Class Feature Friday: Way of the Triggerbrand (Pathfinder Second Edition Gunslinger Way)
(image of a german-made pistol sword, taken from a Croatian Museum)
I do love combination weapons, particularly any weapon that incorporates a firearm into it’s design. Long before Final Fantasy VIII, and certainly way before RWBY, combination weapons were absolutely a thing (typically in the late 17th to 18th century). They were literally always custom jobs (mostly because the industrial revolution was only getting off the ground), and a chance for a smith to really show off their skills.
In practice the added weight made them kinda impractical, and the firearm bit usually was limited to being a pistol of some kind, both due to weight concerns an also having a hollow tube incorporated into a weapon big enough to accommodate a full rifle kinda had a structural instability problem, leading to warping in the barrel and either misfires or full failure when used as a melee weapon.
Luckily for us, the combination weapons in Pathfinder 1e and 2e combine the love of experimental weaponry with the rule of cool, making such impracticalities not a concern. Besides, you can just say the barrel is an adamantine alloy and suddenly any concerns about bending it in normal use are out the window.
It’s funny how these things go in cycles. Combination weapons were an experiment in what you could do with putting a ranged and melee weapon together in the same hand, but then fell by the wayside with the advent of mass production, then came back again in fantasy form with games like FF8, then reviled again as “too goofy or edgelordy”, and then most recently returning with the likes of RWBY because screw being too cool for awesome things.
All of this to say that today we’re looking at the way of the triggerbrand, a gunslinger way for those that favor such combination weaponry!
Named for the triggerbrand, a pistol/shortsword combination, this is the way for gunslingers that commissioned, inherited, or even personally created a slick combined weapon. That variety, however, means that there is no one unified fighting style for triggerbrands. Some may be pugilists with black powder knuckle dusters, while others wield a heavy axe musket, and others still might be duelists wielding gun swords or pistol rapiers or even the titular triggerbrands. What remains the same, however, is that these gunslingers, like those that follow the way of the drifter, are not afraid to shift from ranged to melee combat on the fly, and often pack an extra punch when they pull the trigger on their weapon while it’s currently embedded in someone’s chest.
Like all gunslinger ways, they have a nifty way to reload, allowing them to do so as they step and shift their grip between melee and ranged.
By concealing the weapon and/or drawing it with a flourish, these slingers can begin combat with the weapon ready in their hand and moving too fluidly for foes to reactively attack them for moving or shooting for the first few seconds of the combat.
Having a combination weapon means often having a hand free, at least for a short while, so stealing belongings from a foe is surprisingly easy for them while said foe is menaced by their weapon. Plus, the shock of the brazen theft also leaves the target open to future attacks as well, as well as too shocked to level reprisal their way.
Skilled gunslingers master the art of striking with the melee portion of their signature weapon and then immediately firing the ranged portion into them at point blank range, often overwhelming their senses with the gunsmoke and leaving a bleeding wound.
The way also has two feats exclusive to it. The first is Triggerbrand Salvo, which gives them a less debilitating form of the one-two combo. The other is Triggerbrand Blitz, allowing them to unleash a flurry of both melee and ranged attacks as they move, becoming one with their weapon.
Other feats that prove useful to them include Crossbow Crack Shot (for those using combination weapons that have an inbuilt crossbow rather than a gun), Sword and Pistol, Defensive Armaments, Pistol Twirl, Alchemical Shot, Running Reload, Munitions Machinist, Deadeye, Ricochet Shot, Dance of Thunder, Fatal Bullet, Ricochet Master, Final Shot, Ricochet Legend, and any others that suit your build.
This way has not one but two ways to negate reactive strikes from firing a ranged weapon in melee or moving, so the name of the game here is naturally to wade in and out of combat shooting and swinging without fear, similar to the drifter. The fact that the special reload ability of the option lets them step, reload, and shift weapon mode is a nice touch. I will say though, having the initial feat unique to this way be just a version of an existing feat (the ability to hit in melee and follow up with a point blank shot) but at a lower level is kinda disappointing, especially when one of their high-level abilities is that same thing again except with bleed damage, but it’s not dealbreaking. Naturally, you are going to want to build with mobile mixed ranged and melee combat, so keep that in mind.
There is likely a stereotype that those that wield combination weapons are probably a bit eccentric, given the sort of weaponry they favor. However, while that may be true for some, others may simply see the benefit of having their melee and ranged armament all in one place so they never have to worry about drawing another weapon. Some may even see their manipulation of this one weapon as an artistic dance in which they shift grip to use both in melee and range fluidly to answer every challenge put before them.
Though his gun sword is an antique, it is still quite potent, and Desmond makes sure to keep ti cleaned and well-maintained every single day. The old skeleton firmly believes that doing so is what helps him keep himself in his undead state, and it’s likely he is completely right.
Once a paragon of justice, Faldric Hammerstroke fell from the path of righteousness after his wife was slain in retaliation for his freedom-fighting escapades. Now he is a grim executioner with his axe musket. However, not all hope is lost for him, as a redeemer approaches in the form of a ninkonda angel, their mind set on either redeeming the former warrior of liberty… or putting him out of his misery.
With the portal finally repaired, the Altradi people are finally ready to rejoin the material universe after half a millennium stuck in a demiplane refuge to avoid the sinking of their island home. However, they know better than to go unprepared, and so each diplomat will be accompanied by a warrior guardian, each wielding a weapon that combines blade and black powder.
