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Nov 30, 2012 -- 5:39PM, Eisenritter wrote:

Reading through the weapons, Kord's Cannon (+3/2d6 two-handed superior firearm, brutal 1) is a bit OP.  Suggest dropping the proficiency bonus to +2.

Y'know, I was worried it was overpowered, so I had dropped it to +2 in my notes. I just forgot to update the thread. And now I feel stupid.

Also, minor flavor quibble:  A sawed-off shotgun should be a one-handed versatile weapon (the entire purpose of sawing off the stock; see also Beelzebumon's Berenjena).

Sounds fine to me. I'll change that now.

Nov 30, 2012 -- 6:36PM, Eisenritter wrote:

Lovely.  And now, I wait until I have a chance to roll one up so I can see it outside of a vaccuum. 

It's coming along. Health problems keep causing delays, but it'll get done eventually.

What do you think about the revised class features and the powers I've worked out so far? I'd appreciate any input and impressions. Apparently this isn't a popular project.

It's cool that you're making this, but I have some problems to point out.

Your class feature is overpowered. You're giving them a bonus to damage from off-stat like a sorcerer, but you're ALSO giving them +1 to hit. +1 to hit is huge, and should not be given as a class feature. The only class that gets it at will at level one is fighter, but they generally do not do high damage. +1 to hit is so coveted, that many people even poach fighter through hybrid just to get it on a striker. Additionally, once you have "called out" your target, you do not need to do anything to sustain it. The +1 to hit might be justified if it was taking up a minor action every round, but even then I think it is too much.
I would strongly suggest changing this feature to something else.
Trying to stick with your themes, I would suggest Sharpshooters ignore the -2 from partial cover and concealment, but not total cover or total concealment against their "called out" target.
For desperadoes, the target is at a -2 to attack them until EoNT (similar to the rattling that you removed).

Also, I think there is an issue with using the term "called out" because it is strange grammatically. Other targeted affects each follow a similar grammatical form.
"He is my Mark"
"He is my Quarry"
"He is my Oath (of enmity)"
"He is my Called out"
I would suggest changing "Called out" to something simpler like "Target."  It's not as flavorful, but easier to use grammatically.

I would also recommend changing your weapons and the speadloader feat. Having the reloading properties be so varied can cause confusion, and is unnecessary. It costs a feat to use a superior weapon, so you should not tax them more by making it require a standard or move action to reload. Or by applying the additional feat tax from speadloader. It is also relatively unnecessary, because using a power can automatically reload your weapon. Also, many encounters do not have you make more than 6-10 attacks, so it is unlikely you will ever need to reload one of the weapons that holds multiple bullets, while in combat. I would change your firearms to two primary groups;
>Single shot weapons that are load minor, and have better stats.
>Multi-shot weapons that are load free.
Additionally, so that your weapon names are consistent with other weapons, I would remove the God names from the superior weapons.
Erathis revolver -> Clockwork Revolver or Twin-barrel Revolver
Kord's Cannon -> Hand-cannon
Bahamuts Blunderbuss -> Blunderbuss

Also, the deringer is an offhand weapon, but you donot seem to have any use for an offhand weapon as a gun-mage. You havn't created any dual-wielding powers or abilities, which I think is a classic theme for someone fightning with revolvers.

Some of the other class features are strange, and not particularly useful. The desperado's +2 intimidate is not very good. The penalty to intimidate in combat is so high, that it is not a viable option to ever use. Unless your DM is houseruling how intimidate works, it's a very "useless" skill. The -2 to saves against fear for desperado is similarly unusable, because NONE the powers that you have available so far have save ends fear affects. The sharpshooters class features have many situations that they can be used in, but are still very situational. I can’t imagine the defense bonus against opportunity attacks being useful except when you are bloodied, and immobilized next to an enemy, which as a long range striker, should be almost never. The bonus to saves against fear affects sounds nice, but practically speaking, the number of monsters that have save ends fear affects, is very small.
I would recommend changing these features to something else entirely. Something that is guaranteed to come up at least once every encounter.

Likewise, it costs a minor action to get that +1 to hit. Compare Prime Shot, which works automatically so long as you get up close and personal. And both Ranger and Warlock get Prime Shot.

And Gunmage doesn't get a defensive feature like the Dragon Sorc's one-per-encounter bonus. Gunmage's 'defensive' (I.e. not directly for damage dealing) features are weaker, sure. Have you ever heard the phrase 'glass cannon'?

Making a class inheriently a glass cannon is not good for overall game balance (in theory). All classes, even strikers, have options to mitigate damage. The only time a glass cannon is acceptable in a group is if your defender and your healer are ok with it, or as a 5th or 6th PC. I think you should include somehting to give more versatility. Maybe one build gets damage mitigation, and the other builds gets mobility increase.

I agree that if the damage bonus is single target, then it is not as powerful, however the +hit is still too strong. Prime shot requires that you maintain positioning, 'called out' (as it reads) is permanent until they die or you change targets. Change 'called out' so that it increases your acuracy in some other way. Maybe make it so that all gun-mage builds 'called out' ignores partial cover and concealment, and -2 from being marked. Or make it so that the +1 to hit has a possible situation where it won't work. It's not that a +1 to hit is overpowered, it's the the +1 maintaining its self regardless of position or circumstance.

Also, if the bonus damage only applies to that one target, then it pushes the player away from any impliment area powers the class might have. As a spell caster, I'm assuming you would have at least some. The bonus damage you're getting is not huge compared to a ranger. In terms of balance, I would sudgest altering the extra damage to apply to all gun-mage attacks, so that impliment powers are not a less favorable option.

Again, a valid suggestion, so I'll consider it. Though nevermaking more than six attacks in an encounter? You've clearly never seen some of the groups I've been in.

I didn't say never, I said not many. As you get hgiher level, encounters usually last longer, but take few rounds total. If you have a clip of 6, that means even in a long encounter, you only need to reload once. Although it makes sense for realism; mechanically speaking, that extra minor action you have to spend once per encounter, IMO is not worth trying to remember.

Considering 'clockwork' in this case essentially means semi-automatic, I am loathe to make that change. And a twin-barrel revolver is flat out ridiculous, even compared to other superior weapons. If you want to change the name at your table, that's fine by me, but I fail to see a reason to care. (Besides, Erathis is the god of invention, if I'm not mistaken.)

No force on earth is getting me to rename Kord's Cannon. God of war, added alliterative appeal, just plain amusing.

Similar to the issue with twin-barrel revolver, implying a blunderbuss is better than the shotguns is... difficult for me to accept. I had considered making it a "Double Barrel Shotgun", though.

They were just sudgestions on names. If you don't like them, you can change them to whatever. There are no other weapons that have titles. A weapon gets a title based on it's magic enhancment. The "radiant weapon" enhancment changes a "longsword" to a "radiant longsword." If you are using titles with your weapon, thenyour names don't fit the standard form, and start to sound funny. Since you like the names so much, try keeping them as fire arm enhancments. Considering there is no magic enhancment support designed for firearms, you might want to homebrew some to make the class more playable.

1 I'm the kind of DM that lets social skills actually be useful in combat. Especially in my latest campaign, since non-lethal options are more than just suggested. They're encouraged.

2 Admittedly, the lack of save-ends fear effects is an issue, so I may alter that at some point. I also like to toss in the occasional "Can't shift (save ends)" effect, making a resistance to OAs useful. It was meant to be similar to the Archer Ranger getting Defensive Mobility for free, though I was trying to make it more of a "last chance" feature, given the "Western Hero" vibe I'm trying to mix in with the Sharpshooter.

3 And I homebrew monsters. A lot. In fact, in my last campaign, I used non-hombrew monsters TWICE in the entire adventure, for the first two battles, then never again. I'm also the kind of DM that believes that if a character has a situational feature, you should put a little effort into making the situation come up at least on occasion.

1 You might be that kind of DM, but others are not. People that see this class might want to play it. Thier DM's might houserule the class into the game, but that doesn't mean they will change other rules to make it work. If you want it to be more playable at other tables, thats somehting you should consider.

2 On a similar note to above, designing a class for a specific flavor also makes it less apealling to other players. Are you designing a class that YOU want to play, or that OTHER PEOPLE want to play? If it feels too "western hero" then it limits others character concepts. Maybe they want to play more of a sleak sniper, or a run-and-gun berserker. The base classes in DnD are more "generic" so they can fit multiple concepts easier. Background, items, feats, paragon paths, give them more specific flavor.

3 Again, YOU might homebrew monsters, but OTHER people might not. You should focus more on your game design theory. "what works for me" is almost never "what works for everyone else", especially in a tabletop RPG. I agree that a DM should tailor the game to fit the players strengths and weaknesses, but as a designer, you should try to make the process more fool-proof.

You mean something like the Sorc's "Scales of the Dragon"? =P I'm sure a ranged striker gets bloodied ALL the time, right?

I'm not exactly sure what you are implying here. Yes, getting bloodied happens often. The issue is not that the triiger is "when bloodied (although that is not the best trigger). The issue is that the bonus it gives do not benifit you often enough.