this Deed.

● Advanced Deed: Vital Shot is a two action ranged Strike activity that, realistically, requires your target to be off-guard. It’s best used with a fatal weapon because the extra die of weapon damage will become the value of your fatal die on a crit. The most reliable way to make your enemies off-guard is for you to be hidden (which is highly encouraged) since you have such a focus on stealth. You have other means to accomplish this, with one notable example being Pistol Twirl depending on your build (dual wield + CHA, in this instance). If your allies have a consistent means of making enemies off-guard for ranged attackers, even better. This activity is especially useful if your target’s AC is suffering a status penalty. The other off-guard-dependent component of this ability adds a number of dice of persistent bleed damage equal to the precision damage dice from One Shot, One Kill. Assuming you’re using a weapon with several major damage components going for it (arquebus, harmona gun, taw launcher), the damage output is quite high and outpaces other options. It only increases your MAP by one level, meaning you could still technically follow up with Risky Reload if you’re willing to run a risky playstyle and potentially jam your weapon.

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● Greater Deed: Ghost Shot also encourages you to be hidden (or undetected) before using it. If you meet either of those conditions, your Strike adds precision damage equal to that of One Shot, One Kill at this level, an extra 3d6 damage. Basically, it’s a single action Strike that deals precision damage on demand, provided you’re at least hidden. If you want to maximize damage on your first turn, you can take a shot buffed with One Shot, One Kill, Hide behind something (or someone, if possible) with Covered Reload, and use Ghost Shot.

● Level 6 feat: Sniper’s Aim (*)

● Level 14 feat: Headshot (**)

Sniper Weapons

Big damage with two-handed firearms is the name of the game here, though you can get away with dual wielding and Paired Shots assuming repeating hand crossbow access. Vital Shot has stronger damage output as compared to Paired Shots when your target is off-guard and you’re using a stronger two-handed weapon (arquebus, primarily, but there are other good options). Additionally, Sniper’s Aim will give you about the same damage output as Paired Shots will, once again assuming a stronger two-handed weapon. If you (and / or your allies) can reliably render targets off-guard (say, by Hiding), Vital Shot will generally pull ahead (though it’s available 5 levels after Paired Shots). Provided you have the time and breathing room to retrain and swap runes around, going with a dual wield build until 6 for Sniper’s Aim or 9 for Vital Shot is a viable build path.

● Air Repeater (): This rating assumes you’re playing a dual wield build. It’s not going to have quite the damage output of a RHC, but it also doesn’t require additional feat support. ● Alchemical Crossbow (): If you're willing to invest in the alchemy-related class feats, you’ll have some options with this weapon. It’s not particularly well-suited to this Way, especially because of the shorter range, but it has some value. ● Arbalest (*): Assuming you take Crossbow Crack Shot, its damage is about on par with the Arquebus. Due to the reload requirement for the extra damage, it’ll do a little

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less up front, but has no STR requirement since there’s no kickback. You’re basically trading an attribute requirement for a feat investment requirement. ● Arquebus (*): Solid damage and excellent range. The kickback trait is a blessing and a curse. Most of the time, countering it with a stabilizer is just too much of a tax on your action economy, especially when you want to use Vital Shot, although this Way is uniquely suited to finding a safe spot and planting itself. You’ll want +2 STR to be able to ignore the tripod, and +3 STR for the earliest possible damage scaling / easing of action economy. If you have either a stabilizer set up or 14+ STR, you’ll be able to ignore the attack penalty from kickback and just take advantage of the extra point(s) of damage. If you do prefer to use a stabilizer, the shielded tripod gives you a convenient and portable means of Taking Cover. Concussive gives damage type versatility between bludgeoning and piercing. At 8 gp, it’s a bit steep for level 1, but doable. ● Crossbow ( / ): Starter weapon if you’re strapped for gold. If you take Crossbow Crack Shot in preparation for a better crossbow, you can improve its damage a bit after a reload, at least. ● Double-Barreled Pistol (*): High damage potential and ammo versatility for Paired Shots. ● Double-Barreled Musket (): Despite needing two reload actions to fully load this weapon, it’s got some value going for it. With double barrel, you can do d8 baseline damage and improve to a d12 fatal trait if you both have the weapon fully loaded and expend both rounds of ammunition with one shot. Doing so puts this weapon’s damage on par with that of the arquebus, but without the kickback trait (slightly less damage, no STR or stabilizer required). The tradeoff as compared to the arquebus is the fact that you have to reload twice. If the terrain is suitable, you can use Covered Reload twice to both Hide and Take Cover in order to fully reload the weapon. 60 ft. range is plenty for most encounters. Be aware of the 11 gp price tag at level 1. Breech ejectors are a consumable that you can use for a single one Interact reload for both barrels once per encounter at 10 gp each. ● Dwarven Scattergun (): Relatively low range, but good damage potential between kickback and scatter. Make sure your melee allies are willing to buy backfire mantles. ● Dueling Pistol (): Good for Paired Shots if you want to be able to sneak it into events / social encounters where you’re not allowed a weapon, and if you don’t want to deal with a slide pistol’s bulk.

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● Flintlock Musket (): Not a particularly great weapon, but it’s more affordable at level 1 than the better options, coming in at 7 gp. It’s got a lower damage die than a crossbow, but bears the concussive and fatal d10 traits to offset that fact. ● Gauntlet Bow (): Enables some action economy around reloading while qualifying you for feats that require a weapon to be in a loaded or unloaded state. ● Harmona Gun (): This rating assumes you can get a crushing rune. Although it does less average damage than the arquebus, its damage will be less swingy and it’s the only firearm that can benefit from a crushing rune. Additionally, it’s got great range. It does still have the STR or stabilizer requirement due to the kickback trait. ● Jezail (): A weapon near the damage of an arquebus without the need for STR or a stabilizer. Also gives some flexibility with hand usage if you’re willing to handle the action economy impact. If you’re not building for STR, this is the most action-efficient weapon and, for a low-STR build, will generally beat the arquebus for damage output due to the lack of additional action requirement. ● Repeating Hand Crossbow (*): Snipers are very viable with a dual wield Paired Shots build so long as the repeating hand crossbow is involved, though their 60 ft. range may not satisfy the sniper fantasy and may sometimes hinder your access to cover and / or places to Hide. ● Rotary Bow (): Its damage on its own is a bit less than that of a d6 / fatal d10 firearm, but if you’re using it for Paired Shots (the whole reason you’d use it on a Sniper), it’s one of the best weapons. At 8gp, it’s somewhat affordable. ● Slide Pistol (): Good for Paired Shots if you want a capacity firearm. ● Flingflenser (): Goblin weapon that’ll deal a bit of extra damage to your primary target on every hit: 1 (or 2, at high levels) from backstabber and 1 to 4 from scatter. You’ll also be able to do a bit of AoE damage with the scatter 5 ft. trait, but be wary of this because it can and will hit your melee allies (unless they have backfire mantles). With these two traits, it does slightly higher damage than that of the single shot double-barreled musket. If you’re able to activate the backstabber trait, its damage is generally on par with that of the arquebus. As long as you’ve got the goblin weapon familiarity feat, it’s treated as a martial weapon, eliminating the proficiency issue. At 6 gp, this weapon is easily affordable at level 1. ● Sukgung (): Same damage output and hand “flexibility” as a jezail, but with more than twice the range (longest range you can get, actually) and no concussive trait. It’s also cheaper, but if you’re building for Munitions Machinist, you won’t benefit from that feat as

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much as you would with a firearm due to ammunition type. If you want to take Crossbow Crack Shot, it’ll deal a bit more damage than the jezail. ● Taw Launcher (**): Solid damage if you’ve got the conrasu weapon familiarity feat to treat it as a martial weapon. Modular B, P, or S will give you damage type versatility at the cost of action economy. The damage is, on average, a bit lower than that of the arquebus, but requires no items, actions, or STR to get there. You’re a striker, and this weapon fully enables that role without too much strain. Be aware of the 10 gp price tag at level 1. It should also deal extra damage with the Crossbow Crack Shot feat, but the taw launcher is in that weird un-remastered place where it’s still listed in the bow weapon group despite a description as a crossbow.

Way of the Spellshot

This Way is designed for you to be able to leverage Recall Knowledge information against your enemies, capitalizing on weaknesses or avoiding resistances / immunities. Beyond that, a huge draw of the Spellshot is versatility. Though you cannot gain master spellcasting benefits without another archetype (such as beast gunner), you will still have quite a bit of utility magic available to you should you choose to take the Basic / Expert Wizard Spellcasting feats since the arcane list is so fantastic for those options. You als have some outstanding damage tools between Spell-Woven Shot and Fulminating Shot, as well as damage type versatility, great reload efficiency at 9+, and a high level buff removal tool.

Attribute spread: STR () / DEX () / CON () / INT () / WIS () / CHA (*) Naturally, you want maximum DEX for your Strikes. INT is absolutely necessary because, unlike other Ways, it drives your class DC instead of DEX. DEX is still your key attribute score, though, so your class DC is going to suffer compared to other Ways no matter what. That also includes a lower chance to stun enemies with firearm critical specialization. WIS is important as well, not only to shore up your weak will save, but also to be able to use nature and religion as needed for Recall Knowledge. You still want CON, but something has to give. STR and CHA are of no use to you.

● Slinger’s Reload: Thoughtful Reload is the reason you want to beef up your INT and WIS. Combine a Recall Knowledge check with a reload in a single action. Using this reload will enable the key focus of this Way. If your enemies don’t have any weaknesses, resistances, or immunities, hopefully your GM will be lenient enough with information

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that you can determine your target’s weakest save(s) to help out your allies. It’s also important to note that Thoughtful Reload requires you to use actual ammunition. It will not work with Conjure Bullet. Be aware of the limitations of using Recall Knowledge multiple times against the same target, or even multiple targets of the same type. The DC to Recall Knowledge gets harder the more you succeed, eventually becoming impossible. There’s a long-running debate about whether failure prior to a success locks you out of further Recall Knowledge attempts, so consult with your GM on how they plan to handle RK.

● Initial Deed: As a free action when you roll initiative, Energy Shot allows you to empower your first three Strikes in an encounter with a single point of acid, cold, fire, or electricity damage per weapon damage die. You can also draw your weapon if it wasn’t out, which will generally be most useful with a two-handed weapon. Your first Strike is almost certainly going to occur before you use Thoughtful Reload, which means either you’ll have to go for a normal Recall Knowledge before Striking or go with your best guess on which damage type to use. After that first Strike, though, Thoughtful Reload will be a useful pairing with Energy Shot. Once you have access to Fulminating Shot, you can add two different damage types to your first three Strikes if needed. If you’re just going weakness fishing and Recall Knowledge either isn’t successful or your GM is stingy with information, you can coordinate with caster allies to enable the weakness fishing.

● Advanced Deed: Recall Ammunition allows you to reload normal ammunition as a reaction when you miss. A missed shot that’s been buffed with Energy Shot or Fulminating Shot will not retain its extra damage when recalled. You can recover magical / alchemical ammunition, but doing so will require you to activate it again. The real benefit is in the fact that you don’t have to spend an action to reload when the dice don’t go your way, which is really solid action compression.

● Greater Deed: Dispelling Bullet allows you, as a two action activity, to counteract ongoing spell effects on your targets. Removing enemy buffs is a powerful way to bring them back down in line with your group’s capabilities, especially because you can do so resource-free. Just be aware that boss enemies +3 levels above you or higher will be particularly difficult to counteract since their highest buffs are likely to be more than one rank above your counteract level. For ease of reference, the table below will give you

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your counteract level and counteract modifier for levels 15-20. The counteract modifiers assume you start with a +3 in INT. For comparison, a level 17 enemy should have a spell DC somewhere around 38-43. If you don’t know what buffs your enemy has up, you automatically attempt to counteract the highest-rank effect on them. Knowing the level of enemy you’re fighting and using those Recall Knowledge checks to figure out their buffs will be extremely helpful in knowing when and what to dispel. As an example, a level 17 vaspercham has the spells spell immunity (9th) and regenerate (7th). If you use Dispelling Bullet against a vaspercham with both buffs up and don’t declare which effect you’re targeting, you’ll automatically attempt to dispel spell immunity. The vaspercham has a spell DC of 41. At level 15, you’d require a 17 on the die to successfully counteract spell immunity. If, instead, you know about the regenerate and specifically target it, you’d need an 8 on the die to counteract it (32 is a failure, but not a critical failure, which will counteract effects of a lower level). With an INT apex item, you’re on par with a caster’s counteract modifier at levels 17 and 18, but behind by 2 points at levels 15, 16, and 19, and by 3 points at level 20. With a DEX apex item, you’re behind by at least 1 point at all levels. The tradeoff is that casters have to expend resources for their dispels, where yours is always available and gets a Strike in the mix. NOTE: There is a GM Core item called the dispelling sliver that works with the rogue’s equivalent of Dispelling Bullet, Dispelling Slice. By RAW, the dispelling sliver does not function with Dispelling Bullet. It’s worth asking your GM if they’re willing to make it work, though. Even if they don't, the dispelling sliver gives you a second chance to counteract a spell.

Character level Counteract level Counteract modifier (DEX apex)

Counteract modifier (INT apex)

15 8 24 24

16 8 25 25

17 9 28 29

18 9 29 30

19 10 30 31

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20 10 31 32

Spellshot Weapons

Until level 4 when you can get Spell-Woven Shot, your damage will come primarily from your weapon, though you will have some flexibility to use cantrips if and when appropriate. Once you’ve got Spell-Woven Shot, your big burst damage turns won’t rely as much on your weapon, though having a two-handed weapon will still allow you to keep up your damage output on turns when you can’t dedicate all three actions to damage. You don’t have much room for alchemical feats beyond Munitions Crafter, but that is at least enough to give you some bombs for a little extra damage versatility or a secondary means of triggering a weakness (or multiple with splash). For out-and-out weapon damage, you’ll generally want one of the harder-hitting two handed weapons, but it’s hard for you to fit the STR or actions to handle something with kickback. As such, the arbalest is a great choice. Crossbow Crack Shot is at odds with Munitions Crafter unless you can take the human feat Natural Ambition, though, so the harmona gun is realistically your easiest choice if you want hand flexibility (as opposed to having to deal with fatal aim), two-handed damage, and alchemy. One-handed weapons are perfectly viable for you, though. It’s a good idea to have a hand free for consumables, which frees you up for things like Quick Draw bomb usage and scroll / wand usage. That also means you have some freedom for, say, Battle Medicine should you build for WIS. If you’re building for alchemy and plan to use alchemical ammunition, be aware that crossbows are less flexible with alchemical ammunition than firearms due to the fact that firearm ammunition all relies on black powder. You have some additional weapon considerations in beast guns should you want / be allowed to go the beast gunner route, but beast guns tend not to be too great. I detail those in the beast gunner archetype section.

● Alchemical Crossbow (**): As the Way with the most focus on damage type versatility, being able to throw out additional damage types via alchemical consumables is a solid benefit. If you can fit it in alongside Munitions Crafter, Crossbow Crack Shot will improve this weapon’s damage since it’s a simple weapon. If it becomes a matter of prioritizing between the feats (as is almost always the case unless playing a human with Natural Ambition), Munitions Crafter is the better choice. Note, however, that you cannot afford an alchemical crossbow at level 1 due to its 25 gp price tag.

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● Arbalest (*): Outstanding damage that benefits from Crossbow Crack Shot. You won’t be able to benefit from Crossbow Crack Shot as often as other Ways if you’re using Spell-Woven Shot, though, so don’t consider it to be a mandatory feat. ● Arquebus (): Great damage, but hard to handle the kickback trait. ● Crossbow ( / ): Barebones, but effective, especially in a no-firearms game. D8 damage and 120 ft. range will be plenty, and it only costs 3 gp. Crossbow Crack Shot can help with its damage and set you up for a better crossbow once you can afford one. ● Double-Barreled Pistol (): Good damage that leaves a hand free for scrolls and the like, as well as giving you some ammo versatility if you’re using alchemical ammunition. ● Double-Barreled Musket (): Despite needing two reload actions to fully load this weapon, it’s got some value going for it. Its damage is decent and can be improved if you expend both loaded rounds at once. Doing so brings this weapon’s output up to that of the arquebus minus the kickback trait. The tradeoff for not having the kickback trait is the fact that you have to reload twice. You can use Thoughtful Reload twice to fully load the weapon, but know that eventually you’ll be reduced to regular old Interact actions once you’re no longer able to Recall Knowledge any more. 60 ft. of range is plenty. Be aware of the 11 gp price tag at level 1. Breech ejectors are a consumable that you can use for a single one Interact reload for both barrels once per encounter at 10 gp each. As with the pistol variety, you can load up two different ammo types at a time, which offers versatility. ● Flintlock Musket ( / ): Not a particularly great weapon, but it’s more affordable at level 1 than the better options, coming in at 7 gp. It’s got a lower damage die than a crossbow, but bears the concussive and fatal d10 traits to offset that fact. Replace it when you can afford a better weapon. ● Gauntlet Bow (): Enables some action economy around reloading while qualifying you for feats that require a weapon to be in a loaded or unloaded state. ● Hand Cannon (): A one-handed weapon, only providing value to you through the modular B, P, or S trait for versatility at the cost of action economy. Only has 30 ft. of range. At 5 gp, it’s pretty affordable, at least. ● Harmona Gun (**): This rating assumes you can get a crushing rune. Although it does less average damage than the taw launcher, it’s the only firearm that can benefit from a crushing rune. Plus, its range is outstanding, giving you positional flexibility and safety where you can comfortably leverage your Recall Knowledges. Also, although ammunition cost isn’t exactly a concern, its ammunition does cost double the normal

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price, giving Recall Ammunition some extra monetary value. You’ll have to contend with the kickback trait on this weapon, too. ● Jezail (): A weapon near the damage of an arquebus without the need for STR or a stabilizer. Also gives some flexibility with hand usage if you’re willing to handle the action economy impact. ● Rotary Bow (): Good damage that leaves a hand free for consumables like scrolls, and you can improve its damage with Crossbow Crack Shot. ● Slide Pistol (): Good damage that leaves a hand free for consumables like scrolls, plus capacity trait if you’re building for any kind of alchemical ammunition. ● Sukgung (): Same damage output and hand “flexibility” as a jezail, but with more than twice the range (longest range you can get, actually) and no concussive trait. It’s also cheaper if that’s an early game consideration for you. ● Taw Launcher (*): As long as you get access to this weapon through the conrasu weapon familiarity feat, you get to treat it as a martial weapon. Its damage is the strongest you’ll get without having to sacrifice attribute scores or action economy for a kickback weapon. Importantly, it’s also got the modular B, P, or S trait, the ultimate in damage type coverage despite the action economy issues. 100 ft. of range is more than plenty.

Way of the Triggerbrand

A note about combination weapons: they don’t always play nice with traits. Forceful and sweep have some ambiguity depending on how your GM interprets the respective phrases “this weapon” and “When you attack with it more than once on your turn.” I am of the opinion that traits are supposed to be exclusive to their respective mode, but there is room for argument that a combination weapon bearing these traits in its melee mode gains their benefits when following up a ranged Strike with a melee Strike. Consult with your GM.

This Way is all about combination weapons, and even grants unique access to one. Much of this Way revolves around mobility, making you fit a skirmisher role well. Although you won’t have the most damage output to begin with, you will have flexibility in how you approach encounters and a safe ranged option when you want / need it. Max proficiency with combination weapons does a lot to help on the melee front, at least. Triggerbrand Salvo is also a huge improvement to your damage once you have it. The fact that you can perform two MAP-free attacks with a single

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action, and get a +2 circumstance bonus to the ranged attack to boot, at the best possible weapon proficiency is a huge improvement to your damage output and action compression. Note that a flanked enemy is only off-guard to you for melee strikes. If you’re shooting while in melee, even though you have some tools to do so, you’ll want to find other ways to make your targets off-guard. Ideally, someone in your party will be able to grapple or trip for you. Shooting melee also bears the risk of triggering reactions. Your Way skill is thievery, which is used in your Deeds and sets you up to be the party trapfinder. The main benefit of running a single one-handed weapon, if you prefer to build that route, is that you can leave a hand free for athletics skill actions. You could also leave a hand free for, say, Battle Medicine (assuming you can fit the required mental attribute score(s) in).

Attribute spread: STR () / DEX () / CON () / INT () / WIS () / CHA () With melee weapons in the mix, you want STR to be able to deal damage. DEX is a must, naturally, since it’s your key attribute score and drives both your ranged attack rolls and your Way skill, thievery. You’ll need CON to stand in melee. Something’s got to give, unfortunately, and that probably means WIS. You want at least some WIS, though. Not only will it be great for your perception you get legendary proficiency eventually, after all it’ll help shore up your will save, which caps out at expert proficiency. INT and CHA have no synergy with this Way.

● Slinger’s Reload: Touch and Go mixes quite a bit in, giving you great action economy for reloads. With Touch and Go, you can Step toward an enemy, change your combination weapon from melee to ranged or vice versa, and reload all in one action. Note the order of operations here. You don’t actually have to Step or change your weapon between modes, but either / both of those occur first due to the passage “and you then Interact to reload.” Step doesn’t trigger movement-based reactions, but Interacting has the manipulate trait regardless of whether you’re changing weapon modes or reloading. If you Step into a square where you can trigger a reaction, then use either Interact function in Touch and Go, those Interacts can still trigger reactions. Unfortunately, you can’t Step after the reload. Also, you can only step toward an enemy. In an encounter against multiple enemies, if you’re standing next to an enemy and want to Step away, you can sort of skirt around the limitation by using Touch and Go to step toward a different enemy. Against a single enemy, though, you won’t be able to use Touch and Go as an escape tool. You might be able to cheese this with a permissive GM by Stepping toward

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a nonexistent “invisible” enemy, but that’s almost certainly not an intended use of the feature.

● Initial Deed: As a free action when you roll initiative, Spring the Trap allows you to both draw a combination weapon and set it to whichever mode you prefer, as well as relieve you from triggering reactions due to movement or ranged attacks on your first turn. It’s a great way to set up your battlefield positioning, get off a ranged Strike, and be in place to flank for an ally. This feature is somewhat less useful for you if you’re running a dual wield build.

● Advanced Deed: Wind Them Up is generally going to require some support from allies. Since you’ll be using this activity to Steal, you’ll want to use it against enemies with poor and / or debuffed perception, especially because of the huge -5 penalty to Steal. Knowing which enemies have poor perception will require Recall Knowledge and a supportive GM. If you succeed on the attempt to Steal, your target will be off-guard to your ranged Strikes until the start of your next turn. Generally, you’ll only have one action to make a ranged Strike after Wind Them Up. If you had to Stride into place to use Wind Them Up, you’ll either need an archetype with a ranged Strike reaction (sniping duo) or a quickened action to be able to actually take advantage of the off-guard condition. It can also be used as an escape tool since a successful Steal will stop you from triggering reactions with either ranged attacks or movement (assuming you started the turn in melee mode and have an action left to Stride away).

● Greater Deed: Break Them Down basically does the same thing as Triggerbrand Salvo, but for two actions, a lesser circumstance bonus to the ranged Strike, and some extra bleed damage + dazzled condition. This feature will be most useful against boss and lieutenant type enemies where the dazzled condition wasting actions can mitigate nasty effects. Getting into melee will be very action-intensive, though, so the situations where you’re better off using Break Them Down over Triggerbrand Salvo are somewhat rare.

● Level 6 feat: Triggerbrand Salvo (*)

● Level 14 feat: Triggerbrand Blitz (*)

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Triggerbrand Weapons

As the Way designed to ease the action economy of combination weapons, that’s what you’ll want to use. That said, the traits on several of the combination weapons are strange, and that unfortunately eats up their power budget. The Triggerbrand is unique in that you can take the Mauler Dedication feat with a two-handed weapon to get melee critical weapon specialization, which is otherwise only available for ancestry weapons. Your choices for melee critical specialization without said dedication are the explosive dogslicer (party tactics option), gnome amalgam musket (trip option, but reload 2 is rough), and three peaked tree (defensive option). You’ll want melee critical specialization from some source to get maximum value out of combination weapons since you can’t use the critical fusion trait without it.

● Finesse: Up front, I should say: the average damage output is very, very close between all finesse combination weapons, generally within 2-3 points at all levels. If you don’t want to get down to the absolute squeaky specifics, any of the finesse weapons will do just fine for you. Unsurprisingly, the two-handed weapons do better damage. Range isn’t much of a consideration with the variation being between 20 ft. and 40 ft. As a subclass that wants to be near enough for a Stride into melee, these ranges are functional.

○ Explosive Dogslicer (*): If you’re able to get the damage from the backstabber trait on both your ranged and melee Strikes, the explosive dogslicer is about on par with the damage of the gun sword. It brings access to melee critical weapon specialization to boot, giving you a more consistent means of activating the backstabber trait, on top of the fact that your allies will love more chances for you to make a target off-guard. Once you have Wind Them Up, you have another tool to make enemies off-guard for backstabber activation, although the odds of success will be against you. Also offers melee crit value flexibility via the critical fusion trait. The ranged mode does have scatter 5 ft., so you and melee allies will be in danger of taking splash damage without backfire mantles. ○ Piercing Wind (): If you want to go light on STR and your GM is willing to rule that a ranged Strike -> melee Strike turn can benefit from the forceful and sweep traits, the piercing wind comes close to the gun sword in average damage. Also gives some free hand potential with the fatal aim trait, though switching between

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the grips can be harsh on your action economy depending on how you go about it. ○ Triggerbrand (*): If you’re using a triggerbrand, it’s to maximize the value of a free hand.

● STR-based melee: Non-finesse weapons are the better option for damage. They deal comparatively more damage than their finesse counterparts at +2 and +3 starting STR, which you really want regardless of the existence of the finesse trait on your preferred weapon. Axe musket is only really useful if your GM rules that the sweep trait activates after you’ve made a ranged Strike. Gnome amalgam muskets bring a lot to the table, but their Reload 2 is atrocious. Reload 2 is a huge limitation for the lancer as well. Black powder knuckle duster and cane pistol are just subpar damage for no real gain.

○ Crescent Cross (): The damage isn't great, but it offers a free hand and parry for some extra defense when needed. It’s also one of the most affordable starting weapons at 4 gp. ○ Gnome Amalgam Musket (): While ordinarily reload 2 would be crippling, the fact that you can perform melee attacks at max proficiency in between reload actions gives your turns some flexibility to handle the greater action load. It functions very similarly to an axe musket, but gives you the trip trait in melee mode, one of the best athletics action traits you can get on a weapon. ○ Gun Sword (*): Your best two-handed choice for damage, as well as the most meaningful damage improvement for a non-finesse weapon over a finesse weapon. As a weapon with the kickback trait, you’ll very much want large bore modifications at level 5, which is even further justification for starting with +3 STR. ○ Hammer Gun (): Two-handed version of getting the shove trait, about on par with the gun sword for damage. Hammer gun performs better on ranged -> melee Strike order, but worse for Triggerbrand Blitz as compared to the gun sword. This is also your longest-range weapon at 60 ft, and has the shove trait in melee form to boot. ○ Three Peaked Tree (*): A lower-damage, defensive choice via the parry trait, it also offers the spear critical specialization. While the thrown trait isn’t often useful, the 20 ft. range is kind of workable and it gives you a ranged d8 + STR

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option that you can use while the weapon isn’t loaded. Throwing it also allows you to use the critical fusion trait at range if it is loaded, which is great for Triggerbrand Salvo if you get a crit on the melee Strike and discharge the weapon with critical fusion. With the tethered trait, you don’t explicitly need a returning rune, but it’ll help with action economy.

Way of the Vanguard

This Way provides some options for a role as a defender and controller, though it is clunky in use. With your Way skill being athletics, tripping and shoving will be useful. It focuses on two-handed firearms / crossbows.

Attribute spread: STR () / DEX () / CON () / INT () / WIS () / CHA () DEX is a must, naturally, since it’s your key attribute score and drives your ranged attack rolls. You’ll also need STR for your way skill, athletics, which is used in your Slinger’s Reload. You’ll get less damage value from STR than the partial melee Ways, but starting with +3 STR will still give you the earliest access to large bore modifications and maximize your kickback damage. It also gives you a melee option with a reinforced stock. You’ll need CON to stand in melee. Something’s got to give, unfortunately, and that probably means WIS. You want at least some WIS, though. Not only will it be great for your perception you get legendary proficiency eventually, after all it’ll help shore up your will save, which caps out at expert proficiency. INT and CHA have no synergy with this Way.

● Slinger’s Reload: Clear a Path effectively allows you to emulate the shove trait while reloading, but with some extra perks. If you shoot, then use Clear a Path, you can reload and Shove without suffering the MAP for the Shove. Regardless, you get easier action economy for your reloads while trying to penalize enemies’ action economy with the Shove. Your ranged Strikes can still trigger reactions, though. If the target has a reaction, you’ll have a hard time using Clear a Path to its full effect because using a ranged Strike at range would then require you to Stride to close the distance for a Shove. Clear a Path does not provide the easier MAP if you Stride between the ranged Strike and the Shove. Additionally, it’s not really a great idea to go out of your way to use Clear a Path. From both a class fantasy and mechanical point of view, this Slinger’s Reload is best used to create space so that you can go back to safely shooting, though your caster allies will

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almost certainly appreciate judicious Shove usage. You should also be aware that the only order of operations in which you don’t suffer the MAP is ranged Strike -> Clear a Path. If you need to reload at the start of your turn in order to enable a ranged Strike, said ranged Strike will suffer the MAP when following Clear a Path.

● Initial Deed: As a free action when you roll initiative, you can draw a firearm / crossbow and sort of Raise a Shield. Weapons with the parry trait will provide more value (though there’s only one firearm that has it without Defensive Armaments). It’s sort of like being allowed to use the Defend exploration activity at the same time as another exploration activity, and exactly like a free Defend exploration activity + one other if you use a firearm with the parry trait.

● Advanced Deed: Unless you’re quickened, Spinning Crush will take your whole turn. Unfortunately, it also discharges your firearm, so you’re committing to four actions by using this ability. Spinning Crush is comparable to the level 14 barbarian / fighter feat Whirlwind Strike, but at an earlier level and with a reliance on targeting enemies with poor reflex saves rather than your melee weapon proficiency for damage. Unlike Whirlwind Strike, it can also push enemies away, penalizing the overall enemy action economy. Naturally, it’s less useful against solo enemies, but fighting solo enemies frees up your action economy to parry.

● Greater Deed: Siegebreaker requires you to use a firearm with either the kickback or scatter trait, or to use a two-handed crossbow. If that is the case, it’ll allow you to exercise some mobility, get into melee range of a target, and make a ranged Strike against the adjacent target with some extra damage applied, as well as ignoring some hardness. Siegebreaker essentially gives you action compression of Leap / Stride + Strike + Parry. Since it’s only against an adjacent target, if you’re using a scatter weapon, you will take splash damage unless you have Defensive Armaments or a (greater) backfire mantle equipped. If your target has a shield, you’ll have a noticeably easier time of breaking said shield when the target Shield Blocks. That hardness bypass will also generally be useful against constructs and hazards. The ranged Strike part of this activity still bears the manipulate trait and can trigger reactions. If you need to move at all, you’ll want to do so before using Siegebreaker since you’ll become immobilized.

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● Level 6 feat: Phalanx Breaker (**)

● Level 14 feat: Blast Tackle (**)

Vanguard Weapons

Your two most meaningful choices are between a kickback weapon and a parry weapon. Scatter weapons make you more of a mid-ranged combatant unless you have a backfire mantle. With a backfire mantle, you gain resistance to your own alchemical items’ splash damage and can handle being up near an enemy in your own scatter radius. Black powder ammunition is an alchemical item. If you’re using a scatter 5 ft. weapon, it’ll work well with Clear a Path since you can Shove enemies away from you (and closer together) so that you’re only hitting enemies with the splash damage. Weapons have no bearing on Spinning Crush’s function, so the scatter trait won’t hurt you there. While you only have one weapon option with a natural parry trait, there is class feat support to give the parry trait to any two-handed firearm. You can get away with a gun sword or hammer gun if you want more of a skirmisher role, but will have to accept action economy limitations in exchange for the melee proficiency.

● Arbalest (*): Great damage assuming you take Crossbow Crack Shot, and it works for Siegebreaker. ● Arquebus (): Highest damage of any two-handed firearm against a single target and you can use it for Siegebreaker. ● Crossbow (): Cheap and easy to access, it’s a decent weapon for level 1 and is your best choice in a no-firearms game. ● Dawnsilver Tree (): Only two-handed firearm that inherently comes with the parry trait, possibly saving you a class feat slot (or giving you a hefty +2 bonus to AC with Defensive Armaments when parrying), but doesn’t function with Siegebreaker. ● Dwarven Scattergun (): Damage is about on par with the arquebus when you can catch two targets in your scatter radius, and out-damages the arquebus when you can catch three or more in the radius. You and your party will certainly want backfire mantles since large bore modifications will increase its scatter radius to 15 ft. As an advanced weapon, it’ll need (generally ancestry) feat support for proper usage. ● Flingflenser (*): Your only two-handed choice for scatter 5 ft. Since it doesn’t have kickback, there’s no need for you to get large bore modifications unless you and your

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party are willing to get backfire mantles. If you’re able to activate the backstabber trait, its single target damage is between that of the arquebus and the dwarven scattergun for most levels. When you’re not able to activate backstabber, it’s the lowest damage of the bunch, about on par with a crossbow’s Crossbow Crack Shot damage. As an advanced weapon, it’ll need (generally ancestry) feat support for proper usage. ● Gauntlet Bow (*): Enables some action economy around reloading while qualifying you for feats that require a weapon to be in a loaded or unloaded state. ● Harmona Gun (): This rating assumes you can get a crushing rune. Although it does less average damage than the arquebus, its damage will be less swingy and it’s the only firearm that can benefit from a crushing rune. ● Reinforced Stock (): Although this Way isn’t built to do much with melee, having an option for melee will make you safer against enemies with reactions that trigger from ranged Strikes. You’ll also need Blazons of Shared Power to make this weapon useful. If you’re using a reinforced stock, Stab and Blast becomes a good option for damage output. While it’s not of high mechanical value, if what you wanted from the Way of the Vanguard was a build that could switch-hit between ranged and melee, the reinforced stock can accomplish that ideal to some extent.

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Class Feats

Class feats

Since there isn’t really a specific Way that synergizes best with the alchemy feats, I’m making mention of alchemy builds here. Your alchemy choices start with Munitions Crafter at level 1. If all you want is Munitions Crafter and nothing else alchemy-related, that’s an excellent way to go about an alchemy build. If you’re building for bombs, grab anything and everything you like each alchemy feat has uses in that case. If all you want is alchemical ammunition, the only other feat you should consider is Shattering Shot.

Level 1

● Blast Lock (*): The only real advantages over just using thievery to Pick a Lock are that you won’t need to invest in said skill to do so and that you can effectively Pick a Lock out at 10 feet. It sort of overcomes the need for the master thievery feat Quick Unlock to speed up the unlocking process, but only if you can get through the lock in one attempt and / or are using a repeating weapon. If it still sounds like it’s worth occupying a class feat slot with Blast Lock, you could keep an air repeater on hand for getting through locks.

● Cover Fire (**): If you find yourself fighting enemies with ranged Strikes often, you’ll like this feat more. It’s only functional against enemies using ranged attacks, not spell attacks, since the terms are differentiated in the Attack Rolls rules. If and when you are fighting enemies that rely on ranged Strikes, you can either debuff their attacks or give yourself a higher chance to crit / hit. Snipers should stay away from this feat since their role is to deal damage.

● Crossbow Crack Shot (*): Turns the arbalest into one hell of a weapon. The sukgung is a decent choice too. Less useful for one-handed crossbows, so Pistoleros and Drifters generally won’t see much use from this feat.

● Dual-Weapon Reload (*): Basically mandatory for dual wield builds (other than Drifters), which is why this feat is rated blue. For builds that don’t revolve around dual wielding, consider it red (). It’s printed incorrectly in the remastered version of Guns & Gears. The feat title shows that it is an action, but its text states that “While you’re

wielding two one-handed weapons… you don’t need a free hand to reload a one-handed ranged weapon you’re wielding.” Rather than being an action to reload while dual wielding, this feat is a rider effect that allows you to use any type of reload while dual wielding.

● Hit the Dirt! (**): Although using this reaction will make you go prone, that’s not entirely a bad thing if you’re able to take advantage of the condition. Snipers may appreciate having a reaction to place them in a position such that they can then Take Cover (though the attack penalty hurts). That said, the +2 AC from this reaction is a nice improvement, and being able to follow up on later turns with Take Cover will help keep you safe. Drifters, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards will like this feat less since Standing will take an action (unless you’re investing in acrobatics and until level 7 when you have access to Kip Up) before you can close into melee. You also get some synergy with the Powerful Leap athletics skill feat. Unless you’re playing a slower ancestry (dwarf, sprite, etc.), you can easily get a 20 foot Leap with the Fleet general feat and Powerful Leap. The biggest drawback to this feat’s reaction is that it only triggers from ranged Strikes, making it fairly situational.

● Munitions Crafter (**): This feat gives you a rare scaling version of advanced alchemy benefits. You’ll be able to create your own black powder ammunition, alchemical ammunition, or bombs. If you’re making ammunition, doing so is highly efficient, giving you 4 of each of your chosen ammunition per daily consumable used (as opposed to the one-to-one output for bombs). Though alchemical ammunition is inefficient due to the activation requirement, you get an insane amount of versatility from this feat. Bombs also give you a ton of versatility, though your proficiency for bombs is behind that of your firearms / crossbows / combination weapons. Alchemical ammunition sometimes has unique interactions with scatter weapons, being able to spread certain effects with the splash damage, such as that of exsanguinating ammunition. Alchemical ammunition also behaves like regular ammunition until you decide otherwise. You can, if you have an abundance of rounds and wish to risk wasting the special ammunition, just keep it loaded and decide on your first turn whether it’s worth spending the action to activate. This also lends value to double-barrel weapons for the flexibility to make that activation decision on the fly without having to expend unactivated alchemical ammunition.

● Sword and Pistol (* / ): This rating only applies to Drifters and Triggerbrands, respectively. For those two Ways, this feat grants you some useful features. When your turn has a melee Strike first and a ranged Strike second, your ranged Strike doesn’t trigger reactions, which is awesome. It also synergizes well with the Triggerbrand’s Advanced and Greater Deeds, and with combination weapons in general. That said, this part of the feat does nothing for Triggerbrands on their first turn of an encounter. It does have great synergy with the Drifter’s Slinger’s Reload. The other portion of the feat, which functions when your turn has a ranged Strike first (as long as said ranged Strike is done within your reach of an enemy) and a melee Strike second (as long as you’re Striking the same enemy), causes that enemy to be off-guard to your melee Strike. This is better for Drifters with reach weapons since your first ranged Strike can still trigger reactions. The reaction issue is persistent for Triggerbrands, for whom there isn’t a combination weapon that has the reach trait on its melee mode. If you’re using a melee (mode) weapon with the backstabber trait, this feat will give you an easy means of activating it. Note that, regardless of which part of this feat applies, its effects last until the end of the following turn, which gives you a lot of flexibility with how you employ it. Another issue for Triggerbrands is that they generally function best with a two-handed weapon, but this feat makes a free hand build more viable and sort of enables a dual wield build.

Level 2

There’s a little something for just about every Way at this level, but Fake Out is the clear winner. If your build (and associated party needs) isn’t deliberately going to put one of the more decent feats to use, go with Fake Out. Your party will be very glad for it. If your party is all set on circumstance bonuses or you prefer less of a buff role, Risky Reload is also a consistently strong choice regardless of Way. These feats are both so good that you should strongly consider taking one at level 2 and fitting the other in at a later level.

● Defensive Armaments:

○ Vanguard (*): Great synergy, providing you either with, effectively, a shield’s worth of AC if you’re using a mithral tree, or improving the AC circumstance bonus granted by their Initial and Greater Deeds. If you’re not using a mithral

tree, this feat will cause Living Fortification to give you the full +2 bonus until the end of your first turn, at least. ○ Spellshot and Triggerbrand (*): You have enough reason to use two-handed firearms that you can get a little extra AC from them when needed. Action economy will be an issue. Triggerbrands may, from time to time, appreciate having an option to raise their AC while standing in melee, though. Spellshots already have their second level feat spoken for, meaning you’ll have to find a way to fit Defensive Armaments in at a higher level. ○ Others (): Drifters and Pistoleros don’t use two-handed weapons. Snipers are much better off Taking Cover instead of using the parry trait.

● Fake Out (*): This feat is an incomparable buff to your party, giving you the ability to not only throw out a potentially (and often) huge circumstance bonus to an attack, but to do so as a reaction only no Aid action setup or declaration of who and how required (or firearm discharge, for that matter). If you have a caster ally who frequently uses spell attacks, they will absolutely love you for using this feat to help them land hits / crits, which is often the best choice for damage output. Chances are pretty good that you’ll generally be in range to use this reaction. It plays extremely well with Aid-buffing ancestry feats, at least until you can crit succeed on a 2 (level 10). If you’re a Triggerbrand, you’ll have to have your weapon in firearm mode by the end of your turn to use this reaction. Regardless of your Way, your firearm has to be loaded before you can use this reaction. A gauntlet bow can solve these issues, but requires a bit of awareness. With a one-handed weapon, just keep a gauntlet bow equipped, no more actions required. With a two-handed weapon, you’ll have to Release a hand before the end of your turn if and when your main weapon is unloaded at the end of the turn. If you go the two-handed / Release route, you should plan your turns such that you can start your turn with a reload of some sort, which will also include you returning your weapon to a two-handed grip. ○ Note: There are some archetype interactions with this feat that make it even more effective. I won’t go into depth on them in the archetypes section, but the pathfinder agent’s (or guild agent, for you Pathbuilder users) Deft Cooperation feat and the Swordmaster Dedication do a lot to help both you and your allies when you use Fake Out. It is a three feat investment, though, which is a heavy tax (unless you’re playing with the free archetype variant rules).

● Pistol Twirl: At later levels, if you’ve got the Confabulator skill feat (and you should, for a build with a deception focus), you won’t need this feat as much, though Feint crit successes are better than any result for Create a Diversion.

○ Pistolero (*): If you’re trained in deception, you’ll love this feat. Making enemies off-guard for ranged attacks is harder than for melee attacks. Pistol Twirl makes that a breeze. The thaumaturge feat Divine Disharmony is generally better than Pistol Twirl, but getting it requires two class feat slots as opposed to one (assuming no free archetype variant rule). See the archetypes section for comparison. ○ Drifter and Sniper (): Drifters don’t have much use for CHA, but if you’ve fit it in, a Feint will be helpful for both your ranged and melee Strikes. This feat is less useful if you also have Sword and Pistol, but it will at least make your target off-guard to your ranged Strikes. If you don’t have Sword and Pistol for some reason, this feat is a means of replacing part of its value and will still help with backstabber weapons. Snipers can also put this feat to use for a means of applying off-guard when they’re unable to Hide, but that will become less of an issue at later levels as tools like heightened invisibility become more common. Snipers will become dependent on CHA and the deception skill in order to use this feat, which means investing in CHA over another attribute like STR (for kickback) or WIS (for safety). Additionally, picking this feat will force Snipers into one-handed weapon usage (ideally dual wielding), which is doable, but requires some extra build planning. ○ Others (): Spellshots and Triggerbrands have a little bit of use for one-handed weapons, but won’t have the attribute scores left over to fit in the necessary CHA. Plus, Spellshots already have their second level feat slot spoken for. Vanguards have no use for one-handed weapons.

● Quick Draw: This feat does not work with, say, the gunner’s bandolier, because they require two different actions to activate each respective item. While you can’t combine items with this feat to improve it directly, you can apply them holistically and have contingencies (like retrieval prisms) in place post-Quick Draw for hand management. Starting an encounter with a free hand for actions that need it like Doctor’s Visitation,

following up with Quick Draw, reloading the weapon, and dropping it gives you a pretty well-compressed first round or three of an encounter while keeping a hand “free” for any further needs.

○ Bomb build (*): If you’re planning to build into bomb usage, Quick Draw (plus clever hand management) makes it much easier to use bombs as a weapon rather than just for feats like Alchemical Shot and Shattering Shot. For a two-handed weapon, ranged Strike -> release grip (free action) -> Quick Draw -> (Slinger’s) reload (+ re-grip) is an efficient means of employing alchemical bombs while using a two-handed weapon, although you’ll suffer the MAP to do so. Also doable if you’re built to have a free hand no matter what (gauntlet bow, one-handed weapon with a bayonet, etc.). ○ Dual wield builds (): Although you can draw a single weapon as a free action when you roll initiative, if you want to draw your second one efficiently, you’ll want this feat. More importantly, it gives you room to keep a free hand for non-Strike actions, swapping to a weapon and Striking as part of the same action to draw it when appropriate. Quick Draw does come at the expense of reload actions, so plan your turns carefully around the benefit of a Quick Draw Strike vs. action compression reloading. ○ Drifter (): If you’re using a light bulk weapon and a weapon harness, you’ll get a bit of flexibility in how you use the hand that wields your melee weapon. Black powder knuckleduster, crescent cross, and dagger pistol qualify. ○ Others (): Snipers, Spellshots, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards don’t have much need to swap between weapons.

● Risky Reload (**): Note that this feat bears the flourish trait, making it usable only once per round. Additionally, you can only use this feat with a firearm, not a crossbow. Being able to fire and reload with a single action is a useful addition for any kit. Since alchemical / magical ammunition requires an additional action to activate said ammunition, cutting down on total actions used to fire activated ammunition with Risky Reload makes them much more approachable. This feat can combine well with other feats later on for overall improved damage, though you shouldn’t use it while at MAP -10. You’re best off using Risky Reload while you’re not under the MAP in order to minimize the risk of a misfire, but -5 is acceptable in order to try to get a second Strike in and have

a flexible third action. The greater danger of a misfire from a MAP-affected Strike is unpleasant, to say the least. It isn’t necessarily a direct damage increase, but general wisdom is that martials want to make two Strikes (or otherwise expend two actions making Strikes, or three if feasible in cases like Drifter’s Wake). Risky Reload enables your desired two Strikes without having to pigeonhole yourself into Strike -> (Slinger’s) reload -> Strike turns, which also eases your overall action economy. Continuing on from that Strike -> (Slinger’s) reload -> Strike turn, the next turn would have to be a (Slinger’s) reload -> Strike -> third action turn since you’d start the round with your weapon unloaded. With this feat, your targeting decisions should generally revolve around your own and your allies’ debuff decisions: shoot at targets with lower(ed) AC in order to reduce your chance of a misfire. Pistol Twirl is an option to impose off-guard for a lesser chance of failure, but that will mean you’re taking either this or Pistol Twirl at a later level. It’s a bit less useful for Drifters since their Slinger’s Reload functions similarly, but it will enable them to execute a ranged Strike and reload if needed rather than relying on a melee Strike + reload action (which eases the MAP for Drifters sometimes). Triggerbrands will need their weapon to be in ranged mode to use this feat. Combination weapons have a unique use for Risky Reload: expending ammunition on a melee crit sets you up for a Risky Reload ranged Strike. Snipers and Spellshots can get away from the limitations of their Slinger’s Reloads. Vanguards don’t have a ton of options in-kit to follow up on Risky Reload, but could get away with something like an Assurance athletics skill action to try to get around the MAP somewhat. ○ Useful feat & feature synergy: ■ (4) Alchemical Shot ■ (6) Cauterize, Phalanx Breaker, Sniper’s Aim ■ (8) Bullet Split, Leap and Fire, Smoke Curtain ■ (9) Pistolero’s Retort, Vital Shot, Wind Them Up (crit only) ■ (10) Called Shot, Deflecting Shot, Redirecting Shot ■ (12) Shattering Shot ■ (14) Blast Tackle ■ (15) Dispelling Bullet, Siegebreaker ■ (16) Hair Trigger, Instant Return

● Spellshot Dedication (*): Mandatory for Spellshots, inaccessible to every other Way. Getting four known arcane cantrips and two prepared per day gives you a bit of

versatility and sets you up for Spell-Woven Shot. Spell attacks are a good choice to set yourself up for Spell-Woven Shot, especially those with crit riders like gouging claw. You’ll do okay (but not great, and not in all situations) with save-targeting cantrips due to your built-in Recall Knowledge functions, so it’s not a bad idea to grab one of those ( electric arc always being a standout choice). Utility spells like light are always a good idea if someone else in your party doesn’t have the function covered, and you can’t go wrong with shield. You might also be able to get away with using phase bolt to overcome cover issues with Spell-Woven Shot, though there’s some ambiguity between the language of the feat and the spell.

● Warning Shot (*): Basically Intimidating Glare with potential for extra range over the usual 30 feet for Demoralize, but at the cost of a class feat and action economy since it forces you to reload at some point. Pistoleros already have Demoralize as a core part of their gameplay with the way their Slinger’s Reload works. They can kind of put this feat to good use, but it still has drawbacks. Since you can only attempt to Demoralize any given enemy once per encounter, you’re rapidly going to run out of uses for this feat as a Pistolero, and that’s assuming you even want to expend ammunition on a Warning Shot in the first place. There is at least a talisman that gives this feat more value, which is discussed further in the items section of the guide: the admonishing band.

Level 4

● Alchemical Shot ( / *): Your firearm / crossbow will already need to be loaded. Pouring the alchemical bomb onto your ammunition is not a reload. That said, you’ll get a ton of damage type versatility, and the extra damage benefits from the fact that you’re still making a ranged Strike at the highest possible proficiency in the game. If you’ve got the Munitions Crafter feat or an alchemist in your party, this feat is solid. All that said, you take damage and your weapon misfires on a failed Strike, not just a crit fail. You can at least mitigate the damage sometimes with resistance from an ancestry (goblin and its vast amount of feat support for alchemical weapons, fire damage, and fire resistance). Also, much like a reload, using this feat involves an Interact action and all of the issues that brings. If you’re willing to accept the risk, being able to both target an enemy weakness at maximum proficiency and land persistent damage of the same type on them has excellent damage potential. If you take Munitions Machinist later on, you can

occupy a turn with Quick Alchemy (Quick Vial) -> Alchemical Shot for infinite acid bomb application. That’s not especially action-efficient for damage output, which means you should consider that feat combo / action usage for situations where your party can and will stack other types of persistent damage or where persistent acid damage will be highly effective. Unlike many similar effects, the damage type you deal fully replaces that of your weapon, giving you a great means of getting around physical damage resistances. If you’re not a Spellshot, make sure you’re coordinating with your party to Recall Knowledge and try to find damage type weaknesses. If you’re using an alchemical crossbow, there’s nothing stopping you from using it with this feat and dealing two different damage types, you’ll just eat through your bomb supply twice as quickly. ○ Note: This is the only feat with a misfire component that allows for crossbow usage. Crossbows have no other interaction with anything misfire-related and, as such, no basis for how their misfires work, or even whether they can misfire the misfire description itself only talks about firearms. This feat states, “If the Strike is a failure, you take 1d6 damage of the same type as the bomb you used, and the firearm misfires.” Most likely, the RAI is that only firearms can misfire with this feat, making crossbows a rather strong choice of weapon if you’re planning to build around the alchemy feats.

● (4) Basic Arcana (**): Spellshot only. (Enhanced) Familiar and Reach Spell are good choices, but that’s about it. You might like Nonlethal Spell to be able to preserve enemies for questioning after encounters.

● (4) Basic Wizard Spellcasting (*): Spellshot only. Basic spellcaster benefits for first through third rank spells. The arcane list has lots of great utility at these spell ranks, such as _tailwind_. _Sure strike_ is a great choice for your first rank slot.

● Black Powder Boost (*): Just have someone in your party cast second rank _tailwind_. That might even be you if you have Trick Magic Item.

● Instant Backup (*): By this level, you should have a striking rune on your primary weapon, or be very close to getting one shortly after level-up. Anything less is going to be a noticeable drop in damage. Just use an Interact action to clear the misfire and keep

doing actual damage. Swap-and-drop isn’t a useful playstyle at this level. There aren’t any items that make Instant Backup more functional.

● Paired Shots (*): Being able to attack twice without the MAP is always solid, and if you’re planning to dual wield, this is how you do it. Combining damage will be better against resistances and worse against weaknesses. The most useful resistance for you to overcome with this feat is All. The fact that you can only apply precision damage to one attack of your choice requires some careful consideration, discussed below. Repeating hand crossbows (RHC) work well with this feat since you can use them for up to five turns in a row without having to reload, though they require additional feat support. An air repeater is an acceptable alternative if you can’t / don’t want to take feats that will grant you access / better proficiency with the RHC. For reload hand management, Dual-Weapon Reload will be your most consistent choice. If your build is strapped for feats, you can at least change barrels on a capacity weapon without needing to reload, which evades the hand management issue for several turns on top of not needing Dual-Weapon Reload (until round 6+). The highest potential damage combination is a repeating hand crossbow and a double-barreled pistol, but using said combination is restrictive on your action economy. Damage is pretty well comparable between this feat and Sniper’s aim. What it really buys you is action economy since the damage of Paired Shots + dueling pistol + RHC being about equal to that of just taking two shots with a dueling pistol comes with greater (and more front-loaded) reload action economy costs. That means fewer actions spent doing damage over the first five turns, which translates to less damage overall. Some turn options, with a bit of nuance: ○ RHC + double-barreled pistol: 2 action Paired Shots -> (Slinger’s / feat) Reload. You can push the reload to the following turn, but ultimately, 5 turns’ worth of RHC + double-barreled pistol as compared to 2x RHCs requires you to stick to the same action sequence every single turn in order to maintain higher consistent higher damage. Doing so limits your ability to do things like Pistol Twirl, Create a Diversion, or Hide to render enemies off-guard. If your party can reliably handle the debuffing for you, that’s preferable. You can (and should, really) build around reload feats like Running Reload to free up your turns. This setup also rewards Slinger’s Reload usage. ○ RHC + rotary bow: 2 action Paired Shots -> (Slinger’s / feat) Reload. Similar to a slide pistol, but you’re giving up some good traits and damage to have a quiet

capacity weapon, basically. Crossbow Crack Shot can provide a bit of extra consistent damage via the rotary bow, which puts the rotary bow’s damage a bit behind that of the double-barreled pistol. You’ll also have to rotate the capacity rounds on your first turn to get the damage bonus right off the bat. It’ll be less feast-or-famine since the damage will be reliable rather than crit-dependent, though that does come at the cost of a feat and an up-front action. That also means this is the best option against Extreme AC enemies. ○ RHC + RHC: 2 action Paired Shots -> third action (up to 5 rounds). Less damage than RHC + double-barreled pistol, notably because you don’t get Slinger’s Precision damage at all, but more consistently usable since your third action won’t be beholden to a reload of some sort. Also goes a long way to negate the need for reload feat support, freeing up much of your build if dual wielding. One drawback is that you’re not going to be using your Slinger’s Reload much, if at all, which invalidates a fair bit of your kit. If you’re uninterested in your Slinger’s Reload and want to retain turn flexibility, the drawback won’t be much of an issue for you. ○ Other: Any other combination should be RHC + a weapon without the capacity trait, though gauntlet bow is also an option if you want to prioritize defense and hand freedom at the cost of damage. If you’re pursuing this path, it’s to get a different weapon in the mix: big boom gun (high risk / reward due to cobbled and fatal d12), double-barreled pistol (gold savings at earlier levels, round expenditure flexibility, breech ejectors), dueling pistol (concealable trait for intrigue campaigns), clan pistol, or jezail / sukgung (hand and action flexibility for Snipers). ■ Note: While you can use this feat without a repeating weapon, doing so tanks your overall damage due to action economy and feat investment. Swap-and-drop requires you to keep drawing weapons and spending actions to do so on top of the usual rune cost problems. Using two capacity weapons requires you to use two actions to reload each of them to set up for another use of Paired Shots, meaning your turns would look something like Paired Shots -> Interact; Interact -> Paired Shots; Interact -> Interact -> third action. Fortunately, the fact that you can only apply precision damage once means you don’t need to worry about the fact that Slinger’s Precision does not apply to repeating weapons. You can just

choose to apply your single instance of precision damage to the non-repeating weapon.

● Running Reload (**): Positioning often matters for ranged characters. For some gunslingers, you want to be in or near melee. For others, you want to be far away from it. Most every gunslinger wants to be in a position where their ranged Strikes can avoid the lesser cover of bodies in the way, and most every gunslinger will appreciate having an option to both move and reload (especially if you’re relying on two action activities for your attacks). Although this feat clashes with your Slinger’s Reload, you’re inevitably going to find yourself in a position at some point where there is going to be a better position and not enough actions to get there. You can rely on that, and the fact that you will absolutely need to reload at some point. This feat combines the solution to those two necessities into one action. No matter your Way, you’ll like having mobility, and movement and reloading are almost guaranteed parts of any given encounter.

● Spell-Woven Shot (*): Spellshot only. This is the first reason you play a Spellshot and is how you deliver spell attacks via gun. You can deal some absolutely savage damage with even a one-handed weapon and a cantrip tacked on since your attack proficiency is as good as it gets, though it comes at the cost of a whole turn. Gouging claw gives you a persistent bleed effect for the highest damage potential, as well as the ability to fish out the effects of all three physical damage types between the concussive trait and slashing damage from the spell. Exsanguinating ammunition can help improve gouging claw ’s damage, but you won’t be able to activate it on the same turn as you use Spell-Woven Shot. Ignition , live wire , needle darts , and slashing gust also have persistent damage crit components. Tangle vine provides some control capability. You might be able to get away with overcoming cover with phase bolt depending on how your GM interprets the phrase “The effects of the spell do not occur immediately but are imbued into the required weapon.”

Level 6

This level presents a Way-specific feat for every Way and a few other options. Chances are good you’ll want your Way’s feat.

● Advanced Arcana (**): Spellshot only and requires Basic Arcana. Bespell Strikes is occasionally useful, and your back line allies may appreciate you for putting down a Spell Protection Array (provided you can afford the action). Split Slot can help extend your utility and versatility. Knowledge is Power synergizes well with the Spellshot kit for an occasional, and hard to come by, circumstance penalty to an enemy’s AC.

● Advanced Shooter (**): Only useful for the repeating hand crossbow on a Paired Shots build if you didn’t get it from Unconventional Weaponry.

● Cauterize (**): Bleed damage isn’t exactly rare, but it’s a situational feat by nature. If you’re building to be more support-oriented, this feat is fitting.

● Drifter’s Juke (*): Drifter only. There’s no easing of the MAP here, but adding two Steps on to your melee and ranged Strike for a turn is both a safe method of movement and a helpful means of getting into position for that melee Strike. Synergizes well with Sword and Pistol.

● Fulminating Shot (**): Spellshot only. This feat is the second reason you play a Spellshot. It’s where your damage versatility lies and is basically a single action for the equivalent of a once-per-round flexible damage rune. It only adds damage on your first attack of the round, though, regardless of whether you hit or not.

● Munitions Machinist (**): Requires the Munitions Crafter feat and expert proficiency in crafting. This feat gives you quick alchemy, which brings three uses: on-the-fly bomb production a few times per day, on-the-fly ammunition production a few times per day, and infinite low-damage acid bombs. In either case, you’ll need a free hand (or already have a versatile vial in hand) to use this feat. Producing and using a bomb takes two actions (though there is some debate it being three) whether you expend a daily versatile vial or create one of the infinite acid bombs: Quick Alchemy -> Strike. Producing and using alchemical ammunition takes four actions: Quick Alchemy -> activate ammunition -> reload -> Strike. The only meaningful way to use alchemical ammunition with this feat is through Risky Reload. Otherwise, it’s just a handful of flexible bombs per day, which use standard martial proficiency progression rather than that of your firearm / crossbow / combination melee proficiency. While that can be very

useful if you’re frequently fighting enemies with weaknesses / “resist all but” type features, it’s situational by nature. If you’re using an alchemical crossbow and have a moment of heads up before an encounter, you can Quick Alchemy a versatile vial and load it into the alchemical crossbow with two actions.

● Phalanx Breaker (**): Vanguard only. Despite the fact that many of the Vanguard Deeds and the Slinger’s Reload are oriented around being adjacent to an enemy, this feat allows you to push a target away from you at range. Considering how much of the Vanguard kit is designed around forcing enemies away as a means of punishing their action economy, this feat does a lot to support that design. In fact, this is one of the only means of putting the Vanguard kit to good use without being adjacent to an enemy. This feat is effectively a ranged Strike and a Shove without the MAP, and only increasing the MAP one level, with baseline effects equivalent to a critical Shove and potential for even more forced movement distance. You can even do a bit of extra damage if your target is pushed into an obstacle. Great synergy with the Vanguard kit, especially in a party that expects you to often provide single target movement control. By this level, they should. The downsides are that there’s no way for you to use it alongside your Advanced or Greater Deeds and that it has no built-in protection for your ranged Strike if you use it as an escape tool while adjacent to an enemy.

● Pistolero’s Challenge (*): Pistolero only. You can deal a fair bit of extra damage with this feat, but you’ll want to choose your foe wisely. An enemy that can’t catch up to you is going to feel the pain as you kite around them, provided you can spare the actions for Strides. If your targeted foe catches up to you or can otherwise range you, they will do as much extra damage to you as you do to them. As a relatively low-HP martial, getting hit by your Challenged enemy is a notable concern. You’ve got the choice to use either your deception or intimidation, which is nice for build flexibility. Synergizes well with Paired Shots for efficient damage output, but that can be dangerous since you won’t be able to Stride away without _haste_ or something similar. Critically failing your check will result in you becoming frightened 1, so it’s a good idea to rely on your allies to point out low-will save targets via Recall Knowledge.

● Scatter Blast (*): Scatter weapons are likely to frustrate your melee allies (unless they all have backfire mantles), but if you go first in an encounter you can maybe safely catch an

extra enemy or two in your splash damage burst. You can get up to scatter 35 ft. with a scatter 10 ft. weapon, large bore modifications, and this feat. Basically a super weak _fireball_ without an associated save or spell slot expenditure. If your Strike is a failure, you’ll misfire. If your Strike is a crit fail, you’ll misfire and the weapon will explode, becoming broken and harming you and everyone around you. If your party is built to accept that you are a potential danger to them and that your scatter can and will hit your melee allies, this feat is a tool to add a bit of extra damage in multiple-enemy encounters. For the most part, though, extra radius on your scatter, plus some nasty failure consequences, is more of a hindrance than a help. . ● Sniper’s Aim (*): Sniper only. Since you already have the best possible weapon proficiency scaling in the game, throwing an extra +2 bonus on top of that is useful for the Sniper’s function. Considering you automatically get Vital Shot three levels after Sniper’s Aim becomes available, you should be aware of their comparative uses. Vital Shot requires the target to be off-guard to do anything beyond just Strike damage, but in that case, it does significantly more damage than just about any other gunslinger ability, barring the Spellshot’s three action Spell-Woven Shot. Sniper’s Aim bears no such requirement, and its damage is about on par with that of Paired Shots. In fact, since Sniper’s Aim only increases the MAP to -5, you can realistically follow up with Risky Reload for even better damage. Action economy across multiple turns becomes the damage output comparison factor, so Sniper’s Aim still won’t ever be able to fully keep up with the other two comparable “big hit” abilities (especially because you can also follow up Vital Shot with Risky Reload). Its advantage lies in how easy it is to leverage without having to rely on the off-guard condition. It’s also better used against concealed targets and targets where the +2 will make a huge difference in the likelihood of a crit / hit (low AC or high AC). Sniper’s Aim is less useful if you have someone (or multiple someones) in your party frequently Aiding you.

● Triggerbrand Salvo (*): Triggerbrand only. Two Strikes for a single action with no MAP until after the action is outstanding. If you’ve also got Sword and Pistol and are dual wielding, your ranged Strike won’t trigger reactions. Regardless, the +2 circumstance bonus to your ranged Strike will be fantastic for combination weapons with the fatal trait in firearm mode. It’s even better if someone Aids you: getting a circumstance bonus to the melee portion will help set you up to be able to execute the

ranged portion, which doubles down on the bonuses since you wind up with a circumstance bonus to both attacks. If you’ve got critical specialization for the melee portion of your weapon, it is possible to discharge your weapon with critical fusion as part of a melee crit, which will leave you without a ranged option for the followup Strike. As such, the thrown trait on the melee weapon gains some value here (namely, the three peaked tree) since you can then throw the melee portion for your ranged Strike.

Level 8

● Arcane Breadth ( / *): If you take it prior to getting Expert Wizard Spellcasting, all you’re getting is an extra first rank slot, which usually translates to an extra encounter per day for sure strike. Once you have Expert Wizard Spellcasting, you’ll get extra spells up to fourth rank, which is pretty solid for a class feat. Two casts per day of sure strike and second rank tailwind is quite good.

● Bullet Split:

○ Drifter (): Two for the price of one on attacks, although your Strike rolls against both targets will suffer a bit. Unless you’re playing in a campaign which primarily involves encounters against single enemies, you’ll find plenty of use for this feat. The great part of this feat is that you get two Strikes and only increase your MAP once. Plus, it works alongside Sword and Pistol. ○ Others (): For Pistoleros, Snipers, and Spellshots, if you’ve got a bayonet attached to one of your one-handed weapons, you technically meet the requirements to use this feat’s action. Triggerbrands can also get away with a dual wield build, but no matter your Way, you will need Dual-Weapon Reload to follow up. Triggerbrands have the added advantage of being able to layer this feat on with Sword and Pistol. ○ Vanguard (): No reason to dual wield.

● Call Gun (*): Spellshot only. You should have your weapon with you at all times. Its only real use cases are if and when you become disarmed and in games with a heavy social aspect where you find yourself frequently unarmed in situations that may break out into combat.

● Grit and Tenacity (*): If you don’t already have a solid reaction, this one is a great defensive tool. Even if you do have a solid reaction, having some versatility in how you use your reaction is helpful. Besides, fortune effects for saves once per hour are awesome.

● Leap and Fire (**): Requires Hit the Dirt! Getting a MAP-free attack as part of your Hit the Dirt! reaction is outstanding. Since you’re using the Hit the Dirt! reaction, it does still bear the situational limitation that only ranged Strikes trigger it. You’ll also have to have your weapon loaded before the end of your turn, and Triggerbrands will need their weapon in firearm mode.

● Smoke Curtain (**): While concealment is often useful, this feat has some limitations. The fact that it’s a two-action activity will be taxing for your action economy, but you do at least get to make a ranged Strike as part of the activity. With this Strike, it’s possible to cause your weapon to misfire on a crit fail. The concealment only lasts until the beginning of your next turn and requires the expenditure of black powder. If you’ve got the Munitions Crafter feat, at a minimum, it will be very easy for you to maintain some doses of black powder. Otherwise, it’s only 1 cp per dose. For Snipers, this feat is a means of Sneaking away to a better position. For other Ways, coordinate with your party so they know you’re putting up a cloud. Clouds aren’t exactly a rare tactic for spellcasters to try to control enemies, but they do require some thought as to how to take advantage of them. The smokeworker hobgoblin heritage lets you overcome the concealment problem of being inside your own smoke cloud, and the sylph Smokesoul lineage feat improves your defenses a bit at the cost of a reaction while in a smoke cloud. Halfling sort of helps since it lowers the flat check DC for targeting concealed creatures to 3.

● Stab and Blast:

○ Drifter (*): It’s the same as Triggerbrand Salvo, allowing you to execute a melee Strike followed by a ranged Strike MAP-free and with a circumstance bonus to the ranged Strike, provided you’re using appropriate weapons (namely, combination weapons). If you have Sword and Pistol, your ranged Strike will not

trigger reactions. The action economy of this feat is outstanding and will make your turn feel like you actually have three actions. If you’ve got critical specialization for the melee portion of your weapon, it is possible to discharge your weapon with critical fusion as part of a melee crit, which will leave you without a ranged option for the followup Strike. Your only real option to do that is the triggerbrand in melee mode. ○ Vanguard (*): If you’re using a reinforced stock, this is a good damage option. If you’re not using a reinforced stock, this feat is red (). ○ Others (): Sniper and Spellshot can also use a reinforced stock like Vanguards, but Snipers don’t want to be near melee and Spellshots don’t have the attribute scores to support melee usage. Pistoleros can get away with it using a one-handed combination weapon or a one-handed weapon with a bayonet, but their attribute spread will also cost them defense in order to have both STR and CHA. Triggerbrands could already do the same thing with Triggerbrand Salvo two levels earlier. ○ A note for non-Triggerbrand combination weapon users: this feat will make them easier to use. I’m not going to provide a rating for this particular circumstance because the other Ways have so very little support for combination weapons. If you like having legendary melee proficiency, though, Stab and Blast will help your efficiency and damage output.

Level 10

● Called Shot (**): Although it’s a two-action activity, you can throw down some serious debuffs with this feat. Stupefied 2 is very strong. The fact that you have the highest Strike crit chance in the game and can land enfeebled 1 / stupefied 1 for a minute is a welcome improvement too. Even better, unlike many effects which impose enfeebled and stupefied, there is no associated save. Considering that those conditions tend to be tied to respective fortitude and will saves, ignoring the save component means you have a somewhat unique means of applying debuffs. It’s often hard for casters to land the enfeebled condition on STR-reliant enemies due to their high fortitude. Stupefied will be easier for you to apply on enemies with will as their middle save, which opens up a secondary targeting avenue for your caster allies and CHA skill users. It generally isn’t as useful for you to land stupefied on high-will targets, but will help CHA skill users

occasionally land a third action Demoralize if nothing else. Targeting legs isn’t as strong, basically being the equivalent of a tanglefoot cantrip, but imposing -5 speed for a minute is decent with a crit. Debuffing speed has its uses, too, especially against an already low-speed enemy like an ooze. Bringing flying enemies down to help out your melee allies, or spellcasters with more limited range than you, is useful as well, especially if you’re using a longer-ranged weapon.

● Deflecting Shot (*): Giving an ally a +2 to their AC as a reaction, and knowing ahead of time whether it’ll even matter for you to do so, gives you a lot of influence over your allies’ defenses. Since the gunslinger can sort of fill a support martial niche, your allies will certainly appreciate your contributions to their well-being.

● Penetrating Fire (*): If you don’t already have a means of making two Strikes without the MAP, this feat will give you that option. Several Ways already have access to similar capabilities by this point, but you may appreciate adding the choice to do so with a single firearm rather than two. Since you’re only making one attack with it, this feat is an efficient use of fortune effects like _sure strike_.

● Precious Munitions (**): Requires Munitions Machinist. Gives you cost-free access to otherwise expensive ammunition which can be used to overcome resistances (and hardness, in some cases) or target weaknesses on a few enemy types.

● Rebounding Assault (*): Even for Drifters and Triggerbrands, this feat does very little. Mechanically, even with a non-finesse weapon, it’ll allow you to attack with DEX and potentially add 1d6 precision damage. Throwing a weapon only realistically adds 5 feet to your melee weapon’s range, and absolutely none on a reach weapon. This feat also does not add any range to thrown weapons. This feat does not work with Sword and Pistol because you’re making two ranged Strikes. It does at least give you two Strikes MAP-free, but you’re generally better off with any of the other feats which do the same. Besides, if you fail with either Strike, you’re out a melee weapon until you spend actions to go pick it up. If you’re using this to get a thrown range on a weapon without the thrown trait, you can’t use a returning rune. Even worse than a misfire since it requires two actions to recover, and maybe even worse than that if your target is smart enough to pick up your melee weapon and keep it from you. Ultimately, you’re getting 1d6 precision

damage and maybe 5 feet of range, at the risk of two necessary actions or worse on a later turn, out of a tenth level feat.

● Redirecting Shot (**): If someone else in your party uses ranged weapons, you can give them fortune as a reaction to their failed Strike, as well as overcome cover / concealment issues. If that’s the case, they’ll probably appreciate you giving their Strikes a reroll every now and again. Note that you’re just giving your ally a reroll, they don’t benefit from your proficiency or stats. You’ll also have to have your weapon loaded before the end of your turn, and Triggerbrands will need their weapon in firearm mode.

● Trick Shot (*): Most places don’t have a whole lot of explosive barrels lying around, although places like Alkenstar where firearms are common may be the exception. The Dislodge Object option doesn’t do anything mechanically, leaving it entirely in your GM’s hands whether or not there will be any function to this feat whatsoever. Discuss with your GM ahead of time if you can ever expect to use Trick Shot.

● Twin Shot Knockdown (**): This rating only applies for dual wield builds. This feat comes online later than Paired Shots, but is functionally similar enough that they deserve comparison. Unlike Paired Shots, you won’t combine the damage from Twin Shot Knockdown’s two Strikes, and you suffer the MAP for the second Strike with Twin Shot Knockdown. If you do land both hits, though, you’ll automatically knock your target prone, which is an easy means to take advantage of the off-guard condition for your party, if not for you. You also get to add precision damage for both damage instances, assuming you’re not using a repeating weapon or two.

Level 12

● Blood in the Air (*): You’ve got the third best perception progression in the game, one of only four classes to get legendary perception proficiency and, generally, room for WIS in your attribute spread. You’ve got a solid chance of a Seek helping you out if an enemy is undetected, invisible, or otherwise difficult to spot such that you can then land a Strike. If said enemy tried being hidden (or similar) as a tactic once, they’ll probably keep using that tactic. By this level, invisible enemies are also somewhat common, and will continue to be a nuisance for you into later levels. Easing the targeting issues of concealed /

hidden / invisible enemies will be frequently valuable for you. On the subject of concealed enemies, you can pair this feat with Smoke Curtain for a means of turning the concealed condition into a pure benefit for yourself. The “enemy you’ve damaged with a ranged weapon” portion of the requirement enables you to use splash damage from bombs or a scatter weapon to set you up for this feat. Be aware of the concentrate trait for the few enemies that can exploit it. If, for some reason, you neglected WIS, this feat is less valuable for you.

● Deadeye (**): Similar to Blood in the Air, but with some action economy and outcome differences. Where Blood in the Air requires you to have damaged an enemy, then an action to actually use Blood in the Air, Deadeye allows you to use an action to just treat invisible enemies as concealed. Note that Deadeye specifically works for invisible enemies, not hidden or undetected enemies. Blood in the Air is more broadly applicable, easing the targeting penalties for Striking a concealed or hidden enemy. Deadeye is more narrowly applicable and won’t help against enemies that are already concealed or hidden, but will make invisible enemies much easier to Strike.

● Expert Wizard Spellcasting (*): Spellshot only and requires both Basic Wizard Spellcasting and master proficiency in arcana. This feat grants you expert spellcasting benefits, which will improve your spell DC and give you up to sixth rank spells. There are a lot of great spells on the arcane list, including the fantastic no-save _wall of stone_. Unfortunately, this is where your spellcasting tops out unless you take another archetype

• namely, beast gunner or wizard.

● Flesh Wound (*): When you’re fighting high AC or extreme AC creatures, you’ll appreciate the ability to deal damage to them more consistently. Flesh Wound is also valuable for subsequent attacks, making your second (and even third, if you can swing it) attack(s) more reliable. On turns where you’d otherwise just make two Strikes, rather than using a two action ability, Strike -> reload -> Flesh Wound is a notable improvement.

● Ricochet Shot (*): Considering how often enemies get lesser cover from bodies being in the way, this feat will be frequently useful to overcome that issue. On top of which, you can overcome cover and greater cover when terrain favors your enemies.

● Shattering Shot (*): Hitting multiple enemies with a single bomb at full damage (minus splash and persistent) is great on the damage front, especially for a class that generally doesn’t have a whole lot of area options (beyond scatter weapons). Dual wield builds will have a hard time putting this feat to use, but can couple it with Quick Draw to have some hand flexibility across turns. If you don’t have an alchemist in your party handing you bombs, you’ll want Munitions Crafter to support this feat. Munitions Machinist is also an option for turns that look something like Quick Alchemy (Quick Vial) -> Shattering Shot -> Reloading Strike. The damage on this feat is fairly strong if you’re able to target at least 2 enemies with it, but your allies may be at risk with a 15 foot burst. Additionally, it’s best used against enemies with poor reflex saves. Spellshots should be (mostly) alright to figure out which targets are viable, but other Ways will need ally support. The real kicker on this feat’s damage: no part of it bears the attack trait, which works extremely well with the fact that you’re probably going to be under the MAP on any given turn.

● Shooter’s Camouflage (* / ): For Snipers, if you’re able to predict the terrain you’ll be in, this feat is outstanding. If not, it’s inherently situational. That said, being able to Hide and Sneak without concealment is a strong improvement for Snipers. For the other Ways, you certainly have the DEX to support stealth and this feat can be useful for you if that is the case. Once you have Legendary Sneak, though, you can retrain this feat.

● Unshakable Grit (*): Turning successful saves into crit saves and crit fails into fails is outstanding. Where most class features with a similar effect are always on, they only account for one save. This feat accounts for any save type, but with the limitation of once per hour. Your reflex saves already get the success -> crit success upgrade, and fortitude saves will follow at level 17. That said, none of your saves reach legendary, so the crit fail -> fail upgrade will apply no matter what. In the event the dice really hate you and the fortune effect + buff from Grit and Tenacity don’t save your bacon, Unshakable Grit provides a significant defensive backstop.

Level 14

● Blast Tackle (**): Vanguard only. The requirements for your weapon are the same as those of your Greater Deed, so should be no problem for you to meet. Hopefully, you’ve

been focusing on athletics, considering it’s a core part of your Slinger’s Reload. If that is the case (and it should be), this feat will enable you to Grapple, which is something you couldn’t really do prior to this feat unless you had a melee option. That said, the “tackle” component of the title is a bit misleading since you only Grapple and Strike there is no movement involved. This feat does not ease the MAP for the Strike component, but your target will at least be off-guard. It also does not protect you from reactions that trigger from ranged Strikes, nor does it protect you from splash damage if you’re using a scatter weapon. You can’t use Defensive Armaments to mitigate the splash damage, either, since the rules for wielding a two-handed weapon require you to have it gripped in both hands. 3d6 precision damage is quite a bit, although you only get it on the Strike used as part of Blast Tackle. Repeating the precision damage will require you to keep using Blast Tackle. You can maintain the grabbed condition like normal and keep making ranged Strikes against the target after the first turn, but will still have to deal with the MAP and, if present, reactions. The action economy, MAP, danger of reactions, and consistent positioning adjacent to an enemy make this feat risky and somewhat difficult to use, but it does at least give you a tool to Grapple while wielding a two-handed weapon.

● Come at Me! (): Pistolero only. You don’t have much capability to Strike more than one target, but if you do (say, with Bullet Split and a bayonet), you can increase your damage quite a bit with a second application of Pistolero’s Challenge. Beyond that, though, you’re just putting yourself even more at risk. While Shattering Shot is another option, the action (and feat) economy of trying to land Pistolero’s Challenges on all of the targets you’d want to hit, plus the two actions for Shattering Shot, is just too much to be worth the effort. There is something to be said for trying to encourage certain enemies to target you, though. If you’ve got a lot of speed (faster ancestries, ancestry feats, Fleet, reliable buffs, etc.), you can potentially kite melee enemies, although they’re probably going to realize pretty quickly that chasing you isn’t worth it. Against ranged enemies, if you’ve got Hit the Dirt! and some of its related feats, encouraging them to Strike you is a good way to improve your action economy and damage output. The other issue is that you generally want to focus a single target down anyway. Although you could** use Come at Me! and Strike two different targets with your other two actions, wouldn’t you rather focus down the first target and get rid of its ability to deal extra damage to you? This feat is somewhat hard to fit into a Pistolero build, but it’s doable.

● Dance of Thunder (*): If RNG is on your side, you can get as many as 9 actions out of this activity, but you’ll be battling the MAP to make that happen. With your firearm proficiency, you can reliably expect 6 actions out of it, especially if you’re Striking lower-AC targets. Getting that third set of actions requires you to land a ranged Strike while at MAP -5, which is still fairly doable unless you’re fighting a high-AC target. Generally speaking, you’re not going to land the MAP -10 Strike, but that’s okay your turn will still have included 8 effective actions by the time that becomes an issue. The fact that you come out of this activity with your firearm loaded no matter what is helpful too, setting you up for any reactions you might have which need a loaded firearm. Basically, this feat gives you a bit of safe mobility with two or three Steps paired with, likely, two Strikes, maybe three. Be aware that difficult terrain will take much of the value from this feat, although you’re still generally going to get four actions’ worth of value out of the activity. As such, feats which enable you to Step in difficult terrain (Feather Step is an easy one) are very helpful for this feat. The problem with this feat is that you’re fatigued for a minute after, which will be strenuous for the Ways that want to be in melee and dangerous against casters no matter what. The best way to use this feat is to clean up the end of an encounter so you don’t have to worry much about being fatigued.

● Disruptive Blur (*): Drifter only. No longer triggering reactions with movement after a ranged Strike will help you out with positioning. Coupled with Sword and Pistol, you’ll have a very easy time of using a ranged Strike and getting into place to take advantage of the off-guard condition for your melee Strike, then be in position to provide flanking for an ally.

● Headshot (**): Sniper only. You’re spending two actions hoping for the stars to align. The requirement to have damaged the target within the last minute should be pretty easy, but you’re effectively tanking your action economy hoping for several factors: that you’ll get a crit on your Strike with this feat, that the enemy isn’t of such a high level that the incapacitation trait renders it nigh impossible for the target to fail its fortitude save, and that the target doesn’t have such a high fortitude save that your chances are slim to none anyway. Instantly killing a target is great, but there’s just too much RNG for this to be a reliable feat. It’s most effective against targets at a level equal to yours, but at this high of a level, enemies have enough HP that you might appreciate being able to kill them off a turn earlier than your damage otherwise would have.

● Phase Bullet (**): Spellshot only. It’s only once per day, but getting a +4 status bonus to a Strike is massive. Getting the +4 against an armor-wearing target is situational, but if that reliably happens just about every day in your game, you’ll be glad to have the huge buff. Deadeye provides some meaningful synergy with this feat since it will render invisible foes hidden. Similarly, the general feat True Perception at level 19 will be helpful from time to time, assuming you can counteract enemies’ illusions. You’ll also be able to overcome shields, physical barriers, and the lesser cover from bodies being in the way. Unfortunately, because it’s only usable once per day, it’ll be hard to find the “perfect target” against which a Phase Bullet will ignore all possible factors. That said, it is powerful.

● Showstopper: Requires Pistol Twirl.

○ Pistolero (*): Much like with Come at Me!, you just don’t have much capability to deal area damage. If you’re using Bullet Split, being able to Strike two off-guard targets will be useful. If not, there isn’t a ton of value in a turn that involves Showstopper and two Strikes against two different targets. You generally want to focus a single target down. Although you could use Showstopper and Strike two separate targets with your other two actions, you’re generally better off fully taking an enemy out of the encounter so they can stop doing bad things to you and your party. The strength of this feat comes in the fact that you can potentially critically succeed on your Feint against multiple enemies to keep the off-guard condition going and ease your overall action economy. With the Pistol Phenom Dedication and orchestral brooches, you can make that happen much more reliably, at least. ○ Others (): If you’re not a Pistolero, you’re going to have a hard time fitting the necessary CHA in. Drifters can kind of get away with it, but they have so many better choices to make enemies off-guard.

● Triggerbrand Blitz (**): Triggerbrand only. Very similar to Dance of Thunder, but with melee as an option and without the ability to reload as part of the activity. Additionally, your Stride and ranged Strike(s) can still trigger reactions. Coupled with the fact that you’ll be fatigued for a minute after using this activity, it can be somewhat dangerous to

use. That said, three Strikes without the MAP is very strong, especially because you’ll also have some mobility. Since it’s only a single Stride, feats and features which give you greater speed will be highly useful. Much like Dance of Thunder, consider this feat a means of cleaning up an encounter toward the end so that you suffer least from being fatigued. You could also use it to open an encounter and try to instantly clear some lower-level enemies if you’re willing to deal with the fatigued debuffs.

● Two-Weapon Fusillade (*): This rating is for dual wield builds, naturally. This feat is your only means of getting two Strikes for a single action. You’ll still suffer the MAP, but it’s efficient, at least. Unlike with Paired Shots, the damage will not combine. It also does not bear some of the useful secondary functions of similar feats like Twin Shot Knockdown. If you’re taking this feat, it’s for the action economy. That’s a good improvement to have, though. While Drifters and dual wield Triggerbrands could get some action order flexibility from this feat as compared to Stab and Blast / Triggerbrand Salvo, they’re going to be in melee anyway and don’t gain much (if anything) from being able to use a ranged Strike first.

Level 16

● Fatal Bullet (*): If you’re not using a fatal weapon, skip this feat. If you are though, this feat is, at a bare minimum, an extra d8 of damage on crits. With your firearm proficiency, crits should be relatively frequent. Tons of firearms have the fatal trait, too. Might as well get some free damage.

● Hair Trigger (**): Free Strike at the start of any encounter in which your weapon is already drawn, and which won’t impose the MAP on your first turn. Drifters can still walk around with a free hand and only one weapon out, then draw their second weapon on top of the free Strike. Plus, your target will be off-guard. If your allies are able to use reaction attacks on your turn (sniping duo archetype), they’ll also be able to benefit from the off-guard condition. Triggerbrands using an explosive dogslicer will have an easy means of triggering its backstabber trait on the first round.

● Instant Return (**): Similar to the Hit the Dirt! / Leap and Fire combination, but oriented more toward offense and with no defensive component. Your firearm will have to be

unloaded at the end of your turn in order to use this reaction, so it’ll clash with reactions like Fake Out that require a loaded firearm. You’ll also have to be fighting enemies with ranged Strikes, they’ll have to be shooting ammunition you can use, and they’ll have to fail or critically fail those ranged Strikes against you. Pistolero’s Challenge is one means of making enemies want to shoot at you. If your enemies are using special ammunition, you’ll get to use their ammunition back at them. While getting a MAP-free Strike as a reaction is good, there are just too many conditional requirements for this feat to be reliable.

● Ricochet Master (*): Requires Ricochet Shot. This feat will give you more flexibility in how you get around enemies’ cover as compared to Ricochet Shot. The real money is in the fact that your first attack against every enemy in every encounter will cause them to be off-guard to that attack. It’s not a particularly flashy feat, but it’s a nice upgrade to Ricochet Shot.

Level 18

● Black Powder Embodiment (*): Spellshot only. If your enemies are running away and you don’t have the range / speed to keep up with them, you may appreciate being able to teleport close to them and prevent them from running away. You could also use it as a means of accessing hard-to-reach enemies, say, up on a high cliff or behind an arrow slit. There are some issues, though. First, you don’t have any incentive to get up close to enemies. Second, the situations where this feat would be useful are, well… situational. Highly. Your casters can just cast fly , which realistically includes you since you can use a scroll of fly. Third, Black Powder Embodiment only transports you. Splitting parties is almost always a bad idea. It’s an especially bad idea in an encounter where your allies will probably take some time to reach you, on top of the fact that the only situations where you’d really want to use this feat are ones in which it was already difficult for you and, more importantly, your party to reach the target. You can’t even use this feat for general mobility purposes you have to target a creature with it. You can just use the level 9 transposition ammunition or level 12 dimension shot ammunition to achieve the same effect, except with the benefit of being able to target a square and, in the case of transposition ammunition, bring up to two allies with you.

● Final Shot (*): Note that you cannot use a crossbow with this feat. It’s risky, dangerous, and hard on the action economy, but there is some solid value in this feat. You’ll need to either be spending money (albeit very little) on black powder or have the Munitions Crafter feat. With your proficiency, more often than not, you’re going to have good experiences with Final Shot turning your successful Strikes into crits. That said, when the dice decide they don’t like you any more, the weapon will misfire. On top of the fact that you’ll be stunned 1, misfires will mean two of your actions are spoken for on the following turn. You’ll also be off-guard for a round. Crits do at least mean your target has to make a fortitude save against being stunned 1. It’s called Final Shot for a reason: you should probably use it toward the end of an encounter to quickly end an enemy. If you’re in a safe spot already before you use this feat, it’ll also be more functional. You’ll just need to rely on your allies to keep enemies away from you during your debuffed period.

● Piercing Critical (*): Your firearm and crossbow proficiency is as good as it gets. Chances are pretty good you’re critting on a 19 anyway, at least for a MAP-free Strike. Mostly it’ll help you on MAP -5 Strikes, but that’s a pretty strong improvement. Two crits in a turn while using a fatal weapon has a high chance of turning an enemy into a fine mist. Piercing Critical also has potential to improve the output of Dance of Thunder. Unless you’re fighting a whole lot of high-AC enemies, you’ll be fine without this feat. Just be aware that this feat doesn’t exactly make 19s function the same as 20s. Where a 20 would improve any result by one step, this feat only improves successes to crit successes.

● Reach for the Stars (*): Requires Black Powder Boost, unfortunately. A maximum 55 foot vertical Leap, 60 foot High Jump, or 90 foot horizontal Leap is a lot of movement for a single action, but your party almost certainly has a whole lot of other movement options at this high of a level.

● Unerring Shot (**): Reducing cover bonuses, including eliminating the lesser cover bonus (so, bodies in the way), is solid. That said, you already have a pretty strong means of ignoring cover in the form of Ricochet Shot. Unerring Shot’s only real improvement as compared to Ricochet Shot is that you won’t rely on terrain. You almost certainly won’t worry much about range increments by this level because of your Shootist’s Edge class feature, and especially if you have a much longer-range weapon

like an arquebus or sukgung. Range increments will also matter much less if you’re playing, say, Abomination Vaults where small rooms and tight corridors are the norm. In a hexploration game, or a game with tons of open space, you may find some value in being able to shoot out to your fourth, fifth, and sixth range increments penalty-free.

Level 20

● Perfect Readiness (**): Extra mobility to get away from danger safely or an extra reload, once per round. Being permanently quickened is great, even with limitations on what you can do. This feat is less useful if you’re using a repeating weapon (or two).

● Ricochet Legend (**): Requires Ricochet Master. As long as you have the terrain for ricochets, cover is a concept of the past. More importantly, your first attack against every creature in every encounter causes a will save to resist being stunned 2. Making your enemies off-guard and taking away two of their actions right out the gate, plus denying reactions for stunned enemies, against every enemy you hit, is fantastic.

● Slinger’s Reflexes (**): This rating assumes you have Fake Out. If you do, you’ll basically constantly add a +4 to an attack on every party member's turns, as well as attack reactions if they have any.

Ancestries

Ancestries

Yellow () and red () rating ancestries have their own sub-tabs within the Ancestries tab. I’ve only included green () and blue (**) ancestries in the main body of the Ancestries section because there are so many ancestries now that the section was getting cumbersome to navigate.

If your GM is fine with you taking legacy feats (and they should be), the legacy level 13 “Weapon Expertise” feats give you max proficiency with melee weapons and should be considered blue () for Drifters.

I deliberately did not include certain heritages and ancestry feats. If it’s not in the guide, consider it either too situational for me to include it or, in rare cases, outright bad. That’s not to say you should always avoid the options the guide doesn’t list just be aware that those options will tend to be situational or otherwise highly specialized.

Across the board, ancestry-related lore feats will help shore up your number of trained skills, assuming you feel the need for a few more trained skills. Generally, I consider these feats yellow (**) because you’re only ever realistically going to have three skills that receive boosts. More trained skills may or may not feel useful to you. These feats will be better at early levels and you can comfortably retrain out of them at later levels, though if your GM frequently relies on simple DCs, you’ll be very glad for more trained skills regardless of level.

In the case of heritages and feats that only grant one specific type of resistance, you can comfortably take them since they’re almost certain to come up at some point. These are always worth talking with your GM, though, assuming said GM is willing to work with you on choices that you can expect to be useful. No one likes a dead feat(ure).

Common ancestries

Dwarf (*)

The low speed is annoying, but 10 HP, darkvision, attribute boosts that both improve your saves, and an attribute flaw that all but Pistoleros can feel happy about make for a solid ancestry

chassis. Pistoleros can choose two free boosts instead. The free clan dagger is a decent enough melee weapon for Drifters, although it doesn’t offer much in the way of damage type versatility. Many of the feats on offer are situational, but you can get around that easily with a versatile heritage. There are also several firearm-supporting feats available should your GM allow them. Several of the better ones have an Access entry of “You are from Dongun Hold or Alkenstar,” which is a pretty easy ask for a dwarf gunslinger.

● Heritage:

○ Ancient-Blooded (): The circumstance bonus to saves as a reaction is great no matter what. Grit and Tenacity is a stronger reaction when it’s available (if you have it), but considering you can only use that reaction once per hour, having the Call on Ancient Blood reaction in the interim will be a helpful way to fill the gap. ○ Death Warden (): Lots of nasty necromancy effects out there. Unshakable Grit does something similar, but only once per hour, at the cost of two class feats, and at a higher level. Especially good if you’re going to be fighting a lot of undead since it gives you access to the Tomb-Watcher’s Glare feat. It’s a little less useful at level 17+ because there will be some redundancy with Juggernaut, but the death warden benefit applies beyond just fortitude saves. ○ Oathkeeper (): You have great perception progression and, with this ancestry, are almost certainly building to have the WIS to back it up. As such, being the party lie detector is a useful role. The diplomacy aspect will be mostly useful for Pistoleros, but if you’re trained in diplomacy and otherwise don’t have much CHA, you can at least help out a little with face functions every now and again. ○ Rock (*): This rating is for the Ways that want to be in melee. Since action economy comes at a premium for you, having to expend actions to Stand after being knocked prone or get back into melee after being Shoved is painful. Resisting those effects in the first place is a much better way to go about it, and this heritage helps.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Clan Lore (*): Two fairly flexible skill picks plus an extra lore at trained proficiency. Several options work well for you. As a generally low-INT class

(barring Spellshots), getting flexibility to add to an otherwise short skill list can be a nice way to help keep your character a valuable party member. ○ (1) Clan Pistol (): (U, F) This rating is for Drifters and Pistoleros. The clan pistol weapon is basically the same as the dueling pistol, but with better range. One important aspect of this feat is the fact that you save yourself a fair bit of starting gold by getting a pistol for free. Both dueling pistols and clan pistols are excellent weapons for Pistoleros, but considering that Pistoleros have no reason to get into melee, you might as well enjoy the extra 20 feet of range. That said, there probably aren’t going to be a ton of situations where the difference between 60 ft. and 80 ft. range increments is all that noticeable. It will also help out with certain CHA-based skill checks in the right locations. Drifters are sort of similar in that they don’t really need the range, but may still appreciate having the option to stay well away from melee when needed. ○ (1) Dwarven Doughtiness (): Frightened is a pretty ubiquitous debuff. Especially into the higher levels, it’s fairly frequent that enemies have means of applying frightened 2 or higher to you. Getting rid of frightened more quickly will be consistently useful. ○ (1) Dwarven Weapon Familiarity (): Access to the dwarven scattergun, which is useful for Vanguards who are willing to buy a backfire mantle and warn their melee allies that they probably also want a backfire mantle. If you and your allies are willing to put money into backfire mantles, Vanguards should (eventually, level 3+ and money willing) consider this feat green (). Snipers can kind of put the dwarven scattergun to good use too, with backfire mantle requirements applying to their melee allies but not themselves. If you want to use a pick as a Drifter, getting critical weapon specialization for a little extra damage will be welcome. ○ (1) Explosive Savant (): (U) You can get around the uncommon limitation by being from Dongun Hold or Alkenstar. This feat only really gives you better advanced firearm proficiency, which isn’t terribly exciting. ■ (13) Explosive Expert (): (U) Same access entry as its prerequisite. This rating assumes you’re building for bomb usage. If that is the case, getting legendary proficiency with bombs is an outstanding upgrade. ○ (1) Mountain Strategy (): Extra damage when you eat a crit, and against appropriate enemies. More useful for the Ways that want to be in melee.

○ (1) Stonemason’s Eye (): Basically a budget version of the rogue’s / investigator’s Trap Finder feat, giving you some ability to passively notice traps in applicable situations. Also, if you’re in a campaign with a lot of dungeon delving, you’re probably going to benefit from the circumstance bonus to perception fairly frequently. Situational by nature, but boy are the benefits strong in the right situation. With your perception progression, you (and your party) will very much appreciate the bonus. ○ (1) Unburdened Iron (): Only really matters if you get heavy armor proficiency, unless you’re taking this feat through Adopted Ancestry or a custom mixed heritage. If you take it through one of those alternate paths, this feat can do wonders for, say, a 30 foot base speed ancestry and heavy armor. It’s also useful if you want to use a Reinforced Surcoat for medium or heavy armor. ○ (5) Defy the Darkness (): Greater darkness isn’t terribly common, but this feat is entirely an improvement for you. You don’t have spells and aren’t likely to need to use anything else with the darkness trait. ○ (5) Sheltering Slab (): Situational by nature, but negating flanking is a strong defensive benefit when you’re in the right terrain. ○ (5) Tomb-Watcher’s Glare (): Requires the death warden heritage. While this feat is situational by nature, undead are such common enemies that it’s bound to be a useful feat. Since you have such great firearm proficiency progression, you’re also bound to crit undead with relative frequency. Passively debuffing your targets is always a welcome improvement, especially since there’s nothing they can do to stop it. ○ (9) Demolitionist (): (U) If you’re building for the alchemy class feats and have a trapfinder role in your party, you can more easily destroy traps with your bombs. It does require a Strike, though, so Shattering Shot won’t benefit. ○ (9) Echoes in Stone (): Although it’ll be hard on your action economy to use this feat, tremorsense is a fantastic improvement to your already excellent perception progression. It is inherently situational, though, requiring specific terrain. ○ (9) Heroes’ Call (): _Heroism_ is always welcome, even if it won’t ever heighten. ○ (9) Kneel for No God (*): Requires ancient-blooded heritage and the Vahird ethnicity. Only helpful against divine spells, but turning crit fails into fails will make those divine spells much less painful for you when you use Call on Ancient Blood.

○ (9) Mountain’s Stoutness (): Basically Toughness, but also stacks with Toughness to great effect. Especially useful for the Ways that want to be in or near melee. ○ (9) Smoke Sight (): (U) Situational on its own, but if you’re planning to take Smoke Curtain, it becomes blue (). ○ (9) Stone Bones (): It’s not a high chance to shrug off crits, but it’s something. Pistoleros running around with Pistolero’s Challenge up will especially appreciate being able to shrug off crits. ○ (9) Stonewalker (): You can definitely afford and put to good use the stealth that will be required to really make one with stone effective. It’s situational by nature because of terrain though. Also provides some improvements to Stonemason’s Eye if you have it. ■ (17) Stonegate (): (U) Being able to bypass terrain challenges can be useful. ○ (13) Crafter’s Instinct (): (U) Situational because only a select few builds will ever have master proficiency in crafting. If that is the case, and you meet the regional requirements, you can ease the pain of misfires, making the feats that have potential misfire outcomes a bit less risky. Only once per day, though. ○ (13) March the Mines (): Burrow speeds are hard to come by, and you can even bring an ally with you. ○ (13) Telluric Power (): This rating is for Drifters and Triggerbrands. Although situational by nature, the benefit is so good that it deserves a higher rating. Extra damage on your melee Strikes is excellent when you meet the terrain requirement. ○ (17) Forge-Blessed Shot (**): (U) This feat bears a religion requirement and it’s only once per day. Despite those limitations, getting a +2 circumstance bonus to an attack roll is not only great on its own, it stacks with Phase Bullet for a massive hit / crit chance improvement. Overcoming the concealed condition and all forms of cover won’t matter for Phase Bullet, but it will for every other application.

Elf (*)

DEX and INT are awesome for Spellshots, but significantly less useful for other Ways, who should instead choose two free ability boosts. CON penalties always suck, too. You do, at least, get low-light vision, and 30 feet of speed is awesome. There are several good options for heritages here, but nothing so overwhelmingly good that you couldn’t take a versatile heritage instead.

● Heritage:

○ Ancient (): There are a few good archetype dedication feats that stand on their own, no further feats needed. Rogue gives you the surprise attack class feature, which is great for Snipers. Ranger’s Hunt Prey helps with range issues. Champion gives you heavy armor proficiency. If you’re planning to build around a multiclass archetype anyway, you’ll free up your second level class feat slot. ○ Cavern (): Darkvision is always good. ○ Seer (): This rating is for Spellshots. Detect magic is a useful cantrip and the bonus to Identify Magic will be helpful occasionally. ○ Whisper (*): The bonus to Seek is huge, and the concealed chance reduction can be useful for Smoke Curtain.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Ancestral Linguistics (): Getting a flexible language can be useful for Pistoleros to do face functions or for Spellshots to be able to read important information for Recall Knowledge purposes. ○ (1) Ancestral Longevity (): A flexible skill will help with your INT issue / general lack of skills, although gunslingers aren’t skill monkeys and will do fine with a limited number of skills. The followup feats, Expert Longevity and Universal Longevity, make Ancestral Longevity, respectively, a bit stronger and a bit more flexible. ○ (1) Demonbane Warrior (**): Inherently situational, but demons are common enough enemies that you’ll appreciate a bit of extra damage from time to time. Talk with your GM.

○ (1) Elven Verve (): All three conditions are nasty and chances are good you’ll run into at least one of them with some frequency, even if this feat is inherently situational. ○ (1) Elven Weapon Familiarity (): If you want a two-handed firearm with parry, you can get access to either the dawnsilver tree or the three peaked tree. Drifters can also get critical specialization for rapiers and longswords. ○ (1) Forlorn (): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement. ○ (1) Nimble Elf (): 35 movement speed right out the gate? Yes please. ○ (1) Otherworldly Magic (): Gain an arcane cantrip. _Eat fire_ is pretty strong, especially if you’re planning to take Alchemical Shot and / or have the whisper elf heritage. _Bullhorn_ (Pistoleros), _detect magic_ , _light_ , _mage hand_ , _message_ (Snipers while Sneaking / scouting ahead), and _shield_ are decent choices. For Spellshots, this feat is blue () because it can either round out your offensive cantrip roster or give you some utility that you couldn’t otherwise prepare on any given day. ○ (1) Unwavering Mien (): With your poor will save progression, enemies have a solid chance of landing mental effects on you. Reducing their duration is a meaningful way to counter one of the gunslinger class’s weaknesses. Alongside the Stubborn class feature, you’ll have a couple layers of protection against being controlled. ○ (1) Wildborn Magic (): (U) Very similar to Otherworldly Magic, but with the primal list. The ethnicity Access makes it fairly easy to evade the uncommon limitation. ■ (5) Wildborn Adept (): You won’t be able to pull off _vitality lash_ well, but _light_ is always solid. Spellshots, for whom this feat is green (), can put _tangle vine_ to good use. ○ (5) Ageless Patience (): Might as well enjoy some bonuses to perception. You’re already good at it. Lean into your strengths. Note that its bonus does not stack with that of the whisper elf heritage, though they can still work alongside each other well given the differing situations where and in how they apply. ○ (5) Ancestral Suspicion (**): Similar to Unwavering Mien. They complement each other nicely to shrug off control effects since many of those effects will also

have the mental trait. This feat is an outright upgrade to the Stubborn class feature. ○ (5) Elven Instincts (): Bonuses to initiative are always nice, especially since your perception progression is excellent. Somewhat less useful for Snipers, depending on attribute scores, since they can easily pull off using stealth for initiative. Regardless, going ahead of enemies in a tie is a nice improvement. ○ (9) Brightness Seeker (): It’s only once per day, but augury is frequently useful. On top of which, you get access to an outstanding reaction for 30 minutes. If you have a bard in your party or someone who similarly hands out status bonuses with regularity, the reaction may be redundant. ○ (9) Elf Step (): Won’t work with any of your gunslinger features that allow you to Step as part of an activity, but getting two Steps for one action is a good way to get out of danger or into position. Somewhat redundant with Drifter’s Juke. Feather Step improves its value. ○ (9) Otherworldly Acumen (): Gain a second rank innate spell based on the list you had as a prerequisite for this feat. Tailwind is always a great choice, but there are tons of good second rank spells on both the arcane and primal spell lists. ○ (9) Tree Climber (): Extra speed types are good, though 10 feet isn’t much for an ancestry-granted climb speed. ○ (13) Wandering Heart (*): Your best option is cavern, but this feat will give you some environmental flexibility or darkvision as needed, provided you have enough downtime.

Gnome (*)

Small size brings athletics limitations. CON and CHA boosts will only really be useful for Pistoleros, who luckily don’t need STR. Snipers can also handle these boosts with a non-kickback weapon. Other Ways should choose two free attribute boosts instead. Low-light vision isn’t terribly exciting, but it’s better than normal at least. You do start with three languages, which is higher than normal and potentially helpful for Pistoleros & language-limited feats. There are several feats and heritages which grant innate magic, which tend to be useful for utility and for Spellshots in particular. There are quite a few solid feats on offer, but most of them are at a lower level. If you want good higher level ancestry feats, you’ll need a versatile heritage.

● Heritage:

○ Chameleon (*): +2 to stealth is a fantastic upgrade. Whenever you can afford to take the hour for dramatic color shifts, do so. If your surroundings are relatively static, such as being in a forest or in a dungeon, you’ll basically always have the bonus, which also applies to initiative. ○ Fey-Touched (): Get a flexible primal cantrip. Eat fire is a great choice, especially with Alchemical Shot. Spellshots will do well with any of the attack cantrips, but you can also grab a utility spell if you’re fine with just using gouging claw. ○ Kijimuna (): (U) Swim speeds are always welcome. You could go with the climbing choice if you’re already planning to invest in athletics, though getting a speed from it will require a feat. The climbing choice also works best with a one-handed weapon. ○ Sensate (): Imprecise senses are a great way to capitalize on your perception progression. Plus, you get a big bonus to Seek against undetected creatures within your scent range. ○ Umbral (): Darkvision is always good. ○ Wellspring (): Less flexible than fey-touched since you can’t swap your cantrip day-to-day, but with more options.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Animal Accomplice (*): Familiars provide some value to you even if you have no means of granting them extra abilities. Partner in Crime is useful for Pistoleros, Triggerbrands, and anyone building for a trapfinder role. Second Opinion is good for Spellshots. Threat Display will relieve Pistoleros from needing Intimidating Glare. Innate Surge gives you an extra daily cast of any one leveled innate spell you have from other gnome feats. Flier + Share Senses gives you some scouting potential. Familiar skill usage will work best on Pistoleros who have the CHA to fuel the familiar’s skills. ○ (1) Empathetic Plea (): This rating is for Pistoleros. If you’re focusing on diplomacy and want some damage reduction early in an encounter, you can get it

with this feat. You may have a hard time achieving the trigger though, since you want to act hostile toward enemies early and often. ○ (1) First World Magic (): Same list of useful spells as the fey-touched heritage, but without the day-to-day flexibility. ○ (1) Gnome Obsession (): This rating is for Spellshots. Having an automatically scaling lore skill will be occasionally helpful to Recall Knowledge, which will function with Thoughtful Reload. If and when you’re able to retrain it, you’ll get -2 and -5 to Recall Knowledge DCs fairly frequently. ○ (1) Gnome Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters. Drifters can get access to the gnome flickmace or switchscythe. The kukri is also a good option for Drifters, and its critical specialization synergizes well with exsanguinating ammunition. The gnome flickmace gives a one-handed reach weapon, and the switchscythe gives a fatal weapon that bears the grapple trait when it’s set to do piercing damage. Triggerbrands can get access to the gnome amalgam musket as well. ○ (1) Grim Insight (): Requires umbral gnome heritage. With your poor will save progression, enemies have a solid chance of landing fear effects on you. Reducing their effectiveness with fear effects is a meaningful way to patch up one of the gunslinger class’s weaknesses, plus the excellent response of making said enemy off-guard for even trying is outstanding. ○ (1) Illusion Sense (): Getting a bonus to Seek against invisible targets is a great application for this feat. It works especially well in tandem with Blood in the Air. ■ (5) Natural Illusionist (): This rating is for Pistoleros. _Illusory disguise_ works well alongside with your deception skill, provided you and your party use deception as part of your infiltration attempts. _Item facade_ and _ventriloquism_ are harder to gauge as they’re entirely situational, but having flexible access to them makes their situational nature more easily leveraged. The fact that these spells automatically heighten is unusual for innate spells and helps keep them relevant. ○ (1) Life-Giving Magic (**): Requires you to cast primal innate spells granted by the gnome ancestry in order to function. Best used alongside the fey-touched heritage and either the _guidance_ or _shield_ cantrip for ready temp HP at the cost

of an action and a reaction. Primarily valuable in melee where you’ll be more consistently attacked. ○ (1) Unexpected Shift / (9) Fortuitous Shift ( / ): While dazzled is unpleasant, free damage resistance is great. The fact that there’s no limit on how often you can use this reaction makes it a meaningful addition to your kit since so many of the gunslinger reactions are situational. The circumstance bonus to saves won’t apply to very many things, but there may be rider effects on enemy spells that would require a second save after taking damage. Fortuitous Shift takes the flat check’s success chance from 25% to 50% and gets rid of the dazzled condition, which is outstanding. If you’re frequently fighting from a range where you’re not likely to be targeted (Snipers), these feats will be less useful for you. ○ (9) Cautious Curiosity (): Requires an arcane or occult innate spell from gnome. _Silence_ is sometimes a useful tool to prop up your stealth, especially because attacking with firearms doesn’t bear the auditory trait and you can silence your shots for a minute. _Disguise magic_ can also help with stealth endeavors, giving you a means of passively overcoming adversaries using _detect magic_ or similar effects. ○ (9) First World Adept (): Requires an innate primal spell from gnome. You’ll have a hard time fitting _revealing light_ in on your turns, but it may be useful in exploration mode. _Invisibility_ is always nice, even if you can’t cast the heightened version. ○ (9) Life Leap (): Functions somewhat similarly to Tumble Through. Life Leap has no associated check, happens automatically, doesn’t treat the enemy’s square(s) as difficult terrain, and doesn’t trigger reactions. Tumble Through requires an acrobatics check vs. the target’s reflex DC as part of a Stride (or Climb, Fly, or Swim) and can trigger a reaction if you fail or can’t make it all the way through the difficult terrain squares. Life Leap also requires you to be adjacent to the target when you use it, while the Stride for Tumble Through can start wherever relative to the target so long as you have enough speed to make it through. Basically, Life Leap is safer and doesn’t require a skill, but requires more setup. If you’re already in place adjacent to a target and need to guarantee you’ll get to the other side for flanking or escape, Life Leap is generally the better option unless you still need some extra movement on the other side. Even if you are focusing on acrobatics, though, Life Leap is a meaningful addition to your kit.

○ (13) Instinctive Obfuscation (**): Requires an arcane or occult innate spell from gnome. Imposing a 45% miss chance once per hour as a reaction once per hour is a great defensive tool.

Goblin (*)

Small size brings athletics limitations. DEX and CHA are good for Pistoleros, but the WIS flaw hurts, especially since your will progression is poor. Darkvision is always good. While the baseline attribute boosts aren’t much to look at, goblin has lots of great feats on offer. You can’t go wrong with the unbreakable heritage, but if you don’t like that or any of the other heritages’ associated feats, you can get away with a versatile heritage.

● Heritage:

○ Charhide (): While normally I don’t point out resistance options, this one has some unique value. With all the emphasis on fire damage-based alchemical items that this ancestry offers, the charhide goblin heritage provides fire resistance for Alchemical Shot when the dice don’t roll your way. ○ Dokkaebi (): While figment isn’t much use for most Ways, you’ll at least have a little boost to will saves sometimes. Figment does give CHA builds a means of buffing their Create a Diversion, albeit at the cost of an extra action. More importantly, this heritage offers several solid feats. ○ Snow (): Not particularly exciting on its own, as it gives you situational resistance, but it’s required for a good feat based around athletics. ○ Tailed (): Gives Combat Climber, reduces the number of hands required to Climb and Trip, and gives a bonus to Climb. Those are situational, but potentially useful for any Way. Athletics builds, however, will love getting weapon flexibility: you’ll be able to Trip without a free hand. This heritage is green () for Vanguards, and for Drifters and Triggerbrands with an emphasis on athletics. ○ Treedweller (): This rating is for Snipers. Situational by nature, but if you're in forests or jungles often, the bonus to Hide and Sneak will be awesome. When you’re in those locations, the goblin feats which improve stealth will be outstanding.

○ Unbreakable (*): Extra ancestry HP and reduced falling damage if you don’t care about acrobatics & Cat Fall. Also opens up some solid feats.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Bouncy Goblin (): Requires unbreakable goblin heritage. Acrobatics works quite well for you, especially for Drifters. Tumble Through is your primary usage for acrobatics regardless of Way. Getting a +2 bonus to Tumble Through is great even if you never go beyond trained proficiency. ○ (1) Burn It! (): This rating applies if you have a means of dealing damage with an alchemical item. It provides a little extra damage on your alchemist’s fire and Alchemical Shot’s persistent damage (fire only). Alchemical crossbows, alchemical gauntlets, or weapon siphons potentially gain some damage as well, although the alchemical crossbow is uncommon. You’ll only really be able to use the alchemical gauntlet or a weapon siphon on a Drifter. Shattering Shot should benefit as well since you’re dealing “the bomb’s normal damage” by using an alchemical item. Your GM may rule that the Spellshot’s Initial Deed and Fulminating Shot count while using an alchemical crossbow (or alchemical gauntlet / weapon siphon, but Spellshots don’t have any reason to be in melee), but that’s fuzzier. You’re dealing additional fire damage, not necessarily dealing fire damage with an alchemical item although alchemical weapons are alchemical items and you’re dealing fire damage through their attacks. This is also a great feat choice for Adopted Ancestry in tandem with the dwarf feat Explosive Expert. ○ (1) Dokkaebi Fire (): This rating is for Spellshots. One more attack cantrip is a welcome addition to your Spell-Woven Shot arsenal. Benefits from Burn It! ○ (1) Goblin Scuttle (): This rating is for the Ways that want to be in or near melee. Getting a Step as a reaction to your ally’s movement is a good way to get into place for flanking or Step away from danger after a melee Strike. ■ (9) Skittering Scuttle (): More mobility than Goblin Scuttle, but a Stride can trigger enemy reactions. Fortunately, you get to make the decision whether you Step 5 feet or Stride 15 feet whenever you use the reaction. ○ (1) Goblin Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters and Triggerbrands. The dogslicer is good for Drifters and the explosive dogslicer is good for

Triggerbrands, although Triggerbrands will have to carefully consider their turns to get the maximum value from an explosive dogslicer. The big boom gun is a high risk, high reward weapon for Drifters or Pistoleros. The flingflenser and spoon gun both bring the scatter trait, which is risky for your whole party (unless you can convince them to buy backfire mantles), and the cobbled trait on both the big boom gun and the spoon gun risks misfiring. If you’re taking Goblin Weapon Familiarity for the big boom gun, flingflenser, or spoon gun, you should treat Goblin Weapon Familiarity as yellow (). ○ (1) Hard Tail (): Requires the tailed goblin heritage. Unarmed attacks are terrible on gunslingers, but this feat is a prerequisite for Tail Spin. ■ (5) Tail Spin (): Though action intensive, being able to trip two creatures with a single athletics check, and only a single MAP increase, is a good way to set up an off-guard ranged Strike or help your allies out. ○ (1) Twitchy (): This rating is primarily for Triggerbrands, but also for any build to be the party trapfinder and invest in thievery. The bonus to AC and saves against hazards will help keep you a bit safer in that trapfinder role, and the initiative bonus is nice. Especially useful if your game has a lot of social encounters. ○ (1) Very Sneaky ( / ): Extra speed when you Sneak and some easing of the cover and concealment requirements are notable improvements to Sneak. If you’re leaving stealth at trained proficiency, this feat is solid. If you’re investing in stealth, you should retrain it once you have Legendary Sneak. Note that its easing of Sneak requirements is useful even when you have Swift Sneak. ■ (13) Very, Very Sneaky ( / ): Primarily useful if your stealth is trained and no further. If you’re investing in stealth, you can just take Legendary Sneak instead. This feat will give you more or less the same benefits of Legendary Sneak for levels 13 and 14 if you want to take it and then retrain once you have Legendary Sneak. ○ (5) Glorious Gamtu (): Requires the dokkaebi heritage. _Invisibility_ once per day is always welcome, even if it is only the second rank version. ■ (17) Perfected Gamtu (*): Not only do you get the opportunity to upgrade _invisibility_ to sixth rank, you can pass the effect off to allies. ○ (5) Kneecap (): Since you have to make a Strike, this feat’s action will contribute to the MAP. If you need to kite away from danger, though, you can

enable yourself to do so since you can move away, make a ranged attack, and capitalize on the enemy’s penalized speed. If you’re using a combination weapon in melee mode, you’ll be more likely to land the crit effect. This feat’s action also functions with Sword and Pistol. ○ (5) Tree Climber (): Requires tailed or treedweller heritage. Extra speeds are always good, though 10 feet isn’t much on its own. Better with Cave Climber. ○ (5) Vandal (): This rating is for the trapfinder role. If you run into a trap that’s giving you trouble on the disabling front, you can always just smash through it with this feat’s hardness reduction. At range, no less. ○ (9) Cave Climber ( / ): 10 feet isn’t much, but if you’ve got Tree Climber, your climb speed will equal your normal speed. ○ (9) Cling (): Gives a little more value to a free hand melee build, which mostly means Triggerbrands with a one-handed weapon. Drifters can get away with it if their second weapon is a gauntlet of some sort or they’re using a bayonet on their firearm / crossbow. This will keep you in melee range to keep smashing your target’s face in with that sweet combination weapon proficiency. That is dangerous, though, since your target can do the same to you. ○ (9) Freeze It! (): Requires the snow goblin heritage. This rating is primarily for Vanguards, but it also applies for Drifters and Triggerbrands with investment in athletics. Being able to make an enemy clumsy 1 or 2 with an athletics check that does not influence the MAP is a strong use for athletics, and which works nicely to improve your hit / crit chances. A flanked, clumsy 1 enemy is at a net -3 to its AC. Drifters taking advantage of this with an agile weapon (dogslicer) are in a very good place. ○ (9) Whispers in the Night (): Requires the dokkaebi heritage. _Darkness_ can be pretty useful if your party is prepared for it. It tends to work well with Blood in the Air for selfish usage. ○ (13) Flames of Vision (): (U) Mostly requires the dokkaebi heritage, but being from Tian Xia works too. _Clairvoyance_ offers fantastic scouting utility regardless of your Way, and you get to use it twice per day, provided you have a source of fire (such as Dokkaebi Fire). ○ (13) Unbreakable-er Goblin (*): Requires unbreakable goblin heritage. 10 extra HP is a big difference, and you no longer need Cat Fall. Coupled with Bouncy

Goblin, you can even traverse some vertical obstacles, although by this level that may not be much of an issue for you (especially with Black Powder Boost). ○ (17) Reckless Abandon (*): Particularly awesome for Ways that want to be in melee and have run out of options to avoid triggering reactions. Also applies for those in a trapfinder role who can minimize hazard damage. The save improvements only occur on your turn, but there are all sorts of situations where the benefits of this feat apply.

Halfling (**)

Small size brings athletics limitations. DEX and WIS are great boosts all around and the STR flaw is fine for Pistoleros and Spellshots, as well as Snipers who don’t want to use a kickback weapon. Drifters, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards will need to overcome the STR flaw and may prefer two free attribute boosts instead. Also, if you’re willing to skimp on damage a bit until level 10 or 15, you can start with -1 or +0 STR and boost it as you level up, building toward a kickback weapon in the middle-to-late levels. The Keen Eyes feature is a great addition to your already excellent perception progression, although its synergy with Blood in the Air only comes into play against invisible targets. Generally speaking, Keen Eyes functions better with Deadeye. It also has some synergy with Smoke Curtain. If you want to play a halfling, you should strongly consider investing in stealth. Many of its feats revolve around Hiding and Sneaking. Otherwise, you still have several great options in the Halfling Luck feat tree.

● Heritage:

○ Gutsy (): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement. ○ Observant (): Alongside your excellent perception progression, enemies will have a harder time staying hidden from and Lying to you. ○ Twilight (**): Low-light vision is at least an improvement over normal vision.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Adroit Manipulation (): (U) It’s easy to get around the uncommon limitation with the Mihrini ethnicity. This rating assumes you’re building to be the party trapfinder and investing in thievery. If that is the case, upgrading your Pick a Lock successes to crit successes will be very helpful, especially once you have Quick Unlock. ○ (1) Distracting Shadows (): Even if you’re not playing a Sniper, this feat is a huge incentive to invest in stealth. If you are playing a Sniper, Hide behind your spellcaster friend in the back line. Being able to use your allies to Hide and Sneak is an outstanding means of rendering enemies off-guard to you. ■ (13) Ceaseless Shadows (): Very nearly on par with Legendary Sneak, allowing you to Sneak without cover or concealment. Being able to get standard cover from creatures (mostly going to be your allies) is awesome no matter what, but especially for Snipers, for whom this feat is purple (). ○ (1) Folksy Patter (): This rating is for Pistoleros. It’s a means of communicating with your allies without revealing information to would-be listeners. Relies on deception. ○ (1) Halfling Luck / (13) Incredible Luck (*): Halfling Luck is limited to once per day, but you’re almost certainly going to fail a skill check or saving throw at least once per day. Considering how many of your Way features rely on your Way skill, that alone is enough to recommend taking this feat. Incredible Luck makes this much less limited, although it doesn’t affect Guiding Luck or Helpful Halfling. ■ (5) Shared Luck (): This makes your Halfling Luck more versatile. Share the love with your party. Giving an ally a reroll on a failed save can make a huge difference. ■ (9) Guiding Luck (): This is essentially a once-per-day reroll for an attack or perception and nothing else, but both of those are worthy uses for a once-per-day reroll. Note that the Seek and Sense Motive actions are secret checks. Speak with your GM about how this will work for rerolls. ○ (1) Intuitive Cooperation (): (U) It’s easy to get around the uncommon limitation with the Mihrini ethnicity. This feat helps Fake Out a bit, although it does override the +1 circumstance bonus. That’s not too much of a problem, though, as it just makes Fake Out more readily usable, especially at earlier levels. If your allies

reliably Aid you as well, this feat is blue (*), and is an especially worthy choice for Triggerbrands relying on Triggerbrand Salvo. ○ (1) Unfettered Halfling (): Extra protections against, and ability to, Escape from the grabbed and restrained conditions. Situational, but you don’t want those to happen to you. ○ (1) Watchful Halfling (): Needing to notice enchanted or possessed creatures isn’t likely to happen often, but at least you can Aid your allies in overcoming those same effects. ○ (5) Cultural Adaptability (): There are a ton of great feats you can get with Adopted Ancestry, which you get as part of this feat, as well as a first level ancestry feat corresponding to the ancestry you choose. If nothing else, it’s a means of getting an ancestry weapon, of which there are many good choices. Just keep in mind that your choices are limited to common ancestries. Unconventional Weaponry and Natural Ambition are often good choices, but there are others such as Burn It! that are great for specific builds (alchemy). ○ (5) Step Lively (): This rating is for the Ways that want to be in melee. Getting better positioning without triggering reactions, as a reaction to enemies ending their movement next to you, is a great way to set up flanking. Feather Step is helpful here. ■ (9) Dance Underfoot (): This rating is primarily for Drifters, but it also applies if you’ve invested in acrobatics as a Way that wants to be in melee. In the middle and higher levels when large and larger enemies become more frequent, being able to occupy their spaces, whether from Tumble Through or Step Lively, opens up your positioning quite a bit. It won’t be great for flanking, but it will make it much easier for you to move about. ● (13) Toppling Dance (): You’ll need to also invest in athletics, but you’ll get a lot of freedom for which weapons you can use to Trip, as well as when and where you can Trip large and larger enemies. ○ (17) Shadow Self (**): Requires legendary proficiency in stealth. Hiding and Sneaking can cause you to become invisible once per hour for a minute, as well as misdirecting enemies to think you’re in a different location. Basically a

once-per-hour second rank invisibility spell with some bells and whistles, which is good regardless of Way provided you’ve invested in stealth.

Human (*)

The human ancestry has little to offer at baseline, but the feat selection is strong. Most of the feats aren’t stand-out game changers, but you’ve got a lot of good options. What the human ancestry brings is flexibility. You can pull off quite a few different builds with it, and it’s especially valuable for Unconventional Weaponry as a means of enabling repeating hand crossbow usage.

● Heritage:

○ Skilled (): Since gunslinger is generally such an INT-averse class, an extra skill that auto-scales to expert proficiency (though no further) can be helpful, but it’s not the strongest heritage on offer. One solid use of this heritage is to choose crafting in preparation for Munitions Machinist so that you can focus your skill boosts on skills you actually care about. ○ Versatile (**): Getting a general feat at level 1 is huge. Adopted Ancestry alone opens up so much build potential and, getting it from your heritage, leaves your ancestry feat slot open for whichever ancestry you pick. See the noteworthy general feats section for other good choices.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Arcane Tattoos (): (U) Evading the uncommon limitation is just a matter of being Varisian or from New Thassilon. Shield is good for most builds, and tangle vine is solid for Spellshots. ■ (5) Ornate Tattoo (): There are several good options here. Sure strike stands out. ● (9) Virtue-Forged Tattoos (*): If nothing else, you can get all day tailwind , though there are quite a few solid options with third rank (or lower, if heightened) arcane spells. ○ (1) Cooperative Nature (): Does a lot to help with Fake Out and supportive skill check Aiding, although you may want to retrain Cooperative Nature at higher

levels when you need the bonus less. It will overwrite the +1 circumstance bonus from Fake Out, but that’s not really a problem. ○ (1) General Training (): Another means of gaining a general feat, which can also be used for Adopted Ancestry. You may feel less need for it with the versatile human heritage, but it’s a strong way to start off with some of the better general feats. ○ (1) Gloomseer (): Requires the Nidalese ethnicity. Low-light vision is at least an improvement over normal vision. ■ (5) Darkseer (): Requires some interaction with Zon-Kuthon and / or his faith, although that interaction can be antagonistic. Regardless, this feat implies a story connection for the god of darkness, envy, loss, and pain to give you his blessing. If you’re willing to accept those roleplay and story / backstory requirements, darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Haughty Obstinacy (): With your poor will save progression, enemies have a solid chance of landing mental effects on you. Turning successes against those effects into critical successes is a meaningful way to counter one of the gunslinger class’s weaknesses. It synergizes quite well with the Stubborn class feature. The Coercion resistance component is unlikely to come up, though. ○ (1) Natural Ambition (): Extra first level class feat. You already get one of those at level 1, but if you want one of the more situational options, there are a few okay choices. Alchemical crossbow usage benefits very much from this feat: you can get both Crossbow Crack Shot and Munitions Crafter at level 1. Drifters (and dual wield Triggerbrands if you feel so inclined) will also appreciate getting both Dual-Weapon Reload and Sword and Pistol at level 1. ○ (1) Unconventional Weaponry (): Access to any of the good ancestry weapons, although you won’t get critical specialization. If you want to use an applicable advanced ranged weapon like a repeating hand crossbow (culturally associated with drow via the drow shootist archetype), this feat is a better means of using one than the level 6 class feat Advanced Shooter. Drow are in a weird place with the remaster, though, so check with them to make sure you can choose the weapon you want before taking this feat. The drow shootist archetype has also been rewritten as the crossbow infiltrator archetype as of Battlecry! Drifters can also use this feat for a falcata, chain sword, or triggerbrand and should treat this feat as blue (*).

○ (1) Witch Warden (): (U) You can evade the uncommon limitation by playing a Kellid character. Since curses often come with a will save, getting a bonus there will be helpful often enough that the feat is worth taking. ○ (5) Clever Improviser (): The stronger version of Untrained Improvisation, which will give you a chance to participate in skill checks despite not having much in the way of skills. ○ (5) Wavetouched Paragon (): Requires the Bonuwat ethnicity. Swim speeds are always welcome. ○ (9) Group Aid (): Mostly useful for stealth, but there may be other situations where your entire group is attempting the same skill check in which you can contribute some circumstance bonuses. ○ (9) Multitalented (): There are a few good archetype dedication feats that stand on their own, no further feats needed. Rogue gives you the surprise attack class feature, which is great for Snipers. Ranger’s Hunt Prey helps with range issues at the cost of action economy. Spellshots can get around their archetype feat minimum if the build doesn’t already incorporate three Spellshot feats. ○ (9) Shory Aeromancer (): Getting _fly_ once per day is pretty good. The prerequisites only require you to have one of three specific ethnicities. ■ (13) Shory Aerialist (): Extra fly speed and an easier time Maneuvering in Flight. ○ (13) Advanced General Training (): General feats are awesome, although your build may be all set on them by this point. This can also get you a skill feat if there’s one you absolutely need. For higher level games, you can retrain into this feat at 17 to get master will save proficiency. ○ (13) Bounce Back (): Especially if you’re in or near melee frequently, being able to shrug off your first value increase for the wounded condition once per day is an excellent defensive benefit. ○ (13) Stubborn Persistence (): This rating assumes you’re planning to take Dance of Thunder or Triggerbrand Blitz. Although it’s a small chance, being able to outright overcome the fatigued condition is worth an ancestry feat. ○ (17) Zealous Conviction (**): Being able to pre-buff with temp HP due to the 10 minute duration makes this feat pretty readily usable. The status bonus to will saves is big despite functioning specifically against mental effects. That said,

mental effects are pretty scary due to your poor will save progression. Getting a bonus to shrug off some nasty control effects is beneficial.

Orc (*)

Darkvision is always good, but that’s all you get at baseline. Luckily, with a couple universally useful heritages and feats, and a few feats that are useful for specific Ways, there’s something for everyone here.

● Heritage:

○ Battle-Ready (): This rating is for Pistoleros. If you’re going with an intimidation focus, it’s a free trained skill. If you’re going for a deception focus, it’ll let you cover all bases with your kit. Intimidating Glare is a great skill feat. Ultimately, though, you’re using a heritage for picks you were likely to already take. ○ Grave (): There are a lot of nasty death and void effects out there, especially when fighting undead. In some cases, the bonus will also help shore up your relatively poor will save. ○ Hold-Scarred (**): 12 ancestry HP is a lot, but its value is mostly in comparison to the lower-HP ancestries. Double HP versus, say, the halfling ancestry is solid by comparison, but the extra HP will mostly matter at earlier levels. Diehard is also a solid feat, but you may never be at risk enough to really need it.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Orc Ferocity / (13) Incredible Ferocity (): As a ranged class, being able to survive an effect that would put you into dying so that you can get away and keep shooting is a useful feature despite being once per day. Once per hour instead of once per day with Incredible Ferocity. If you or someone in your party can create magical tattoos, the One Hundred Victories tattoo is great alongside Orc Ferocity, especially with the hold-scarred orc heritage. ■ (5) Defy Death (): Partial Toughness (minus the HP), except it also stacks with Toughness. Especially for the Ways in and near melee, having

an easier time of standing back up in a dangerous position so you can get away and keep shooting is solid. ■ (9) Undying Ferocity (): Temporary hit points to make it that much more likely that you’ll stay up to get into a better firing position. ■ (17) Rampaging Ferocity ( / ): This rating applies to Drifters and Triggerbrands, respectively. Drifters getting a free action Strike in dangerous situations, which can help keep them up if you manage to down your target, is a strong upgrade to Orc Ferocity. Likewise with Triggerbrands, but situational since their weapon will have to be in melee mode. ○ (1) Orc Superstition (): A bonus to any save vs. spells / magic as a reaction is always solid. ■ (9) Pervasive Superstition (): Even better when that bonus is permanent. ● (13) Spell Devourer (): Can’t hurt to add some temp HP when you succeed on a save against a spell, especially for the Ways in more danger up in or near melee. The temp HP does drop off at the end of your next turn following the successful save, though. ○ (1) Orc Warmask (): Most consistently useful for Spellshots, but with the Dubious Knowledge feat even the other Ways can get information from Recall Knowledge without any INT investment. Your primary reason to take this feat is because of its follow-up feats. ■ (5) Mask of Power (): _Sure strike_ as an innate spell is good, even if the other two options won’t be of any value to you. ■ (5) Mask of Rejection (): Situational by nature since it only works against the spell tradition tied to your Orc Warmask’s skill, but a +2 bonus to saves as a reaction is a strong buff. ■ (9) Mask of Pain (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Dealing 2d6 or, eventually, 4d6 mental damage is a solid use of a reaction when you successfully Demoralize. It’s only once per target per day, but with no associated save you’re just about guaranteed extra damage on every enemy you encounter. ■ (13) Mask of Fear (*): Fear effects are relatively common and you have poor will save progression. Automatically removing a fear effect as a free

action, no counteract check required, even if you wouldn’t otherwise be able to act because of said fear effect, is quite strong. ○ (1) Orc Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is only for Drifters. The orc necksplitter is one of few 1d8 one handed weapons, and with the sweep and forceful traits, you’ve got some decent ways to keep the melee pressure up on turns when you don’t want to fire your ranged weapon. It’s basically a slightly stronger longsword. ○ (5) Scar-Thick Skin (): Bleed damage is situational, but it’s among the more common persistent damage types. Making the flat check to overcome bleed damage easier will be useful from time to time. ○ (5) Victorious Vigor (): This rating is primarily for Ways in or near melee. Getting temp HP as a reaction whenever you bring an enemy down to 0 HP will help keep you a bit safer. The most it will ever give is 5 temp HP unless you’re using your apex item for CON, though, and it only lasts until the end of the turn following your reaction. ○ (9) Death’s Drums (): If you’re frequently wounded, getting a sizable bonus to fortitude saves will be useful. That should be pretty situational, though. Suffering from persistent damage may be more common for you. ○ (13) Lifeblood’s Call (**): This rating is for Drifters and Triggerbrands. Similar to Death’s Drums, but with doomed and wounded, and a bonus to melee damage instead.

Uncommon ancestries

Athamaru (*)

STR / WIS with an INT flaw will tend to work best on melee Ways and builds that use a kickback weapon, which is just about everything but Pistolero and Spellshot. Low-light vision isn’t terribly exciting, but better than nothing. The swim speed is great, though your normal speed suffers a bit for it. Aside from taking an undine versatile heritage, this is your only real option for an aquatic ancestry that doesn’t bear the difficult limitation of needing to submerge yourself in water every day. Like the attribute spread, the feats tend to be better for melee Ways. Pistoleros and Spellshots should consider this ancestry to be yellow (**).

● Heritage

○ Coral (): If you’re playing a STR build, getting comfort armor right from the get-go is decent. ○ Hopeful (): Large size might be a drawback if you’re playing a game like Abomination Vaults that features a whole lot of tight rooms and tunnels. Otherwise, it’s a decent upgrade for melee builds. Your allies will almost certainly appreciate the fear effect save buff aura too, regardless of whether you’re giving it to your party's front line or back line. ○ Kaleidoscopic (**): The performance bonus only really matters for Pistol Phenom builds. Otherwise, this rating assumes you have a means of giving yourself the concealed condition, such as with Smoke Curtain. Throwing out misfortune as a reaction when you’re concealed will help mitigate damage and nasty effects often enough to be worth taking.

● Ancestry feats: ○ (1) Coral Symbiotes (): Tethering yourself to water until level 5 (or higher) sucks, but a few good feats have Coral Symbiotes as a prerequisite. It helps a bit against poisons, at least. ■ (5) Coral Growth (): Mandatory if you’re going down the coral line, as this stops you from having to be near water. ■ (13) Coral Reserve (): Being able to suppress the fatigued condition is useful for several mid-to-high level feats. ■ (17) Coral Lifeline (): Not dying is good. ○ (1) Emit Defensive Odor (): Single action damage that saves against your class DC once per day will be decent for melee Ways, though you’ll probably still see use for it on a non-melee build just due to the fact that enemies are bound to slip past your front line sooner or later. ○ (1) Pheromonal Message (): Silent communication makes scouting easier for you, assuming you have that role in your party. ■ (5) Noxious Odor (): Throwing sickened 1 on top of the damage is a welcome improvement. ■ (9) Persistent Odor (*): Extra scaling persistent damage.

■ (13) Rapid Pheromone Recovery (*): Once per hour instead of once per day. ■ (17) Offensive Odor (): Extra single target damage or a small area effect. ○ (9) Emissary Assistance (): Water-mitigating utility spells. ○ (13) Attuned Electroreceptors (*): Imprecise senses are great, though this one has a fairly short range.

Catfolk (**)

DEX and CHA are good for Pistoleros, but the WIS flaw hurts, especially since your will progression is poor. Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting, but at least it’s better than normal. While many of the options on offer are only truly useful for Drifters, there are enough good choices here for it to be a worthwhile ancestry pick. Likewise with the available heritages: while there are several good choices, you could certainly get away with a versatile heritage and cherry pick the catfolk feats you like most.

● Heritage:

○ Flexible (): Frees up a fairly common situation that causes difficult terrain, making you more mobile around the battlefield, and gives you a nice bonus to Escape attempts to boot. ○ Hunting (): Imprecise senses are a great way to build upon your already strong perception progression. Just make sure to overcome the WIS flaw. Also helps with survival checks to Track, but that’s not exactly a mainstay skill for you. ○ Liminal (): Detect magic is good if your party doesn’t have it, and even if they do it’s sometimes nice to have two or three users who can triangulate magic effects at lower levels. The occultism bonus will mostly only apply for Spellshots. ○ Nine Lives (): Not dying is good. ○ Sharp-Eared (*): Not only do you have excellent perception progression that will be able to put paid to the Seek circumstance bonus, you’ll be much more able to help your allies out with the free Point Out action. Synergizes well with Blood in the Air. Also synergizes well with True Perception, but mostly just for the free Point Out when it applies.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Cat Nap (): Best if someone else in your party is the medic, but regardless, free temp HP once per hour is a solid way to stay alive, especially for the Ways that want to be in or near melee. ○ (1) Cat’s Luck (): Your reflex save is strong. Make it stronger with a reroll once per day. ■ (5) Expanded Luck (*): Same as Cat’s Luck, but now applies to fortitude and will saves as well. Especially useful for will saves since your progression is poor. With the addition of acrobatics and athletics checks, you can also use this feat to Escape or, if you’re built for athletics, for offensive control. ■ (9) Sense for Trouble (): Going higher in initiative is generally good, especially in encounters where your high crit likelihood stands a good chance of eliminating or controlling (stunned 1) an enemy before it can take its turn. This does still compete with your other uses for Cat’s Luck, though. ■ (9) Luck of the Clowder (): Unlike the other feats at this level and below, this feat does not compete for your Cat’s Luck usage it just improves it when you use it on a reflex save, allowing you to give rerolls to nearby allies as well. Useful for effects like fireball. ■ (17) Reliable Luck (): Cat’s Luck usage once per hour rather than once per day, regardless of how you use it. If you’re building into Cat’s Luck, you absolutely want this feat. ○ (1) Catfolk Dance (): Best for Drifters who both want to be in melee and want to focus on acrobatics, but the other Ways who want to be in / near melee will appreciate it if focusing on acrobatics. If you have the room for it, a MAP-free third action to debuff a target’s reflex save and maybe make them off-guard is a great way to set up your allies. ○ (1) Catfolk Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters. Kukris and claw blades are both good melee weapons for Drifters. The kukri tends to be the best choice on offer here due to the finesse, agile, and especially trip traits.

○ (5) Climbing Claws (): Climb speeds are nice to have, though 10 feet is somewhat low. ○ (5) Graceful Guidance (): Complements Shared Luck well. You’ll have to set up to Aid, but it will give you a useful support tool provided you can fit in the necessary action. ○ (5) Pride Hunter (): While not as versatile as the halfling version, being able to Hide behind your allies is outstanding. While any build can fit in a stealth investment, Snipers will love this feat and should treat it as blue (). ○ (9) Evade Doom (): Situational by nature, but doomed is a scary condition. Being able to shrug it off sometimes is helpful. ■ (17) Ten Lives (): Hopefully you’re not often getting into situations where you’re about to die, but if you are, getting a small chance to survive is a nice protective feature. ○ (9) Predator’s Growl (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Hidden and undetected enemies are common enough that the situation where this feat applies is bound to come up for you with noticeable frequency. ○ (9) Silent Step (): Similar to many of your class feats and features, this feat combines a Step and a Hide or Sneak into a single action. A little extra mobility to get you in place for a Hide or Sneak is welcome on any build with a stealth investment, but especially Snipers. ○ (9) Wary Skulker (): This rating is for builds investing in stealth, especially Snipers. Other than Spellshots, you can easily fit stealth into most builds. Combining both the party-wide initiative bonus from Scouting and the personal safety and information gathering of Avoid Notice is outstanding. ○ (13) Black Cat Curse (): Always nice to have an extra use for your reaction, especially to help a nasty effect stick. You can use it for your firearm critical specialization stuns, though it’s also helpful to assist your allies in landing their spells. It offers late game synergy with Ricochet Legend. ○ (13) Caterwaul (): Ferocity, but for an ally. ○ (17) Elude Trouble (*): Getting to Stride without triggering reactions, as a reaction, is fantastic no matter your Way. It synergizes especially well with the Ways that want to be in or near melee, but it’s also useful to get away when you need the range.

Centaur (*)

STR / WIS with a CHA flaw is workable for all but Pistoleros, most especially for kickback weapons and athletics usage. Darkvision is always good. The Mount feature can be pretty punishing for you in encounters due to the action limitations, so it’s best used in exploration for functions like jumping over terrain challenges. A 30 foot base speed is great as usual. Large size can be a drawback in games that feature lots of small rooms and tight hallways, but can be very useful for melee Ways.

● Heritage:

○ Budding Speaker (): There are several good cantrips to choose from here. Eat fire is always a solid pick for primal, and any of the utility spells like detect magic or light can be very helpful. Spellshots in particular can get a lot of value here with a spell attack. ○ Fleetwind (): Starting off with 35 feet of speed is outstanding. ○ Ponygait (): Double down on a strength. Also makes you medium should size be a concern for you.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Practiced Brawn (*): This rating is primarily for Vanguards, but other athletics builds can benefit as well. Getting a bonus to, and automatically turning successes into crit successes on, Shove attempts is an outstanding improvement to the Vanguard kit. Your caster allies in particular will appreciate your ability to position enemies for their spell effects. ○ (1) Skilled Herbalist (): Loads crafting utility onto your WIS rather than INT for a few healing-adjacent consumables. Not great on its own, but necessary for Herbal Forager. ■ (9) Herbal Forager (): Free healing consumable once per day. ○ (5) Proud Mentor (**): This rating assumes you have Fake Out. You’ll mitigate crit fail Aids until level 10 or so when it’s no longer possible for you to crit fail those checks, and you’ll get temp HP very, very often. This is outstanding for

melee Ways, but your party healer is going to be glad you mitigate so much damage regardless. ○ (9) Fierce Competitor (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Getting an hour-long bonus to intimidation once per day is quite good, but you’ll have to work with your GM and party to cook up situations where you can activate the effect. ○ (9) Mentor of Legends (): Though it’ll never heighten, heroism lasts long enough that you can pre-buff with it. ○ (9) Ride On (): Ignoring the fatigued condition for three rounds will be useful for several fatigue-inducing feats. ○ (9) Stubborn Defiance (): Getting a permanent bonus to saves against mental effects and a once-per-hour fortune reaction against mental save failures is outstanding. ○ (13) Incredible Sprint (): Significant extra movement in situations where you absolutely need to cover a lot of distance. ○ (13) Miraculous Medic (**): Keep an ally from dying once per day as a reaction. ○ (17) Starshot Arrow: No rating for this one because its writing is fuzzy enough that you’ll have to discuss it with your GM. It does allow firearm usage, but the fact that it requires you to “draw an arrow (or other ammunition)... and then Strike with a ranged weapon” means there may be some hand management issues. If you’re using a one-handed weapon with a free hand, it should be no problem, though. If your GM lets you get away with this feat restriction-free, it’s outstanding. It has no frequency limitation, gives a free ghost touch rune, and either penalizes speed or immobilizes whenever you use it.

Hobgoblin (*)

CON and INT boosts are fine for Spellshots, but WIS is always a painful flaw. You’re generally better off with two free boosts. Darkvision is always good. There are quite a few solid feats on offer here, especially with the Runtsage feat.

● Heritage:

○ Elfbane (*): An always-available reaction to improve your saves against magic is great, especially against arcane magic.

○ Smokeworker ( / ): Synergizes very well with the Smoke Curtain feat. That feat isn’t available until level 8, though, and until then this heritage will be highly situational. Make sure to communicate with your party about your plans to use and play / build around smoke. ○ Steelskin (**): While technically situational, the fact that this heritage helps you overcome just about all forms of persistent damage is bound to be useful on a fairly consistent basis.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Alchemical Scholar (): Extra alchemical item formulas, and more as you level up. You’ll get a whole lot of freebies in the way of formulas if you’re building for alchemy. ○ (1) Cantorian Reinforcement (): Makes it easier to overcome poisons and diseases. ○ (1) Hobgoblin Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters. The breaching pike gives you access to a one-handed reach weapon. ○ (1) Remorseless Lash (): This rating is for Drifters and Triggerbrands. If someone in your party is consistently applying the frightened condition (and someone should be, just not you), then you might as well help them out and keep that condition going. ○ (1) Sneaky (): Extra movement while Sneaking is great, as are the action economy easements for continuing the Sneak while behind cover or concealed. The extra speed won’t matter once you have Swift Sneak, but the rest of the features will remain useful until you get Legendary Sneak. ○ (1) Stone Face (): With your poor will save progression, enemies have a solid chance of landing fear effects on you. Reducing their likelihood of success is a meaningful way to counter one of the gunslinger class’s weaknesses. Especially valuable for the improved bonus against Demoralize attempts (and similar intimidate skill actions) since that’s such a ubiquitous means of applying a fear effect. ○ (1) Vigorous Health (**): Shrugging off the drained condition sometimes will be helpful, though it’s a low chance.

○ (5) Agonizing Rebuke (*): This rating is for Pistoleros. Might as well enjoy some free damage for using your kit as normal. If you’ve got a bard or swashbuckler in your party that can keep the frightened condition going, even better. ○ (5) Expert Drill Sergeant (): This rating is mostly for Snipers and builds with a stealth focus, but there are a few other exploration activities that can benefit. Helping your allies be more stealthy is useful from a support perspective. ○ (5) Runtsage (): There are quite a few strong goblin feats, although some of the best are locked behind goblin heritages. If you want a little extra stealth capability without putting skill boosts into it, you can retrain Sneaky and take Runtsage to get access to the Very Sneaky / Very, Very Sneaky feats. Burn It! is also on offer for alchemical crossbow and / or bomb usage, as well as all the other considerations that come with said feat. ○ (9) Cantorian Rejuvenation (): Chances are, you’re relying on someone else to heal you in encounters, but having the option to do it yourself once per day can be nice. It is heavy on the action economy, though. ○ (9) Pride in Arms (): Giving your allies temp HP with a reaction is a solid support effect. ○ (9) Squad Tactics (): This rating is for Drifters, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards. Situational because it depends on your party composition. If you have two other melee party members, though, you can reliably render enemies off-guard to you for both ranged and melee attacks, which is great. ○ (17) Cantorian Restoration (*): Long enough range that you shouldn’t have much trouble being in position unless you’re a Sniper on a larger battlefield. As long as you’re in range, though, being able to use breath of life once per day as a reaction to keep an ally from dying is strong. ○ (17) Rallying Cry (): Sort of like haste once per day, but it doesn’t affect you and hands out temporary hit points. It’ll be hard to fit alongside your action economy, although the quickened condition is generally very strong.

Kholo (*)

STR and INT boosts with a WIS flaw do more harm than good for any Way. STR is useless for Spellshots, who want the INT, and INT is useless for the Drifters, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards,

who want the STR. Just take two free boosts instead. Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s at least better than normal vision. Despite the poor attribute spread, the heritage and feat selection is quite good.

● Heritage:

○ Ant (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Getting a bonus to Lie will be helpful sometimes for social interactions, and if you can find a way to use deception for initiative, the bonus there will be nice as well. This heritage is mostly useful for social encounters and social interactions in exploration mode. ○ Cave (): Darkvision is always good. ○ Great (): This rating is primarily for Vanguards, but can also apply for Drifters and Triggerbrands with appropriate melee weapon traits. 2 extra HP isn’t a ton, but every little bit helps. The real value lies in the constant circumstance bonus to Reposition, Shove, and Trip, all of which are great for builds with athletics. ○ Sweetbreath (): This rating is for Pistoleros. If you want to round out your face skills, you’ll get a bonus to one of the most useful applications of diplomacy. ○ Witch (*): This rating is primarily for Pistoleros, though Snipers with a CHA / deception focus can benefit as well. Getting a bonus to Create a Diversion is great, and Impersonate can be useful in social encounters (assuming you can pull it off with the voice-only limitation). Figment is heavy on the action economy, but might be useful from time to time.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Ask the Bones (): This rating is for Spellshots. Free action Recall Knowledge once per day is decent action compression. ○ (1) Hyena Familiar (): Familiars provide some value to you even if you have no means of granting them extra abilities. Partner in Crime is useful for Pistoleros, Triggerbrands, and anyone building for a trapfinder role. Second Opinion is good for Spellshots. Threat Display will relieve Pistoleros from needing Intimidating Glare. Flier + Share Senses gives you some scouting potential. Familiar skill usage will work best on Pistoleros who have the CHA to fuel the familiar’s skills.

○ (1) Kholo Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters. The best choice is the khopesh, to which you get access and which offers the trip trait alongside a d8 damage die. You also get access to the mambele if you want a decent thrown option to be able to add STR to damage at range. ○ (1) Pack Hunter (): That’s not too much of a problem, though, as it just makes Fake Out more readily usable, especially at earlier levels. If your allies reliably Aid you as well, this feat is blue (*), and is an especially worthy choice for Triggerbrands relying on Triggerbrand Salvo. ■ (5) Pack Stalker (): This rating is for builds focusing on stealth. While the Terrain Stalker feat is inherently situational, being able to eventually allow your allies free positioning in the right terrain can give you a huge advantage in an encounter. This feat also doesn’t limit your terrain sharing to the granted version of Terrain Stalker, meaning you can take it two more times to share it with your allies in all three available terrain types. Doing so doesn’t change the situational nature of Terrain Stalker, but it does make it more frequently viable. ○ (1) Sensitive Nose (): Imprecise senses are a great way to improve your already excellent perception progression. ○ (5) Absorb Strength (): (U) Temp HP for an action once per hour is decent for melee Ways. ○ (5) Affliction Resistance (): Makes it easier to overcome poisons and diseases. ○ (9) Ambush Hunter (): This rating is for builds investing in stealth, especially Snipers. Other than Spellshots, you can easily fit stealth into most builds. Combining both the party-wide initiative bonus from Scouting and the personal safety and information gathering of Avoid Notice is outstanding. ○ (9) Grandmother’s Wisdom (): _Augury_ is a useful spell. Being able to cast it twice per day is a great way to augment your party’s divination capabilities. ○ (9) Laughing Kholo (): This rating is for Pistoleros. If you’re feeling strapped for skill feats, this feat frees you from having to take Intimidating Glare and Battle Cry, both of which you can retrain if needed. ■ (17) Legendary Laugh (): Double the range of Demoralize and give it a damage component. ○ (13) Bonekeeper’s Bane (*): Passive debuff effect for melee Ways.

○ (17) First to Strike, First to Fall (*): Passive application of off-guard as you Strike, plus quickened for your party when enemies you’ve hit die. This feat is unrivaled for high level ancestry feat value.

Kobold (*)

Small size brings athletics limitations. DEX and CHA are good boosts for Pistoleros. You ought to overcome the CON flaw, though. Darkvision is always good. If you’re playing an adventure path, the Sakvroth language tends to come up quite a bit.

● Heritage:

○ Heavenscribe (): (U) This rating is for Pistoleros. Being unable to critically fail Make an Impression checks is a nice buffer for social uses. ○ Spellhorn (): Eat fire is always useful, and Spellshots have a lot of room to choose here. ○ Tunnelflood (*): Swim speeds are always welcome.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Cringe (): Reducing received crit damage as a reaction is decent. ○ (1) Kobold Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters. The tricky pick is a decent damage choice, and the fangwire is a solid grapple weapon. The flying talon is also a decent choice for trip options, bearing the ranged trip trait and the ability to use it as a thrown weapon for STR to damage at range. ○ (1) Scamper (): Speed and AC bonuses are welcome. ○ (5) Ally’s Shelter (): It’s only once per day, but getting to use your caster friend’s will save will be a great improvement when you need it. ○ (5) Winglets (): Basically gives you the effects of Quick Jump and Powerful Leap without needing to invest in athletics. ■ (9) Winglet Flight (): Flight is always good. ○ (9) Between the Scales (*): This rating is for Drifters, but also depends on weapon choice. If you’re using a finesse + agile weapon that doesn’t already have backstabber, it’ll gain some extra damage.

○ (9) Briar Battler (): This rating is for Snipers. You’ll get situational access to easier means of Taking Cover, which means easier use of your Slinger’s Reload. ○ (9) Evolved Spellhorn (): Requires spellhorn heritage. Sure strike and second rank tailwind are great choices, but the arcane list offers a lot of value. ■ (13) Resplendent Spellhorn (): There’s tons of great utility on the arcane list as usual. ● Third rank: clairaudience , cloud dragon’s cloak , cozy cabin , false vitality , feet to fins , illusory disguise , one with stone , shared invisibility , time jump , tremorsense , water breathing ● Fourth rank: carryall , clairvoyance , false vitality , fly , illusory disguise , invisibility , resist energy , spy’s mark , telepathy , translocate , unfettered movement , winning streak , zephyr slip ○ (9) Fleeing Shriek (): MAP-free damage and a Stride once per hour. If you were planning on Striding away from danger anyway, you might as well add a little damage to it. Though this is a two action ability, the inclusion of the Stride offers some action compression that still leaves the rest of your turn free for a Strike. ○ (13) Tumbling Diversion (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Tumble Through and Create a Diversion action compression with a buff to Create a Diversion to boot. ○ (17) Benefactor’s Majesty (*): Once per day single action defensive tool.

Samsaran (*)

CON / WIS with a CHA flaw is great for all but Pistolero, though Spellshots won’t be able to start +3 INT with this spread. Low-light vision isn’t terribly exciting, but it’s better than normal vision. Cryptomnesia only really matters if you’re planning to take Untrained Improvisation. Unsurprisingly for an ancestry that’s all about reincarnation, lots of the value here revolves around defense and mitigating death.

● Heritage:

○ Oracular (*): Eat fire is always good, and Spellshots get a lot of room to choose here.

○ Sanctuary (*): This rating is for Spellshots. Fortune once per day on a Recall Knowledge check will see consistent use.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) All This Will Happen Again (): Once per day reaction to get fortune on a crit failed / failed save for an emotion effect. It’s a consistent, if limited, improvement for your will save. ■ (5) And Will Do So Once More (): Expands the trigger to include all saves. ● (17) This Too Shall Pass (): Once per hour instead of once per day. ○ (1) Elucidating Vision (): Darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Remnants of the Past (*): Adopted Ancestry for any ancestry, which is an unusual benefit. You don’t get a free associated ancestry feat out of it, but it’ll set you up for Ancestry Paragon at level 3. ○ (1) Samsaran Weapon Memory (): Lots of weapon choices here, though most will only be valuable for Drifters. Some combination weapons are worth taking for Triggerbrands, and Vanguards can get a parry weapon. ○ (5) All This Has Happened Before (): Once per day huge bonus to initiative, plus an extra action to Recall Knowledge (good for Spellshots) or Step. ○ (5) Thousand-Year Grudge (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Once per day means of exchanging frightened for sickened when you Demoralize. That’s an upgrade against low-fortitude targets since they’ll have a harder time removing it. Otherwise, it’s a sidegrade that might waste an enemy action. ○ (9) I Will Return (): Not dying is good. ○ (13) Water to Water (): Translocate is good, though limited in how and when you can use it. ○ (17) The Cycle Continues (**): Not dying is good.

Rare ancestries

Android (*)

DEX and INT boosts with a CHA flaw is the best possible attribute score spread for Spellshots. Other Ways will generally be better off with two free attribute boosts. Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s at least better than normal. Getting a bonus to saves against diseases and poisons is decent (and radiation, but that’s rare), although it’s offset by a penalty to diplomacy, performance, and Sense Motive checks. The only painful part of that penalty is on Sense Motive checks, at least. Given how much value there is in this ancestry’s level 1 feats, it’s a good idea to take Ancestral Paragon. The heritages aren’t terribly useful and can be replaced with versatile heritages, but there are so many good feats here that all you’re really after is the initial benefit(s) from a versatile heritage (assuming your GM allows you to take one).

● Heritage:

○ Laborer (*): Getting Hefty Hauler independent of athletics training can be great for low-STR builds (Spellshot), especially if you’re using a bulky weapon / weapons. Otherwise, being the party pack mule if you’re built for STR can be helpful, too. ○ Polyglot (): Helps a bit with Pistolero’s face role and Spellshot’s ability to read different languages.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Emotionless (): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement. ○ (1) Internal Compartment (): Budget Quick Draw with some situational value in keeping the weapon hidden when needed. ○ (1) Nanite Surge (*): Considering how closely tied to your kit your Way skill typically is, getting a +2 status bonus to a skill check once per hour as a reaction is outstanding. Drifters are a bit different since they’ll mostly be using acrobatics to Tumble Through rather than fueling Slinger’s Reloads or Deeds, but you’re still almost certainly going to be using Tumble Through at least once per hour. Note that, with the addition of a Subroutine feat (or both), Nanite Surge’s once-per-hour limitation applies regardless of how you use it.

■ (5) Protective Subroutine (*): Adding your Nanite Surge bonus to saves is fantastic. ■ (9) Offensive Subroutine (): Be your own bard once per hour with a +1 status bonus to an attack once per hour. Significantly less useful if someone in your party consistently applies status bonuses to your attack rolls (like a bard). ■ (13) Consistent Surge (): All of the outstanding value of any of the above Nanite Surge-related feats once per ten minutes instead of once per hour. ○ (1) Nightvision Adaptation (): Darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Proximity Alert (): Snipers may not like this feat if they’re frequently rolling stealth for initiative, but everyone else will. Incredible Initiative (an equivalent +2 circumstance bonus for initiative) is better because it applies to all initiative rolls, but the facts that most Ways will typically use perception for initiative and that you can get this feat at level 1 are strong reasons to recommend it. ○ (1) Radiant Circuitry (): Budget torch / non-heightened light cantrip. ○ (5) Advanced Targeting System (): True strike is a nice damage increase, on average. It’s only once per day, but when you really need to land a big shot it makes a big difference. ○ (5) Nanite Shroud (): Being concealed will be a useful defensive tool, even if it doesn’t provide synergy for the Sniper kit. ○ (9) Repair Module (): A bit of emergency fast healing once per day should you need it. ○ (13) Revivication Protocol (*): Free action once per day to immediately bring you up from the dying condition. You’ll still be wounded and in danger at 1 HP, so you’ll have to time this well in order to safely escape whatever caused you to go into the dying condition.

Automaton (*)

Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting on its own, but it’s at least better than normal. Only needing two hours of rest per day alongside your excellent perception progression makes you a useful guard during daily rest periods. Some GMs and campaign settings don’t worry much about rations and water, but if you’re in a game where those matter, you’ll be unburdened by

those issues. You can choose to be small instead of medium, but you don’t gain any benefit for doing so and limit the applicability of your athletics skill actions.

● Heritage:

○ Hunter (): Although the extra movement speed is nice, you’ll be hard-pressed to keep both hands free in most situations where movement speed matters. Weapons with the Called rune or Spellshots with the Call Gun feat can kind of make this issue easier, but it’ll still be heavy on the action economy. Mostly, this heritage is just to qualify for Arcane Camouflage. ○ Mage (): Gain an arcane cantrip. Eat fire is always a good choice, and Spellshots get a lot of options. ○ Sharpshooter (*): If your chosen weapon has a 30 ft. or greater range increment, you’re better off using Automaton Aim than Striding, which is a nice means of simultaneously avoiding movement-triggered reactions and range penalties. With a weapon that has a longer range increment, though, you probably won’t ever have to worry about Automaton Aim. The Shootist’s Edge class feature completely overwrites the value of this heritage’s baseline value, but at least that isn’t available until level 17.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Arcane Communication (): Silent communication with your party tends to be useful, especially if you’re performing scouting functions with stealth. The touch range limits its value, though. The enhancement only increases the range to 10 feet. ○ (1) Arcane Eye (): Darkvision is always good. The enhancement giving you see the unseen once per hour provides synergy with Blood in the Air. ○ (5) Arcane Safeguards (**): Getting a bonus to saves against spells and magical effects as a reaction is solid. Also turns successes into crit successes against arcane effects. The enhancement giving you temp HP every time you use it, regardless of your save’s outcome, is a meaningful improvement.

○ (9) Arcane Camouflage (): Requires the hunter automaton heritage. _Blur_ and _invisibility_ (2nd) are both solid spells. The enhancement gives you ten minutes of _blur_ when you cast it and the choice to cast _invisibility_ at second or fourth rank. ○ (9) Arcane Propulsion ( / *): Flight once per day. The enhancement gives you a permanent fly speed. ○ (9) Core Attunement ( / *): Requires the mage automaton heritage. Gain a first and second rank arcane innate spell. _Sure strike_ and second rank _tailwind_ are always great, but there are plenty of strong spells on the arcane list. ■ Enhancement: ● 5th rank suggestions: _blink charge_ (melee), _burrow ward_ , _carryall_ , _clairvoyance_ , _darkvision_ , _fashionista_ (Pistolero / Sniper), _fly_ , _illusory scene_ , _scouting eye_ , _scrying ripples_ , _see the unseen_ , _translocate_ , _tremorsense_ , _wall of stone_ ● 6th rank suggestions: _airlift_ , _collective transposition_ , _endure_ , _false vitality_ , _hidebound_ , _marvelous mount_ , _telepathy_ , _truesight_ , _unexpected transposition_ , _wall of force_ , _zephyr slip_ ○ (9) Lesser Augmentation (): Enhance a first or fifth level automaton feat. Arcane Eye and Arcane Safeguards are strong choices. ○ (9) Rain of Bolts (): Requires the sharpshooter automaton heritage. Once per day two action activity that deals piercing damage in a 30 foot cone or 10 foot emanation, which doesn’t interact with the MAP, and which scales. Especially useful on Ways that want to be in or near melee, but the 30 foot cone is doable for other Ways. The enhancement increases the damage by quite a bit and allows you to choose a material type between adamantine, cold iron, and silver for the damage. This feat is strong, but the required two actions may be hard to fit into your action economy and you may put allies at risk. ○ (13) Arcane Locomotion (): Climb or swim speed, or both with the enhancement. Alternatively, the enhancement can increase your land speed and whichever speed you first picked. ○ (13) Astral Blink (**): _Translocate_ is a useful spell to begin with. Getting it once per hour is a meaningful improvement over the usual innate spell. The enhancement allows you to use it as a free action to turn your Strides into teleportation effects which don’t trigger movement-based reactions. It won’t totally free you from reactions since your reloads and ranged attacks can still

trigger, but it will make you much safer. That also provides some synergy with the Drifter’s Initial and Greater Deeds, as well as the Vanguard’s Greater Deed. ○ (13) Core Rejuvenation (): Free action once per day to immediately bring you up from the dying condition. You’ll still be wounded and in danger at 1 HP, so you’ll have to time this well in order to safely escape whatever caused you to go into the dying condition. The enhancement will keep you safer with temp HP as a buffer while you find a better position. ○ (17) Greater Augmentation ( / **): Enhance any one automaton ancestry feat of level 13 or below. Enhancement effects are listed with each feat above. Permanent flight is always a great choice.

Awakened Animal (*)

CON / WIS boosts with an INT flaw works well for all but Spellshot. Speed depends on your heritage. Most of the value here is based on senses and speeds. If you choose a versatile heritage, there is a feat you can take to get your animal heritage benefits, but you’ll have a land speed of 20 feet until then (or swim speed if you choose an aquatic swimming heritage).

● Heritage:

○ Climbing (): Good climb speed, but poor land speed. ○ Flying (): Poor land speed, but you get early access to flight and an eventual fly speed. ○ Running (*): Great land speed. ○ Swimming (): If you choose to be a water-dwelling swimming animal, you’ll have a decent swim speed and a poor, but not outright awful, land speed.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Awakened Magic (): Primal cantrip. Eat fire is always a good choice, and Spellshots get several good options. ○ (1) Natural Senses (): Gain a sense every time you pick this feat. Darkvision, scent, and tremorsense tend to be the best choices, but echolocation can also be decent since it’s precise (if short-ranged).

■ (17) True Senses (): Truesight once per day. ○ (1) Sea Legs (): Low swim speed if you don’t already have one. ○ (1) Take Flight (): Requires flying heritage. You’ll get a low fly speed that’s tied to using the feat’s action. ■ (5) Strong of Wing (): Much better fly speed. ● (9) Full Flight (): Permanent fly speed. ○ (5) Late Awakener (): One of the only means in the game of getting two heritages. You’ll need a versatile heritage to take this feat. ○ (13) Digger (): Requires climbing or running heritage. Burrow speeds are hard to come by. ○ (13) Sharpened Senses (*): Not only can you Seek as a free action, if you have Natural Senses, you can get a bonus when you do so.

Goloma (*)

30 feet of movement speed at base is great. Note that you do not start out being able to speak Common. Being able to Seek in two areas simultaneously is an awesome improvement alongside your perception progression. There aren’t a lot of feats available, but this ancestry offers some of the best perception-improving feats in the game, and there’s at least one good feat at every level (although some require situational feats as prerequisites). As one of very few classes that gets legendary proficiency in perception, that’s a pretty significant synergy. It’s an especially good choice for you to fill the trapfinder role in your party, which is frequently the case for Triggerbrands.

● Heritage:

○ Farsight (): Low-light vision is at least a moderate improvement over normal. ○ Frightful (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Free trained skill or round out your skills for both used in your Slinger’s Reload, plus Intimidating Glare at level 1 when you’d ordinarily get access to it at level 2. It’s all features you’d get anyway, but getting features that are generally core to your gameplay at level 1 is decent. ○ Insightful (**): Alongside your excellent perception progression, enemies will have a harder time Lying to you and you’ll have an easier time with Sense Motive.

○ Vigilant (*): Detect magic is generally useful, but someone else in your party may already have it. You can at least use two people with detect magic to pinpoint magic aura locations at low levels. You’ll also have an easier time finding magical traps in some level ranges, namely near those where classes tend to improve to expert / master perception proficiency. That will generally be around levels 5-8 and 11-15 or so.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Goloma Courage (): With your poor will save progression, enemies have a solid chance of landing fear effects on you. Reducing their likelihood of success is a meaningful way to counter one of the gunslinger class’s weaknesses, plus you get a bonus on will saves against fear effects and an even bigger bonus against Demoralize attempts. ○ (1) Pierce the Darkness (): Darkvision is always good. You’ll need the farsight goloma heritage or a versatile heritage to get it, though. ○ (1) Watchful Gaze (): This rating is for Ways in or near melee. Spending an action to negate flanking is decent if you have the space for it alongside your action economy. ■ (9) Constant Gaze (): It’s only permanent flanking negation against enemies of your level or lower, but enemies in that level range are frequently the ones that will be in place to flank you. ○ (5) Ambush Awareness (): Bonuses to initiative are always nice, especially since your perception progression is excellent. Somewhat less useful for Snipers, depending on attribute scores, since they can easily pull off using stealth for initiative. Regardless, going ahead of enemies in a tie is a nice improvement. ○ (9) Defensive Instincts (): Effectively a hands-free buckler, but only when you’re adjacent to two or more enemies. Decent if you want some extra AC now and again and don’t have a parry weapon. ○ (13) Arcane Sight (*): Requires you to be able to cast detect magic , which generally means the vigilant goloma heritage. Being able to simultaneously Search and Detect Magic is a solid improvement to your role as “person who finds stuff” and is one of the rare ways to execute two simultaneous exploration activities.

○ (13) See the Unseen (): This is somewhat of a companion feat to both Blood in the Air and Deadeye. The flat check reduction to target hidden enemies won’t do anything if you’ve got Blood in the Air, but being able to passively render undetected creatures hidden instead will be helpful. With Deadeye, you’ll get a very similar undetected -> hidden automation, but without an action required and with positional and level requirements. Also makes it easier to target enemies that you’ve detected with Deadeye. ○ (17) True Gaze (): Very similar to True Perception, but available two levels earlier and with a once-per-hour frequency and a one-action activation.

Kashrishi (*)

Small size brings athletics limitations. Imprecise senses are generally useful, although Empathic Sense has some limitations. It’s worded weirdly in such a way that a GM might interpret it not to render creatures that would ordinarily be undetected instead hidden to you. It also doesn’t work against mindless creatures (undead and constructs, most frequently, and those aren’t exactly rare) and has a smaller range than most imprecise senses. You do get a pretty big bonus to Sense Motive against non-mindless creatures, at least. You can also get passive dim light in a 10 foot radius from Glowing Horn if you take ancestry feats that give you occult actions (mostly occult spells). There are some pretty good feats on offer here, mostly surrounding skill use, will save improvement, and a few good innate occult spells.

● Heritage:

○ Nascent (): Getting two ancestry feats right out the gate is usually pretty good. This ancestry is no exception, with several good choices at level 1. ○ Trogloshi (): Basically the light cantrip for a single action, although you can improve it with feat support. Your party will appreciate you if they need the light. You certainly will.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Community Knowledge (**): Considering how closely tied to your kit your Way skill is, getting a +2 status bonus to a skill check once per hour as a reaction

is outstanding. Drifters are a bit different since they’ll mostly be using acrobatics to Tumble Through, but you’re still almost certainly going to be doing that at least once per hour. ○ (1) Crystal Luminescence (): Offers the same benefit as the trogloshi kashrishi heritage, but if you did pick the trogloshi heritage, your light will provide 40 feet of bright and 40 feet of dim light. Getting to use it as a free action is pretty good, too, and has extra applications in some situations like Sneaking up on unsuspecting light sensitive enemies while under some sort of darkvision effect. If you also take ancestry feats that give you occult spells, you can increase the radius by 10 feet for a total of 30 x 30 at baseline and 50 x 50 for the trogloshi heritage when using an occult spell. ○ (1) Emotional Partitions (): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement. ○ (1) Open Mind (): Gain an occult cantrip. _Eat fire_ is always a good choice. ■ (5) Unlock Secret (): Gain a first level innate occult spell. _Sure strike_ is always a strong pick. ● (9) Transcendent Realization (): Gain a third rank innate occult spell. Good choices include another use of _sure strike_ , _darkvision_ , _false life_ , _humanoid form_ (Pistoleros), _invisibility_ , _knock_ (Triggerbrands), _lucky number_ , _spirit sense_ (depending on campaign, if haunts are frequent), _cozy cabin_ , _heroism_ , _share invisibility_ , _shadow spy_ , _time jump_ , and _web of eyes_. ○ (13) Reimagine (): Retraining has its uses. If you expect to need to retrain anything, _dreaming potential_ makes that process much easier. ○ (17) Bend Space (): (U) _Teleport_ is always a useful spell. ○ (9) Fortified Mind (): The fascinated condition isn’t bothersome enough to care about it the vast majority of the time. Stupefied, however, is very, very bad for you because of your poor will save progression. If an enemy is able to land stupefied on you and that’s a very real possibility it’s going to flush your will saves down the toilet and set you up for some nasty effects. Even just a 20% chance to shrug off the stupefied condition is a noticeable improvement. It’s situational, but boy is that situation bad for you.

○ (9) Telekinetic Slip (): Having an easier time getting out of the grabbed or restrained condition once per day as a reaction will be a decent defensive tool. Notably, the bonus lasts until your Escape succeeds. ○ (13) Kashrishi Revification (): Free action once per day to immediately bring you up from the dying condition. You’ll still be wounded and in danger at 1 HP, so you’ll have to time this well in order to safely escape whatever caused you to go into the dying condition. ○ (17) Cleansing Light (**): Even if you don’t use it in combat, fourth level restoration is useful and removes or reduces quite a few conditions and afflictions without needing a counteract check. Having an area dazzled effect on top of the restoration is decent for encounter mode usage, although the two actions required for it will muscle out most of your other normal actions.

Poppet (*)

Small size brings athletics limitations. You absolutely do not want the DEX flaw and should instead choose two free attribute boosts. Darkvision is always good. The Constructed feature gives you a bonus to saves against a ton of effects: death, disease, poison, and effects that would inflict drained, paralyzed, or sickened. These benefits do come at the cost of a fire weakness, though. At least you can remove that with an ancestry feat. There aren’t any particularly good level 9 feats, but there are enough useful level 1 and 5 feats that you can take one of those instead.

● Heritages:

○ Stuffed (): No more fall damage. Useful if you’re not investing in acrobatics and don’t want the Cat Fall feat. ○ Toy (): This rating is for Snipers. You can potentially Take Cover behind your allies, although the heritage does call out the fact that doing so only occurs in certain “circumstances.” ○ Tsukumogami (*): (U) Change your fire weakness to electricity or cold. Fire damage tends to be more common, so this is a slight upgrade.

○ Wishborn (*): Improve your successes on both emotion and fear effects to critical successes. Both effect types are pretty common, and with your poor will save progression, you’ll appreciate being able to shrug them off.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Harmless Doll (): This rating is for Pistoleros and Snipers. Being able to Impersonate toys and Hide in plain sight are useful infiltration tools. ○ (1) Helpful Poppet (): Aiding is always useful. Getting a bonus to do so and being unable to penalize allies on a critical failure are both great improvements to Aid. Synergizes with Fake Out, although it does override Fake Out’s circumstance bonus. ○ (1) Miniscule Mentee (): Familiars are always useful. ○ (1) Quadruped (): Extra movement speed is always great. ○ (1) Sudden Terror (): Requires tsukumogami heritage. Outstanding for CHA-focused Snipers, and still good for Pistoleros. It basically lets your Demoralize benefit from stealth / other sources of being hidden. ○ (5) Cunning Tinker (): A little extra scaling healing once per day. If you don’t use it on yourself, you can help repair party gear if needed. ○ (5) Histrionic Injury (): Reaction once per hour to force a melee attacker to save against your class DC or be stupefied 1. Useful way to apply a debuff, synergizes well for Pistoleros and Demoralize, and helps set up your caster friends. Less useful on Spellshots since it relies on class DC. ○ (5) Sealed Poppet / Insulated Poppet (): No more fire or electricity / cold weakness. You can’t take Sealed Poppet with the stuffed poppet heritage. ○ (5) Swimming Poppet (): Swim speeds are always welcome. ○ (9) Scaling Poppet (): Climb speeds are always welcome. ○ (13) Reanimating Spark (*): Gain the ability, once per day, to immediately bring yourself up from the dying condition. It’s not specified that this is a free action, but considering the wording is exactly the same as other ancestries’ equivalent feats, it’s safe to assume it should be. You’ll still be wounded and in danger at 1 HP, so you’ll have to time this well in order to safely escape whatever caused you to go into the dying condition.

○ (13) Squirm Free (): Escape from being grabbed, immobilized, or restrained as a reaction. This is great because, unlike similar ancestry feats from other ancestries, it does not have a frequency limitation, and as a reaction it does not interact with the MAP. ○ (17) Restitch (): Regenerate is a solid innate spell. ○ (17) Soaring Poppet (*): It’s not much fly speed, but it’s a fly speed.

Sarangay (*)

STR / CHA boosts with a WIS flaw are a pretty poor attribute set. Drifters and Triggerbrands have the best feat here, but there’s enough here for any build to work well provided you’re fine with two free attribute boosts rather than the standard spread.

● Heritage:

○ Full Moon (): This rating is for Pistoleros. WIS / CHA boosts with a CON penalty are better, but you’ll still want to overcome the CON penalty. This also gives the Folk Healer feat, which is decent if you’re the party medic. ○ New Moon (): This rating is mostly for Vanguards, but also applies to Drifters and Triggerbrands with some means of Shoving. The athletics bonus to Shove is nice, but you will have to contend with being small size, which usually means Titan Wrestler.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Awakened Jewel (): Occult cantrip. Eat fire is always a good choice. ○ (1) Folk Healer (): Helps with Treat Wounds and Treat Disease if you’re the party medic. ■ (5) Smoke Through Bamboo (**): Better Step distance, which is especially great for Triggerbrands. Synergizes nicely with Feather Step and makes you a little more caster-friendly if your caster allies like to use difficult terrain.

○ (5) Tikling Bird Twirl (): This rating is for melee Ways, especially those using combination weapons. Getting to Step or Stride after a melee critical Strike offers outstanding action economy, and it doesn’t even take up a reaction / free action. ○ (5) Warding Jewel (): It’s not much resistance, but passive resistance is usually a nice defensive benefit. ○ (9) Paralyzing Jewel (): Single action incapacitation area effect with an ally filter once per day. Not bad, especially for melee Ways. ○ (13) Light-bending Jewel (): Fourth rank invisibility or translocate once per day. ○ (13) Rejuvenating Embrace (): Father Moon’s Vigilance makes you a pretty good camp guard even while you’re asleep. ○ (17) Convocation of Earth and Moon (*): Fly once per day for a single action. Unfortunately, you’ll also be under the effects of enlarge. You can, at least, make enemies dazzled while in the form.

Vishkanya (*)

Low-light vision is a moderate improvement over normal. The Innate Venom feature allows you to use an action once per day to add a simple injury poison to a piece of ammunition or a weapon for a chance at some extra poison damage. Most of the ancestry feats revolve around improving that poison, although you will always need to use an action to Envenom ammunition (or a combination weapon in melee mode). If you’re playing a game where your enemies are frequently immune to poison (undead, constructs) you should stay away from this ancestry.

● Heritage:

○ Elusive (): Being grabbed / restrained sucks. The circumstance bonus to Escape will be helpful from time to time. ○ Keen-Venom (): You won’t trigger manipulate-based reactions for your Envenom and can use it as part of drawing a weapon. It’s a little bit of extra safety and action efficiency. ○ Scalekeeper (*): This rating is for Spellshots. Once per day free action Recall Knowledge is decent.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Alabaster Eyes (): Darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Lesser Enhance Venom (): Improves your Envenom damage from 1d4 to 1d6 for the first two stages, and 2d6 for the third stage. Also allows you to use it once per hour, regardless of use. ■ (9) Moderate Enhance Venom (): Damage goes up quite a bit with this feat: 3d6, 4d6, and 5d6 for the respective stages, plus you can use it once per ten minutes regardless of use. ● (17) Greater Enhance Venom (): Brings the damage up to 7d6, 9d6, and 11d6 for the respective stages, available once per minute mostly regardless of use. That’s a lot of extra damage for a single action, assuming you’re targeting low-fortitude save enemies. ○ (1) Social Camouflage (): This rating is for Pistoleros. You get a small bonus to Impersonate once you’ve been in a settlement for a day, enabling some infiltration. It also lightens the load of face skill investment, allowing you to use deception to Gather Information. ○ (1) Vishkanya Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters. The kukri is your best choice. ○ (5) Debilitating Venom (): Gives you a choice between hampering and stumbling venom, which you can choose at the time of Envenoming and which replaces the damage of a normal Envenom. The hampering version can help you lock enemies in place with a speed reduction, which is generally most effective against enemies that already have low speed. The stumbling version eventually makes the target off-guard, including against ranged attacks, and penalizes their speed at stage 3. You can take this feat twice to get both versions of the venom if you prefer, but generally the stumbling venom is better. ■ (13) Stronger Debilitating Venom (): Also requires Moderate Enhance Venom. Nothing in this feat states that using the debilitating venom reduces Envenom’s frequency, unlike its prerequisite Moderate Enhance Venom. That said, it’s reasonable to assume RAI is that it functions off of the Moderate Enhance Venom frequency because of how it interacts with said feat’s damage. This feat gives you one of, and up to, four choices of changes to your Envenom, which replace some or all of the damage of

your Moderate Enhance Venom in exchange for debuffs: bungling loses 1 damage die in exchange for eventual clumsy, devitalizing loses 3 damage dice in exchange for eventual drained , nauseating loses 2 damage dice in exchange for eventual sickened, and weakening loses 1 damage die in exchange for enfeebled. Devitalizing venom tends to be the best choice since drained stays up after the poison expires. ○ (5) Restoring Blood (): A bit of extra healing for you or an ally once per ten minutes (at best, depending on whether you have Lesser or Moderate Enhance Venom) and which improves at level 15. ○ (9) Swift Application (): This is what makes all the poison feats viable. Being able to Envenom and Strike with one action will be much more kind on your action economy. ○ (9) Viper Strike (): Movement safety while Striding, although the included Strike can still trigger reactions if it’s a ranged Strike. It at least patches some holes in various Ways that don’t have a ready means of Striding safely. ○ (17) Vicious Venom (*): It’ll take you two actions to use this and then apply your Envenom, but turning it into a virulent poison is quite strong, regardless of whether you’re trying to ramp up debuffs or deal extra damage. Generally, it will be best to use Vicious Venom -> Swift Application.

Yaoguai (*)

CON / CHA boosts with an INT penalty works well for Pistoleros and Snipers. Change Shape can be useful for infiltration and scouting. This ancestry offers a variety of useful feats.

● Heritage:

○ Born of Celestial (): The humanoid form is useful for Spellshots to Recall Knowledge, and the divine cantrips in yaoguai form have some value (mostly for shield and utility) for any Way. ○ Born of Elements (): This rating is for Spellshots. An extra spell attack cantrip will be valuable for Spell-Woven Shot. The humanoid form doesn’t do much, though.

○ Born of Item (*): The yaoguai form helps with saves against mental effects. The humanoid form might occasionally find use for Spellshots using Recall Knowledge.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Natural Mutagen (): If nothing else, energy mutagens are a good pick. Otherwise, there are a few situationally useful mutagens, especially when paired with a collar of the shifting spider. Just be aware that the collar’s activation conflicts with your initial deed. ○ (1) Polymorphic Escape (): It’s a low chance, but you’ll sometimes be able to get out of some of the worse athletics-imposed conditions with a reaction. Unfortunately, it puts you in humanoid form, which you usually don’t want. ○ (1) Twilight Dweller ( / ): Low-light vision or, if you already have low-light vision, darkvision. You can take this feat twice to get the darkvision if you don’t have it from, say, a versatile heritage. ○ (5) Among Humanity (): Illusory disguise for an hour once per day. Useful for infiltration and scouting. ■ (9) Forever Among Humanity (): Three times per day. ○ (5) Bold Defiance (): Temp HP for an action once per encounter, essentially. ○ (5) Kin Hunter (): This rating is for Spellshots. Passive extra damage from occultism-based Recall Knowledge. ○ (5) Signature Weapon (*): Critical specialization for a weapon of your choice, which is excellent for the melee Ways. ○ (9) Brilliant Vision (): All sorts of ways to overcome concealment, including your own Smoke Curtain effect. Your caster allies will likely appreciate being able to drop corresponding effects on enemies and still leave you to pick off said enemies without a miss chance. ■ (13) Elucidation (): You don’t have the best will save to overcome illusions, but when you disbelieve, you’ll hand out a party benefit. ○ (9) Quick Recovery (): Reducing your wounded condition once per day is a good way to avoid death. ○ (17) Gentle Death and Rebirth (*): Not dying is good.

Common versatile heritages

Aiuvarin (*)

Low-light vision is a moderate improvement over normal. Note that human-based aiuvarin can take the human ancestry feat Multitalented without having to worry about the archetype’s attribute score prerequisites, which makes this potentially a fantastic option if you want to take a multiclass archetype. See the elf ancestry for good feat choices.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Elf Atavism (): Darkvision is always good, although there are a few good options with this feat beyond just darkvision. See the elf heritages for good choices. ○ (5) Inspire Imitation (): Since skills are so heavily tied into each Way, you might as well ease the action economy to help your allies from time to time. It’ll only allow you to Aid with the same skill, but there are plenty of party setups and situations in which your skill Aid will apply (deception, intimidation, stealth).

Dromaar (*)

Low-light vision is a moderate improvement over normal. See the orc ancestry for information about their feats.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Monstrous Peacemaker (): This rating is primarily for Pistoleros who want to build fully into the face role and invest in diplomacy, but any Way can benefit from the Sense Motive bonus. It’s a good feat if you’re filling a face role. Situational because it only applies when interacting with certain creatures / humanoids, but that situation is probably going to come up for you somewhat often. ○ (1) Orc Sight (): Darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Overlooked Mastermind (*): Social utility for Pistoleros who Lie often.

Uncommon versatile heritages

Custom Mixed Heritage (*)

Think of this as an alternate option to Adopted Ancestry. You’ll want to choose a base ancestry that has a good attribute spread and features, and an ancestry with good feats to tie to the heritage. This option is a decent way to go about getting some of the better feats in niche ancestries without having to suffer their poor lists or attribute spreads. It is pretty munchkin-y, though, and requires your GM to be very willing to work with you on creating a highly unique ancestry choice for your character. This section is a little different from the other ancestry / heritage sections because it offers no unique feats (unless your GM homebrews some as suggested in the rules entry). As such, I’ll list good choices for base ancestries based on certain categories. The sky’s the limit on heritage-tied ancestries since the value there is entirely based on which feats you want to snipe. Note that some ancestries don’t make sense for custom mixed heritages like the constructed ancestries, fleshwarps, samsarans, skeletons, and yaoguai. You’ll probably be hard-pressed to convince your GM that leshy should be a candidate, too.

Some examples of good combinations are goblin base + dwarf heritage for decent speed and alchemy options all in one package, or elf base + dwarf heritage for level 1 access to Unburdened Iron on a 30 foot speed ancestry.

● Attribute modifiers: If your build doesn’t need STR, halfling and gnome are some of the best options attribute modifier-wise.

○ Common: elf, gnome, goblin, halfling, leshy ○ Uncommon: azarketi, catfolk, kobold, merfolk, tanuki, tripkee, wayang ○ Rare: anadi, awakened animal, sarangay, shoony, sprite, yaksha

● Features: Darkvision is a common feature here. If you’re getting darkvision or low-light vision from the base ancestry, you won’t have to worry about the low-light vision caveat from your heritage-tied ancestry choice.

○ Common: dwarf, goblin, halfling, orc ○ Uncommon: fetchling, hobgoblin, kobold, minotaur, wayang ○ Rare: kashrishi, shisk, surki

● Speed:

○ Common: elf ○ Uncommon: centaur ○ Rare: goloma

Duskwalker (*)

Improves your ancestry’s vision either from normal to low-light vision or from low-light vision to darkvision. There are quite a few good feats on offer here.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Chance Death (): Not dying is good. While you shouldn’t get that so close to death that you can activate this feat often, the fact that it’s a rather potent effect outweighs its technically situational nature. ○ (1) Deliberate Death (): This rating is primarily for Drifters, but it also applies for Triggerbrands when they end their turn with their weapon in melee mode. If you’re going to go into dying, might as well get a reaction to try to take the offender down. ○ (1) Ghost Hunter (): Free ghost touch rune. ○ (1) Gravesight (): Darkvision if you didn’t already have it. ○ (1) Nosoi’s Mask (): This rating is for Pistoleros. It’ll either be a free trained skill or round out your kit’s skills to include both deception and intimidation, plus Intimidating Glare at level 1. It also gives you access to a +1 item bonus to intimidation as soon as you’re able to spend 50 gp on a splendid skull mask. ○ (1) Willing Death (): No real synergy with the gunslinger kit, but your allies will appreciate you using the once-per-day reaction to keep them out of dying.

○ (5) Lifesense (): Imprecise senses are useful for you and this one works against just about every creature type (not constructs, though). The limitation is that it only has a 10 foot range. ○ (5) Spirit Soother (): Great trapfinder feat if you’re in a game with lots of haunts (Abomination Vaults is a notable example), but it’ll be game-dependent. ○ (5) Ward Against Corruption (): While situational, death effects are nasty enough that getting a bonus against them is of high value. The bonus against diseases and effects created by undead is situationally useful as well. The fact that death effects frequently come from undead makes the increased bonus to undead’s death effects even better. Also gives a bonus against diseases and effects from undead. ○ (9) Duskwalker Magic (): Augury is usually good, but by this level you may not really need peaceful rest. ○ (9) Quietus Strikes (): Additional damage on your Strikes is always good, even if it’s not much. In this case, you’ll be able to deal the extra damage to almost all targets (constructs being a notable exception). ○ (13) Resist Ruin (): The voidenergy resistance is situational, but getting false vitality as an innate spell is solid. ○ (17) Yamaraj’s Grandeur (**): Once-per-day blasting.

Ifrit (*)

Fire resistance and lessened environmental heat effects are situational. Several of the good feats are only usable once per day, but there’s a fair bit of value from the feats on offer regardless.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Brightsoul (): Light cantrip if your party needs it. Absolutely do not take this feat as a Sniper. ○ (1) Cindersoul (): Situational, but persistent acid, bleed, and poison damage are among the more common types. Overcoming them more easily will be useful. ○ (1) Ember’s Eyes (**): Darkvision is always good, although you’ll need to take this feat twice to get it if you’re choosing this on an ancestry with normal vision.

○ (1) Inner Fire (): This rating is for Spellshots, who will appreciate ignition for Spell-Woven Shot. ○ (5) Firesight (): Lets you see through the smoke from Smoke Curtain. ○ (5) Heatwave (): Situational, but fire damage is among the most common damage types. Becoming concealed as a reaction once per ten minutes when you take fire damage is good. ○ (5) Noble Resolve (): A +1 to will saves against mental effects will be frequently useful since you have poor will save progression. ○ (9) Scorching Disarm (): This rating is for Vanguards and builds focusing on athletics. Once per day, you can make your disarm more potent, deal damage, and not require a free hand. It’s a lot of damage for a single action. Combines well with the level 5 consumable oily button. ○ (13) Planar Sidestep (): Big damage resistance against a melee enemy once per day as a reaction. ○ (17) Blazing Aura (**): Giving a quickened round to nearby allies and simultaneously doing fire damage in an emanation once per day as a reaction is very strong.

Nephilim (*)

Gain low-light vision or darkvision if you already had low-light vision. You can also take legacy aasimar / aphorite / ganzi / tiefling feats, but several of them have some weirdness in how and whether they work within the nephilim heritage. The fiendish lineage feats aren’t all that exciting, but they do have some good associated innate spells in Fiendish Magic and Slip Sideways.

● (1) Battleblooded (): Intimidation proficiency and Intimidating Glare for CHA builds. ○ (5) Call to Battle (): Reaction once per day that effectively does what Kip Up does, but without a need for master acrobatics proficiency and only after coming back up from being unsonscious. ○ (9) Glory and Valor! (): Self-healing every time you land a Strike against appropriately leveled creatures for a single action. ○ (13) Arise, Ye Worthy! (): Keeping an ally alive for a reaction once per day will be a welcome support tool. ● (1) Faultspawn (**): Bonus to saves against magic as a reaction.

○ (17) Dominion Aura (): Once per day area damage and control for a single action. Best on melee Ways, though you have to be somewhat careful of your allies. ● (1) Halo (): Light offers decent utility for a cantrip, assuming your party needs light effects to be able to see. ● (1) Lawbringer (): Upgrades successful saves against emotion effects on top of a bonus to said saves. ● (1) Musetouched (): Upgrades crit fails and successes on Escape attempts and gives a bonus to do so. ● (1) Nephilim Eyes (): Darkvision if you didn’t already have it. ● (1) Nimble Hooves (): Extra speed, though it won’t stack with other speed-improving ancestry feats. ● (1) Proteankin (): The random resistance will be only situationally useful and only when you’re lucky, but the bonus to saves against the controlled condition is a direct upgrade to the Stubborn class feature. ○ (13) Alter Resistance (): Much more reliable resistance at the cost of a reaction. ○ (17) Pandemonium Eruption (): Once-per-day blasting. Be careful of your allies. ● (1) Sublime Mobility (): Your choice of either a low climb speed or low swim speed. Swimming tends to be more punishing if you don’t have the associated speed. ● (5) Scion of Many Planes (): The only current way to double up on lineage feats. ● (9) Divine Wings (): Fly speed once per day for two actions. ○ (17) Eternal Wings (*): Permanent fly speed.

Suli (*)

Improves your ancestry’s vision either from normal to low-light vision or from low-light vision to darkvision. There aren’t a ton of feats available, but almost all of them are good.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Elemental Assault (*): Flexible extra damage for a single turn once per day between electricity, bludgeoning, fire, and water for an action. Especially useful

on Spellshots. Despite the limited frequency, you’ve got some potential to target a weakness and the damage is decent at early levels. ■ (9) Tetraelemental Assault (): Four uses of Elemental Assault for the single action, with a different element each time. Only one use per turn, but that’s a fair bit more damage. ■ (13) Continuous Assault (): Elemental Assault once per hour instead of once per day. ○ (1) Elemental Eyes (): Darkvision if you didn’t already have it. ○ (5) Elemental Bulwark (): Reaction to give you resistance to most elemental damage or spells with the air, earth, fire, or water traits. That’s a lot of effects, and there’s no frequency limitation. ■ (13) Improved Elemental Bulwark (): 10 resistance instead of 5. ○ (5) Noble Resolve (): A +1 to will saves against mental effects will be frequently useful since you have poor will save progression. ○ (5) Skillful Tail: No rating on this one because it’s a crapshoot, but if your GM lets you reload your firearm with this feat, it’s awesome for Pistoleros and dual wield Triggerbrands. ○ (13) Planar Sidestep (): Big damage resistance against a melee enemy once per day as a reaction. ○ (13) Suli Amir (): (U) Read omens can give you a little bit of plot help once per day. 4th rank invisibility once per day is great. Level 13 is super late for detect magic , but it can still be useful and is fully heightened.

Sylph (*)

Improves your ancestry’s vision either from normal to low-light vision or from low-light vision to darkvision. There are several good feats here, but most importantly this heritage offers two of the most universally useful ancestry feat effects: speed and flight.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Elemental Eyes (): Darkvision if you didn’t already have it. ○ (1) Smokesoul (): Defensive synergy with Smoke Curtain, plus whatever else your caster allies can throw out.

○ (1) Swift (*): Extra movement speed is always good, although it won’t stack with your baseline ancestry’s speed feats (if any). ○ (1) Wind Pillow (): This feat is a means of getting Powerful Leap without trained proficiency in athletics. It synergizes very well with the tengu feat One-Toed Hop. ○ (5) Noble Resolve (): A +1 to will saves against mental effects will be frequently useful since you have poor will save progression. ○ (9) Djinni Magic (): _Gust of wind_ is useless for you, but having _invisibility_ as an innate spell will be useful. ○ (9) Wings of Air (): Fly speed equal to your normal speed once per day. ■ (17) Eternal Wings (): Permanent flight. ○ (13) Airy Step (): Create a small burst of fog for concealment once per day as a reaction to being attacked, then Step or Escape and Step if needed. Solid defensive tool. ■ Note: you can pair this with (5) Cloud Gazer to overcome the concealment for enemies in the fog, but that’s about the only consistent, predictable use for that feat unless your party has a caster who puts up fog spells often. ○ (13) Planar Sidestep (*): Big damage resistance against a melee enemy once per day as a reaction.

Yellow (**) ancestries

Ancestries

Common ancestries

Leshy

Small size brings athletics limitations. CON and WIS are good boosts for all but Spellshot if you aren’t worried about starting with a +3 in STR. The INT flaw is why Spellshot suffers, but any other Way will be just fine with it. Spellshots and, if you want +3 STR, Drifters, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards should instead take two free attribute boosts. Low-light vision isn’t terribly exciting, but it’s at least better than normal. Plant Nourishment means you generally won’t have to worry about rations or Subsisting. There are enough decent feats to fill every slot, but just barely.

● Heritage:

○ Fruit (): A bit of extra party support if needed. ○ Fungus (): Darkvision is always good. ○ Gourd (): Having free hand flexibility for a round is nice, on top of the fact that you can accomplish all sorts of action compression if you only keep one item in your head. It’s basically a one-off Quick Draw if you want an extra weapon in there, provided it meets bulk requirements. Otherwise, it’s an easy way to get out a consumable, such as a bomb or, for Spellshots, scroll. ○ Leaf (): No more fall damage. Useful if you’re not investing in acrobatics and don’t want the Cat Fall feat. ○ Root (): This rating is for the Ways that want to be in melee. Since action economy comes at a premium for you, having to expend actions to Stand after being knocked prone or get back into melee after being Shoved is painful. Resisting those effects in the first place is a much better way to go about it, and this heritage helps. ○ Seaweed (): The swim speed is nice, but it costs you 5 feet of regular speed. ○ Vine (*): Being able to keep firing while you Climb will be situationally useful.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Leshy Superstition (): +1 to any save as a reaction is solid. ■ (9) Lucky Keepsake (): Getting a permanent bonus to saves is even better. ○ (1) Undaunted (): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement. ○ (5) Ritual Reversion (): One with plants can be a useful scouting / infiltration tool. If you have the stealth to support getting into position, you’ll probably find a use for it here and there while trying to infiltrate and gain information about foes. ○ (9) Sash of the Wind (): (U) You can evade the uncommon limitation by being from Tian Xia. Getting fly once per day is useful. ○ (17) Regrowth (): Regenerate is a solid supportive spell which isn’t too harsh on your action economy besides the two actions to cast it. ○ (17) Return to the Seed (): Not dying is good.

Uncommon ancestries

Fetchling

The only baseline value this ancestry brings is darkvision, which is good, but as the only improvement over the norm it doesn’t do much to make the ancestry a desirable pick. Most everything this ancestry has to offer feat-wise improves your perception or stealth, though, both of which are great for your kit. If you want to play this ancestry, it’s because you’re investing in stealth. As such, I’ve written the feats under the general assumption that you will have a stealth focus.

● Heritage:

○ Bright (**): You won’t need any of the effects this heritage brings, but your party might. Coordinate with your caster friends when building your character to see if they would appreciate a free cantrip slot, because that’s effectively what this heritage does.

○ Liminal (): Meaningful improvements to your Seek, and synergizes with both Blood in the Air, Deadeye, and Smoke Curtain. ○ Resolute (): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement. ○ Wisp (*): This rating is primarily for Drifters, but melee or melee-adjacent builds that invest in acrobatics will also benefit. The bonus to Tumble Through will be frequently beneficial. Quick Squeeze is pretty useless, though. Small size will also make athletics skill actions difficult, although Titan Wrestler can mostly overcome that. Taking the rogue multiclass archetype for Tumble Behind works well with this heritage.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Hard to Fool (): At a bare minimum, it’ll help your already strong perception progression when you try to Seek past invisibility. Also helps your will saves against illusions and shadow effects, which is situational, but it’s always nice to have bonuses to your weak will saves. ○ (1) Shadow Blending (): Enemies become 10% less likely to hit you when you’re concealed or hidden and you use this reaction. Synergizes with stealth and Smoke Curtain. ○ (1) Shrouded Magic (): Gain an occult cantrip. Eat fire is always a good choice. ○ (1) Slink (): Extra movement while Sneaking is great, as are the action economy easements for continuing the Sneak while behind cover or concealed. The extra speed won’t matter once you have Swift Sneak, but the rest of the features will remain useful until you have Legendary Sneak. ○ (5) Lightless Litheness (): Squeezing doesn’t come up often enough to recommend this feat, but the improvements to Escape will be useful sometimes. ○ (5) Shadowy Disguise (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Illusory disguise will sometimes be a useful tool to complement your deception. ○ (9) Shadow Sight (*): Greater darkvision once per hour will help you overcome magical darkness sometimes. It takes an action to activate, though.

Lizardfolk

STR and WIS boosts are good for melee and melee-adjacent Ways, or if you otherwise want to use a kickback weapon. The INT flaw is fine for any Way but Spellshot. Breath Control is a situational feat, but particularly useful against inhaled poisons, giving it some value for a trapfinder role. It’s also useful in the odd scenario where you need to deal with water. Discuss with your party well ahead of time if you plan to take Terrain Advantage.

● Heritage:

○ Bakuwa (): (U) If you’re playing a STR build, getting comfort armor right from the get-go is decent. ○ Cloudleaper (): No more fall damage. Useful if you’re not investing in acrobatics and don’t want the Cat Fall feat. ○ Frilled (): Removes the need for Intimidating Glare for Pistoleros, although they won’t get much use from the Threatening Approach activity. ○ Unseen (): +2 to stealth is a fantastic upgrade. Whenever you can afford to take the hour for dramatic color shifts, do so. If your surroundings are relatively static, such as being in a forest or in a dungeon, you’ll basically always have the bonus, which also applies to initiative. ○ Wetlander (*): Swim speeds are always welcome.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Bone Magic (): Eat fire is always a good choice, and Spellshots get a lot to choose from. ○ (1) Crocodile’s Twin (): Requires either the bakuwa or makari heritage. Familiars are always useful. ○ (1) Parthenogenic Hatchling (): Makes it easier to overcome diseases. ○ (1) Spirit Coffin (*): (U) You can get around the uncommon limitation with either the bakuwa heritage or by being from Tian Xia. It’s a free ghost touch rune, basically.

○ (5) Guided by the Stars (*): Fortune on a skill check or saving throw once per day as a free action is slightly better than Halfling Luck since you take the better roll, and even better if you’re outdoors at night often. ○ (5) Swift Swimmer (): Either gives you a swim speed or increases your swim speed if you chose the wetlander heritage. ○ (9) Read the Stars (): This rating is for Spellshots. If you’re investing in occultism, you can get story clues to help you progress the game. ○ (9) Terrain Advantage (): You’ll need someone in your party capable of creating difficult terrain, but being able to make any enemy in difficult terrain off-guard regardless of your own positioning (and, importantly, range) is quite strong. One means of creating difficult terrain is the level 7 meteor shot consumable. Party-dependent, but with the right party this is a very strong feat. ○ (13) Primal Rampage (*): Unfettered movement and mountain resilience are both good self-buffs, you can pre-buff with them, and you can get both up at once in a single turn as a three-action activity. Decent.

Minotaur

STR / CON boosts with a CHA flaw work for all but Pistolero and Spellshot. Darkvision is always good. A fair amount of the value from this ancestry resides in athletics improvements. Unfortunately, the ancestry feat selection isn’t very cohesive for anything but athletics (and mostly melee) builds, for whom this ancestry is green (*).

● Heritage:

○ Ghost Bull (*): Know the way is borderline useless in general, but the bonus against becoming confused is useful. ○ Littlehorn (): Medium size should you need it. Useful for Alarming Disappearance.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Eye for Masonry (**): Situational, but a bonus to detect and disable traps sometimes is handy.

○ (1) Friendly Nudge (*): Excellent improvement to Shove, letting you move allies around without a free hand. ■ (13) Shift the Little Ones (): You won’t be able to use this feat with the littlehorn heritage. Otherwise, you’ll be able to help out your allies’ movement a bit, giving them free actions to Step if and when you end your movement in their space. ○ (1) Keen Nose (): Imprecise scent and an occasional fortitude bonus. ○ (1) Pantheon Magic (): Shield is typically your best bet, but utility spells are usually good picks too. ○ (5) Alarming Disappearance (*): Passively applying frightened 1 when you Hide is outstanding, even with the immunity limitation. ○ (5) Stretching Reach (): This rating is for Triggerbrands and Vanguards. Getting reach on a two-handed melee weapon for an action is a great way to start an encounter, especially when you can spend your other two actions Striking and reloading. ○ (9) Friendly Fling (): Heavy on the action economy, but you can at least get a Strike in alongside it. Moving your melee ally up into position, and giving them a reaction Strike, is a welcome party support tool. ○ (13) Phantom Charm (**): Requires ghost bull heritage. Misfortune doesn’t come up a ton, but being able to mitigate it once per day when it does, plus get a bonus for doing so, will be helpful from time to time.

Nagaji

Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s at least better than normal. That’s about all this ancestry has to offer you at baseline. The good feats are all pretty generic, but you would do alright filling your ancestry feat slots with basic value.

● Heritage:

○ Sacred (*): The tail attack is pretty much worthless for you unless you really want to sink a ton of gold into it as a Drifter. The bonus to your DC against Grapple and Trip attempts is solid, though, especially because it also applies

against effects that cause those conditions even if they’re not from athletics skill actions.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Cold Minded (): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement. ○ (1) It Takes a Village (): Does a lot to help with Fake Out and supportive skill check Aiding, although you may want to retrain Cooperative Nature at higher levels when you need the bonus less. It will overwrite the +1 circumstance bonus from Fake Out, but that’s not really a problem. ○ (1) Nagaji Spell Familiarity (): Basically just gives you detect magic. ○ (1) Nalinivati’s Light (): Darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Serpent’s Tongue (): Imprecise senses are a great way to improve your already excellent perception progression. ○ (1) Water Nagaji (): Breath Control and a low swim speed. ■ (9) Serpentine Swimmer (): Much better swim speed. ○ (5) Skin Split (): Hard on the action economy, but it will outright break you out of persistent damage for two actions. Persistent damage is somewhat common, it’ll just be hard to fit this activity in alongside your difficult action economy. ○ (13) Disruptive Stare (): Casters will tend to have good will saves, but being able to disrupt spells with a reaction sometimes is quite good. Less useful for Spellshots due to their lesser class DC. ○ (13) Synchronous Slither (): This rating is for melee Ways. Getting a partial Stride as a reaction will help your action economy somewhat.

Ratfolk

Small size brings athletics limitations. DEX and INT boosts plus a STR flaw are perfect for Spellshots. Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s at least better than normal. There’s not a ton of great value here, but it’s enough that you’ll be okay if you want to play ratfolk.

● Heritage:

○ Deep (): Darkvision is always good. ○ Longsnout (): Imprecise senses are a great way to capitalize on your perception progression. Plus, you get a big bonus to Seek against undetected creatures within your scent range. ○ Sewer (*): Makes poisons and diseases easier to overcome.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Cheek Pouches (): Doesn’t do much on its own, but it’s a prerequisite. ■ (5) Quick Stow (): For a dual wield build, being able to put items away with a free action is pretty good, provided they don’t break the bulk limit. ■ (9) Big Mouth (): This rating assumes you have Quick Stow, which will be much easier to use with a 1 bulk limit. ○ (1) Rat Familiar (): Familiars provide some value to you even if you have no means of granting them extra abilities. Partner in Crime is useful for Pistoleros, Triggerbrands, and anyone building for a trapfinder role. Second Opinion is good for Spellshots. Threat Display will relieve Pistoleros from needing Intimidating Glare. Flier + Share Senses gives you some scouting potential. Familiar skill usage will work best on Pistoleros who have the CHA to fuel the familiar’s skills. ○ (1) Skull Creeper (): This rating is for Pistoleros. It’ll either be a free trained skill or round out your kit’s skills to include both deception and intimidation. It also gives you access to a +1 item bonus to intimidation as soon as you’re able to spend 50 gp on a splendid skull mask. ○ (5) Cornered Fury (): Hopefully you’re not eating crits too often, but when it happens the offending foe will be off-guard for you. ○ (5) Lab Rat (): Makes poisons and diseases easier to overcome. If you have the sewer heritage, you’ll also be able to turn crit fails on saves against said effects into fails. ○ (5) Plague Sniffer (*): Requires the longsnout ratfolk heritage. You’ll be highly capable of detecting diseases when they otherwise show no effects, which can help you and your party stave off some of the nastier long-term diseases before they start causing problems.

○ (9) Overcrowd (): Party-dependent, but opening up the areas in which you can take advantage of the same terrain benefits your allies want to use is bound to be good at some point. You’ll just need small allies. ■ (13) Shinstabber (): Chances are you’ve got medium allies. Extra battlefield positioning options will be useful and can get you over lesser cover limitations. ○ (9) Uncanny Cheeks (): Prescient Consumable gives you a lot of versatility, especially if you’re a Spellshot (scrolls) or have supporting alchemy feats (Alchemical / Shattering Shot). ○ (13) Warren Digger (*): Burrow speeds are hard to come by.

Tengu

Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s at least better than normal. That’s all this ancestry has to offer at baseline. Most tengu feats are geared toward spellcasters, but there are a few great feats here. Primarily, flight and perception improvements will be useful for everyone. Drifters and Triggerbrands in particular will appreciate this ancestry and should treat it as green (*).

● Heritage:

○ Jinxed (): While situational all around, curses come up often enough that you’ll occasionally appreciate being able to turn saves against them into crit saves. Misfortune effects get the same benefit, but are much rarer. You’ll also have a 20% chance to shrug off doomed. ○ Skyborn (): No more fall damage. Useful if you’re not investing in acrobatics and don’t want the Cat Fall feat. Situational on its own, but this heritage also sets you up for feats that grant flight. ○ Wavediver (**): Swim speeds are useful.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Mariner’s Fire (*): This rating is for Spellshots. Ignition is a welcome addition for the likes of Spell-Woven Shot.

○ (1) One-Toed Hop (): Basically turns a vertical Leap into a Step. If you’re going to get Powerful Leap, One-Toed Hop translates into further Step range. ○ (1) Scavenger’s Search (): Helps you find hidden objects / doors / hazards. ○ (1) Squawk! (): This rating is for Pistoleros. It’ll help sometimes in social encounters, but won’t do anything for Create a Diversion or Demoralize. If you’re going all in on face skills and have Bon Mot, it’ll significantly ease the crit fail risk of Bon Mot. ○ (1) Tengu Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters and Triggerbrands. For Drifters, you can make falcatas or chain swordsinto simple weapons and get critical specialization with them. Falcatas are among the best one-handed melee weapons for pure damage, and chain swords are the best one-handed reach weapon due to finesse. It’s also a means of getting critical specialization for a combination weapon’s melee mode, which gives Drifters and Triggerbrands a guaranteed means of leveraging the critical fusion trait. ○ (5) Long-Nosed Form (): This rating is for Pistoleros. You’ll have a somewhat easier time of infiltration using deception since you won’t necessarily need to rely on a disguise. ○ (5) Soaring Flight (): Requires the skyborn tengu heritage. Temporary flight once per day. ■ (9) Soaring Form (): Permanent fly speed. ○ (13) Harbinger’s Caw (): Imposing misfortune once per day as a reaction is a solid way to shut down nastier enemies.

Vanara

This ancestry offers nothing at baseline. Most of the value here involves athletics.

● Heritage:

○ Ragdyan (): Gain a divine cantrip. Shield is usually your best bet, but utility spells are welcome too. ○ Wajaghand (): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Canopy Sight (): Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s at least better than normal. ○ (1) Climbing Tail (): This rating is primarily for Vanguards, but the feat is also useful for Drifters and Triggerbrands investing in athletics. You will no longer need a weapon with the trip trait to be able to trip. ■ (9) Dangle (): You might be able to climb to some melee-safe spots and fire at enemies with impunity. ○ (1) Sudden Mindfulness (): Triggering from successful saves against the dazzled or fascinated condition is inherently situational, but dazzled is annoying and common enough that shrugging it off and rendering the offending enemy off-guard for a reaction is nice. ○ (1) Vanara Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters. The urumi is one of only two one-handed weapons with the deadly d10 trait, which is quite strong on the damage front. It’s also a flail, which has one of the best melee critical specializations. ○ (5) Darting Monkey (): This rating is for Ways in or near melee. Rendering an enemy unable to flank you when you hit them is a strong means of keeping yourself safe in melee. ○ (5) Skillful Climber (): Low climb speed. ○ (5) Tail Snatch (): Disarm without needing a free hand or a weapon with the trait. ○ (9) Ragdya’s Dance (): A chance at better positioning once per hour as a reaction to being hit by an adjacent enemy (including spell attacks) is alright. You can use it to set up flanking or to position yourself better to get away from the attacker. Less useful for Spellshots since it relies on class DC. ○ (9) Rakshasa Ravaged (): Only really useful for Spellshots due to the skill requirement. Bonus to saves against occult spells. ○ (13) Unbound Freedom (**): While the fact that it only works against the controlled condition is situational, that condition is a somewhat common outcome of will-targeting spells and effects. Since your will save progression is poor,

having a 20% chance to shrug off the condition is decent. It’s an extra layer of protection on top of Stubborn. ○ (13) Vanara Battle Clarity (*): This rating is for Ways in or near melee. Lower-level enemies will no longer be able to flank you. ○ (17) Unfettering Prankster (): 1 hour buff once per day that allows you and your allies to ignore environmental difficult terrain. Situational, but useful, and brings with it a few other minor effects.

Wayang

DEX / CHA boosts with a CON flaw is a workable spread for Pistoleros, though you’ll want to overcome the CON flaw. Darkvision is always good. This ancestry is a bit better for pistol phenom builds due to the fact that several of its feats rely on performance. There are a handful of good feats, but not enough to truly fill out a build.

● Heritage:

○ Shadow of the Hermit (): Occult cantrip. Eat fire is always a good choice. ○ Shadow of the Smith (): Apply dazzled once per encounter (usually) for an action ahead of a Strike. ○ Shadow of the Wanderer (**): Extra movement speed.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Refined Motion in Darkness ( / ): Buffs to Sneak until you get Swift Sneak / Legendary Sneak. Best if you’re planning to get trained proficiency in stealth and no more, but even if you do focus on stealth, you can always retrain this feat when it becomes redundant. ○ (5) Shadowplay (): This rating is for melee Ways. Getting a means of creating flanking for yourself after a Tumble Through can be useful depending on party composition, initiative, and positioning. ○ (9) Dissolution’s Sight (): Greater darkvision once per hour for an action. ○ (9) Shadow Tempo (*): Being able to Stride as a reaction is great. Just pay attention to your (and your allies’) positioning.

○ (13) Dalang’s Ally (): Similar to Shadowplay, but without the need to Tumble Through. ○ (13) Palm-leaf Silhouette (): Great scouting utility. ○ (13) Slay Giants Unseen (*): Free prone on crit Strikes under the right conditions.

Rare ancestries

Fleshwarp

Low-light vision for a moderate improvement over normal and a bonus to saves against diseases and poisons. There aren’t a whole lot of feats here and the one solid heritage grants a common effect you could get from another ancestry. It’s not a bad ancestry, it just needs some help from Adopted Ancestry or a versatile heritage to fill in the gaps.

● Heritage:

○ Cataphract (): Heavy armor proficiency if you want it. You’ll most definitely want to be playing a STR build if that is the case, or at least have a plan to get Adopted Ancestry for Unburdened Iron. ○ Created (): No need to eat, and improve your bonus to saves against diseases to +2. Diseases can be scary and, while situational, come up often enough to be worth the improvement. ○ Technological (*): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Deepvision (*): Darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Startling Appearance (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Free trained skill or round out your skills for both used in your Slinger’s Reload, plus Intimidating Glare at level 1 when you’d ordinarily get access to it at level 2. It’s all features

you’d get anyway, but getting features that are generally core to your gameplay at level 1 is decent. ○ (5) Finned Ridges (): Swim speeds are always welcome. ○ (5) Gaping Flesh (): This rating is for Ways in or near melee. It’s especially useful if you have a means of Grappling. Adding sickened to the list of debuffs you can apply is solid, especially as a reaction, even if it’s only once per day. ○ (5) Powerful Guts (): Sickened is a pretty common condition, but getting it above 1 isn’t. In the situations where you go above sickened 1, you’ll appreciate being able to remove it more quickly and easily. ○ (5) Uncanny Awareness (): Imprecise senses are a great way to improve on your already strong perception progression, and motion sense will be comparatively easier to apply than the more commonly available scent. ○ (9) Embodied Dragoon Subjectivity (): Gentle landing and marvelous mount can both be useful, but they don’t heighten. If you’re not investing in acrobatics / Cat Fall, you’ll appreciate gentle landing more. Marvelous mount is basically just a regular old mount that you can summon once per day for up to 8 hours. ○ (9) Gripping Limbs (): Climb speeds are always welcome. ○ (9) Slip the Grasp (**): Combining an Escape with a Step or Stride is a great way to get away from the offending creature and to a safe spot where you can shoot back, although you’ll have to deal with the MAP. The unarmed attack part is pointless for you though. This feat is more useful for Ways in or near melee who are more at risk of the triggering conditions.

Jotunborn

Large size can be useful for melee Ways, but it’s a detriment in tight spaces. STR and WIS boosts are great for melee Ways as well, especially since they don’t tend to need CHA. This ancestry is best on a Triggerbrand, for whom the ancestry is green (*).

● Heritage:

○ Plane-Hopper (*): Occult cantrip and a way around the size limitation, turning you into a medium creature instead.

○ Weaver (*): Crafting isn’t likely to do you much good unless you’re in a game where ammunition access is difficult, but the circumstance bonus when searching for traps / secret doors will be great, especially alongside the ancestry’s WIS bonus.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Jotun’s Eyes (): Darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Plane-Stepping Dash (): Get around movement-based reactions once per day, plus some extra speed if you don’t already have a ready status bonus to speed and want to take an extra Stride or two. ■ (13) Plane Hop (): Action-intensive, but it gives you vertical mobility and safe movement once per encounter. ● (17) Planar Traveler (): Additional movement safety and vertical mobility once per hour for a free action. ○ (5) Jotun’s Battle Stance (): This rating is for Triggerbrands. Getting reach with a two-handed combination weapon is outstanding, even if it does cost an action to enter the stance. As a primarily ranged class, you can afford the action. Vanguards can sort of use this feat too, but using combination weapons tends to be difficult for them. ■ (17) Jotun’s Heart (): Huge size can be difficult to handle if your game frequently features tight spaces. That said, this is one of very few ancestry size feats that grants you a size increase without worrying about the clumsy condition. It also gives you 10 feet of reach, which is great for melee Ways, and even better at 20 feet of reach in Jotun’s Battle Stance. ○ (5) Jotun’s Grasp (): Action compression to Step and Grapple for a one-handed weapon + athletics build, which pretty much means Triggerbrand. That’ll give you some room to breathe against ranged Strike-triggered reactions, if nothing else. ○ (9) Build the First Walls (): Wall of stone is a really strong spell. Though this version of it is weaker than usual, containing enemies is still a very powerful tool, especially because it has no save. ○ (9) Iivlar’s Deflection (): Mitigating crits once in a while is decent, even if it is a low chance.

○ (9) Jotun’s Boost (): Lets you help with party positioning and give a Strike reaction to an ally on top of the assistance. It’s action-heavy, but you should be okay provided you’re running a single one-handed weapon build or need to Reload for the efficient re-grip. ○ (13) Smoothing Stomp (*): Action-intensive, but it’s solid utility for an ancestry feat, allowing you to overcome difficult terrain even if it comes from an enemy’s effect.

Shoony

Small size brings athletics limitations. DEX and CHA boosts are good for Pistoleros, but you’ll probably still want to overcome the CON flaw. There aren’t a ton of feats on offer and what is on offer is almost all only useful for certain ways, but for those Ways (Drifters specifically, but also Triggerbrands and Vanguards investing in acrobatics), this ancestry is green (*). It functions especially well with the Acrobat Dedication feat for auto-scaling on acrobatics. Also, Loyal Empath and, more importantly, Steadfast Ally are awesome feats. If nothing else, you can pick shoony just for those two feats and take Adopted Ancestry or a versatile heritage to fill your other slots. The ancestry is pretty weak on its own, but it can be redeemed.

● Heritage:

○ Bloodhound (*): Imprecise senses are a great way to build upon your already strong perception progression.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Esteemed Visitor (): This rating is for Pistoleros who want to fully lean into the face role with diplomacy investment. Gather Information and Make an Impression are two of the most common uses for a social skill and can drive quite a bit in a campaign. Being unable to critically fail either skill action will allow you to keep on trying without angering the locals so badly they want to drive you out. ○ (1) Scamper Underfoot (*): This rating is primarily for Drifters, but Triggerbrands and Vanguards investing in acrobatics can benefit too. Getting a bonus to Tumble

Through the spaces of medium and larger creatures will be consistently useful, as will the fact that the enemy’s space is not difficult terrain for you. Works well with the rogue multiclass archetype and its Tumble Behind feat. ■ (5) Tough Tumbler (): You’ll still make it through the target’s space on a failed check to Tumble Through, only getting stopped on a crit fail. Also helps protect you against movement-triggered reactions when you fail to Tumble Through. ○ (5) Loyal Empath (): Getting more uses for Aid is good, and helping your allies’ will saves is an especially valuable use for Aid. ■ (13) Steadfast Ally (*): You no longer need to use an action on your turn to prepare the reaction for Loyal Empath. If you’re not using reaction for something more important, you can just hand out will save bonuses left and right. ○ (9) Sodbuster (): Burrow speeds are hard to come by.

Skeleton

DEX and CHA boosts with an INT flaw are perfect for Pistoleros. Basic undead benefits grant you low-light vision, void healing, immunity to death effects, and a bonus on saves against diseases and poisons. The last three are pretty good, especially the immunity to death effects. Void healing will be hard for your party to handle unless they are specifically prepared for it, though. Your undead hunger, at least, is pretty easy: you just need to collect bones. You also only need to rest for 4 hours a day, making you more flexible than most for rest period guard duty. While there are some solid perks to this ancestry, it’ll be hard to fit into most parties and really needs the feat support on offer from As in Life, So in Death.

● Heritage:

○ Fodder (*): Extra movement speed is always great. ○ Sturdy (): Extra HP can’t hurt. Diehard is a decent feat, too.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) As in Life, So in Death (*): Getting Adopted Ancestry right out the gate is great and opens up a ton of build options, notably because your ancestry choices aren’t restricted to the common ancestries. CHA builds can even pass for a living version of themselves. ○ (1) Collapse (): Negating critical hit damage (but not effects) once per ten minutes as a reaction is decent, especially for Ways in or near melee. You do suffer some ill effects for it, though: you’re off-guard while collapsed and will need to spend an action to Stand (or have acrobatics investment and Kip Up). Still, this can prevent a lot of damage. ○ (1) Play Dead (): This rating is for CHA builds. You can use it as an infiltration tool to look like a regular old skeleton. ○ (9) Bone Missile (): If you’re using a crossbow, you can deal extra void damage with it. You’ll pull from your own HP to do so, though, making it a risky option. ○ (9) Rejuvenation Token (): (U) Make yourself very hard to permanently kill at the cost of losing major memories. ○ (9) Skeletal Resistance (): Small resistance values to several damage types. ○ (17) Necromantic Heir (**): Finally, some self-sustain. Sixth rank harm once per hour.

Sprite

Tiny size is best for Snipers, who can use it to Take Cover behind allies under GM-specified circumstances. Pistoleros and Spellshots can take advantage of it too, just not as well as Snipers can. DEX and INT boosts with a STR flaw are perfect for Spellshots. Low-light vision is at least a moderate improvement over normal. 20 ft. speed is annoying. Sprites have a few generic valuable feats on offer.

● Heritage:

○ Dijiang (): (U) Helps with saves against emotion effects. ○ Draxie (): Silent communication can be very useful, but the touch range is limiting. ○ Leungli (*): (U) Low swim speed.

○ Luminous (): Basically your own light cantrip, should your party need some extra light. You certainly will. ○ Nyktera (): Extra range when you Seek in a cone and a sizable bonus to Seek undetected creatures that you can hear. Synergizes with Blood in the Air. ○ Pixie (**): Small size instead of tiny. Still bears athletics limitations, but nowhere near as bad as being tiny.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Evanescent Wings (): Low fly speed at a very early level, though it’s tied to the Evanescent Wings action. ■ (5) Energize Wings (): Better fly speed. ● (9) Hero’s Wings (): Permanent fly speed. ○ (1) Fey Cantrips (): Dancing lights and ghost sound aren’t all that useful, but if you have the grig heritage you can at least get detect magic. ○ (5) Fey Disguise (): Scaling illusory disguise. Great for infiltration and scouting. ○ (9) Fey Magic (): Invisibility is consistently useful. ○ (13) Invisible Trickster (*): Fourth rank invisibility once per hour. Especially great for Snipers, but making every target off-guard regardless of whether you’re using a ranged or melee attack is awesome. Plus, it’s a great infiltration and defensive tool.

Yaksha

CON / CHA boosts with an INT penalty works well for Pistoleros and Snipers. Low-light vision is a moderate improvement over normal. There are several decent feats available, but not quite enough to round out a full build.

● Heritage:

○ Deny Lady Nanbyo’s Charity (): Helps athletics builds Escape a little better. ○ Deny the Traitor’s Rebirth (*): Darkvision is always good.

○ Respite of Loam and Leaf (*): Primal cantrip. Eat fire is always a good choice, and Spellshots have several spell attacks to choose from. Your party members may also be able to pull off some cheese with you having the plant trait.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Ash-piercing Gaze (): For selfish purposes, this is mostly useful for Smoke Curtain. The fact that it works for mist as well can be very good if your caster allies use effects like mist. ○ (1) Unwavering Guide (): Gives your party a larger initiative bonus when you Scout. ○ (5) Colugo’s Traversal (): Terrain challenge utility. ○ (5) Withstand the Storm (): Resistance to one of several energy types once per day as a reaction. ○ (9) Abjure the False Kin (): Helps a bit against non-damaging mental effects. ○ (9) Fiend-trampling Stature (): This one mostly depends on party composition. If your party can consistently apply the appropriate conditions, you’ll have a relatively easy time of passively shutting down reactions. ○ (13) Germination of Resolve (**): You’ll need to build for nature proficiency and WIS, but if that's the case, you’ll potentially be able to counteract your own feat-imposed fatigued condition once per day.

Uncommon versatile heritages

Ardande

Grants low-light vision or darkvision if you already had low-light vision from your ancestry. There’s not a whole lot here that you couldn’t otherwise get from another geniekin heritage, but there are a couple standout feats.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Ambersoul (**): Penalizes enemies that want to Strike you more than once in a turn.

○ (1) Elemental Eyes (): Darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Springsoul (): This rating is for Spellshots. Tangle vine will sometimes be useful for Spell-Woven Shot. ○ (5) Noble Resolve (): A +1 to will saves against mental effects will be frequently useful since you have poor will save progression. ○ (5) Read the Roots (): Tremorsense, but at the cost of two actions. ○ (9) Kizidhar Magic (): One with plants is good for scouting. ○ (13) Planar Sidestep (): Big damage resistance against a melee enemy once per day as a reaction. ○ (17) Wood Ward (*): Strong defensive reaction once per hour.

Changeling

Improves your ancestry’s vision either from normal to low-light vision or from low-light vision to darkvision. There aren’t a ton of great feats, but there are a few standouts. This heritage is stronger for Snipers / stealth builds and Smoke Curtain usage.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Dream May (): Mostly useful for overcoming the drained and doomed conditions more easily if your party doesn’t have a ready way of removing them. ○ (1) Hag’s Sight (): Darkvision if you didn’t already have it. ○ (1) Moon May (): Guidance is a solid cantrip. ○ (5) Called (): Bonus to will saves against mental effects. With your poor will save progression, that’s a very useful improvement. Also improves your successful saves against effects which would make you controlled to crit successes, which is a direct upgrade to Stubborn. This feat synergizes nicely with ancestry feats that improve your saves against emotion and / or fear effects from successes to crit successes. Also synergizes well with the vanara’s Unbound Freedom feat. ○ (5) Mist Child (**): Reducing enemies’ chances to hit you when you’re concealed or hidden is great if you can frequently achieve those conditions with stealth. Good synergy with Smoke Curtain, too.

○ (9) Mother’s Mindfulness (): If you’re in melee, absorbing attacks for your melee buddies may or may not be useful. It’s basically an emergency tool once per minute to share the load if your ally is about to go into the dying condition. At range, though, you can do a lot to keep your squishy wizard friend safe. ○ (9) Occult Resistance (): Situational permanent bonus to saves against occult effects. ○ (13) Hag Magic (**): Augury , clairaudience , and clairvoyance are all useful tools, with clairvoyance being the strongest choice due to your perception progression. Illusory disguise heightened to fourth rank is decent for infiltration and scouting.

Dragonblood

Improves your saves against fear effects. You’ll have to choose a draconic exemplar, which will dictate how some of your feats work. The benefits here are mostly very generic and available elsewhere, but they’re good enough to be worth taking if you want to play a dragon character.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Breath of the Dragon (): Gives you a bit of blasting capability based on your draconic exemplar choice. ■ (9) Formidable Breath (): Better damage and area. ■ (17) Lingering Breath (): Adds a bit of area control with difficult terrain. ○ (1) Draconic Sight ( / ): Low-light vision or darkvision if you already had low-light vision. ○ (5) Draconic Scent (): Imprecise scent. ○ (5) Dragon’s Flight (): Fly speed that’s tied to the Dragon’s Flight action. ■ (9) True Dragon’s Flight (): Permanent fly speed. ○ (13) Majestic Presence (*): Strong frightened effect that’s based on your class DC and independent of the Demoralize immunity limitation.

Oread

Improves your ancestry’s vision either from normal to low-light vision or from low-light vision to darkvision. Almost everything available here is available from a different geniekin heritage, but there are a couple useful feats. Being able to drop difficult terrain for a single action works very well for lizardfolk and a Way in or near melee.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Elemental Eyes (): Darkvision if you didn’t already have it. ○ (5) Noble Resolve (): A +1 to will saves against mental effects will be frequently useful since you have poor will save progression. ○ (5) Treacherous Earth (): Mostly useful for melee and melee-adjacent Ways, but dropping a burst of difficult terrain can be a useful escape tool / deterrent. It’s got excellent synergy with the lizardfolk feat Terrain Advantage. ○ (9) Earthsense (): Imprecise senses are always useful, and tremorsense is almost always applicable. ○ (13) One with Earth (): Burrow speeds are hard to come by. ○ (13) Planar Sidestep (): Big damage resistance against a melee enemy once per day as a reaction. ○ (13) Shaitan Skin (**): Mountain resilience is a nice defensive innate spell.

Undine

10 ft. swim speed and the ability to breathe water will overcome most aquatic challenges. It’s not the most effective geniekin heritage, but it will give you a few consistently useful effects.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Aquatic Eyes (): Darkvision is always good, although you’ll need to take this feat twice to get it if you’re choosing this on an ancestry with normal vision. ○ (1) Brinesoul (): Dealing persistent acid damage and causing an attacker to become sickened 1 once per day as a reaction is solid. ○ (1) Mistsoul (*): Defensive synergy with Smoke Curtain, plus whatever else your caster allies can throw out.

○ (5) Noble Resolve (): A +1 to will saves against mental effects will be frequently useful since you have poor will save progression. ○ (5) Skillful Tail: No rating on this one because it’s a crapshoot, but if your GM lets you reload your firearm with this feat, it’s awesome for Pistoleros and dual wield Triggerbrands. ○ (9) Marid Magic (): Hydraulic push is worthless for you, but if you took the Mistsoul feat, you can put mist to good use. It’s very action-intensive, though. ○ (9) Strong Swimmer (): Much better swim speed. ○ (13) Planar Sidestep (): Big damage resistance against a melee enemy once per day as a reaction. ○ (17) Tidal Shield (*): It’s a huge AC bonus for you and adjacent allies, but it’s once per day, takes two actions to activate, and requires you to Sustain it. You can effectively do a massive Shield Block with it, reducing incoming damage for any one creature under Tidal Shield by 40.

Rare versatile heritages

Beastkin

You can change between a humanoid shape and a hybrid shape. In the hybrid shape, you get an unarmed Strike, which is useless for you unless you want to spend a whole lot of money maintaining two sets of weapon runes on a Drifter. There aren’t a ton of feats available here, but the precise senses are difficult to come by elsewhere.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Animal Senses (): Your choice of low-light vision (or darkvision, if you already have low-light vision) or imprecise scent. Darkvision and imprecise scent are both good options. ○ (5) Animalistic Resistance (): Sizable bonus to saves against diseases and poisons. That’s good on its own, but it synergizes very well with Fast Recovery or a similar ancestry feat. ○ (5) Greater Animal Senses ( / *): Imprecise echolocation or tremorsense, provided your chosen animal would have one of those senses. The real value is

in the fact that you can take it a second time to make your echolocation or tremorsense become precise. ○ (9) Pack Tactics (): This rating is for Ways in or near melee. It’s a party-dependent feat, but if you can rely on two or more other party members being adjacent to your enemies at the same time as you are, treating said enemies as off-guard is great, especially because it functions for your ranged Strikes (unlike flanking). ○ (17) Animal Swiftness (**): It comes online late, but 5 (or 10) feet of extra movement speed, plus a potential fly speed, is very good.

Reflection

This heritage doesn’t really offer anything at baseline other than flavor / roleplay potential. The feats have some unique value, though there aren’t a whole lot of good ones. If nothing else, Warped Reflection and Mistaken Identity give you strong debuff potential and a meaningful (if risky) improvement for your will saves.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Clone-Risen (): It’s only once per day, but getting a +2 to your will save as a reaction to a mental effect is helpful in overcoming your poor will save progression. ■ (5) Replicate (): Illusory disguise can be helpful with deception-based infiltration. ○ (1) Mirror-Risen (): Impose a 50% chance once per day to reduce the result of a (crit) successful Strike against you. It’ll save you some HP, and shrugging off a crit is good. ■ (9) Mirror Refuge (): If you’re able to infiltrate (mostly Pistoleros and Snipers), getting, effectively, one with stone for mirrors once per day can be a helpful tool to enable said infiltration. Mostly applies in urban settings. ○ (1) Warped Reflection (**): Inflicting both frightened 1 and stupefied 1 for a single action, with a will save against your class DC, is quite strong. The once per

minute frequency isn’t too bad. Less useful for Spellshots due to the class DC requirement. ○ (5) Mistaken Identity (): Being able to apply fortune to a save against a mental effect as a reaction once per minute is a great way to bolster your poor will save, but it does come at the cost of being frightened 1 after. ○ (9) Unyielding Disguise (*): Extend your _illusory disguise_.

Red (*) ancestries

Red (*) Ancestries

Uncommon ancestries

Azarketi

CON and CHA are good for Pistoleros, but the WIS flaw hurts, especially since your will progression is poor. Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s at least better than normal vision. 30 feet of swim speed is good, but it comes with costs. As usual with an aquatic ancestry, your land speed is only 20 feet. The real difficulty with this ancestry is in the fact that you need to be able to fully submerge in water every day or start taking penalties and, eventually, suffocating. Unsurprisingly, this ancestry is best suited to an aquatic campaign. Most of the feats available have to do with being in bodies of water. Since the majority of campaigns are not aquatic, versatile heritages generally aren’t an option to make this ancestry widely viable you need the mistbreath azarketi heritage to even function in most campaigns. Adopted Ancestry is a better way to fill out your ancestry feat slots.

● Heritage

○ Ancient Scale (): Darkvision is always good, and you can provide a small source of light to help your allies out. ○ Mistbreath (): Removes the need to submerge yourself, brings your speed up to average at 25 ft., and reduces your swim speed to 15 ft. If you’re playing in a non-aquatic campaign, this is the heritage you want. ○ Murkeyed (**): Good synergy with Deadeye and Smoke Curtain.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Algollthu Bound (*): This feat is a bit of a double-edged sword. If your campaign is unlikely to feature many, if any, algollthus, it’s a straight upgrade to the Stubborn class feature. Otherwise, it’s a danger. With your poor will save progression, having a few buffs to shore up your ability to shrug off mental effects that would make you controlled is a good way to not light up your allies with gunfire.

○ (1) Cynical (): It’ll be harder for NPCs to Lie to you, which is sometimes useful given your strong perception progression. ○ (1) Hydraulic Deflection (): Basically a buckler without the hand usage or bulk. If you can fit Raising a Shield in on any given turn, extra AC is always nice. ○ (5) Marine Ally (): Familiars provide some value to you even if you have no means of granting them extra abilities. Unfortunately, one of your familiar’s abilities must be Amphibious. Partner in Crime is useful for Pistoleros, Triggerbrands, and anyone building for a trapfinder role. Second Opinion is good for Spellshots. Threat Display will relieve Pistoleros from needing Intimidating Glare. Flier + Share Senses gives you some scouting potential. Familiar skill usage will work best on Pistoleros who have the CHA to fuel the familiar’s skills. ○ (9) Aboleth Transmutation (): Water-mitigating utility spells. ○ (13) Rehydration (*): Mostly removes the need to submerge yourself. Only a useful feat if you picked a heritage other than mistbreath. It comes online way too late to be useful in most games, unfortunately.

Kitsune

Kitsune offers very little of value. You get low-light vision and that’s about it. Change Shape can potentially be useful for Pistoleros in social encounters and activities. While there is a familiar on offer here, it has to have the Innate Surge master ability, which is borderline useless for you since the innate spells available from this ancestry are almost all worthless or require investment in worthless spells / feats to get to anything useful. If you’re playing a kitsune, it’ll be for flavor, not feat or heritage value.

● Heritage:

○ Celestial Envoy (): Getting bonuses to your saves as a reaction is nice, but you can only use this against divine effects. At least you can use it to fish for divine effects, I guess? Tailless form is more useful for Pistoleros. ○ Dark Fields (*): This rating is for Pistoleros. Getting temporary HP once per hour as a reaction when you Demoralize (or any time a creature in range gains the frightened condition, even if your allies cause it) is decent. Fox alternate form

is awful since pest form has very little use to begin with and falls off almost immediately.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Seven Changed Performance (): Gives Pistoleros Quick Disguise. Works better for Pistol Phenom builds. ○ (1) Shapechangers Intuition (): At least it’s something passive that works with your excellent perception progression. You’ll potentially be able to passively see through transmutation and disguises. ○ (5) Myriad Forms (): This rating is for Pistoleros. If your chosen heritage has a fox alternate form, you’ll want this feat to get a tailless alternate form so that Change Shape has even a little bit of relevance. ○ (5) Shifting Faces (): This rating is for Pistoleros. If you have a humanoid form available for Change Shape, you can at least get illusory disguise once per day to help with deception and infiltration. ■ (9) Many Guises (): More uses per day. ■ (13) Larger than Life (): Circumstance bonus to intimidation, though you may not like being large / huge in all cases. ○ (9) Fox Trick (*): For Pistoleros or Snipers, you can get a free action use of Create a Diversion (Pistolero) or Conceal an Object / Hide (Sniper) once per day. Also applies for non-Sniper stealth builds.

Tanuki

CON / CHA boosts with a WIS flaw is a workable spread for Pistoleros, but as usual you’ll want to mitigate the WIS penalty. Change Shape might be useful for scouting from time to time since it counts as Impersonate. Beyond that, there’s not much here.

● Heritage

○ Ascetic (): Imprecise scent. ○ Courageous (): Getting away from danger when you become frightened, which is likely for you, will be helpful.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Everyday Form (): Gives a little more versatility to Change Shape. ■ (5) False Priest Form (): Lets Pistoleros Recall Knowledge with deception sometimes. ■ (9) Many Faces (): Illusory disguise three times per day. ○ (5) Hasty Celebration (): Considering how often you’re likely to crit, you’re going to be able to hand out this buff often. Just be careful of the off-guard condition, especially for melee Ways. ○ (13) Splendid Illusion (*): Illusory scene can help you out in scouting functions, giving you an out if things go wrong, or setting you up to be somewhere that you can gain information.

Tripkee

Small size brings athletics limitations. Pistoleros and Spellshots will do well with the DEX and WIS boosts alongside a STR flaw. Snipers can also handle it with a non-kickback weapon. Low-light vision isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s at least better than normal. This ancestry seriously has very little to offer you other than a good attribute spread for Pistoleros and Spellshots.

● Heritage:

○ Poisonhide (): Dealing a bit of scaling poison damage as a reaction is an efficient means of damage delivery, but the trigger is somewhat situational. Spellshots will find this heritage less effective because of their class DC being tied to INT. ○ Riverside (): Swim speeds are useful. ○ Stickytoe (**): This rating is for the Ways that want to be in melee. Since action economy comes at a premium for you, having to expend actions to Stand after being knocked prone or get back into melee after being Shoved is painful. Resisting those effects in the first place is a much better way to go about it, and this heritage helps.

○ Thickskin (*): Makes it easier to overcome diseases and poisons.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Nocturnal Grippli (): Darkvision is always good. ○ (1) Terrifying Croak (): This rating is for Pistoleros. Makes the frightened condition from a Demoralize last a little longer. ○ (5) Prodigious Climber ( / ): Low climb speed that’s better if you have the stickytoe heritage. ○ (9) Absorb Toxin (*): Situational, but very useful when multiple people in your party are under the effects of an AoE poison or disease. Less useful for Spellshots since their class DC is tied to their INT.

Rare ancestries

Anadi

Note that the anadi ancestry does not inherently speak Common. DEX and WIS boosts are good no matter your Way, but the CON flaw is painful. This ancestry doesn’t offer much of use at baseline. Unfortunately, the feat list is so poor that taking a heritage other than adaptive more-or-less forces you into taking Adopted Ancestry in a general feat slot.

● Heritage:

○ Adaptive (*): There are so very many great feats on offer with Adopted Ancestry. Getting it at level 1 is even better. ○ Snaring (): This rating is for athletics builds. You’ll be able to Grapple and Trip regardless of hand occupation or weapon traits. You’ll still need to spend gold on potency runes for the bite, though. ○ Spindly (*): Movement speed is always great, but gets a lower rating here due to the fact that the adaptive heritage is so much better at making the anadi ancestry functional.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Reassuring Presence (): Reducing an ally’s frightened condition by 1 once per hour is a pretty good use of a reaction, and there’s no check required. ○ (1) Studious Magic (): Gain an arcane cantrip. Eat fire is always a good choice, and Spellshots get a lot of options. ■ (9) Studious Adept (): Humanoid form will mostly be useful for Pistoleros. ○ (9) Strand Strider (): Climb speeds are useful. Better if you also have Hybrid Shape to use the climb speed no matter what rather than having to spend an action to Change Shape. ○ (9) Web Hunter (*): Although it (normally) offers less range than most other imprecise sense, imprecise tremorsense is a useful improvement for your perception.

Conrasu

Note that the conrasu ancestry does not inherently speak Common. CON and WIS boosts with a CHA flaw is a good attribute spread for all but Pistoleros, though Spellshots won’t be able to start with +3 INT. Despite a decent stat spread, there are slim pickings for feats.

● Heritage:

○ Rite of Invocation (): Arcane cantrip. Eat fire is always a good choice, and Spellshots get several good options. ○ Rite of Knowing (): This rating is for Spellshots. Getting fortune once per day on a Recall Knowledge, and with no chance of a critical failure, is a solid way to figure out information when you know you’ll need it. Pair with Dubious Knowledge for a guaranteed result. ○ Rite of Reinforcement (**): Armor with the comfort trait for STR builds.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Ceremony of Protection (*): Basically a buckler without the hand usage or bulk. If you can afford the action, extra AC is always nice.

■ (9) Ceremony of Fortification (): Flexibly, readily-accessible resistance to physical damage. If you’re about to take physical damage from a weapon, its type should be pretty predictable. Likewise with most creatures’ unarmed attacks. Fangs for piercing, limbs for bludgeoning, claws for slashing, etc. ○ (1) Conrasu Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Snipers and Spellshots. The taw launcher is a solid damage-dealing weapon with d10 modular B, P, or S damage and the deadly d10 trait. It’s not quite the damage that an arquebus will put out, but it does relieve the need for STR or a tripod. Also an option in games without firearms. ○ (5) Ceremony of Knowledge (): Untrained Improvisation. ○ (5) Ceremony of Sunlight (): More healing from Sunlight Healing. ○ (9) Ceremony of Aeon’s Guidance (*): Calm emotions is worthless, but augury can be useful.

Ghoran

No need to eat provided you have ready access to sunlight, and low-light vision for a moderate improvement over normal. Melee Ways have a couple options here, but that’s about it.

● Heritage:

○ Ancient Ash (): Automatic scaling to expert in a skill will help you a bit on the skill front. ○ Enchanting Lily (): This rating is for Pistoleros. If you want to fully lean into the face role and focus on diplomacy, Make an Impression is one of the most common exploration mode uses and gets a near-permanent bonus. ○ Strong Oak (): The bonus to your DC against Grapple and Trip attempts is solid, although Balancing doesn’t come up much. More useful if you can reliably find places from which to attack enemies where Balancing is something you can do but your enemies can’t. ○ Thorned Rose (): This rating is for Ways in or near melee. Dealing some passive, scaling piercing damage once per day as a reaction is a solid use of a

reaction, and you’ll almost certainly use it every day. You can even make it more accessible with a feat.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Ancient Memories (): A flexible skill will help with your INT issue / general lack of skills, although gunslingers aren’t skill monkeys and will do fine with a limited number of skills. The followup feats, Endless Memories and Eternal Memories, make Ancient Memories, respectively, a bit stronger and a bit more flexible, but ultimately don’t deserve any higher of a rating. ○ (1) Ghoran Weapon Familiarity (): This rating is for Drifters. The thorn whip is a reach finesse weapon with trip, which is good if you want your melee weapon to have more control, safety, and utility. As a brawling weapon, it can slow enemies who fail a fortitude save against your class DC. ○ (5) Murderous Thorns (): While it has two options for prerequisites, the only one that matters to you is the thorned rose heritage. Changing the Wicked Thorns reaction’s frequency to once per hour makes it a much more viable reaction. Just like its prerequisite heritage, this rating is for Ways in or near melee. ○ (9) Flower Magic (): Oaken resilience doesn’t provide a ton of resistance, but at least it’s something, provided you can pre-buff and don’t need to worry about squeezing it into your action economy. One with plants can be a decent infiltration tool if you’ve got the stealth to back it up. ○ (13) Look but Don’t Touch (*): A bit of extra passive damage that pairs well with the thorned rose ghoran heritage / Murderous Thorns. It only lasts a minute, so putting it to use will really require you to already be in an encounter, making the action economy fairly difficult to employ this feat.

Shisk

Note that you don’t start out being able to speak Common. Darkvision is always good, but that’s all this ancestry offers at baseline. There are a couple good and unique feats on offer here, but the good feats tend to only be good for a specific Way, meaning this ancestry generally only

offers a feat or two for any given build. Luckily, it is fixable with Adopted Ancestry or versatile heritage feat support, so don’t fully count it out despite its rating.

● Heritage:

○ Lorekeeper (): Automatic scaling to expert in a lore and an INTor WIS-based skill. Primarily useful for Spellshots, but free skill scaling is decent even if the selection is limited. You can use it for crafting to qualify for Munitions Machinist if you don’t want to spend boosts in crafting. ○ Quillcoat (): This rating is for Ways in or near melee. Dealing some passive, scaling piercing damage once per day is a solid use of a reaction, and you’ll almost certainly use it every day. You can even make it more accessible with a feat. ○ Spellkeeper (**): Gain an occult or primal cantrip. Eat fire is always a good choice, and Spellshots have quite a few solid options.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (5) Bristle (): Basically a buckler without the hand usage or bulk. If you can afford the action, extra AC is always nice. Also buffs the Barbed Quills reaction’s damage a little. ○ (5) Renewing Quills (): While it has two options for prerequisites, the only one that matters to you is the quillcoat heritage. Changing the Barbed Quills reaction’s frequency to once per ten minutes makes it a much more viable reaction. Just like its prerequisite heritage, this rating is for Ways in or near melee. ○ (9) Quill Spray (): Once per day two-action activity that deals scaling piercing damage in a 30 foot cone against a basic reflex save. This damage is decent, but the required two actions may be hard to fit into your action economy and you may put allies at risk. ○ (13) Delver (): Burrow speeds are hard to come by. ○ (13) Secret Eyes (*): Long-range scouting functionality once per day that works off of your perception, although you’ll need to Sustain the Spell.

○ (17) Fountain of Secrets (**): This rating is for Spellshots. Getting a free Recall Knowledge every round is great, especially because you get the equivalent of crit success results on a success. It can quickly render your Slinger’s Reload useless, but that’s okay just use regular reloads or a reload from another gunslinger feat when that happens.

Strix

Low-light vision is a moderate improvement over normal. The fact that strix hate humans can make them a difficult pick for parties, depending on your fellow PCs. You can replicate nearly everything the strix ancestry has to offer by playing an elf with the sylph versatile heritage.

● Heritage:

○ Nightglider (*): Darkvision is always good. This is also the only normal strix heritage that’s really worth taking.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Fledgling Flight (): Low fly speed at a very early level, though it’s tied to the Fledgling Flight action. ■ (5) Juvenile Flight (): Better fly speed. ● (9) Fully Flighted (): Permanent fly speed. ○ (5) Strix Vengeance (): Reaction that gives you a bit of extra damage when you or an ally take crit damage. ○ (9) Wing Step (*): Using two Steps as a single action is a good way to keep yourself in a safe position, although it won’t work in difficult terrain without additional feat support.

Surki

Darkvision is always good. Other than that, the Magiphage ability requires you to pick a spell tradition that will dictate how some of your feats work. This ancestry is mostly just useful for Triggerbrands to get crit specialization for certain combination weapons. There are a couple

other good feats here, but by and large it’s not an ancestry that’s very conducive to playing a gunslinger.

● Heritage:

○ Elytron (): No fall damage. Qualifies you for a flight evolution. ○ Hardshell (): Comfort armor for a STR build. ○ Lantern (**): Light if your party needs it.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Sequestered Spell (): Gain a cantrip from your Magiphage tradition. Eat fire is always a good choice, and Spellshots get a lot of good options. ○ (1) Surki Weapon Familiarity (): Triggerbrands can gain critical weapon specialization with the hammer gun or axe musket. Hammer gun is generally the better choice. Drifters can get critical specialization with the pick and should treat this feat as green (). ○ (5) Secondary Adaptation (*): One of very few ways to gain a second heritage, which enables you to start with a versatile heritage and still get one of the surki heritages. ○ (9) Grand Metamorphosis: Gives you one of the evolution features of your heritage. You can pick more than one, and can pick both from your heritage if you like. These tend to be the best, though. ■ Elytron (): Fly once per day while producing light. ■ Hardshell (): Low chance to shrug off a critical hit. ■ Lantern (): MAP-free single action area damage that saves against your class DC. ○ (13) Generation Digger (**): Burrow speeds are hard to come by.

Uncommon versatile heritages

Dhampir

You (and your party) will have to deal with void healing. Improves your ancestry’s vision either from normal to low-light vision or from low-light vision to darkvision. While there are several good level 1 feats, most of them are mutually exclusive as lineage feats. Also, you can’t take both Eyes of Night and a lineage feat since both must be taken at level 1. At least if your ancestry has low-light vision, you can skip Eyes of Night. Unless you really like a lineage feat, though, this heritage doesn’t offer much consistent value.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Adhyabhau (): Emotion effects are fairly common (Demoralize) and your will save isn’t great. Having some help overcoming emotion effects is a welcome improvement. ■ (5) Feed on Pain (): You’ll only want this feat with specific features. Orc Pistoleros with Mask of Pain can reliably deal mental damage and get the benefits of Feed on Pain. You can also get them with alchemical weapons that deal mental damage. Dread ampoule is common, but its mental damage is miniscule and won’t work especially well with this feat. Better is the vexing vapor, but that’s uncommon, so seek GM permission. If you can get your hands on a mindlance or a dread helm (same issues as dread ampoules), those also deal mental damage. If you are able to consistently deal mental damage, you can get temp HP equal to half the mental damage dealt once per hour as a reaction. ○ (1) Eyes of the Night (): Darkvision if you didn’t already have it. ○ (1) Nocturnal Charm (): This rating is for Pistoleros who want to fully lean into the face role with diplomacy investment. Bonuses to Lie, Gather Information, and Make an Impression are among the most frequent social skill actions. Getting a +1 to all three is solid if you’re the party face. ○ (1) Straveika (): Getting a bonus to Sense Motive and to your DC against Lies is frequently useful. Bad guy NPCs are always trying to slip something past PCs. Especially useful for Pistoleros in a face role. ○ (1) Svetocher (*): Makes the drained condition less awful. ○ (5) Necromantic Physiology (): Sizable bonus to saves against diseases. ○ (5) Undead Slayer (): Extra damage against undead and even more against vampires. It’s situational, but undead are a fairly common enemy.

○ (13) Daywalker (**): Makes it easier for your allies to heal you, but by this level your party should have figured out the void healing issue.

Hungerseed

The heritage itself doesn’t give you anything noteworthy. The best feats make you clumsy, which is unpleasant for a DEX class. If you’re willing to accept the clumsy penalties, this heritage will help out your melee a bit with features like reach and large size.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Hungry Eyes ( / ): Low-light vision or darkvision if you already had low-light vision. ○ (5) Oni’s Mask (): Illusory disguise is a useful infiltration and scouting tool. ○ (5) Storming Gaze (): Low-damage blasting. ■ (13) Tempest Gaze (): Better blasting damage at the cost of making it usable once per hour. ○ (13) Oni Rampage (**): Haste as a reaction once per day is quite good, though you’ll have to lose a fair bit of health to activate it.

Talos

Electricity resistance and the highly situational _detect metal_ cantrip. Most of this heritage deals with unarmed attacks, so the majority of its value is from the geniekin feats that are common to all geniekin heritages.

● Ancestry feats:

○ (1) Elemental Eyes (): Darkvision if you didn’t already have it. ○ (1) Reflective Defense (): Relatively renewable dazzled effect from a reaction. ○ (5) Noble Resolve (): A +1 to will saves against mental effects will be frequently useful since you have poor will save progression. ○ (13) Planar Sidestep (): Big damage resistance against a melee enemy once per day as a reaction.

Background, Skills, Skill / General Feats

Backgrounds

While backgrounds are a fairly easy decision and don’t have a ton of bearing on your build, there are a few standouts for certain Ways. I’m not going to give them ratings, just going to point out a few common backgrounds that synergize well with specific Ways. Don’t take this as a be-all, end-all list. Other backgrounds can work perfectly fine so long as they enable you to meet your attribute score requirements.

Drifter: Cannoneer, Deckhand, Driver, Farmhand, Junker, Laborer, Martial Disciple

Pistolero: Anti-Tech Activist, Bandit, Barkeep, Barrister, Charlatan, Deckhand, Driver, Gambler, Guard, Haunted Citizen, Insurgent, Martial Disciple, Merchant, Night Watch, Tax Collector, Warrior

Sniper: Deckhand, Driver, Hired Killer, Martial Disciple, Spotter

Spellshot: Academy Dropout, Archaeologist, Artisan, Artist, Astrologer, Codebreaker, Courier, Deckhand, Detective, Disciple of the Gear, Driver, Fortune Teller, Gunsmith, Hermit, Junk Collector, Magical Merchant, Magical Misfit, Martial Disciple, Mechanic, Necromancer’s Apprentice, Noble, Raised by Belief, Refugee, Scholar, Servant, Spell Seeker, Student of Magic, Tinker, Toymaker

Triggerbrand: Cannoneer, Deckhand, Driver, Farmhand, Hounded Thief, Junker, Laborer, Martial Disciple, Saboteur, Street Urchin, War Orphan

Vanguard: Cannoneer, Deckhand, Driver, Farmhand, Junker, Laborer, Martial Disciple

Skills

This section contains a general breakdown of how useful it is for a gunslinger to invest in any given skill. Lore is not considered here due to its wide variety of options and narrow usage.

Acrobatics (): Acrobatics doesn’t bring a whole lot of great skill feats, but Cat Fall is always good, especially if and when you get Reach for the Stars. You certainly have the DEX to support acrobatics if you care about it. Triggerbrands and Vanguards may like it for Tumble Through’s positioning value. For Drifters, acrobatics is blue (*).

Arcana (): INT is the least useful attribute score for you. Unless you’re a Spellshot. For Spellshots, arcana is green (**). If you want to get extra spells from the spellcasting feats, you’ll need up to master arcana proficiency, or legendary if you grab the wizard archetype to reach the master spellcasting feat.

Athletics: Many of the Ways want some STR, so athletics is a viable choice to overcome mobility challenges like climbing. You could solve most of your mobility challenges with Black Powder Boost, but that’s not available until level 4.

● Vanguard (*): Way skill, and several of your features need athletics. ● Drifter and Triggerbrand (): For the most part, you’ll need a grapple / shove / trip weapon to use any athletics skill actions since your hands will be occupied. That said, you want STR anyway, might as well put it to use in as many ways as possible. ● Others (*): Pistoleros, Snipers, and Spellshots don’t really have much use for athletics, even if Snipers can put STR to good use.

Crafting (): INT is the least useful attribute score for you, unless you’re a Spellshot. You may think crafting would be useful for the Munitions Crafter feat and its chain, but crafting is entirely unnecessary to get value from those feats. If you want to be able to produce your own consumables outside of the feat-granted freebies, though, you will need to invest some in INT and crafting. For Spellshots and alchemy-focused builds, crafting is yellow (*). Spellshots have the INT to support it, but investing in the crafting skill will come at the cost of not investing in a more-used Recall Knowledge skill. Builds with a primary focus on alchemy feats need some crafting investment to meet feat requirements.

Deception (*): The vast majority of builds can’t afford the CHA to support deception. It’ll cost in the damage department via STR for Drifters, Snipers, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards, or it’ll cost you on one of your saves via CON (plus lower HP) or WIS. Spellshots have the added necessity of INT and really can’t afford CHA. Snipers can make a low-STR build work and invest in CHA,

making deception green () for them. Pistoleros will find quite a bit of value in deception, making it blue (*) for them.

Diplomacy (): Same issues as deception. Additionally, not a Way skill for any of the Ways. For Pistoleros and CHA Snipers, though, diplomacy is green (**).

Intimidation (): Same issues as deception. Pistoleros, however, will find quite a bit of value in intimidation, making it blue () for them. CHA-based Snipers should treat intimidation as green ().

Medicine (**): Medicine is useful, but you may have a hard time finding the WIS to support it. At least you can Aid someone else in your party who’s investing in medicine. Additionally, you’re not generally going to have a hand free to be able to use healer’s tools in combat, though reload rules let you cheese that somewhat with a two-handed weapon.

Nature (**): Your job doesn’t really have much to do with Recall Knowledge, but you might be able to squeeze in the WIS to support some investment in nature. While Spellshots definitely want the Recall Knowledge, something’s got to give. If you’re investing in the two major INT-based Recall Knowledge skills, you’ll only be able to invest in one of the WIS-based Recall Knowledge skills and even then, society is a contender for the third priority skill.

Occultism (*): Same as arcana, but without the casting feat consideration.

Performance (*): Bad skill to begin with. Even Pistoleros won’t find value here except on a pistol phenom build.

Religion (**): Same as nature.

Society (*): Same as occultism.

Stealth (): You’ve certainly got the DEX to support stealth, and it’s frequently a useful skill. You’ll probably have a hard time using it in most encounters due to action economy issues, but it’s great in exploration mode too. For Snipers, however, this skill is purple (**).

Survival (**): Survival is the weakest of the WIS-based skills. Even if you have the WIS to support it, that generally means you don’t have the INT to support even getting trained proficiency in survival over any other WIS-based skill.

Thievery (): Thievery doesn’t generally get as much play as the other DEX-based skills, but it’s still useful for someone in the party to have it. Disabling traps is always good and you’ve got the perception progression to support being the trapfinder. If your party needs someone in that role, you can certainly support the need. For Triggerbrands, thievery is blue (*).

Noteworthy skill feats

Repeated knowledge-related skill feats (Quick Identification, Recognize Spell, etc.) are only described in Arcana, but will be listed in each relevant skill section. Certain differences will be noted in Nature since it’s alphabetically before Religion, and in Occultism since certain feats will be less useful there. As with the Skills section of the guide, ratings assume that your build has the relevant attribute score as a key attribute. In the case of Quick Identification and Assured Identification, you don’t need to take them more than once in different skills.

The ratings below are made independently of other skills’ feat values. All are self contained and compared against other skill feats within each individual skill itself. For a rating of which skills are valuable as compared to each other, see the above Skills section.

(1) Assurance (*): Rating is for Vanguards and other athletics builds. Use it to Shove or Trip enemies with low associated saves for your third action and not worry about the MAP. If you’re building for Dirty Trick, the same concept applies for thievery.

(1) Dubious Knowledge (*): Rating is for Spellshots. Get useful information from your Recall Knowledge checks even on failures. It won’t help with crit failures, but still even with the false information peppered in, you’ll get so much more mileage out of each Recall Knowledge.

Acrobatics

● (1) Cat Fall (**): It prevents damage at a scaling rate and works very well with Black Powder Boost / Reach for the Stars.

● (2) Nimble Crawl (): In fights against primarily ranged enemies, going prone can be a beneficial means of Taking Cover against enemy ranged attacks. That does limit your mobility, though, as well as imposing an attack debuff. Nimble Crawl at least helps ease the pain of being prone and needing to move. ● (2) Slippery Prey (): Lesser or, at legendary proficiency, zero MAP debuff for your Escape attempts. Escape will still increase the MAP for other attack actions, though, so it’s best to use this after you’ve used any and all other attack actions you want to for the turn. ● (2) Tumbling Teamwork (): A little bit easier positioning for you and ally when you Tumble Through. ● (7) Aerobatics Mastery (): Flight rules are ill-defined, but if your GM pays attention to them, you may need to Maneuver in Flight so as to orient your firearms toward your enemies. At some point, you’re probably going to be in aerial combat, even if you use weapons with a ton of range. Protect yourself against your GM. ● (7) Kip Up (**): If you ever get knocked prone, being able to get up from prone both as a free action and without triggering reactions will keep you much safer. Between this and Nimble Crawl, prone is a much friendlier condition to have, assuming you’re not surrounded by melee baddies.

Arcana

● (1) Arcane Sense (): If you want some flexibility in your exploration activities, being able to use detect magic is almost always a useful feature. Chances are, someone else in your party can do it instead, but it’ll be a meaningful addition to a thievery build for trapfinding. ● (1) Quick Identification (): Much better at master proficiency when the time spent is negligible compared to that of your party’s time expenditure during ten minute exploration periods, but still, speeding up your magic item identification potentially allows you to identify all magic items you find while everyone else is refocusing or Treating Wounds. ● (1) Recognize Spell (): Being able to identify spells as a reaction and potentially get a bonus to save against them is solid. Prerequisite for Quick Recognition. ● (1) Trick Magic Item (*): Offensive spells won’t really be an option for you, but there are plenty of good supportive arcane spells. While useful, using it in encounters will be

limited due to the action cost. You should consider this feat a means of applying longer-duration buffs like tailwind. ● (2) Assured Identification (): Being unable to misidentify items is frequently useful, even if you are heavily invested in the skill. ● (7) Quick Recognition (): Getting a free action once per turn to Recognize a Spell and potentially get a bonus to save against it is outstanding. ● (15) Unified Theory (*): While it doesn’t outright replace the other Recall Knowledge-related skills, it does a whole lot to cover their uses. At a bare minimum, it’ll make your Quick Identification, Trick Magic Item, and Recognize Spell / Quick Recognition function for all spell traditions, as well as Recall Knowledge if it’s in relation to learning something tied to the magic tradition.

Athletics

● (1) Combat Climber (): The only reason this is yellow is because it’s impossible to predict how often your campaign will require you to climb while in an encounter. That said, this feat eases a lot of the issues with climbing and with the fact that your hands are pretty much always occupied. ● (1) Quick Jump (): Jumping over obstacles is a frequent solution to environmental challenges. Reducing the action economy requirements to do so is often useful. Synergizes with Black Powder Boost to boot. ● (1) Titan Wrestler (): A staple feat of athletics, you’ll need it to Grapple / Shove / Trip enemies who are larger than you. At early levels, it’s generally not as necessary since you’re probably not fighting enemies any bigger than large size. Small and especially tiny ancestries will definitely want it at earlier levels, though. ● (2) Lead Climber (): If you’re the athletics person in the party, you can do a lot to keep your party safe on climbs with this feat. ● (2) Powerful Leap (*): Getting 5 feet on your vertical Leaps and an extra 5 feet on your horizontal Leaps will get you over and around many an obstacle. ● (2) Slippery Prey (): Same as the acrobatics version. ● (7) Quick Climb ( / ): Make climbing faster on the occasions you need to climb. Eventually get a climb speed. High spots might be nice for longer-range weapons. ● (7) Quick Swim ( / ): More movement when you Swim and an eventual swim speed.

● (15) Cloud Jump (*) High Jumps can now get a baseline of as much as whatever your speed is (40 is the ancestry maximum). By level 15, you may not strictly need extra mobility, but it does a fair job of reducing your caster friend’s need to cast fly on you. Having Cat Fall will be very valuable if you find yourself jumping vertically often.

Crafting

● (1) Alchemical Crafting (*): If you’re investing in crafting, you might as well be able to make alchemical items since they’re some of the most useful consumables in the game. It helps that you get this feat for free from Munitions Crafter, which is basically the only reason you’d want it. ● (1) Crafter’s Appraisal (): If, for some reason, you’re not investing in another Recall Knowledge skill which can identify magic items, you can offload that skill action on to crafting. It won’t be useful for identifying most creatures, though, which limits its value even for Spellshots. ● (2) Inventor (): Easy recipe access for the likes of Advanced Alchemy / Quick Alchemy if you don’t have a good means of getting recipes from a settlement / shop. ● (7) Rapid Affixture (): Make the time expenditure for you to affix talismans easier on yourself.

Deception

● (1) Charming Liar (): You could just use diplomacy instead, but since deception is rather useful for you and you’re limited on skills, you’ll occasionally be able to lie your way into improved attitudes. ● (1) Lengthy Diversion (): Give yourself a CHA-based means of rendering enemies off-guard that can last beyond the end of your turn when the dice are kind to you. ● (2) Confabulator (*): Becomes better as your proficiency in deception goes up. Keep those Create a Diversions rolling with less (eventually, no) penalty. ● (2) Discreet Inquiry (): This feat will only be useful if you’re in a campaign or scenario where it matters that your adversaries are unable to discover what you know and / or what information you’re seeking. Additionally, you’ll have to invest in diplomacy in order to Gather Information.

● (2) Fleeing Diversion (): You’ll need stealth for this one. If that’s the case, you’ll get some action compression to Create a Diversion and Sneak away. ● (2) Quick Disguise (): If you’re in a campaign where you frequently need to infiltrate or act under disguise, this feat will be helpful. ● (7) Doublespeak (**): Secret communication is frequently useful.

Diplomacy

● (1) Bon Mot (*): Although it has linguistic restrictions, this is among the best skill feats. Imposing a -2 or -3 to will saves with a single action from a first level skill feat is outstanding. It won’t necessarily be all that helpful to you specifically, unless you’re using Ricochet Legend, but your allies will certainly appreciate it. ● (1) Group Impression (): Turning groups of unfriendly NPCs to indifferent, or from indifferent to friendly, even if temporarily, can make a powerful difference in the roleplay aspect of the game. ● (1) Hobnobber (): Information gathering is good, but you don’t really get the information gathering value out of this feat until master proficiency when you can no longer crit fail to Gather Information. Prior to that point, the improvement to your Gather Information speed may or may not matter depending on your campaign and GM. ● (2) Discreet Inquiry (): Same as the deception feat equivalent, but more valuable in diplomacy since it only relies on diplomacy rather than both deception and diplomacy. ● (2) Glad-Hand (*): If an NPC isn’t too keen on talking for a full minute, you can get some words in immediately to try to soften them up, improve their attitude, and make them hear you out. ● (7) Evangelize (): Not quite as heavy of a will save debuff as Bon Mot, but stupefied affects more than just will saves. It does have the same linguistic limitation that Bon Mot does.

Intimidation

● (1) Group Coercion (*): Making groups of NPCs do your bidding is frequently useful. Unfriendly NPCs can be Coerced into doing what you want, and you’ll often run into unfriendly NPCs. You can technically even Coerce hostile NPCs, although they’re

unlikely to give you the minute of time required to do so. Coercing groups of hostile NPCs is much easier if you also have Quick Coercion. ● (1) Intimidating Glare (*): Completely overcome the linguistic limitation of Demoralize. Demoralize was already one of the best skill actions in the game. Making it more widely usable is fantastic. ● (1) Quick Coercion (): Making NPCs do your bidding with only a round of conversation makes it much easier to Coerce them since they won’t have much opportunity to simply walk away from you, or start hitting you and your allies. ● (2) Lasting Coercion (): This feat massively extends the amount of time that your coerced targets will do your bidding. Still, it’s not likely that you’ll need NPCs to follow your intimidating instructions for a week. ● (2) Terrifying Resistance (): Getting a bonus to saves because you Demoralized a spellcaster is solid. That’s a 2-3 point swing on their casts provided your target tries to cast something on you while it’s frightened. ● (7) Battle Cry (): Not only do you get a free Demoralize at the start of every encounter, you eventually get to demoralize as a reaction whenever you critically succeed at an attack roll, and you should be landing crit success attacks with some frequency. ● (7) Terrified Retreat (): Taking a target out of the fight for a round (and change, for its actions spent returning, if at all) is a decent control tool. You and your party may find fleeing targets annoying to deal with, though. ● (15) Scare to Death (**): Outright killing enemies with intimidation is great, even if it’s hard to pull off. This feat does have a linguistic limitation, though. At least it makes targets frightened 2 on a success, which is a noticeable improvement over Demoralize.

Lore

● (1) Additional Lore (): Getting an extra, automatically scaling, lore skill can be useful if you have a good idea of which lore will be useful. Unless you’re a Spellshot, though, using it will be a shot in the dark. ● (2) Battle Planner (): If you have expert proficiency in warfare lore, you can sometimes use it in place of perception for initiative. Useful, if situational since it requires a minute of prep pre-encounter. If you got warfare lore from the Additional Lore feat, the expert proficiency requirement will be easily met.

● (2) Unmistakable Lore (**): Best used in combination with Untrained Improvisation. Regardless, being unable to crit fail lore-based Recall Knowledge checks will stop you from gaining false information. You’ll need at least one lore skill at expert proficiency. If you have the Additional Lore feat, that’s an easy way to meet the requirement.

Medicine

● (1) Battle Medicine (): Battle Medicine is a great feat, but you’ll have a hard time using it in encounters due to your action economy and, in some cases, hand usage. Generally speaking, both of your hands are going to be occupied, which is more of an issue for dual wield builds. If you’re planning to take the Medic Dedication feat, which eventually offers an archetype feat that will make it possible to Stride and use Battle Medicine with a single action, this feat is a requirement for it. ● (1) Risky Surgery (): Good chance to turn your Treat Wounds skill action check into a crit success. ● (1) Stitch Flesh (): Necessary if you’re the party medicine-user and someone in your party is playing an undead character. Otherwise, don’t bother. ● (2) Continual Recovery (): Necessary if you’re the party medicine-user. If you’re just a backup, you’re better off using the Aid action and can skip this feat. ● (2) Godless Healing (): Nice addition to your Treat Wounds or Battle Medicine heals. Since you don’t need to worship a deity, you can easily get away with taking this feat. Prerequisite for Mortal Healing (which is a good feat, but not covered here) if you follow the Laws of Mortality philosophy. ● (2) Robust Recovery (): Similar concept to Inoculation. ● (2) Unusual Treatment (): Lets you remove a few common conditions. More importantly, at master proficiency, it lets you remove drained. ● (2) Ward Medic (): Necessary if you’re the party medicine-user. If you’re just a backup, you’re better off using the Aid action and can skip this feat. ● (7) Advanced First Aid (): Much like Battle Medicine, being able to remove conditions in encounters is solid. The problem is the same, though: you don’t really have the actions to support using this feat. ● (15) Legendary Medic (*): Being able to remove some of the nastiest conditions out of combat without expending resources (other than time) is solid. Still doesn’t get rid of fatigue, though.

Nature

● (1) Natural Medicine (): If you’re willing to accept the limitations of Treat Wounds without any feat support, you can combine the value of a core Recall Knowledge skill and a bit of healing. The only improvement you can make with Natural Medicine is the extra HP at higher proficiencies, though. You can’t ever replicate the effects of, say, Continual Recovery or Ward Medic unless you also get to the required proficiencies with the medicine skill. ● (1) Quick Identification (): Same as the arcana version, but relies on WIS. ● (1) Recognize Spell (): Same as the arcana version, but relies on WIS. ● (1) Trick Magic Item (): Same as the arcana version, but relies on WIS. Applies to primal spells rather than arcane. ● (7) Consult the Spirits (): You can get some good information from this feat, but it relies on WIS. ● (7) Quick Recognition (*): Same as the arcana version, but relies on WIS, so not as naturally useful.

Occultism

● (1) Deceptive Worship (): Situational, but cults come up somewhat often. In the right campaign, this can be a very useful feat. ● (1) Oddity Identification (): Considering how many occult spells have the mental trait, this is a solid buff to Identify Magic. ● (1) Quick Identification (): Same as the arcana version. ● (1) Recognize Spell (): Same as the arcana version. ● (1) Root Magic (): Once-per-day bonus to an ally’s save. It’s not a ton, but every little bit helps, and it’s not tied to any resource expenditure. You can’t use it for yourself. ● (1) Schooled in Secrets (): Situational, but cults come up somewhat often. In the right campaign, this can be a very useful feat. ● (1) Trick Magic Item (): Same as the arcana version, just a different spell list. ● (2) Assured Identification (): Same as the arcana version.

● (7) Consult the Spirits (): Sort of like augury , giving you some potentially useful information that’s not tied to resource expenditure. At legendary proficiency, you can use it much more often. ● (7) Disturbing Knowledge (): Similar to Demoralize, but tied to INT rather than CHA. Also has a chance to confuse enemies, which is one hell of a debuff. Unfortunately, it takes two actions, which will be hard to fit into most turns. ● (7) Quick Recognition (*): Same as the arcana version.

Religion

● (1) Pilgrim’s Token (): Going ahead of enemies who tie your initiative is solid. ● (1) Quick Identification (): Same as the nature version. ● (1) Recognize Spell (): Same as the nature version. ● (1) Trick Magic Item (): Same as the nature version, but divine spells, which tend to have quite a few good buffs. ● (7) Battle Prayer (): You can do a bit of alignment damage with a single action and potentially target a weakness. Fits well with the Spellshot kit and doesn’t suffer the MAP. It’s not a ton of damage, though. ● (7) Consult the Spirits (): Same as the nature version. ● (7) Quick Recognition (): Same as the nature version. ● (7) Sacred Defense (): Readily available temp HP once per hour for a single action. It isn’t a ton and the DC starts off pretty difficult to beat, but they last for a minute and can keep you safer on the front lines. ● (15) Divine Guidance (*): Much like Consult the Spirits, gaining information to help you drive the plot forward tends to be useful, especially if you get information that helps keep you and your party safer. This feat’s value and outcomes are entirely up to your GM, though.

Society

● (1) Courtly Graces (): Removing reliance on CHA can be good, but this feat only functions with nobles. Situational, but useful in the right campaign. ● (1) Glean Contents (): Quickly picking up information from written documents may be useful to help you gain important plot information. Depending on your campaign, the

ability to get information from sealed documents may also be useful, but even in a situational feat, this effect is the more situational of the two. ● (1) Multilingual (): It’s hard to predict which languages you’ll need to use. That being said, a few useful CHA-based skill feats have linguistic limitations, and Pistoleros in a face role will appreciate more ability to interact with NPCs. This feat is better with a heritage or ancestry feat that allows you to gain three languages from Multilingual, but I will not list those in the ancestry section since so few builds will need extra languages. Androids, gnomes, and halflings are your options. ● (1) Read Lips (): Situationally useful, but gathering information tends to be good. ● (1) Sign Language (): For the most part, your allies will need this feat as well for it to be of any use. Adversaries who see you and your party communicating nonverbally will likely be suspicious of you, but it’s still good to have nonverbal communications amongst your party members. ● (1) Streetwise (): You can outright replace diplomacy for the purposes of Gathering Information, which is a rather useful feature of diplomacy. Additionally, being able to potentially just Recall Knowledge (in familiar cities) and skip Gather Information altogether, without stopping you from going out and gathering information, is a solid improvement. Additionally, if you’re investing in society, you almost certainly don’t have the CHA to support diplomacy, making this feat a meaningful improvement if you want any kind of face functions. ● (15) Legendary Codebreaker (): If your GM allows it, you can read any written language with this feat, giving you a much broader capability to gain information from written documents. ● (15) Legendary Linguist (): This feat just about removes linguistic limitations, provided you can figure out your target’s mode of communication. Stealth

● (1) Experienced Smuggler (): If you’re using small one-handed weapons, you might get some use from this feat. ● (1) Terrain Stalker (): Situational by nature, but there are enough uses for stealth in your kit that automatic Sneaking will be useful at some point. You can take this feat more than once to cover all three offered terrain types, too. ● (2) Quiet Allies (*): Reduces the likelihood of failing group stealth requirements. Much better if a secondary stealth user in your party has Keen Follower.

● (2) Shadow Mark (*): Since you’re a ranged attacker, you might as well do all you can to get the drop on your enemies. Your marked target will have a harder time noticing you, making all the benefits of Sneaking that much easier to get. ● (7) Foil Senses (): There are plenty of creatures out there with senses other than sight. If you’re sneaking around and keeping yourself safe, this will be an extra layer of protection. ● (7) Swift Sneak (*): Maximizing your movement speed while Sneaking will be a fantastic improvement to your stealth. Prerequisite for Legendary Sneak. ● (15) Legendary Sneak (*) The capstone of stealth and mandatory if you’re investing in it. Passive Avoid Notice while in exploration mode, plus you no longer need cover or concealment to hide or sneak. Major defensive benefits here.

Thievery

● (1) Dirty Trick (): Requires a free hand and has the attack trait, but it’s at least a readily-available means of debuffing a target’s DEX-based numbers. ● (1) Subtle Theft (): Has some synergy with the Pistolero and Triggerbrand kits, but it’s situational. ● (2) Wary Disarmament (*): If you’re the party trapfinder, you might as well keep yourself as protected against mishaps as possible. ● (7) Quick Unlock (): The situation where you need to Pick a Lock more quickly doesn’t come up terribly often, but you’ll be glad you have this feat when it does. Also drastically speeds up your ability to get past locks that require more than one success. ● (15) Legendary Thief (*): Situational by nature. Maybe you’ll need to steal something you couldn’t otherwise steal in your campaign, maybe not.

Noteworthy general feats

(1) Adopted Ancestry (**): Although limited to common ancestries, there are so very many good ancestry feat choices available. If nothing else, you can get access to some of the more useful ancestry weapon feats. The Clan Pistol feat is also a decent option for Pistoleros and Drifters.

(1) Canny Acumen (*): Help yourself out and improve your will save at high levels. Take it at level 15 so you only have two “dead levels” for this feat, or retrain into it at level 17 so that you have something else useful in the level 15 general feat slot until Canny Acumen can do something for you.

(1) Diehard (*): It’s always good to be harder to kill, especially for the Ways that want to be near melee.

(1) Fast Recovery (*): Having some help against virulent diseases and poisons is a noticeable improvement over the norm.

(1) Feather Step (*): So very many class feats and features allow you to Step. You might as well improve Step’s function and make difficult terrain less of a showstopper. Especially useful combined with Dance of Thunder.

(1) Fleet (**): Extra movement speed is always valuable.

(1) Incredible Initiative (**): Going before enemies is useful. Drifters and Triggerbrands that can make enemies off-guard easily without flanking will especially be useful for their parties. Going first, doing your off-guard thing (however you go about it), and being in place to set up flanking for your allies with lower initiative will be highly beneficial. Even more so is the fact that you removing an enemy with a huge crit before they can take their turn has massive potential to swing a fight in your favor.

(1) Shield Block (**): You can technically get away with only a single one-handed weapon on Pistoleros and Triggerbrands, although it’s not necessarily a good idea. Drifters can also use a shield with shield boss / shield spikes. If you want some extra defense, you can fit a shield in, although it’s not particularly optimal.

(1) Toughness (*): More HP is especially helpful for Ways that want to be near the frontlines.

(3) Ancestral Paragon ( / *): Some ancestries have several fantastic first level ancestry feats. See the ancestries section of the guide for good choices.

(3) Keen Follower (*): Usually, you’ll be Following the Expert in stealth or athletics. In the case of stealth, at least, you’ll provide high value to your party if someone else has stealth investment and Quiet Allies.

(3) Robust Health (*): If your party healer relies on medicine to heal, you’ll be very glad when they can use Battle Medicine on you more than once per day.

(3) Skitter (**): If you’re not investing in acrobatics and don’t have Nimble Crawl, Skitter is sort of a replacement. It won’t scale, but it will make going prone a bit safer.

(3) Thorough Search (*): Your perception is probably pretty good. Can’t hurt to make it better. Especially useful if you’re the party trapfinder.

(3) Untrained Improvisation (*): Especially since INT is difficult to fit in for most Ways, being able to attempt any untrained skill action with some chance of success is a significant improvement over the norm.

(7) Expeditious Search (**): This feat will really depend on how strict your GM is with time during exploration mode. It’s an improvement to your already (probably) good perception should you need it.

(7) Numb to Death (**): Although you’ll have to have died once and have Diehard, it’s another layer of defense against your low HP. Ideally, though, you stay away from positions that are likely to get you killed in the first place.

(11) Incredible Scout (*): You’ll still only get the +1 circumstance bonus to initiative for Scouting, but helping your allies out is always good. If the whole party gets to move up a spot or two in the initiative, so much the better for taking out baddies quickly.

(19) True Perception (**): You’re playing one of very few classes that can access this feat. Being able to passively overcome illusions (Invisibility) is quite good, even if it is a relatively low level for counteract checks.

Items

Items

The list of items below is non-exhaustive. It exists to point out some of the more gunslinger-specific useful items you can obtain. I have not listed universally useful items such as those that grant senses, speed, or movement speed types. The items listed below also generally do not consider item bonuses in their ratings. Items that give you an item bonus to perception, your way skill, or any of the other skills you invest in will be useful and usually aren’t too far from each other in terms of secondary effect power.

Adjustments

(0) Shield Augmentation (**): (U) Drifters can add the trip and shove traits (or a few others, but those are the two best options) to a shield at the cost of said shield only dealing d4 damage since the augmentation is mutually exclusive with shield boss / shield spikes. It’s a convenient means of opening up athletics skill actions, albeit at the cost of damage tradeoff.

(1) Eyecatcher (*): (U) This rating is for Pistoleros. It’s a cheap and early means of gaining an item bonus to Feint.

(1) Twining Chains (**): (U) Drifters, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards are the most likely Ways to have the STR necessary for this augmentation. Considering your only frequently available reaction is Fake Out, getting another one to punish unarmed enemies for attacking you is a nice way to add some damage to your turns.

(1) Weapon Harness (**): (U) Drifters can attach a light bulk weapon to a Weapon Harness for a little more hand flexibility and Quick Draw usage.

(1) Weapon Siphon (**): Drifters and Triggerbrands can attach this to their melee weapon in order to deliver a d4 of a bomb’s damage type as part of a melee Strike for up to three Strikes per bomb. It does take an action to load the bomb, bringing with it the usual action economy issues of bombs. Also, the MAP is one point worse for a weapon with an attached weapon siphon. It’s best used on an agile weapon or with feats / features that ease or ignore the MAP for melee Strikes.

Adventuring Gear

(0) Alchemist’s Lab (**): Necessary if you’re crafting alchemical items during downtime.

(0) Artisan’s Tools (**): Necessary if you’re crafting non-alchemical items like talismans.

(0) Brass Ear (*): Helpful for listening at doors. With your perception progression, some basic assistive tools for perception usage are a welcome addition to your item stash.

(0) Disguise Kit (*): This rating is for Pistoleros. A disguise kit is more or less necessary to get the most possible value out of the deception skill, although your campaign may not involve much social infiltration.

(0) Dueling Cape (**): This rating is for Pistoleros. If you’re only using one weapon, the dueling cape is effectively a buckler and a readily-accessible circumstance bonus to Feint it does not bear any restrictions for Feinting like needing to be adjacent to your target.

(0) Fake Blood Pack (**): Pistoleros may be able to put the item bonus to deception to use from time to time to engineer fake emergencies or to infiltrate certain locations, especially if someone else in your party is also good with deception. As this item bears the consumable trait, it’s fairly easy to craft batches if you or someone in your party is willing to take the time. With the alternative crafting rules from Treasure Vault, you’ll very quickly be able to churn these out at speed.

(0) False Manacles (**): May be useful for Pistoleros from time to time to execute deception-based infiltration plans. Their value falls off after a few levels due to the static DC.

(0) Firearm Cleaning Kit (*): (U, F) Mandatory for firearm use. Without it, you’ll always have a chance of a misfire. If you’re planning to only ever use a crossbow, though, you can skip this item.

(0) Folding Ladder (*): If you’ve got some STR to handle 1 extra bulk, having a compact ladder will be very welcome among your low-STR allies for early terrain challenges.

(0) Glass Cutter (**): Occasionally useful for thievery-based infiltration, making it potentially valuable for Triggerbrands.

(0) Grappling Bolt (**): (U) If you’re using a longer-range crossbow (200 ft. for a sukgung, 120 ft. for a regular old crossbow) you’ll get half that range increment for, effectively, a grappling hook, which can be very useful at lower levels when mobility / terrain challenges present some difficulty.

(0) Grappling Gun (**): (U) Very similar to the grappling bolt, but doesn’t require you to use a crossbow. Also expends grappling hooks instead of grappling bolts. The level 1 version, the clockwork grappling gun, does not require you to expend grappling hooks and has a reload function that lets you reel your grappling hook back in.

(0) Healer’s Toolkit (*): Necessary if you’re the party medic or otherwise want to be able to use Battle Medicine.

(0) Repair Kit (**): Not strictly necessary if you’re building around crafting, but it’s useful with the right party composition.

(0) Repeater Bandolier (*): (U) This rating assumes you’re using at least one repeating hand crossbow and have access to this item. Reducing the number of required actions to load a new repeating hand crossbow magazine to 2 is very action-efficient. The easiest way to get access is with the level 4 Repeating Hand Crossbow Training feat from the crossbow infiltrator archetype. Ideally, you’ll never run into an encounter that will require you to expend all of your RHC ammunition, but this is a very cheap solution to have on hand in case you run into that problem.

(0) Silencer (**): (F, U) This item is effectively a consumable, but without the consumable trait, making them a pain to craft. Fortunately, they’re cheap, plentiful, and common. You can just buy a dozen or so of them early on in your campaign and restock occasionally as needed. Each silencer takes a minute to apply to a weapon and is consumed after the weapon to which it’s attached is fired. They cannot be applied to scatter weapons. As you might expect, silencers drastically reduce sound considerations. If and when you need to make a shot without making a ton of noise, silencers will get the job done.

(0) Thieves’ Tools (**): This rating is primarily for Triggerbrands, but also for other Ways filling a trapfinder role. Many actions that use thievery need these tools.

(0) Tripod (*): The most basic of stabilizers, allowing you to fire kickback weapons without penalty, but at the cost of action economy. If you have any other use for STR or can fit it into your build, you’re generally better off just having high enough STR instead of using a stabilizer, but the option to use an item instead is there if you need it. Note that you’ll need a free hand to deploy a tripod, meaning you’ll need to spend an action to deploy it and an action to re-grip your weapon. That’s particularly nasty for fatal aim weapons, requiring an action to release your grip in the first place and effectively occupying an entire turn just to deploy a tripod.

(0) Waterproof Carrying Case (**): Not strictly mandatory, but it may be useful from time to time in damp dungeons where water can interfere with your weapon / ammunition. If you’re playing an aquatic campaign, there are more specific tools you’ll need to keep your firearm(s) functional.

(1) Bomb Launcher (**): If you’re building for the alchemy feats, you’ll be able to load them into the bomb launcher with a single Interact action and launch them out to 60 feet. It’ll still take an Interact action to draw the bomb, so it’s inefficient three actions to draw, load, and launch a bomb. This is not a firearm and uses your martial weapon proficiency for bombs as normal.

(1) Deployable Cover (*): (U) Readily-available cover which you can use to set up a firing position, which is especially valuable for Snipers. It does take an action to set up, though, which means it’ll be particularly heavy on the action economy to set up both this and a stabilizer. The level 2 version, deployable ballistic cover, also gives you resistance 2 to piercing damage from ranged attacks.

(2) Periscope (**): With your perception, being able to look around corners is highly valuable.

Consumables

(1) Aroma Concealer (*): Helpful to have on hand for stealth when the situation calls for scent masking.

(1) Blast Boots (*): (U) A low-level consumable that replaces the need for Quick Jump when used. Synergizes with Black Powder Boost. Higher level versions increase the distance of High Jumps and Long Jumps without needing to roll athletics. The level 9+ versions also give effects for a duration after initial use, namely larger Leap distances and flight (though the flight causes you to become clumsy 1).

(1+) Elemental Ammunition (**): (MC) Trigger a weakness repeatedly. Tends to work best with Risky Reload + Munitions Machinist for on-demand flexibility unless your party gets a lot of information ahead of encounters with scouting, research, etc.

(1) Merciful Balm (**): If you occasionally want to knock your foes out without an attack penalty, merciful balm will allow you to easily deal nonlethal damage with your weapons.

(1) Owlbear Claw (**): This rating is for Drifters and Triggerbrands who want to use a melee weapon without ancestry feat support for crit specialization. Aside from ancestry feats, it’s the only way for them to get melee crit specialization.

(1) Potency Crystal (** / ): From levels 1 to 3, being able to make the weapon to which a potency crystal is affixed into a +1 striking weapon for a single shot is outstanding. Once you have a striking rune on your primary weapon, the value falls off quite a bit, only being useful if you need a backup weapon.

(1) Potion of Expeditious Retreat (**): Sometimes, you really just need to run away.

(1) Shining Ammunition (**): (MC) Light where you need it as part of an attack. Best if you have darkvision so that you don’t have to worry about miss chances, in which case you’re using this item to help out your allies without darkvision.

(1) Slippery Ribbon (*): (U) For builds incorporating acrobatics, getting enough move speed to make a Tumble Through function when it otherwise wouldn’t is solid.

(1) Wolf Fang (*): For builds incorporating athletics, being able to deal a bit of damage on Trips is solid even if the damage won’t scale well. Even with a +3 STR mod, that nearly equals

the average damage of a crit success trip, and you’ll get that damage on both successes and crit successes.

(2) Adaptive Cogwheel (**): Useful from time to time if you need to swap a firearm for more damage or for a desirable trait. For example, a Triggerbrand who uses a hammer gun as a primary weapon for the shove trait could swap to a gun sword for better damage against a low AC foe, or vice versa to pick up the shove trait in a pinch.

(2) Bronze Bull Pendant (*): Helps athletics users to Shove.

(2) Cauterizing Torch (**): (U) If you feel the need to be able to stanch bleed damage more easily, this item is frankly better than the Cauterize feat. It’s situational, but you’re better off spending 30 or so gp every now and again to have a few of these on hand than to occupy your sixth level class feat slot. That said, Cauterize is much easier on the action economy and hand management than this item.

(2) Effervescent Ampoule (**): Brief safety and mobility for acrobatics users.

(2) Hunter’s Bane (**): Automatic detection of undetected enemies, making it much easier for you to pinpoint where to Seek and reduce the miss chance. Follow up with shining ammunition (or a beacon shot, for crossbow users) to mark where the target is or Point Out the target for your allies so that they can use _glitterdust_ or something similar.

(2+) Life Shot (**): Emergency healing in encounters. If your GM rules that the Pathfinder Society ruling on affecting allies applies to your table, your allies will be able willingly to improve the degree of success for your Strike. Coupled with the off-guard condition when you use life shot on them, you have a very high likelihood of a crit, especially with an Aid or other buffs involved. If that ruling is the case at your table, life shot becomes a very powerful healing tool.

(2) Mesmerizing Opal (*): This rating is for Pistoleros. Prevent a critical failure on a Feint in a clutch situation where you really can’t afford a crit fail. It’s predictive rather than reactive, though, so you’ll have to consume it before you roll.

(2+) Moonlit Spellgun (*): Accessible silver and fire damage, scaling at higher levels and doing more damage at night. A d8 damage die is pretty great for a one-handed firearm, and it dazzles. It costs more than silver ammunition does (40 gp for 10 rounds, equating to 4 gp per round), but the fact that this item is basically the _moonbeam_ focus spell in a consumable means it’ll scale its damage much harder than that of a normal firearm. If you’re frequently fighting enemies where silver damage is useful, this weapon is awesome. Otherwise, it’s a means of dealing fire damage with an attack that benefits from your proficiency. It certainly doesn’t hurt to keep one or two of these on hand for the appropriate level. There are some drawbacks, though, namely that spellguns do not apply critical specialization effects and that they don’t benefit from item bonuses.

(2) Onyx Panther (*): For builds incorporating stealth, you’ll appreciate being able to move at full speed while Sneaking when you absolutely need some extra speed.

(2) Smoke Fan (**): Sort of an escape tool for stealth in a pinch. Drawing and using it will be action-intensive.

(2) Wind-Up Cart ( / *): (U) 6 gp trapfinder. Use it to set off simple hazards, or complex hazards in some cases if it’s capable of triggering them and you can stay out of and / or retreat from the dangerous area. It’s best to load it up with cheap, bulky items like ten-foot poles or tripods in order to give it enough bulk to trigger traps as needed. If you’re suspicious and don’t trust the outcome of your Search roll, send this into the area that’s setting off your Spidey senses. At low levels the cost will be prohibitive, but at higher levels (especially if your group is using alternative crafting rules) your party crafter can churn these out with speed and ease.

(3) Beacon Shot (**): Crossbow only. Helps overcome invisible enemies. It’ll take three actions to load, activate, and fire this ammunition.

(3+) Camouflage Dye ( / *): This rating is for Snipers and stealth builds. It’s not quite an invisibility potion, but provides a very similar function. You can Hide and Sneak without cover or concealment, and, even better, the greater (level 7) version allows you to maintain your stealth-related condition(s) despite taking hostile actions (provided you move at half speed or less).

(3) Disrupting Oil (**): Provided you’re able to pre-buff with it, it’s a good source of extra damage against undead, with a good chance to Enfeeble them to boot. The extra incapacitation effect for greater disrupting oil will only be useful for a couple levels and only against lower-level undead. Said effect replaces the enfeebled condition, too.

(3) Psychic Warding Bracelet (*): Bonuses to saves against mental effects are always welcome. The status bonus this grants will stack with the circumstance bonus that some ancestries grant.

(4) Admonishing Band (**): Temporarily gives you Warning Shot simultaneously with the envision action to activate the item. The real value is in the fact that, if you have Warning Shot already, using an admonishing band does not trigger the Demoralize immunity, potentially allowing you two turns of frightened against a target in a single encounter. If your group doesn’t have someone who’s able to keep the frightened condition up (bards, swashbucklers), you’ll appreciate the extra debuff longevity. Pistoleros with one on each weapon will get even more value from Warning Shot with admonishing bands.

(4) Bloodseeker Beak (**): Primarily useful if you have sneak attack from the rogue archetype and specifically in combination with exsanguinating ammunition.

(4+) Chameleon Suit ( / *): (U) For stealth builds, being able to Hide without cover or concealment for a full minute is awesome, and only gets better at higher item levels when you can use it for 10 minutes or an hour. It’s basically a means of applying off-guard via the hidden Condition no matter your positioning, plus all the other value the Hide action / being hidden provides. The problem is that it takes a two-action activity to activate the item in the first place, meaning pre-buffing with it will be difficult until you can use the level 8+ version.

(4) Energized Cartridge (*): Damage type versatility on demand. Spellshots can eventually apply multiple different damage types to a single shot between their Initial Deed, an energized cartridge, elemental ammunition, Fulminating Shot, and a property rune, making weakness fishing a breeze.

(4) Exsanguinating Ammunition ( / *): (MC) One of very few ways to increase persistent bleed damage. Mostly used to set up allies, but Drifters might be able to deal bleed damage

with crit specialization for certain weapons. Snipers can also combine this with Vital Shot, assuming they start with the exsanguinating ammunition loaded (1 action activate -> 2 action Vital Shot). Otherwise, if you’re using a crossbow, their crits will benefit from exsanguinating ammunition.

(4) Fortifying Pebble (**): (U) For Drifters using a shield, this will give your shields extra durability, which is really helpful when you eat a crit.

(4) Invisibility Potion ( / *): 10 minute invisible condition that will break on a hostile action. Outstanding for stealthy usage in exploration mode, and it’ll make your first attack in an encounter treat the target as off-guard. Coupled with Hair Trigger, you’ll have a really easy time taking advantage of the off-guard condition for the entire first round of an encounter.

(4+) Sniper’s Bead (*): Only works on two-handed firearms / crossbows, but it’ll allow you to ignore range increments depending on what level of item you consume (second, fourth, and sixth range increments for each respective version). This can outright replace Unerring Shot since these consumables are an on-demand item rather than a high-level class feat, meaning you have them available as needed rather than always in hopes of the right situation arising. Also, since it’s not often you’ll need to worry about increments beyond the second, the base level sniper’s bead has long-term value especially useful because it’ll rapidly become relatively cheap.

(4) Sure-Step Potion (*): The item bonus isn’t too exciting since it’s only to Balance, but being able to ignore difficult terrain when Stepping provides great synergy for Dance of Thunder without having to occupy a feat slot. Since it’s a one hour duration and, by the time Dance of Thunder is available, a fairly low-level item, it won’t take much gold investment to have a few of these on hand when needed.

(5) Alchemist’s Damper (**): (U) Ignores the kickback penalty when used. If you’re using a kickback weapon, you’ll either have the STR or a stabilizer to overcome the penalty. This consumable is only useful for you if you’re using a stabilizer instead of STR and don’t have the actions available to deploy the stabilizer. If you’re using a stabilizer, it won’t hurt to have a couple of these on hand, but it shouldn’t be a consumable upon which you rely.

(5+) Blister Ammunition (**): (MC) As usual for items with a DC, this ammunition has very narrow level ranges where it will be effective. That said, the fact that it can disrupt concentration actions makes it pretty good against spellcasters, which will tend to have worse fortitude saves.

(5) Bola Shot (*): (MC) Heavy on the action economy with its activation requirement, but knocking enemies prone and potentially stunned 1 is solid. It’s nonlethal damage, but that’s fine, and sometimes even useful.

(5+) Depth Charge (**): (MC) One of your means of handling aquatic games.

(5) Emerald Grasshopper (*): Strong synergy with Black Powder Boost and Reach for the Stars.

(5) Eye of Enlightenment (**): Efficient Recall Knowledge for Spellshots.

(5) Gadget Skates (**): (U) With a heavy armor build, these do a lot to overcome your limited movement.

(5) Goblin-Eye Orb (*): Easy means of overcoming the concealed and hidden conditions.

(5) Imp Shot (*): (MC) Its duration is fairly random with a DC 11 to continue on any given turn, and it takes an action to activate the ammunition on top of loading and firing. If you’re prepared to deal with the annoyances of using this ammunition, though, rendering an enemy off-guard while it’s active as well as debuffing said enemy’s attacks and skills is a strong effect.

(5) Oily Button (*): (U) Actually makes the duration on the Disarm debuff valuable, or it taxes the target’s action economy. Improving the status bonus for follow-on Disarm attempts to a +4 also makes it much more likely that an ally trying to Disarm will critically succeed.

(5+) Potion of Disguise (**): (U) Useful for quick disguise and long-duration disguise application, plus the +4 status bonus to your disguise DC, which makes it a useful item for Pistoleros who frequently need to infiltrate. Potentially useful for Snipers and stealth builds, too.

(5) Sneaky Key (**): For trapfinder builds, you’ll be able to negate a critical failure to Pick a Lock.

(5) Sparking Spellgun (*): Easy access to persistent fire damage and the dazzled condition, with a good chance to instead Blind. It’ll work best with Pistoleros due to the one-handed usage. Especially useful against enemies with fire weakness because it’s so very easy to apply the persistent damage.

(5) Wounding Oil (**): (U) Mostly useful for Drifters to set themselves up for exsanguinating ammunition.

(6+) Conduit Shot (**): (MC) Helps improve your caster ally’s AoE spells, but with some level limitations.

(6) Oil of Swiftness (**): (U) The speed rune is quite strong, albeit rare. Getting its effects temporarily from an uncommon item is much more likely to pass muster. You should still expect to only get two Strikes in a turn, making this item less useful for effects like Dance of Thunder, but it’ll open your turn up for an extra reload, Slinger’s Reload, mobility, or other more niche uses like _true strike_.

(6) Singing Muse (*): (U) This rating is only for the pistol phenom archetype. Being able to turn performance check successes into crit successes will be incredible for Pistol Twirl’s Feint (even better with Showstopper), Gunpowder Gauntlet’s debuff, the buff from Phenom’s Verve, and Whirling Knockdown.

(6+) Tentacle Potion: No rating because it’ll depend entirely on your GM. If they are willing to rule that reloading a weapon is a “simple Interact action” that doesn’t “require significant manual dexterity,” this consumable is amazing for Pistoleros and makes jezails and sukgungs much more usable as two-handed weapons. Otherwise, it’s highly situational and not really worth your money.

(7+) Black Tendril Shot (* / ): (MC) Items with static DCs tend to fall off hard and quickly. It also requires an action to activate. The effects of black tendril shot are strong, though, and at

the appropriate levels it’ll be mostly functional so long as you’re using the highest level available.

(7) Corrosive Ammunition (**): Burns through armor, which will eventually debuff AC by 1, 2, or 3 points for light, medium, or heavy armor respectively. Otherwise it’s a relatively strong persistent acid damage effect or an action tax on the enemy’s part. It does require an action to activate.

(7) Dragonfly Fulu (**): One means of getting Quick Jump without athletics investment. Synergizes with Black Powder Jump.

(7) Grim Trophy (**): This rating is for Pistoleros. Being able to double up on your Demoralize targets is great.

(7) Lightning Rod Shot (*): (MC) Help your allies with _electric arc_ do extra damage, or any of the other useful electricity spells.

(7) Persistent Lodestone (**): One automatic reload when you miss. Eased action economy is always welcome, especially if you have access to actions like _true strike_ that are otherwise hard to fit in.

(7+) Stepping Stone Shot (**): (U, MC) Vertical mobility if you need it.

(8) Gallows Tooth (**): Useful for Drifters and Triggerbrands to set up off-guard for a successive ranged Strike. It works especially well in tandem with Sword and Pistol and Stab and Blast and especially for Triggerbrands using an explosive dogslicer. The problem is that it requires master proficiency in intimidation, which is rare for both of those Ways. Pistoleros can use this as well since it doesn’t need to be affixed to a melee weapon, but it does still require them to be adjacent to the target.

(8) Jade Bauble (*): Not actually usable until level 13 due to the proficiency requirements, but it’s another means of setting up off-guard for Drifters and Triggerbrands without having to worry about skill proficiency. It also lasts until the beginning of your next turn, meaning allies can take advantage of the condition too. The drawback is that enemies can just move away from you to stop being off-guard.

(8) Orchestral Brooch (*): (U) This rating is only for the pistol phenom archetype. It’s very similar in function to the singing muse, but it’s common, gives a status bonus to the triggering performance check, and uses a free action rather than your reaction. If you’re willing and able to pony up the extra gold, this consumable is strictly superior to the singing muse.

(8) Sighting Shot (*): (MC) Especially when paired with a silencer, this consumable is scouting: the ammunition.

(9) Dust of Disappearance (**): (U) 4th level _invisibility_ will give you a minute of nonstop off-guard action.

(9+) Explosive Ammunition (**): (MC) Area fire damage that can hit your allies and requires an action to activate.

(9) Potion of Minute Echoes (*): Status bonus to Seek using your hearing, and your hearing becomes an imprecise sense. That’s solid if you’re trying to find a creature that can make noise, which is pretty frequent.

(9+) Transposition Ammunition (**): (U, MC) Depending on your weapon’s range, you can get a long-distance teleport out of this ammunition. It’s basically a stronger version of _dimension door_. The level 15 version allows you to bring up to two allies. The two-action activation is harsh for combat usage, but it’s a great tool for exploration mode.

(11) Ghostshot Wrapping (**): Staying hidden after a Strike is awesome and enables all sorts of stealth gameplay.

(11) Mindlock Shot (**): (MC) No-save action control, although you force the target to Stride (or Step instead) or Strike, potentially twice with a crit. Situational, but action control can be highly beneficial if used well. Especially useful when you can waste boss actions, and without an associated save, that’s much more likely than usual.

(12) Balisse Feather (* / *): It’s an awesome debuff against creatures you’ve witnessed performing evil acts, but its DC falls off quickly.

(12) Dimension Shot (**): (MC) Black Powder Embodiment in ammunition form, except it’s not limited to Spellshots and can be used to target a square rather than being limited to targeting creatures. It’s somewhat useful for the Ways that want to be in or near melee to get into position (or for any Way to reposition / run away, really), but the two-action activation is harsh in combat. At least it’s a level 12 item instead of a level 18 class feat.

(12) Eye of Apprehension (*): Better chance at a high initiative when you need it.

(12) Penetrating Ammunition (**): Only works for crossbows, but it’ll give you some line AoE capability.

(12) Shrieking Skull (*): This rating is for Pistoleros. It allows for AoE Demoralize around the target with all the usual immunities, so it’ll be most useful if you’re also focusing on deception. It also takes an action to activate.

(13) Reaper’s Spellgun (*): Drained is a strong condition, and you have a relatively good chance of landing both drained 2 and doomed 1. It’s not a ton of damage, but -2 to fortitude saves and a hefty chunk of reduced HP are worth it on top of the relatively small damage.

(13+) Reflecting Shard ( / *): (U) Requires master athletics proficiency. If you’re using a shield as a Drifter, being able to activate _spell turning_ with your athletics mod for the counteract check as a reaction is solid. It’ll only reflect spells of level 5 and below as a level 13 item, but the level 17 version can counteract any spell and has a 9th level counteract, which means it really can counteract any spell with a success on the check.

(14) Ghost Ammunition (**): (MC) Situational in use since it’s just ghost touch ammunition, but the fact that it’s self-regenerating (eventually) makes it a meaningful investment for a consumable. Note that the self-regnerating aspect should not function if you create it with advanced alchemy.

(14) Vapor Sphere (**): Protective function for builds that fall into a trapfinder role. Also helps against undetected enemies.

(14) Viper’s Fang (*): Reactive Strike if you don’t have it, or as a free action if you do. Only really usable on Drifters and Triggerbrands.

(15) Garrote Bolt (**): (U) Crossbow only. Fairly heavy persistent slashing damage and a good chance to cause a target to suffocate, which can (eventually) remove low-CON targets from encounters. Suffocation does knock targets out 5+CON mod rounds after it starts, though, so don’t expect this to be a game changer.

(15) Garrote Shot (**): (MC) Same as garrote bolts, but works for firearms and is common.

(16) Ghost Dust (*): Free action level 4 _invisibility_ if you’re legendary in stealth. That’s awesome, but the higher level consumables get expensive quickly.

(19) Spell Echo Shot (*): Your caster allies will love you for using this consumable. To put the numbers in perspective, I’ll use the age-old classic _fireball_ heightened to level 5. It deals 10d6 damage at level 5 and 20d6 when heightened to level 10, the maximum available for a caster at this level. By using a spell echo shot and letting your caster friend get doubled effects on their level 5 _fireball_ , you’re almost bumping the damage of that fifth level spell slot against one target up to what it would do as a level 10 spell. There are some limiting factors here. It’s possible your ammunition won’t stick to the target, rendering this ammunition somewhat less reliable. Also, you’re not doubling the effects of a level 5 or lower spell, you’re making them occur twice, meaning the target saves twice. That may be a blessing against a low save, but not so much for a high save where it just gets another chance to reduce or shrug off the effects. Still, this is a potent effect, as a high level consumable should be.

Customizations

(1+) Portable Weapon Mount:

● (1) Monopod (**): Technically still has action economy limitations to deploy as compared to a normal tripod, but the phrasing of the item allows you to deploy this stabilizer when you roll initiative since every Way has a means of drawing a weapon in their Initial Deed. If you need to move, though, it won’t be any easier on the action economy than a tripod.

Also, this version still takes a penalty when using kickback weapons, albeit a lesser penalty. ● (3) Shielded Tripod (**): No more action economy efficiency on initiative roll, unfortunately. It does give you portable cover, though, which can be useful for Snipers.

(3) Breech Ejectors (**): (U) One-off double-barreled weapon efficiency. These do bear the consumable trait, making them fairly easy / efficient to craft.

(3) Gunner’s Bandolier (**): (U) Kind of enables a swap-and-drop playstyle, but the action economy is harsh. At least it’s efficient on runes. Due to the rune efficiency, it does sort of give you weapon trait flexibility if you’re running a single one-handed weapon build. That can come in handy in overcoming situational issues like resistances.

(5+) Darkvision Scope (**): Darkvision when you need it, though it takes an action every turn to keep it going. Eventually it gives greater darkvision, which is rare, but also rarely needed.

(5) Large Bore Modifications ( / *): (U) Mandatory for damage output on a kickback weapon unless you have a very good reason not to get your STR to +4 or use a stabilizer. Less helpful on a scatter weapon unless your party is prepared to deal with being hit by the splash damage, although the more enemy targets hit with splash, the better the overall damage.

(10) Scope of Limning (*): Does a lot to overcome concealment and invisibility, and provides some synergy with Blood in the Air. Also, unlike most scopes, the effects exist for your party members, not just you. It takes an action to activate it, though.

Runes

The generic runes that deal extra damage are always useful.

(3) Crushing ( / **): (U) If used on a harmona gun, this rune is amazing and is much of the reason to use a harmona gun. If used on a melee weapon, your lower proficiency will cause it to be of less value since you’re less likely to crit, but it’s still a good rune. You could put it on a combination weapon with a bludgeoning melee component instead, though it won’t function for ranged use. Bribe your GM for it if you have to, it’s that good.

(3) Soft-Landing (**): (U) Gives you a means of surviving the fall after a Black Powder Boost once per day if needed.

(4) Merciful (**): The goody-two-shoes rune, allowing you to make nonlethal attacks without a penalty.

(5) Cunning (*): (U) This rating is for Spellshots. Getting a free action Recall Knowledge on a Strike that deals piercing damage is welcome action compression.

(5+) Fearsome (**): You’re a crit machine. Might as well throw down a debuff when you crit. Frightened 1 for the level 5 version, frightened 2 for the greater (level 12) version. Also bears some synergy with the rogue archetype and its associated Dread Striker feat.

(5+) Shadow (*): The Sniper’s best friend, for whom this rune is purple (**) until and unless an apex item overrides it. It’s great for any build incorporating stealth, though.

(5) Stanching (**): (U) Synergizes with Cauterize.

(5) Cunning (**): (U) This rating is for Spellshots. It synergizes perfectly with the Spellshot kit and gives a bonus to Recall Knowledge after attack crits to boot. It’s only usable once per minute, but it’s still an awesome rune for Spellshots.

(5+) Fearsome (*): You’re a crit machine with your firearms. Throwing an easy and near-universal debuff on your targets when you crit with no associated save and no limitation for how often it can occur is utterly incredible, and only gets better at level 12 when your crits apply frightened 2. It’s especially strong if you can reliably apply the off-guard condition for your ranged Strikes, such as if you’re built for stealth (Snipers) or deception (Pistoleros).

(6+) Dread (**): The DC isn’t exactly great, but a passive chance to keep up the frightened debuff on enemies pairs well with the fearsome rune, as well as with the Pistolero kit.

(6) Flickering (*): (U) Throwing out dazzled passively when you crit is a solid use of a rune.

(7+) Rooting (**): Only works on melee weapons. The DC scaling is a little better than most, though you’re still functioning off of item DCs. That said, throwing out the occasional immobilized and clumsy conditions on a melee build will be helpful for athletics control builds.

(7) Wounding (*): This rating is for builds incorporating alchemy feats due to the ability to stack persistent damage. Synergizes well with exsanguinating ammunition.

(8) Gliding (**): If you aren’t relying on Cat Fall, this rune helps mitigate some of the drawbacks of Black Powder Boost / Reach for the Stars.

(8+) Invisibility (*): Off-guard is always nice, even if this rune has daily use limitations.

(9) Grievous (**): A -4 circumstance penalty on the firearm crit stun stave is fantastic. On a crossbow, you add the action tax that a bow normally imposes. Some of the melee options are solid for the melee Ways too. Hammer and pick in particular are good choices, and both the sword and spear effects have uses in the right party setup namely if you don’t have good access to off-guard for your and your allies’ ranged Strikes for the sword, or to throw out a status penalty to AC and reflex if and when frightened / sickened isn’t up, respectively.

(9) Nightmare (*): (U) Passively applying stupefied is good no matter the target. Debuff low-will targets to help your allies out, or debuff high-will spellcasters for a chance to disrupt their spells.

(11) Hopeful (**): (U) Passively handing out a status bonus to your allies’ attacks when you crit is great since your proficiency with firearms is so strong. If you have a bard in your party or someone else who frequently hands out a status bonus for attacks, you won’t want this rune, but it’s quite strong otherwise.

Worn Items

(0) Swim Fins (*): These are expensive, but grabbing a pair around level 3 should be no problem. They’ll help a fair bit with aquatic terrain challenges and, as a light bulk item, are pretty easy to keep on hand. Unnecessary if you have a swim speed, though.

(2+) Goz Mask (*): Lets you see through Smoke Curtain for a limited amount of time per day. They’re invested, unfortunately, so you can’t just keep a huge stock on hand and use them infinitely.

(3+) Backfire Mantle ( / *): If you’re not using a scatter weapon, it may or may not be of any use to you depending on your feat selection and party composition. If you are using a scatter weapon and will be close to melee at all, you need one. You won’t need the greater version until you have a major striking rune at level 19.

(3+) Blazons of Shared Power (*): This rating is for dual-wield builds. This item is mandatory for them because maintaining two sets of weapon runes is cost-prohibitive.

(3+) Dancing Scarf (**): This rating is for the pistol phenom archetype. Having an easy means of making yourself concealed is a nice defensive tool, but its action will be hard to fit into the action economy. The greater version at least allows you to Stride or Step as part of the action to Conceal yourself.

(4+) Talisman Cord (*): (U) There are several good talismans out there for you. Having a chance, even if fairly small, to not consume your talismans is quite good since it can be achieved with a one-time investment. If you’re only ever using owlbear claws, you can get a lesser talisman cord attuned to evocation and never spend more gold on the higher level talisman cords.

(4+) Alchemist Goggles (**): There’s no need for this item prior to the greater version. Keeps the item bonus to attack with bombs relevant at certain levels if you’re using Munitions Machinist to create and then throw said bombs. That’ll be levels 11-13 (greater version) and 17-19 (major version) since those are the level ranges where your bombs’ item bonus will fall behind due to their three level lag.

(7) Fearless Sash (*): One of few items to give you a status bonus, this one protects against fear effects and will stack with any circumstance bonus from your ancestry. Being able to support your allies by reducing their (and your) frightened condition once per day is decent too. Maybe hard to fit into the action economy, but one action is much better than the three actions required in the No Cause for Alarm feat.

(7) Ring of Sustenance (*): If you don’t have a means of reducing your sleep requirements from your ancestry, bringing your nightly required rest hours down to 2 makes you into a very good nighttime sentry for your group due to your perception progression.

(9) Autoload Leathers (**): Leather armor that gives you a free action reload once per day. While once-per-day usage is rather limited, you will almost certainly find occasion to use it every single day, which is more than you can say for an awful lot of items.

(9) Diviner’s Nose Chain (*): (U) Imprecise senses are useful for you.

(10) Daredevil Boots (): If you’re a master in acrobatics and have Cat Fall, fall damage is a thing of the past. Useful for Reach for the Stars at later levels. This item is blue (**) for Drifters due to the fact that it also gives a circumstance bonus to Tumble Through.

(12) Black Pearl Aeon Stone (*): (U) As a reaction with no time limitations, you get not only a huge bonus to a save against a mental effect, but also a huge counteract modifier on par with that of a level 18 caster to send the spell back at the creature that cast it on you. It does have a 20% chance to break every time you use the reaction, though.

Apex Items

If your table runs the Automatic Bonus Progression variant rule, the items rated yellow (**) can be of much more value to you due to the fact that your apex attribute boost is separated from the item effects. As such, you’ll be able to use the item in question alongside a DEX boost rather than the usual boost.

(17) Cloak of Swiftness (**): DEX apex item that gives you a fly speed for an hour per day. Since there are a lot of other ways to get fly speeds by this level, its value primarily lies in the fact that you’re also concealed while the cloak is activated, and there’s nothing about the concealment that restricts you from using it for the likes of Hiding or Sneaking.

(17) Anklets of Alacrity (**): DEX apex item that gives you a once-per-day single action to give yourself a 10 minute long buff of +20 to your speeds, plus the effects of _water walk_. This is the legacy version of Cloak of Swiftness.

(17) Avalanche Boots (**): STR apex item that gives its bonus to athletics and gives a sizable circumstance bonus to Force Open and Shove. Only truly useful if you really want to improve your melee and athletics over your ranged Strikes.

(17) Crown of Intellect (**): INT apex item that gives its bonus to all Recall Knowledge checks and _hypercognition_ once per hour. You’ll only want this on Spellshots if you really prefer to juice your class DC as high as possible rather than your ranged attack mod. If that is the case, this is generally the better level 17 INT apex item as compared to the artificer spectacles.

(17) Pilferer’s Gloves (*): DEX apex item that applies only a +2 item bonus to thievery assuming you’re legendary in thievery. If you’re not legendary in thievery, this item improves your proficiency by one step, but you will not get the item bonus. It’s a pretty weak bonus for an apex item, but it does at least contribute to your DEX. Also offers a once-per-day reaction that improves the result of a failed or crit failed thievery check by one step.

(18) Archivist’s Gaze (**): INT apex item that gives its bonus to occultism, but also allows you to freely use the Investigate exploration activity, which can give you a ton of passive info if your GM plays nice with Investigate rules. You also get the GM’s choice of _truesight_ or third rank _translate_ , whichever would be most beneficial, once per hour for a single action. This item is about on par with the crown of intellect, just up to you whether you want to prioritize numeric potency or frequency for Recall Knowledge.

(18) Mercurial Mantle (*): For Drifters, this item is purple (**). It’s a DEX apex item that gives its item bonus to both acrobatics and stealth, plus an always-on +2 circumstance bonus to AC against reactions triggered by movement. You also get a once-per-hour reaction that triggers when you miss with a melee Strike, which will work for Drifters and Triggerbrands, that will allow you to Step and attempt another melee Strike (with MAP), and that can cause the creature to be off-guard. Also, once per day, you can use a two-action activity to teleport up to twice your speed and make a melee Strike.

(18) Titan’s Grasp (**): STR apex item that applies its item bonus to athletics and gives a +1 circumstance bonus to Grapple, plus deals damage to creatures larger than you when you Grapple them. These are solid bonuses for the Vanguard’s Greater Deed, though you’re giving up on a DEX apex item to get them. The active ability deals some area sonic damage, but it has a very weak DC and can hit your allies.

(19) Shadowmist Cape (**): DEX apex item that gives its item bonus to stealth and grants you a once-per-hour reaction, triggered when a creature misses an attack against you, that allows you to use stealth vs. its perception DC to become hidden, potentially until the end of your next turn. It also allows you to cast _gaseous form_ on yourself once per day. It’s a solid apex item if you rely on stealth, making it most valuable for Snipers.

(20) Viper Rapier (**): This rating is for Drifters. The most important feature of this item is the fact that it’s a common item with a speed rune on it (which is ordinarily rare), making you permanently quickened, specifically to make an extra Strike each round with the viper rapier. It’s a DEX apex item, but with no associated skill item bonus. It does stop you from triggering reactions while Striding, Balancing, or Tumbling Through. You’ll also get a once-per-day reaction triggered when you fail an attack (but not crit fail) that will poison an enemy with purple worm poison, an always-available reaction when an enemy misses or critically misses you that allows you to Step, and a once-per-hour two-action activity that causes you to become concealed for a minute (hostile actions break it) and, while concealed, get a sizable circumstance bonus to reflex saves.

Archetypes

Archetypes

Below, I have listed some of the acceptable and, in some cases, even good choices for archetypes should you want to use one. The ratings below exist to denote how viable an archetype is. The ratings should not indicate to you that you should take every single feat I have listed, only that you can pull value relative to the rating from any given archetype. Not all archetype feats are listed, just those that are acceptable or stand-out choices. Also, the list below is not exhaustive. You can make other archetypes work, these are just generally the more appropriate, thematic, or synergistic choices. On a similar note, there are several archetypes that can add some value to Spellshots due to their INT-based natures, but are very difficult to fit into a Spellshot build because they aren’t available until level 10 at the earliest (or 8 with free archetype variant rules).

Multiclass Archetypes

The alchemist archetype gives a few improvements to alchemy, such as earlier quick alchemy and some capability to regenerate versatile vials, but the +2 INT requirement is tough to meet without aiuvarin Multitalented. Champion is similarly difficult to meet attribute requirements, with no Way doing well investing in both STR and CHA. It does give you a bit of extra AC with heavy armor and some great reactions, though, which are decent gains from Multitalented. Thaumaturge doesn’t offer a whole lot, but you can get master will proficiency at level 12 rather than 17 with Canny Acumen. Monk is the other means of getting master will proficiency early, but requires +2 STR and DEX rather than CHA. Cleric and cosmos oracle are also worth a mention since you can get the _cloak of shadow_ domain spell without having to rely on an uncommon archetype.

Fighter (*)

Fighter offers quite a few feats that can improve your weapon usage. It’ll require +2 STR and DEX, though, which means it’s best taken if you’re using a kickback weapon. Primarily, Drifters, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards will work best for this archetype, but Snipers can benefit as well. Pistoleros and Spellshots have no use for STR.

● (2) Fighter Dedication: Basically just skill training. Fighter DC means nothing to you. It’ll round out your physical skills if you haven’t already gotten trained in both, though. That’s useful for any of the Ways that will want this archetype. ● (4) Basic Maneuver: Gain a first or second level fighter feat. ○ Assisting Shot: You can give a bonus to allies’ attacks alongside your own Strikes as long as you’re suffering the MAP. Since you have the best possible proficiency progression with your applicable weapons, you might as well hand out free buffs to your allies. ○ Lunge: Extra reach for melee Ways, keeping you safer while making ranged Strikes. ○ Point Blank Stance: Extra damage inside 30 feet of range. Decent for melee Ways. ● (4) Fighter Resiliency: As an 8 HP martial, you’re behind the power curve on the HP front. Extra HP helps quite a bit. ● (4) Reactive Striker: Great for melee Ways. ● (6) Advanced Maneuver: Gain a fighter feat up to half your level. There’s nothing here worth replacing your level 20 class feat, but there’s good stuff if you’re playing with the free archetype variant rules. ○ (8) Double Shot: Only works if you’re using a repeating weapon with reload 0 (air repeater, long air repeater, and, most useful, barricade buster). It gives a bit of AoE and is less punishing on the MAP front. ○ (8) Parting Shot: A means of shooting from safety and making your target off-guard. Two actions to use it, though. ○ (12) Advantageous Assault: As much as 6 extra damage on your Strikes, provided your target meets the requirements for this feat. Synergizes well with Vanguard’s Blast Tackle feat. Otherwise, you’ll generally need someone else in your party for the grabbed / prone / restrained conditions, and you’ll have to deal with the MAP to meet the requirements of the press trait.

Ranger (*)

The ranger archetype doesn’t offer a ton of value, but there are a few standout choices. Namely, Gravity Weapon and Hunter’s Aim can help quite a bit with damage, Ranger Resiliency can give you some extra durability, and Disrupt Prey is useful in melee (as is Snap Shot).

● (2) Ranger Dedication: Survival is lackluster at best, but Hunt Prey is pretty useful. The circumstance bonus to Seek your prey is sometimes valuable, but the fact that you have to be able to see or hear the prey to use Hunt Prey in the first place makes it a situational improvement. If you Hunt something that then becomes invisible or starts using stealth, that’s about the only time you’ll get the benefit. The real value is in the range extension. Being able to target out to the second range increment without the penalty will mostly be helpful with shorter-range weapons, but it gives you a lot of flexibility in positioning and movement safety. The range increment penalty reduction will stop mattering at level 17. ● (4) Basic Hunter’s Trick: Gain a first or second level ranger feat. ○ Initiate Warden: Gravity Weapon applies a (scaling) status bonus to damage once per round for a single action, which is a great way to start each encounter. ○ Hunter’s Aim: Gives you an option to sink two actions into a Strike to really try for a crit. ● (4) Ranger Resiliency: As an 8 HP martial, you’re behind the power curve on the HP front. Extra HP helps quite a bit. ● (6) Advanced Hunter’s Trick: Gain a ranger feat up to half your level. There’s nothing here worth replacing your level 20 class feat, but there’s good stuff if you’re playing with the free archetype variant rules. ○ (8) Advanced Warden: Requires Initiate Warden. Since you can get the _animal feature_ spell at a level where it’s automatically heightened, you can get darkvision, a swim speed, or a fly speed for a minute tied to a focus point. The primary use is the fly speed, but the others may come in handy as well. ○ (8) Disrupt Prey: Mostly useful for Drifters and Triggerbrands, though Vanguards with a reinforced stock can benefit as well. Functions somewhat similarly to Reactive Strike, but only against your Hunted Prey. ○ (8) Far Shot: Doubled weapon range, which will also synergize with the range increment penalty reduction from Hunt Prey and from your Shootist’s Edge class feature at level 17. ○ (12) Skirmish Strike: A bit of extra safety and action economy for ranged Strikes, or to safely get into position for melee Strikes. ○ (12) Snap Shot: Allows you to use Disrupt Prey with a ranged weapon, but still adjacent to you.

○ (16) Eerie Environs: Pistoleros and Snipers can put this to good use. Being able to Demoralize and remain hidden will make your enemies frightened and off-guard to an attack, which is a huge debuff.

Rogue (*)

Triggerbrands in particular gain a lot of value from a rogue archetype, especially if using an explosive dogslicer. The rogue archetype offers a little something for everyone, though, and is also quite strong for Drifters due to Tumble Behind, Pistoleros with a deception focus, and Snipers due to how often they should be hidden.

● (2) Rogue Dedication: Basically just a trained skill and Surprise Attack since the class DC and armor training don’t matter to you. Surprise Attack will be great for Snipers and is a good incentive to invest in stealth for other Ways. ● (4) Basic Trickery: Gain a first or second level rogue feat. ○ Mobility: Especially useful if your ancestry grants you 30 ft. speed. Moving up to half your speed without triggering reactions is a solid improvement. ○ Overextending Feint: Safety feature for Pistoleros, although the normal Feint effects are generally better. ○ Trap Finder: If you’re in a party trapfinder role, you can’t go wrong with this feat. Triggerbrands will almost always appreciate it. ○ Tumble Behind: Render enemies off-guard (including against ranged attacks) when you successfully Tumble Through. Less useful if you’re not near enemies often (Snipers), but if you’ve got the acrobatics (Drifters) you’ll love being able to nail enemies more often with ranged Strike crits. Especially useful with backstabber weapons. ○ You’re Next: Pistoleros might as well get a bonus to Demoralize (and use it as a reaction) from time to time when downing an enemy. ● (4) Sneak Attacker: A bit of extra damage against off-guard enemies. Easier to do with Drifters and Triggerbrands, but this archetype at least offers Tumble Behind to make it happen for ranged Strikes. Snipers can also frequently get the extra damage since so much of their kit renders enemies off-guard, as can Pistoleros with Create a Diversion and Feint.

● (6) Advanced Trickery: Gain a rogue feat up to half your level. There’s nothing here worth replacing your level 20 class feat, but there’s good stuff if you’re playing with the free archetype variant rules. ○ (8) Battle Assessment: If you want a bit more utility in encounters, your strong perception progression does a lot to enable this feat. The information you gain is typically the most valuable possible information you could otherwise gain from Recall Knowledge. ○ (8) Dread Striker: Especially useful for Pistoleros who can render enemies off-guard to their ranged Strikes with ease, but it’s also good if someone else in your party consistently applies the frightened condition (bards with Dirge of Doom are a particularly notable example). If you have a fearsome rune on your weapon, you’ll consistently get solid value out of this feat. ○ (8) Reactive Pursuit: Allows Drifters, Triggerbrands, and Vanguards to stick to their targets as a reaction to their movement. ○ (12) Gang Up: Much easier flanking for Drifters and Triggerbrands, although you’ll probably still want to move into normal flanking position to help set up your allies. ○ (12) Skirmish Strike: A bit of extra safety and action economy for ranged Strikes, or to safely get into position for melee Strikes. ○ (16) Opportune Backstab: Fills a similar niche to Reactive Strike, but triggers when an enemy in reach melee attacks an ally. Might as well get extra melee Strikes on Drifters and Triggerbrands. ● (8) Skill Mastery: If you want more of a skill monkey role, this is how you go about it. ● (10) Uncanny Dodge: Helps protect you against enemies of your level or lower trying to flank you, as well as enemies using stealth / invisibility.

Wizard (*)

This rating is specifically for Spellshots. You don’t gain a ton from the wizard archetype, but it’s an easy way to round out your spellcasting capabilities. Also note that you’ll need three Spellshot feats before you can take wizard archetype feats.

● (2) Wizard Dedication: Two more arcane cantrips prepared per day, which covers most of the offensive value you could get for Spell-Woven Shot. If your ancestry gives you an attack cantrip, you’ve pretty much got all bases covered. ● (18) Master Wizard Spellcasting: Gets you the most you can possibly get out of archetype spellcasting. This is one of only two easy means of gaining master spellcasting benefits, the other being beast gunner.

Other Archetypes

While gunslinger is generally already the best in terms of daily production for alchemical uses, additional alchemy-based archetypes can broaden the scope of how you use your daily consumables / versatile vials. Aside from alchemy-based archetypes, Drifters can take the Aldori Duelist Dedication to get max proficiency with the aldori dueling sword. If you’re built for Munitions Machinist and Quick Vial usage, the Fireworks Technician Dedication will let you recover versatile vials throughout the day.

Acrobat (*)

If nothing else, it’s scaling acrobatics, which is great for Tumble Through at a bare minimum.

● (2) Acrobat Dedication: Auto-scaling acrobatics. Also makes crit successes to Tumble Through negate the usual difficult terrain of an enemy’s space. ● (4) Contortionist: Works best with an ancestry that grants bonuses to Escape. The Quick Squeeze feat is mostly useless, but being able to make enemies temporarily off-guard is useful sometimes. ● (6) Dodge Away: AC as a reaction and the ability to Step away from the offender. Solid defensive reaction. ● (7) Graceful Leaper: Synergy with Black Powder Boost if you’re not investing in athletics. ● (8) Tumbling Strike: Only useful for Drifters and Triggerbrands. Efficient action economy to Tumble Through and Strike simultaneously, plus a chance to render the enemy off-guard. ● (10) Tumbling Opportunist: Free action once per minute to use acrobatics for a Trip following a Tumble Through or Tumbling Strike. While the action economy is great, you’ll need a free hand.

Beast Gunner (*) (U, F)

A somewhat unique archetype in that Spellshots can take its dedication without first meeting the usual 3-feat archetype exit requirement. Doing so will lock Spellshots into both archetypes for longer though, since they’ll need to meet the requirements of both the Spellshot and Beast Gunner Dedication feats in order to select any other archetype. If you want this archetype on any other Way, consider an ancestry with a lore feat that will make picking up trained proficiency in arcana and crafting easier. Additionally, there are requirements to access and use beast guns themselves, assuming you want to use one. Mechanically, you must kill an appropriate (and appropriately threatening) creature for the beast gun you want to use, meaning your GM has to be willing to play ball. Beast guns use their own special ammunition and do not fall into the same rules issues as normal firearms regarding alchemical and magical ammunition.

❖ (4) Drake Rifle (*): Must hunt a drake. It’s got a default potency rune, but not a striking rune. Range is solid, the damage die is strong since it’s a two-handed weapon, and the damage type corresponds to the type of drake you hunted. You can also deal persistent damage of the same type on crits, making this a solid choice for Spellshots. Snipers will do fine with it as well. It can also apply debuffs once per day as a three action activity depending on the type of drake: sickened 1, speed penalty, dazzled and off-guard, forced movement away from you and knocking the target prone, or enfeebled 1 and clumsy 1. Dazzled and off-guard with an electricity gun is generally the best condition set. Unlike most other beast guns, these effects are unburdened by an associated DC and happen automatically as long as the associated Strike hits. The drawbacks are that your damage type is limited and may come up against insurmountable immunities or punishing resistances and that the weapon cannot apply critical specialization effects. Despite the drawbacks, this is generally the best beast gun on offer.

● (6) Beast Gunner Dedication: Gives you spontaneous spellcasting, a spell repertoire, and either a primal or arcane attack cantrip, plus an extra prepared cantrip if you’re a Spellshot. If you’re a Spellshot, pick INT. Otherwise, go with whatever works best for your build. Spellsling has some issues, namely that, although the requirements allow you to use “another magic firearm” rather than just your beast gun, the effects require you to use a beast gun to Strike. If your GM is fine with ignoring that contradiction and lets you

use a regular magic firearm, Spellsling is much better. Otherwise, you’re pretty much stuck with a drake rifle. If you’ve also got Spell-Woven Shot, you’ll get outstanding action compression once per encounter using magical ammunition, and you won’t be restricted to a beast gun. Being able to load and activate magical ammunition as a free action rolled into Spell-Woven Shot lets you use one particularly cheesy type of ammunition: Spellstrike Ammunition. Ordinarily, Spellstrike Ammunition is hell on action economy, basically functioning as its own self-contained Spell-Woven Shot. With the action compression, though, you can pour two spells into a single Spell-Woven Shot: one with a free action activation that includes Casting a Spell on the Spellstrike Ammunition, and one as part of the Spell-Woven Shot. You can do some absolutely insane damage with this combination once per encounter. Naturally, this functions very well with Munitions Crafter. ● (8) Basic Beast Gunner Spellcasting: Gain a first, second, and third rank spell and spell slot in your spell repertoire for your chosen tradition. If you chose arcane for your cantrip, this feat is redundant with Basic Wizard Spellcasting, but you can double up if you really want to do so. Otherwise, primal spells give you a little more flexibility with those slots. If you choose this feat, you’ll also get a signature spell in your repertoire. ● (10) Drain Vitality: Temp HP and help against persistent damage once per minute, assuming you use your beast gun rather than a normal firearm. It’ll prevent you from using your beast gun’s activated effects for a turn, but you can still use Spellsling or Spell-Woven Shot. ● (12) Expert Beast Gunner Spellcasting: Gain a fourth rank spell and spell slot when you take the feat, a fifth rank spell and slot at level 14, and a sixth rank spell and slot at level

16. Also raises your spell attack & DC proficiency to expert, although that’s redundant with Expert Wizard Spellcasting if you already had it. If you had Basic Beast Gunner Spellcasting, you’ll get a second signature spell, but signature spells get a bit weird if you qualified for this feat with Basic Wizard Spellcasting. If this is your first set of repertoire spells (aside from your initial cantrip), you’ll have prepared wizard cantrips and first through third rank spells, and a spell repertoire with a cantrip and fifth & (eventually) sixth rank spells. If you don’t have basic spellcasting benefits from a beast gunner feat, the text about signature spells doesn’t quite line up with how your character’s spells work. Talk to your GM. It should be a pretty easy fix to just give you a single signature spell.

● (16) Controlled Bullet: This feat is best with lots of range on your beast gun, making drake gun once again the best option. Being able to Strike multiple targets once each with no MAP for two actions, and keep Striking until you miss, is outstanding even if it’s only usable once per day. ● (18) Master Beast Gunner Spellcasting: Gain a seventh rank spell and spell slot when you take the feat and an eighth rank spell and slot at level 20. Also raises your spell attack & DC proficiency to master. This is a bit of a better way to go about getting that proficiency increase than the wizard archetype if your GM is willing to let you take this archetype. If this is your first set of repertoire spells (aside from your initial cantrip), the same considerations apply as from Expert Beast Gunner Spellcasting, just with seventh and eighth rank spells instead.

Crossbow Infiltrator (**)

Useful for dual wield builds relying on the repeating hand crossbow and for Drifter and Triggerbrand builds that use a crescent cross. This archetype’s rating is specifically for RHC usage and the crescent cross-using Ways. Synergizes quite nicely with Crossbow Crack Shot.

● (2) Crossbow Infiltrator Dedication: Familiarity with the repeating hand crossbow, which will give you the ability to evade the lesser advanced weapon proficiency a few levels before you’d otherwise get that feature from a gunslinger feat. It does not, however, grant you access, so you’ll still have to discuss with your GM whether and how you can get your hands on a repeating hand crossbow. That does become a non-issue at level 4+, at least. The Infiltrator’s Draw action isn’t anywhere near as useful as what you’d get from a gunner’s bandolier for the draw + Strike function, but it is decent for the Strike + stow action set if you need to swap to a different weapon from a gunner’s bandolier. ● (4) Crescent Cross Training: Mostly for Drifters, but also somewhat for Triggerbrands running a one-handed build. Crescent Spray gives you three ranged Strike for two actions and no MAP, which is quite strong. Drifters even have the added benefit of being able to use Reloading Strike on the next turn to get a melee Strike or two in to offset the expenditure of three rounds. ● (4) Repeating Hand Crossbow Training: The most significant feat of the archetype, giving you access to repeating hand crossbows and repeater bandoliers. It even offers some synergy with action compression reload feats. Both the action compression feat

synergy and repeater bandoliers give you much more action freedom when using repeating hand crossbows, assuming your encounters run long enough to reload one. ● (6) Reloading Trick: Outstanding reload efficiency if you have Crescent Cross Training, effectively replicating Reloading Strike without the misfire chance. It also works for a gauntlet bow or hand crossbow, but generally this archetype is best used for a RHC rather than a hand crossbow. Gauntlet bows also tend to be around for utility rather than offense. It’s also an emergency reload for a RHC if you have Repeating Hand Crossbow Training, but will chew through your magazines quickly if you rely on Reloading Trick too much. ● (10) Infiltration Assassination: Generally best used with a crescent cross and Crescent Cross training, but it’s still functional with a regular old gauntlet bow. Getting an automatic grabbed condition on the target of the melee portion sets you up for an off-guard ranged Strike with no reaction trigger, though you do still suffer the MAP for the ranged Strike. ● (14) Unseen Shot: If you’re built for stealth, you’ll love this feat, since it will maintain the hidden condition on you after an archetype-related weapon Strike. ● (16) Infiltrator’s Blitz: You’ll wind up with the fatigued condition, but you’ll also be able to Stride and Strike three times in a round, with a circumstance bonus to speed, and without having to worry about reload action limitations.

Eldritch Archer (*)

The only real restriction you face with this archetype is the need to use a crossbow. Snipers can get some extra burst damage, Vanguards can deliver maneuvers at range with _telekinetic maneuver_ , Drifters and Triggerbrands can get some extra flexibility with a crescent cross, and Pistoleros get a one-handed burst option with something like a hand crossbow or repeating hand crossbow. Spellshots can technically benefit with a few of the feats, but there is a bit of overlap with the class archetype. Feat selections with this archetype primarily compete with Fulminating Shot and Phalanx Breaker (6), Stab and Blast (8), Called Shot (10), and Triggerbrand Blitz (14). Phalanx Breaker has somewhat of a sidegrade with _telekinetic maneuver_. Drifters almost certainly will prefer Stab and Blast, and likewise with Triggerbrands and Triggerbrand Blitz.

● (6) Eldritch Archer Dedication: Arcane or primal will tend to be the best choice for your spell tradition, provided you don’t already have spellcasting from another archetype. Primal generally has more attack options, while arcane generally has more save-free utility options, but either way will work just fine for the archetype. Right from the jump, you’ll be able to do, essentially, ranged spellstrikes with attack spells. Gouging claw tends to be a great choice. Just know that Eldritch Shot will occupy a full turn unless you’ve got some sort of quickened effect, which usually means your next turn will require a reload. Prior to Eldritch Reload, Risky Reload is a great choice to follow up on Eldritch Shot. ● (8) Basic Eldritch Archer Spellcasting: Spell slots ranks 1-3 if you need them, but you’ll be okay with just cantrips if you can’t afford to fit this feat into your build. Good pick if your party lacks low-rank utility spells for your chosen tradition. Otherwise, you’ll want to pick an attack spell in your highest slot. ○ (12) Expert Eldritch Archer Spellcasting: Slots for ranks 4-6 if needed. Just like Basic Spellcasting, you’ll generally want an attack spell in your top slot. ■ (18) Master Eldritch Archer Spellcasting: Slots for ranks 7-8 if needed. ● (8) Enchanting Shot: One of the useful feats for Spellshots because of the mental damage type. Otherwise, throwing down stunned 1 without having to rely on a fortitude save is quite good, especially against high-fortitude enemies. Plus, since you’re using a crossbow, you’re effectively getting the equivalent of two critical specialization effects. ● (8) Precious Ammunition: Better at 14+, but having an on-demand means of targeting material-based weaknesses (or, more commonly, overcoming resistances) can be useful. Adamantine tends to be the most valuable, overcoming several construct and object resistances. ● (10): Eldritch Reload: Action compression for two particularly important activities: Eldritch Shot and activating magical ammunition. It’ll let you get a reload in after occupying a full turn with Eldritch Shot, and is one of very few ways to compress a turn enough for efficient magical ammunition usage. ● (14) Homing Shot: Ignore lesser cover from bodies being in the way, as well as overcoming the concealed miss chance.

Marshal (**)

This archetype mostly works for Pistoleros due to the CHA-based skill requirements, though Snipers can also make it work. Intimidation is generally your best bet, but you can get away with the diplomacy options if you want to fully lean into a face role. There are quite a few solid options here if you want a more supportive role in your party, which is not a bad thing for Pistoleros or Snipers who can hang out in the back line and be flexible with their actions (especially alongside Fake Out). Some of the best feats from marshal are at levels 2 and 4, so if you don’t plan to take any other archetypes, you can get away with two feats and leave the marshal archetype alone after. Assurance is a good skill feat to pair with whichever skill you primarily use for this archetype’s actions.

● (2) Marshal Dedication: Requires you to be trained in diplomacy or intimidation, which should be no problem for you. Trained or expert in whichever skill matters to you between diplomacy and intimidation. If you take this feat at level 2 and go with intimidation, you’ll have expert proficiency a level early. If you’re planning to take Munitions Machinist at level 6, the skill proficiency bump will free up one of your proficiency increases to go toward crafting. You also give yourself and allies a status bonus to saves against fear, which is frequently useful and stacks with the bonus from similar ancestry feats. ● (4) Dread Marshal Stance: Even if you’re the only person in your party who stands a good chance of landing critical Strikes, this feat is still great. If your party has another ranged martial in the group, even better. If you’re using a shorter-range weapon and willing to get near melee with your melee martial friends, it’s also useful, but that’s a risky choice. If you have it, Pistolero’s Challenge does incentivize you to be close to your melee allies, but again, risky due to the fact that you take extra damage from your Challenge target. Regardless, being able to slap frightened 1 on enemies when you crit with Strikes is awesome. ● (4) Inspiring Marshal Stance: If there isn’t a bard in your party (or someone else who can easily throw out a status bonus to attack rolls) you’ll be able to put this to good use regardless of positioning relative to your party. The bonus to saves against mental effects does not stack against fear effects, but it does broaden the value of the bonus beyond just fear, which works nicely with your Stubborn feature. If nothing else, it turns you into even more of a crit machine. ● (4) Snap Out of It!: Help your allies get out of mental effects like frightened or being controlled.

● (4) Steel Yourself!: Primarily useful for helping allies overcome poison / disease effects since you can reliably predict those fortitude saves. Otherwise it’s kind of difficult to use. It is at least resource-free temp HP, although not much. ● (6) Cadence Call: Pull a single action forward a round once per minute for allies who want to use it. They can only Stride, but if your allies need some help with positioning (especially slower-speed allies like dwarves) you can get them where they need to be in a more timely manner. This one will require some party communication and tactical cohesion. Discuss ahead of time if you want to take this feat. ○ (14) Tactical Cadence: Requires Cadence Call. This feat turns Cadence Call into a free quickened turn for the affected allies without the eventual slowed 1. ● (8) Back to Back: Negate flanking with your adjacent allies unless at least 3+ enemies coordinate to flank you and one other ally. As a Pistolero, you can hang out in back with your caster friend and keep the two of you safer from enemies who really want to bust up your backline. ● (8) To Battle!: Generally best used as the single action version to help ferry an ally into position. The two action version trades two of your actions for an ally’s reaction to Strike MAP-free. That’s going to be less frequently viable since you have excellent firearm proficiency and need your actions to Strike and reload. ● (14) Target of Opportunity: If someone else in your party is built for ranged Strikes, you might as well get a ranged faux-Reactive Strike out of it. You’ll suffer a -2 penalty, but being able to get extra ranged Strikes outside of your turn is solid.

Mauler (*)

This archetype is primarily useful for Triggerbrands to get melee critical specialization, but it also works for Vanguards using a reinforced stock. The concept of those Ways wading into melee and slamming foes down with their gun may better meet your concept of the class fantasy. Note that this archetype does not allow you to use your weapon’s potency rune for athletics skill actions. If you’ve got the room in your build, pairing this with the fighter archetype for Lunge and Reactive Strike will work very well. Naturally, that’ll be much easier if you’ve got the good fortune to be playing a Free Archetype game.

● (2) Mauler Dedication: Dead feat, but it’s necessary to get the better feats.

● (4) Slam Down: Simultaneous melee Strike and Trip without the MAP until after the activity completes. It’ll mostly preclude you following up with a ranged Strike since doing so would be at a -10, but it gives you some versatility with your athletics and synergizes well if you’re running a reinforced stock for flanking. ○ (12) Crashing Slam: Better action economy and MAP friendliness when you use Slam Down, which sets up nicely for a follow-on ranged Strike. ● (6) Clear the Way: It won’t come up a whole lot, but being able to Shove a pack of enemies can set up easier tactical situations for you and your allies. ● (8) Shoving Sweep: MAP-free Shove when an enemy triggers the reaction, which will interfere with their plans to get where they’re going and potentially waste enemy actions. If you’re playing a centaur with Practiced Brawn, this feat is amazing and will frequently disrupt enemy move actions.

Medic (*)

So long as you’re not building to dual wield, you’ll have some flexibility to use a free hand for Battle Medicine. Most Ways also have some room to fit in WIS, though that’s harder on melee Ways since they want to prioritize CON. Spellshots won’t be able to pull off the party healer role very well since they can’t take the Medic Dedication until level 8 at the earliest. The best way to set yourself up to be the party medic is to take the Field Medic background so that you start off with Battle Medicine (or equivalent campaign backgrounds that grant Battle Medicine where possible). Building that way will qualify you for the Medic Dedication at level 2, which is ideal if you’re the primary healer. That will free up your first skill feat to be Continual Recovery and, at that point, you’re pretty much set up to heal.

● (2) Medic Dedication: Expert medicine proficiency if you don’t already have it, better Battle Medicine output, and more uses of Battle Medicine per day. This feat alone makes you a competent healer. ● (4) Doctor’s Visitation: Action compression to perform Battle Medicine on someone. You can easily fit in a Strike -> free action Release 2-handed weapon if needed -> Doctor’s Visitation to someone and Battle Medicine them -> reload of some sort. Especially good if you’ve got high speed. ● (4) Treat Condition: Since this is a skill feat, you can meet the exit requirements at level 4 with this feat. Generally, you’re better off taking Ward Medic at level 4, though.

○ (6) Holistic Care: Requires trained proficiency in diplomacy. Your caster friends will appreciate you being able to remove the stupefied condition, especially if your caster friends include a psychic. ● (16) Resuscitate: Bring your allies back from death without needing to rely on magic.

Overwatch (**) (U, F)

This archetype helps you make the most of your perception score, as well as some support for athletics-focused allies and, if needed, for allies who suck at acrobatics. For Spyglass Modification alone, this archetype is outstanding. Information is king, and being able to safely look around corners without revealing yourself is a hell of an upgrade to your scouting capabilities, especially when you’re Avoiding Notice.

● (2) Overwatch Dedication: Gives you and allies within 30 ft. of you a +2 to perception-based initiative checks. Less useful for Snipers, but it’s a rather strong feat for level two considering it’s a sort of better version of the level eleven general feat Incredible Scout. ● (4) Spyglass Modification: Especially awesome if you’re frequently Avoiding Notice to get into useful positions, allowing you to see around corners and better leverage your perception. ● (10) Wide Overwatch: Extend your overwatch field to 60 ft, which gives you a whole lot of range to look around corners. ● (12) Forewarn: With your excellent perception progression, chances are good you’ll have a higher perception DC than an ally or two’s AC. Being able to replace their AC with your perception DC once per minute as a reaction is a solid defensive benefit for your party. For comparison, at the level you get this feat, if you were to start with +2 WIS and keep investing in it and a hypothetical wizard friend were to start with +2 DEX and keep investing in it, you’d have a perception DC of 32 vs. the wizard’s AC of 28. ● (14) Control Tower: Negates the concealed condition for you and allies in your overwatch field, as well as making it significantly easier to hit concealed and hidden enemies. Also gives you a sizable bonus to Seek against hidden and undetected creatures. Synergizes with Blood in the Air, Deadye, and especially Smoke Curtain. ● (16) Converge: Allows you to set up allies to use a MAP-free reaction for a melee Strike when you successfully connect a ranged Strike. Less useful for allies who have a high

chance of triggering an Attack of Opportunity or similar reaction, but at least you can guarantee some extra action economy efficiency and melee damage for your party. It does eat up both your reaction and your ally’s, though.

Pistol Phenom (*) (U, F)

This archetype only really works for Pistoleros and Snipers due to the CHA-based skill requirements. Since this archetype revolves around one-handed firearms, you’ll generally be best off with a dual wield build. Additionally, performance is a bad skill on its own, but this archetype requires it on top of deception… yet it mostly replaces deception. You’ll want to focus on performance and intimidation as your two primary skills with this archetype. Although reliance on the performance skill is a drawback, this archetype adds a fair bit of versatility to CHA builds. You can also put that performance skill to good use with the Goblin Song / Loud Singer goblin ancestry feats, which your caster allies will almost certainly appreciate. If you’re building toward performance anyway, you should do your level best to convince your GM you should be allowed to take the level 4 Firebrands feat Ostentatious Reload.

● (2) Pistol Phenom Dedication: Gives you Pistol Twirl, which is quite good considering you almost certainly wanted that feat at level 2 anyway. Other than that, this feat just lets you use performance instead of deception to do the Pistol Twirl ranged feint. It provides some measure of anti-synergy with the Pistolero’s Slinger’s Reload because it more or less negates the use of deception (due to skill investment limitations) for the Slinger’s Reload. That being said, Pistoleros will still be able to use intimidation easily. ● (4) Gunpowder Gauntlet: Although you need to be wielding a loaded one-handed firearm to use this feat’s granted action, you don’t actually need to discharge said firearm. If you can kite or tank a few hits, it synergizes quite well with Pistolero’s Challenge since the combination both incentivizes an enemy to attack you and disincentivizes them from attacking your allies. Snipers can set up a defensive benefit with stealth, though they don’t have anything to incentivize enemies into attacking them. It’ll take two actions requiring two different skill checks to pull off the combination, though. If you’re using a jezail, clan pistol, and possibly even a dueling pistol, you may be able to out-range your target and force them to suffer both the Gunpowder Gauntlet debuff and range penalties. ● (6) Dazzling Bullet: One action to both Strike and potentially dazzle a target with a performance check. Solid, especially if someone in your party (possibly you) can set you

up with a Bon Mot. Bon Mot -> Dazzling Bullet -> Reloading Strike is a pretty effective turn. ● (8) Hot Foot: It’ll shut off your target’s reactions and maybe debuff them, which will be good for personal and party positioning when needed. You have to discharge your firearm and target a reflex DC, which may provide some difficulties in pulling it off. Shutting down reactions tends to be more valuable in encounters against fewer enemies. ● (10) Phenom’s Verve: Buffs your attacks when you critically succeed at a performance check associated with any of the archetype feats. If you have a bard in your party or someone similar who frequently grants status bonuses to attacks, you won’t need this feat. Otherwise, it has the potential to passively turn you into even more of a crit machine. Orchestral brooches can help here. ● (12) Reach for the Sky: It’s two actions and discharges your (or one of your) firearm(s), but it’s an AoE Demoralize that causes all sorts of drawbacks for enemies who become frightened. You’ll cancel out Raise a Shield bonuses and negate many reactions, free actions, and item usage. Similar to a normal Demoralize attempt, you’re only really going to be able to use this activity once per encounter due to its post-usage immunity element. It does not, however, trigger the typical Demoralize immunity, meaning you can follow up this activity with an intimidation-based Slinger’s Reload.

Sentinel (*)

Heavy armor nets you an extra point of AC, but it comes with some drawbacks. You’ll need at least +3 STR in order to not suffer a penalty to your STRand DEX-based skills and the full -10 ft. penalty to speed. That’s not much of an issue for Drifters, Triggerbrands, or Vanguards, at least, since they generally want to start with +3 STR anyway. Regardless, even with enough STR, you’re still going to suffer a -5ft. penalty to your speed. Since you’re ranged, that’s less of an issue, but the three Ways most able to handle the penalty also most want to get into melee. If your GM allows it, mithral is an uncommon level 12+ option to craft / upgrade your armor so that you will suffer no speed penalties (assuming proper STR). Alternatively, the custom mixed heritage can set you up to choose an ancestry with 25 or 30 feet of speed and take dwarf as the mixed heritage for Unburdened Iron. Provided you don’t care about your STRand DEX-based skills, that setup can even get you into heavy armor without worrying about STR at all. If that’s

the case, Pistoleros will tend to do best with sentinel due to the focus on CHA skills. You don’t have any use for the bulwark trait available on any of the 6 AC / 0 DEX heavy armors.

● (2) Sentinel Dedication: Gives you proficiency in heavy armor that scales with your normal armor proficiencies. If you’re just taking this feat to get access to the later Armor Specialist feat for medium armor usage, this feat does nothing for you beyond qualifying you for later feats. ● (4) Steel Skin: Sleep in heavy armor without penalty. Great to keep you safe from night ambushes. ● (6) Armor Specialist: Armor specialization for medium and heavy armor. Since the purpose of getting heavy armor proficiency is almost entirely to add a point of AC, your only real options are composite and plate. Composite armor specialization gives you resistance to piercing damage and plate armor specialization gives you resistance to slashing damage. Generally, composite armor will be better for you since you can stay out at range where the most likely physical damage you’ll take is piercing. Up in melee, damage type is a crapshoot, so you might as well take the resistance that will have a higher likelihood across diverse combat scenarios. ● (8) Armored Rebuff: Taxing enemy action economy as a reaction is always a useful tool, even if it only triggers on an enemy’s crit failed melee Strike. Especially great if you’re playing a centaur with Practiced Brawn.

Shadowcaster (**) (U)

Requires you to be able to cast spells, which you can get pretty easily from a heritage or ancestry feat for an innate spell. This rating assumes you’re building for stealth. This archetype, right from the first feat, enables stealth quite a bit. Note that, while you can increase your focus pool size with this archetype, it offers no means of improving your Refocus to ever give you back more than one focus point, so you may be stuck Refocusing for up to 30 minutes at times. If you are unfamiliar with how focus points work, the maximum number of focus points you can ever have is three.

● (2) Shadowcaster Dedication: Gives you a focus point and the cloak of shadow focus spell. It’s mobile concealment that you can use to Hide anywhere, regardless of terrain. It does take an action to cast, but that’s not bad at all for a spell, and it lasts for a minute.

Note that this feat renders you unable to cast spells with the light trait. Hopefully you didn’t take _light_ with the ancestry feat that gave you access to this archetype. ● (6) Disciple of Shade: Gives you the two-action focus spell _inscrutable mask_ , which grants a scaling status bonus to Lie, Feint, Demoralize, and Hide (in dim light or darkness). It is a ten minute long buff, which means you can pre-buff with it ahead of an encounter in which you plan to use _cloak of shadow_. _Inscrutable mask_ is absolutely fantastic for Pistoleros. ● (12) Shadow Magic: Gain either _dance of darkness_ or _shadow jump_. Both are focus spells. This is your first means of gaining your third focus point. _Shadow jump_ is far and away the better option, giving you a means of emulating effects like _translocate_. It’s significantly better at level 15 when its eighth rank heightened version causes you to become invisible until the end of the next turn after using _shadow jump_. That invisibility will not break when you Strike, giving you an easy means of forcing the off-guard condition. It is a two-action spell, though. You’ll need to be careful about action economy. If you have greater darkvision, such as from the wayang ancestry or Shadowdancer Dedication, you can use _dance of darkness_ for defensive purposes, but _shadow jump_ is generally the better choice.

● While the shadowdancer is a separate archetype, it’s nowhere near as good without shadowcaster’s spells to back it up. As such, I’m listing shadowdancer as a subsection of shadowcaster despite the fact that they are independent of each other. If you want to take Shadowdancer Dedication as soon as possible, I recommend taking the shadowcaster’s Familiar feat at level 4.

○ (8) Shadowdancer Dedication: +2 circumstance bonus to stealth in dim light or darkness will basically give you a permanent +4 to stealth. You also get greater darkvision. ○ (10) Shadow Sneak Attack: Get a little extra precision damage when you hit off-guard targets, which should be pretty much always. ○ (16) Sense the Unseen: Coupled with Blood in the Air, you’re going to have very little problem with hidden enemies. ○ (18) Shadow Master: Fortune on reflex saves. This might be overkill, though, since your DEX and reflex saves are already great and get success -> crit success upgrades.

Sniping Duo (*)

More than anything, the value of this archetype lies in the wealth of useful reactions. Tag Team in particular is a standout, although you’ll have to be particularly diligent about keeping your weapon loaded. A gauntlet bow can sort of solve the issue, though keeping runes up on two weapons is cost-prohibitive. There are also a few good options that buff your own or your ally’s attacks / damage.

● (2) Sniping Duo Dedication: Allows you to select an ally to help you out with later feats and give / receive buffs. You and your designated ally gain a small damage bonus, and Drifters and Triggerbrands can get the bonus to melee Strikes. ● (4) Assisting Shot: Give your ally a circumstance bonus to attacks (including spell attacks) when you use this feat, which will stack with the circumstance bonus to damage granted by the dedication feat. The fact that you have such great firearm proficiency progression means you have a good chance of giving your ally the better +2 bonus to an attack when you crit. If you end your turn wielding a loaded weapon, you can still Fake Out (provided you have it at an earlier or later level) for a different ally, giving you a lot of potential to hand out attack buffs. ● (4) Triangulate: No penalty for firing into your second range increment and lesser penalties for further increments. Retrain this feat at level 17 as it becomes more or less obsolete. ● (6) Exploit Opening: Might as well get a ranged faux-Reactive Strike out of your designated ally’s crits. Not only do you get a reaction Strike, you get it with a circumstance bonus to boot. ● (8) Vantage Shot: There are some stealth requirements for either you or an ally depending on the weapon they’re using, but as long as that condition is satisfied this feat provides an easy reaction-based means of rendering a target off-guard. ● (10) Tag Team: Extra chances to Strike, albeit with a -2 penalty, when you or your designated ally miss a Strike, and which does not interact with the MAP for either of you regardless of whose turn it is. ● (12) Deflecting Shot: The best part of this feat is the fact that you know whether or not it’s worth spending ammunition ahead of time. With a reaction you can turn a crit into a normal success or a success into a failure when your designated ally gets hit.

● (12) Eagle Eyes: Mostly useful for the Ways that get in melee, it’ll often help protect you and your ally from being flanked in multi-enemy fights, plus some protection against stealthy / invisible enemies.

Yellow (**) archetypes

Yellow (**) Archetypes

Blessed One

I won’t list the feats for this archetype because they should be pretty easy to pick out. Basically, all of them are useful if you’re going with this archetype, but you’ll have to balance them against your class feats. This archetype offers a brief burst of in-combat healing, as well as lots of condition removal and a few buffs alongside the focus point-oriented heal. Really, though, this archetype should be a pick only if your party needs exploration mode healing because it’s effectively infinitely sustainable outside of combat. If you’re going for a heavier support role and communicate that to your party, this archetype is an improvement for that role.

Familiar Mascot

I won’t list the feats for this archetype because they mostly just give you more familiar abilities. If you didn’t already have a familiar from your ancestry, you’ll get a familiar with two abilities. If you did, your familiar will instead get four abilities, which is all you realistically need from a familiar. The only feat that really breaks the mold here is (4) Familiar Mascot which will provide you with a bit of group support and can help your caster allies out. As for the useful abilities on offer, Partner in Crime is useful for Pistoleros, Triggerbrands, and anyone building for a trapfinder role. Second Opinion is good for Spellshots. Threat Display will relieve Pistoleros from needing Intimidating Glare. Flier + Share Senses gives you some scouting potential, and this scouting combo can certainly benefit from having four or more familiar abilities for better scouting. Familiar skill usage will work best on Pistoleros who have the CHA to fuel the familiar’s skills. If you have any non-cantrip innate spells from your ancestry, Innate Surge will give you an extra use of one per day. If you take Familiar Mascot, just about any of the master abilities will be useful for someone in any given party.

Unexpected Sharpshooter (U)

This archetype gives a few fortune / misfortune effects and shores up some deception capability for Pistoleros and CHA-based Snipers. The Chain Reaction feat seems cool, but it’s a trap feat due to the MAP.

● (2) Unexpected Sharpshooter Dedication: Gain Accidental Shot, a once-per-day two-action activity to give yourself fortune on an attack and its damage. It negates circumstance penalties as well as the target's concealed or hidden condition. Circumstance penalties are rare outside of the kickback trait, and you won’t see the kickback trait as a Pistolero. ● (4) Lucky Escape: Once per day reaction to impose misfortune on an enemy attacker. ○ (10) Unbelievable Escape: Lucky Escape once per hour instead of once per day. ● (6) No Hard Feelings: Give yourself the ability to deal nonlethal damage with your ranged attacks penalty-free. If you’re playing a goody two-shoes who doesn’t like to kill enemies, you’ll love this feat. If your party doesn’t like it when you splatter brains everywhere you go, they’ll also appreciate this feat. ● (7) That Was a Close One, Huh?: This one’s a skill feat and requires master proficiency in deception. You’ll be able to Demoralize with deception once per round after using Accidental Shot or Lucky Escape, giving you some skill consolidation if you feel you need it. ● (8) Unbelievable Luck: Accidental Shot becomes once per hour instead of once per day. ● (10) I Meant to Do That: Once per hour, you’ll be able to use deception for an athletics skill action (minus Grapple) at range. It’ll suffer the MAP, though, since you can only use this action to follow up a missed ranged Strike. Further skill consolidation if you need it.