Techslinger (Gunslinger Archetype)
In your average fantasy setting, gunpowder and the art of gunslinging are probably the upper tier of technological advancement in the world.
However, sometimes you want to play with some more fancy toys, be they relics from a forgotten age, bleeding-edge volatile experiments, or literally fell out of the sky on an ancient spaceship, as is the case for the country of Numeria in the Pathfinder core setting, where techslingers are most likely to be found.
While fully capable of using gunpowder firearms when needed, a techslinger is in their element when they finally get ahold of an advanced weapon, like a laser gun, a zero rifle, or one of the mighty weapons in the heavy category. They may barely understand how the weapon works, but their intuitive methods help them make the most of these powerful tools.
This archetype was definitely built with the timeworn and glitching rules in mind, so if you’re interested in a gun-toting character with weapons that are normally reliable, perhaps such a build would be more suited to Starfinder, but if your fantasy game dives into strange inventions and tech, perhaps you might find a use for it.
This archetype sports a number of unique deeds, the first of which allows them to get a surprisingly large number of shots out of a single battery, burning grit to retain a charge in the weapon, which is useful since timeworn items sometimes break down to the point they can no longer accept batteries. Whether this represents channeling grit directly into energy, fiddling with the settings to reduce consumption, or the sheer luck that grit partially represents is up to the player.
Additionally, they are exceptionally lucky when it comes to the unreliability of such weapons, glitches happening less frequently thanks to their grit.
Whether it is by a crude recharging action or something else, they can also temporarily add charges to a tech firearm, though these are fleeting, draining from the battery naturally if not used.
As long as they maintain their grit, they can even make use of their luck with the bigger weaponry they might find, unleashing devastating blasts with surprising finess.
Given their associated region, it only makes sense that these gunslingers can take the technologist feat as a bonus feat.
Additionally, like other gunslingers, they learn to specialize in specific weapons, though techslingers focus on specific models of the strange weapons they focus on.
Planning a campaign in a sword and raygun campaign? This archetype is perfect if you are fancying the gunslinger class, though obviously its use outside of that scenario is unlikely. The deeds associated with this archetype are less about providing a unique flavor and more about putting these gunslingers on part with their normal counterparts with their different weapon selection. In a way this makes them similar to the bolt ace, but in the opposite direction.
Build them as you would any gunslinger, but don’t forget how their deeds change the class. (honestly the charge recycling deed is only really good at later levels when you’re down to your last grit point and are running out of weapon charges, for example).
In a land where understanding of the strange alien technology that litters the landscape can bring great power, techslingers demonstrate power rarely seen outside of the technomancers. Many may live for the rush of using these weapons.
Raised by a caregiver robot in a peaceful nursery, Ilkas always wondered about the outside. When a power failure shut down the facility, he was forced to leave and fend for himself, discovering that he had been living on a section of an ancient advanced facility that had been running on backup power. He has seen much since then, including hints at the truth behind his shackleborn tiefling heritage, and has taken to collecting the strange firearms he finds for protection.
When the Ship of the Gods crashed into Bollino Swamp, it quickly was renamed Godpoison swamp, for the ship leaked deadly energies into the water, killing many, twisting others, including the mutated mosslord that rules over it now. Still, for those brave enough, deadly weapons that call lighting and burning light on foes wait for the right hand to grasp them.
The elemental weapons of Skyfall utilize a rare crystal which powers, redirects, and converts energy without the use of magic. However, none realized this crystal was the shed scales of a strange god dreaming beneath the ground. Now that the god is awakening, the weapons grow volatile and unpredictable.
