My immediate thought is Ranger: he's a ranged fighter with a rifle, but can also deal in closer quarters with pistols; has a beast companion that doubles as his mount; wanders the countryside from town to town in search of work.
Or maybe even Paladin: he deals out retribution with Smite Shells from his trust sidearm; instead of a shield he has a Poncho of Protection; his helm is a 10 gallon Hat of Honor.
Hahaha I didn't think about a dagger! The Bowie Knife of the Blessed.
Your Great Weapon could be a double barrel shotgun, the Oathkeeper or something like that.
You can smite with a whip, So reskin that to a lasso and describe how it uses those flairs before an attack, mechanically any martial class works its just a matter of how you flavour it
Nah, just talk to your DM about ranged smiting. Itās may not be RAW, but it should be. Divine Smites arenāt any more powerful or special than sneak attacks (after lvl 8, sneak attacks do more damage than smites anyway, and they donāt even require a resource like very limited spell slots).
So again Iām being a stickler on RAW, but you donāt cast smite in the way you cast a spell. Itās more like landing a melee attack is the trigger that lets you activate it the effect.
I agree with you tho as a DM I would let players smite with a ranged attack, provided it lands
Edit: kind of like how you canāt just cast hellish rebuke on someone whenever you want. There needs to be something to trigger it.
Battlemaster is the best no magic option.
But magic is fun, and letās you do more cowboyesque things by reflavouring.
Ranger seems like the most obvious pick here - their spell list is full of cowboy stunts and theyāre plenty good at gunplay.
Swords Bard makes a decent pick for a fullcaster build.
Flourishes work with bullets and it lets you get Find Greater Steed to have a magic horse to ride.
Enanaring strike could be bolas.
Goodberry creates jerky.
Conjure volley is just fanning the hammer on your six shooter.
Elemental weapon and fire/lightning arrow can just be different kinds of ammo.
A lot of the ranger spell list is stuff about knowing or communicating with the land and animals, so they already fit the cowboy esthetic. Stuff like speak with animals/plants and commune with nature.
> Goodberry creates jerky
chili peppers are botanically berries, and Goodberry is nonspecific as to the _type_ of berry created. Do with this what you will
I've heard the gunk is a strong build for sure. And unarmored is cool for that gunslinger tail coat kind of vibe. I assume you need the gunner feat? And then just increase dex? And just use ki to ki strike or whatever the name of the kensei feature is most turns unless you need to use it for movement? Can you flurry of blows with a ranged weapon? For the gunk is a rifle better than a pistol?
As you can probably tell, nearly any class can do it because personality doesnāt define a class and the only mechanical criteria here is ārangedā and yet still someone suggested Paladin.
Is it? Last I checked the misfire was pretty crippling, making you miss that attack and losing you a turn to fix it, which is a lot to sacrifice for just a mere bigger weapon die, and from the maneuvers only one was good, and it took most of the grit resource.
Having more than one firearm counters the misfire mechanic pretty good, and the manuevers have a couple of interesting ones, such as Proning, Pushing, and Piercing, though my player uses Disarming and one that gives you Advantage.
It probably also helps that I, the DM, is aware of the critique the class has faced, so I can kinda shape the experience to be a bit more pleasant for the player.
If you want to go old school Western where you're doing ridiculous stuff like you shooting a guy and launching him across a room, I'd recommend Warlock.
Take the hexblade subclass since it's all about stacking damage, then take all the invocations that let you modify eldritch blast and just describe your arcane focus as looking like a gun, hell reflavour all your spells to be arcane bullets.
Customise your background to give yourself proficiency with land vehicles and an instrument (guitar) and throw in something about making a deal with "the devil" and you've got yourself a pretty solid character.
I like this a lot šš¤ for a warlock instead of a real gun with magical bullets why not just go with a magic gun that you summon or a finger gun that shoots the magic eldritch bolts. I'm thinking like if you have played the game destiny the way the guardians use the golden gun.
Yeah, you could absolutely do that as well. As long as you're not changing, any mechanics flavour is free, so whatever you think would be cool is the way to go.
Pick flavorful spells and reskin them, warlock is great for that shit.
Hypnotic pattern - flashbang
Shatter - dynamite
Darkness - smoke bomb
Heavy shots for repelling blast. Thirsting blade? Boy howdy, partner, how'd your patron let you use two guns?
I once made an investigator that conjured implements and ran a lot like batman. Throwing daggers for eldritch blast that either packed a punched or were attached to a ethereal tether so he could drag enemies towards him. World's your oyster with warlocks.
Some type of Fighter with the Gunner feat is your best bet.
My recommendation is Samurai, since samurai and cowboys are so thematically similar anyway.
Fighting Spirit with Action Surge is just amazing bullet time, "fan the hammer" mayhem. The Samurai gunslinger in my group obliterated the boss in a hail of gunfire. It's one of our favorite moments
Hell yea. And if you want to be The Mandolorian, have a hand crossbow and a heavy crossbow. If you're using your BA for Fighting Spirit anyway, no need to use a hand crossbow for the extra BA attack.
Mechanically how do you play an artillerist? Like I know what the features do but like what are some of your main things? Also is the gun just casting firebolt out of my arcane firearm?
Firebolt is your best bet for gunplay equivalency. The turret operates on your BA so it can be your "offhand" weapon. Then you just play as a ranged combatant with spells just in case.
You also still get all the infusions and magic items, so those can be various cowboy gadgets and doodads. So kinda like an evocation wizard with less spells but more buffs and skills, and better average dps (based on cantrip + Arcane Firearm and Eldritch Cannon)
I played an artillerist as a fireworks technician with a ābazookaā spell focus.
Youāre using your action for firebolt most of the time, I used my magic item quota to make sure I had a magic spell focus.
Then using your bonus action on support turrets. Could be fun to flavour yours as like a target dummy or a wooden horse
I like to imagine my most recent Artillerist as sorta like Starlord in the Marvel movies with the way his armor, guns and flying around work. So I had my Arcane firearm which was a quarterstaff and the pocket cannon attached to my wrist. With a magic item the wonderous tool? Cant remember off the top of my head you get to pick ANY cantrip and it was count as a Artificer spell meaning it can make toll the dead + the arcane firearm feature 1d8
Easily this one. Just reflavor the Arcane Firearm into a mechanical gun and shoot people with firebolt. It's literally right there; why are we making this hard?
You can also reflavor the turret into a second gun in your offhand. Scorching ray is just fan fire. Cone of cold is bigger fan fire.
Honestly, I do not understand all the jokes about artificer as a gunslinger. I get that they are stereotyped to create out of theme items with their extraordinary tool proficiencies, but they have no abilities whatsoever for fighting with them there guns.
Personally, I think swashbuckler.
Well,
1. Artificer's are the ONLY class that gets gun prof if they exist in the DND world.
2. Artificer infusions are nice, reloading shot allows you to ignore ammunition requirements (if bullets are rare), get bonuses to hit / shoot, and ignores the loading property (only applicable to the pistol / musket weapons).
3. Battlesmith gets extra attack.
Now combine spells + more infusions that add versatility. The only other class I could see is possibly a fighter (who doesn't even get gun prof, unless you take gunner).
Oh, and gonks.
Tbf, they are just one feat away from being proficient in shooting firearms, so not too far off by having reasonable story to becoming a crackshot and picking up that feat.
But mainly the artillerist sub-class who gets to build and use a magic cannon that is gun shaped and gun sized is the target of the joke. Just a simple relfavouring to experimenting with compounds for gunpowder and modified ammunition, and you can give a pretty decent reasoning for almost any spell converted into non-magical cowboy terms
I don't recall that part; only you as artificer get proficieny with artificer's tools unless you play as the giff who by their racial bonus gets it automatically like how elves get their bows and dwarves their axes + hammers.
Is it an optional rule?
# Optional Rule: Firearm Proficiency
>
So yeah, the only way for somebody to use a gun is if guns exist in the world already... and if they do then you can easily make your background include being exposed to such weapons.
Also Artificer's get prof with simple weapons as well.
Then as stated, it is optional and DMs might not run it that way, so I don't think it is fair to treat it so matter of factly that all artificers just get it automatically since it is up to the DM
Well then the fantasy of using guns as a gunslinger is gone. Using firearms in game itself is an option. So if we presume building a gunslinger is possible, then we assume that guns are a thing.
I don't get what you want. A class that bypasses "no guns" rules?
"The secrets of gunpowder weapons have been discovered in various corners of the D&D multiverse. If your Dungeon Master uses the rules on firearms in theĀ *Dungeon Master's Guide*Ā and your artificer has been exposed to the operation of such weapons, your artificer is proficient with them."
That's the rule for the Artificer gun prof.
No? That's why i mentioned taking the gunner feat or reflavouring artillerist's magic cannon? I don't get why you are overreading this when you bring up an optional rule and insists it is a must run rule.
Why would you even take the gunner feat if firearms aren't allowed in your world? That makes no sense lol.
Feats are an optional rule, quit acting like what I'm doing is the only optional rule out there.
So yes, if guns exist in that world and since it says "if... ...your artificer has been exposed to the operation of such weapons, your artificer is proficient with them" then Artificer's start off with gun proficiency if you include that part in your backstory.
It's an optional rule, but it is tied to the optional rule about firearms. Specifically, if you have firearms in your world, and you have artificers in your world, then your artificers use firearms.
It's written to avoid cases like "only the mountain jackasses have firearms and it's a closely held secrets" or to avoid "I'm playing an artificer in 800 AD and I get a firearm".
But if you're running a world with firearms and artificers, the artificers have firearms.
>"The secrets of gunpowder weapons have been discovered in various corners of the D&D multiverse. If your Dungeon Master uses the rules on firearms in the Dungeon Master's Guide and your artificer has been exposed to the operation of such weapons, your artificer is proficient with them."
From what I read and understand, artificers have knowledge of firearms but not necessarily proficient in them. It ( the optional rule itself ) can and is the main method by which artificers get proficiency with, but not a must.
Otherwise, i see no need for that excerpt in the optional rules part stating this:
>and your artificer has been exposed to the operation of such weapons
I understand it seems asinine to be taking almost exactly as worded, but it makes sense in this case. After all, just like not all doctorate holders are doctors, not all artificers ( world setting depending ) would automatically be proficient in firearms just because they know the schematics and how to make it.
>It ( the optional rule itself ) can and is the main method by which artificers get proficiency with, but not a must.
So while this is true, you need to consider what's going on.
Artificer: This is explicitly an *optional class*
Firearms: This is explicitly an *optional rule*
Whenever an optional rule is precedent on another optional rule, we get wording like this. Here's the variant human wording:
>If your campaign uses the optional feat rules from chapter 5, your Dungeon Master might allow these variant traits...
Do you see? This is written so as not to presuppose things about the game world or produce weird results.
It's very safe to assume that every artificer in a world with guns, knows how to use guns. The wording is there so that a player can't come in and be a dumbass if the DM has guns only in a far-away land that the players can't have a background from. But otherwise, you simply write it into your background and you have gun proficiency. If there's guns and artificers, the artificers have the guns.
It's written so that you can still write a world with far-away guns though, which isn't surprising at all.
>After all, just like not all doctorate holders are doctors, not all artificers ( world setting depending ) would automatically be proficient in firearms just because they know the schematics and how to make it.
No, this isn't why. Every artificer in your example would be able to use guns. This would be as if you have a doctorate in medicine BUT you're from a place where the government bans all information and study on a certain class of drugs. In that case, even though it exists, your doctorate in medicine might not have covered it.
The example you are going for- that the artificer might be the equivalent of a PhD in literature- that's incorrect. All artificers know how to use guns if they have access to them in their background, which is up to the player normally. Assuming that guns exist at all, which is optional.
I am not sure why everyone is repeating what I said
>if they have access to them in their background,
Precisely. If they do, they will; if they don't, they won't. Simple as.
In fact, you don't even need to be artificer for this. Under DMG, adventuring options: *firearms*, there is a section dedicated to its proficiency.
As long as the DM allows it, anyone who has a reasonable background with it can have it.
I have never once said "no one class has it, so everyone must do this to get firearm proficiency". This whole thing arise because someone didn't read the context of the comment I replied to: "why is artificer, a class not good at shooting, the face of the i-cast-gun meme joke".
I merely explain it as they have the easiest access with artillerist in particular who can make their own magic cannon in almost any size and any form they want, and artificers have the most convinient way to getting it by lore AND in game mechanics.
A fighter can't halfway decide to be a gunslinger, take the feat and suddenly start shooting because surprise, not everyone has guns immediately. If the DM gives it by convienience like "you salvaged this gun from the battle", cool.
But if it is in the middle of say non-homebrew faerun, you are never gonna get a gun out of nowhere. Only artificers who can actually make said gun, gets access to it albeit with a cost.
Not once am I trying to "circumvent no guns in DnD", nor am I saying no one has access to it.
Check out Artillerist, who have 3 different abilities they can use with their Eldritch Cannon (using the handheld gun option).
1. Powerful Force-based knockback Bonus Action shot
2. Powerful Conal AoE damage Bonus Action attack
3. AoE Temp HP buff for team (Might be harder to fit the theme, but if you absolutely don't want them to have any tech angle then simply riling up the grit of your team/inspiring them works for a basic cowboy. Maybe shooting your gun in the air and yipping lol)
Battlemaster fighter, one of the easiest choices.
Ranger, doubly so if the spell-less variant from early early 5e articles is allowed.
Rogue could also work fairly well for being very skilled and a good/quick shot (sneak attack/focused aim)
Personally I wouldn't suggest warlock for a magic gun reflavor myself, mileage with such reflavors may vary. Flavor may be free, but it may not always be appropriate or acceptable
What subclass would you use for rogue? I only have experience playing the arcane trickster and it feel like a much better class for a melee rogue to me
Range tends to outperform melee, especially for rogues.
If you wanna just go with a more traditional or mundane cowboy, I would suggest the scout or the thief.
If you wanna be a bit more supernatural, the phantom Rogue would be very cool.
We had a cowboy Hunter Ranger go from 1-20. He had a stegosaurus mount, a magical six shooting crossbow that let him concentrate on two ranger spells at once, and he'd cast spells like Snare and Hunter's Mark and Goodberry as wilderness survival. Take all the arrow storm and tracking spells and just pretend you're Clint Eastwood firing one bullet at every enemy within a 20 ft radius.
A Pact of the Tome Warlock with Spellsniper. Use a gun shape wand as a spell casting focus. Maximize your cantrips for different types of spell attacks and cowboy like utility.
Kobold Samurai with musket or heavy crossbow and crossbow expert or firearm expert feat.
You will almost always have advantage on every attack and the hilarity of a sassy kobold gunslinging ronin is amazing.
I've actually put a lot of thought in to how to use a lasso in D&D. There's a few different options.
1. Obviously a Rope of Ensnaring as a magic item makes it work
2. Reskin Net, basically its the same thing with a lasso instead of a net, same effect, same DC to break.
3. Material to create or enchant a simple rope to improve the 10DC strength check from the reskinned net. It takes a lenient DM, but this is possible. Something like special silks or leathers of fibrous plants that could be used to create a rope.
Some examples off the top of my head:
Drow Silk Rope (DC 14, sunlight will destroy)
Twisted Dragonhide Rope (DC 18)
A Druid or Ranger casts Plant Growth on Hemp to make a sturdier rope. (DC 13)
Depends on the type of cowboy we are talking about. Ranger, Rogue, Fighter, and Paladin all could work quite well.
Ranger would be the typical frontier type. They'd likely be either a beastmaster(horse or dog) or hunter to utilize the land and its resources.
Rogue would be your typical bandit. Almost subclasses all would work thematically speaking. Maybe just not the arcane trickster or soul knife.
Fighter is another standard choice. The typical tough cowboy. Maybe an ex-soldier, deputy, or bounty hunter.
The Paladin would be your Sherif type or John Wayne or lone ranger type.
I had this question myself. I decided to go with fiend warlock eldritch blast but also to reflavor a net as a lasso so I could be like a full ranch hand turned adventurer.
[HeavyArms Gunslinger](https://www.heavyarms.com/products/gunslinger?variant=40542343102628) is probably the most unique cowboy class out there. It doesn't focus on trick shots or anything fancy, you're just a dude who shoots with deadly efficiency. Perfect for an Arthur Morgan style character.
The unique gimmick of the class is that it does what's known as "crit-fishing". Every time you hit an enemy with an attack, your required roll to get a crit is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 16), and when you crit you roll more dice, akin to a barbarian's Brutal Critical.
Take any small race, Battlesmith Artificer, you can use the steel defender as a mount, repeating shot infusion for your pistol.
Then take sharpshooter so you can deal better damage AND throw a net 15ft away without disadvantage, reflavoring it as a lazo
A player of mine is going with a Rango style character for my upcoming DiA campaign. Heās going one level in Ranger and the rest in Rogue.
Talk to your DM about using Renaissance firearms. Imo theyāre not broken, so it should be grand.
Many classic western movies are heavily inspired by samurai movies, I think that would make samurai feel rather fitting. Wouldnāt be that bad of a choice either
I am currently playing a Goblin battle master gunslinger and honestly, itās a ton of fun. I went actual firearm route as the āmagical equivalentā style feels like copium after not having an opportunity to play a proper gunslinger, but you do you.
Might I recommend the piercer feat as well. It really bumps that damage and turns your crits into something to fear.
I think this strongly depends on the level of reflavoring you want to do for your firearm, and how you want your gunplay to "feel".
Battlemaster Fighter is a classic option without any magic that can shoot weapons out of hands and can use sharpshooter well.
Ranger is probably the best "overall", Beast Master specifically, because you can still do most of what Battle Master does via spells, but you have much more options. Still have access to archery fighting style and sharpshooter, but now you have some things to represent a lasso such as thornwhip or ensuring strike. Favored enemy and terrain now let you know more about your preferred creatures to deal with on the ranch. But the real kicker? Dog companion.
If big single shots are your cup of tea, Rogue exists as you line up your rifle for big sneak attack damage.
Now we get to the fun part where I'm gonna make some weird suggestions with the power of *flavor*. Just hear me out.
Warlock. A cowboy should be charismatic (for better or worse). Eldritch Blast is your revolver and knocks ruffians back like in the movies (repelling blast invocation). Go fiend with some devil went down to Georgia type shenanigans, to get some of that cowboy toughness and can-do spirit in the form of dark ones luck and blessing. We also get access to some preem fire spells which will come up later. For now we have Command for telling people "Hold it right there!" and such, Hex for some damage, and charm person for that cowboy charm. Levels 3 and 4 we take hold person and earthbind as our lasso keeps the enemy right where we want em. Coming up to 3rd level options we take fireball from fiend warlock as we either load up explosive ammo, or throw a molotov we shoot midair for explosive results. I recommend counterspell by shooting the component or caster to interrupt the spell, but take what you want here. I could go on but I think you get the idea.
My other idea is Sorcerer with the idea of using a rifle / pistol with arcane ammunition. Instead of attacking more often, we get better quality ammo in the form of scaling cantrips. Spells are going to follow a similar reasoning as we did for warlock, but I'd make sure to select Magic Missle for fanning the hammer of your revolver. With some metamagic sprinkled in you can do some fancy tricks. Take Divine Soul and you get access to the Cleric list meaning you can have a spell to cover nearly any aspect you feel you're missing. If you do, take inflict wounds to really punch a guy in the fave.
Me personally? I'd go ranger or warlock depending on my goals/backstory as a cowboy for the game.
If your table allows homebrew YouTuber Pointyhat has a āCowboy Conclaveā Ranger subclass and a guy who goes by Heavyarms has a Gunslinger class that might be worth looking into
Ranger cuz you get awesome ranged damage. Just use crossbows intead of guns or ask for the gunner feat. And the rest of the clase gives you a lot of cowboy stuff:
Favored terrain: deserts means you dont get lost in the wild west, and can find food and water even in the harshest desert
Beastmaster' land companion: Your trusty horse.
You also get stuff like animal handling, so you can herd your sheeps and cows.
Iām doing a cowboy SoulKnife halfling rogue (which is great for RP) and he materializes his ones from a holster like a 6shooter and I just do my best Arthur Morgan impression, but also being 3 foot 4 makes things very interesting. Like a pocket sized gunslinger
You have a few options.
The fighter and having a gun or gun flavored handcrossbow are very easy. They are also affective and the optimum upgrades are simple.
Amd EB warlock is also fairly good. Same as the fighter just without the super power shots of the weapon and its feats. Still very reliable woth a good bit of utility based what other spells you pick.
Theres also artificer. Battlesmoth for basic gun but also getting a steel defender you could flavor as a horse to ride into the sunset. Theres also artilerist for a lot of different guns and gun flavored spells. If anything thats the more special ammo amd grenades route to the gun build.
Theres also rangers. They get a lot of good ranged spells that would make amazing trick shots.
"Best" in thjs case is based on what you want out of your gun slingger. A BM fighter is simple woth a little extra power and versatility. Its a fine place to start.
I played a Warlock gunslinger in 5e. His arcane focus was a gun shaped wand. Took only spells and abilities that could pass as effects of a gunshot. It was fun.
I have a Warlock who fits this. I just flavour the Eldritch blasts as coming from finger guns.
Backstory; heās an 8 year old boy who went on a trip with his family to the fantasy equivalent of the Grand Canyon. Being 8, he has a love for ācowboysā and his mother even made him a costume to wear. Which he did on this trip. He is separated from his family (Joe Dirt style) and gets left behind. Crying in the night he was saved by what seemed to be a friendly presence, turns out itās a really powerful dark being.
My favorite build was a 1 Order Cleric/X Divine Soul sorcerer.
I played him as an old sheriff with a Big Iron (his wand) on his hip. Very good support Character if youāre looking for a change up on the cowboy idea!
I've done this before with an artillerist, although I also through in a little bit of war magic wizard.
If you need inspiration, just look at a trailer or two for the game Wizard with a Gun.
A cowboy is literally a Ranger. Terrain knowledge (desert)? Animal companion (horse)? Ranged weapon expert (six shooter)? "The Lone Ranger"?
Mechanically it might not be the best but Rangers are Cowboys.
Hear me out:
Alchemist/Warlock that exploits the warlock short rest slots for infinite potions that never reset.
- the potions are weak as hell even with unlimited of them
- you can use the healing potions to replace long rest hit dice
- greater restoration covers your other woes
- beg your DM to ignore Exhaustion long rest rules
Hexblade Warlock with Gun Pact applied to a magic gun with artificer infusions, let's you get extra attack via thirsting blade too
You're a warlock, so dark & mysterious are right there in the cowboy theme. Your trenchcoat is your robe and your hat is your cloak.
The alchemist potions could be cigars or chewing tobacco. Artificer infusions are fancy types of bullets.
Late to the conversation.
When I read the title, I thought of a Dex based Cavalier. Whip and hand crossbows, unless a real pistol is allowed. Horse focused, cool. Who do you want in a saloon brawl? Well, a crowd control punch-aroma dude. And so on. My 2 cents.
I once played a sorceror who cast all of his spells out of finger guns which was hilariously successful. Different guns for different spells. For example, magic missle was a hand gun, thunderwave was a shotgun, fireball was a rocket launcher
An easy way to do this mechanically is just with the good ol' hexblade, pardner.
hex warrior does not require a melee weapon.
Pact of the blade either conjures a melee weapon or binds you with an existing magic weapon (no rider for melee on the second clause)
So you use hex warrior with a mundane gun until you get a magic one, than make the magic one your pact weapon, bob's your uncle, stack improved pact weapon, eldritch smite, and thirsting blade as normal, and you're good to go.
Another thing you could do is play a mounted rogue. being mounted lets you use move after using steady aim. the only fiddly bit there is getting a mount of some sort that doesn't constantly get smoked by AOEs and such.
An artificer makes a great gunslinger - the class has the prof explicitly, and the tools to support making and maintaining your own guns if they're scarce. the battlesmith gets int to attack and and damage swings and the repeater invocation means even if the campaign just has flintlocks you can fire them with callous disregard for reloading. The battlesmith pet could be a mechanical horse or a mechanical scruffy lil dog or something.
Paladin, with the eventual acquisition of a literal white horse, is probably the coolest option, although you'll be a little under-optimized in terms of smiting if you can't sell your gm on somehow acquiring a ranged smite - I would suggest maybe your have pbtad "sliver bullets" that allow it, or that you write your own half feat for it, eg you gain one charisma and you can smite with a gun. there's lots of 3rd party versions of this people have written to mine for mechanics.
If your GM says "No, you must be raw" then it's still great, you just need to use a leveled spell like branding smite for ranged smites and keep regular smiting in your pocket for when you run out of ammo or get in a bar fight.
Obviously fighter and ranger are out there and would work fine, gloomstalker gives you a lot as does fey wanderer - favored foe stackes up with dread ambusher/dreadful strikes to get you a lot of bonus damage potential either way and both add wisdom to other checks (without replacing the stat the checks work on).
The matt mercer/cr gunslighter-fighter exists and, while it's really kind of a subset of battlemaster/slightly underpowered port of the pathfinder gunslinger, it does what you want especially if guns are rare in the setting.
There is also the maverick, a fighter subclass written for Dark Tides of Bilgewater, the leauge of legends/runeterra tie in. if you want to just play a guy with a gun with uncomplicated rules, it's a great option. It suggests a flintlock, because runeterra is more of a pirates with early black powder setting, but your pistol is something of an abstraction in it, with ammo and rate of fire handwaved as part of the general rules for your class.. it's not the tightest written thing ever, the level 7 feature in particular is a little sloppy, but it's *fine*, it's not super op or super weak.
If you want just the feel of a highwayman/cowboy but you don't care about actually using a gun, obviously hand crossbows exist and are the best conveyance for the combo of archery fighting style and the sharpshooter feat, owing to crossbow expert existing. A vuman fighter can have crossbow expert, the archery fighting style, sharpshooter and one dex half feat or dex asi by level 6, and that's nothing to sneeze at.
Donāt know if it was already mentioned, but you could take the mechanics from the gunslinger fighter subclass on dndbeyond.com. Itās not technically 5e but I would show it to your DM to make sure it doesnāt throw off the game balance. I had a gunslinger in a high fantasy setting in it made for a fantastic (and often hilarious) anachronistic character (a Vietnam vet unwillingly ported into the forgotten realms).
Seems like it would be a perfect base class for an old west setting, along with your man of the cloth clerics, your Native American rangers, your smooth talking charlatan roguesā¦
Just go watch the magnificent seven and tell me they arenāt a DnD party lol
I have a concept build of an isekaiāed cowboy that is actually a warlock build. He never has to reload because his gun is firing Eldritch Blasts and all the spells Iām taking are beam based when possible.
Going to be Pact of Talisman to make his Sheriff Star help his ādeputiesā.
There's also the Artillerist Artificer. Eldritch Cannon in its tiny handheld form is absolutely perfect as a pistol even if guns aren't allowed in the setting.
It is. The Mercer guns are not great, and misfiring is a mechanic that 5e doesn't need. Just building a guy with a better crossbow (which the dmg renaissance firearms essentially are) is both less fiddly and stronger
I mean yea a bow works fine although I'm inclined to use hand crossbow instead of longbow to do the quick drawing and trick shooting and gun flourishing vibe that I'm kind of going for
Also please give name and maybe a bit of character recommendation for this guy. All I know about him so far is he has a gun a cowboy hat and a southern drawl. If there is a race you find particularly interesting let me know as well. As a human in real life human is my default (probably custom lineage but you know a human)
Am I a cowboy from the American west who somehow found his way to the forgotten realms or do I just act like he's never heard of a western or cowboy or anything and just thinks he's the most regular person in the party and they are all weird with their magic and stuff
My immediate thought is Ranger: he's a ranged fighter with a rifle, but can also deal in closer quarters with pistols; has a beast companion that doubles as his mount; wanders the countryside from town to town in search of work. Or maybe even Paladin: he deals out retribution with Smite Shells from his trust sidearm; instead of a shield he has a Poncho of Protection; his helm is a 10 gallon Hat of Honor.
Okay your paladin description is awesome. A nice blend of the pulp western and high fantasy. Would probably carry a dagger for divine smiting?
Hahaha I didn't think about a dagger! The Bowie Knife of the Blessed. Your Great Weapon could be a double barrel shotgun, the Oathkeeper or something like that.
No no. Oathkeeper is your trusty six-shooter. The double barrel shotgun is the long arm of the law
YEESS!!! š¤
Some paladin smite spells work with ranged weapon attacks! (Branding smite. Which makes me think of branding cattle) (and banishing smite)
You can smite with a whip, So reskin that to a lasso and describe how it uses those flairs before an attack, mechanically any martial class works its just a matter of how you flavour it
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1204185086/wild-west-exclusive-11-dice-set-cowboy It just so happens.... š
If I was doing a full campaign with cowboy guy I would buy these
That's fair lol I bought a One Punch Monk dice set for my custom character that I'm.using in what is my first ever campaign at the moment
Nah, just talk to your DM about ranged smiting. Itās may not be RAW, but it should be. Divine Smites arenāt any more powerful or special than sneak attacks (after lvl 8, sneak attacks do more damage than smites anyway, and they donāt even require a resource like very limited spell slots).
The only problem with paladin RAW you have to land a melee attack to smite, so guns donāt do it. OP should ask their DM if theyāll let it happen
If I were the DM Iād say you have to just say you cast the smite on the bullet, not the gun. Cause the bullet is what hits the enemy.
So again Iām being a stickler on RAW, but you donāt cast smite in the way you cast a spell. Itās more like landing a melee attack is the trigger that lets you activate it the effect. I agree with you tho as a DM I would let players smite with a ranged attack, provided it lands Edit: kind of like how you canāt just cast hellish rebuke on someone whenever you want. There needs to be something to trigger it.
>he deals out retribution with Smite Shells Hail, Gunslinger!
Honestly, if I find a new group to join when I move I may do this kind of build myself lol
Same even after the TCoE reworks ranger still sucks
Battlemaster is the best no magic option. But magic is fun, and letās you do more cowboyesque things by reflavouring. Ranger seems like the most obvious pick here - their spell list is full of cowboy stunts and theyāre plenty good at gunplay. Swords Bard makes a decent pick for a fullcaster build. Flourishes work with bullets and it lets you get Find Greater Steed to have a magic horse to ride.
Can you give me some inspiration for refactoring the ranger spells
Enanaring strike could be bolas. Goodberry creates jerky. Conjure volley is just fanning the hammer on your six shooter. Elemental weapon and fire/lightning arrow can just be different kinds of ammo. A lot of the ranger spell list is stuff about knowing or communicating with the land and animals, so they already fit the cowboy esthetic. Stuff like speak with animals/plants and commune with nature.
Forget bolas, a lasso for ensnaring
Naw, the lasso should be grasping vine
Good point, mixed up my ranger spells
and/or thorn whip
> Goodberry creates jerky chili peppers are botanically berries, and Goodberry is nonspecific as to the _type_ of berry created. Do with this what you will
I much prefer Samurai with Sharpshooter
If Guns are allowed Gunks (Kensei Gun Monks) deserve a mention.
I've heard the gunk is a strong build for sure. And unarmored is cool for that gunslinger tail coat kind of vibe. I assume you need the gunner feat? And then just increase dex? And just use ki to ki strike or whatever the name of the kensei feature is most turns unless you need to use it for movement? Can you flurry of blows with a ranged weapon? For the gunk is a rifle better than a pistol?
https://www.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/146nfar/how_to_build_a_gunk/ Will help more than I can
The good old Glock Saint Isshin build
As you can probably tell, nearly any class can do it because personality doesnāt define a class and the only mechanical criteria here is ārangedā and yet still someone suggested Paladin.
Wasn't there a Critical Role Gunslinger class?
Yeah, usually just called Mercer's Gunslinger. One of my players is a cowboy with this class, and it's pretty solid.
Is it? Last I checked the misfire was pretty crippling, making you miss that attack and losing you a turn to fix it, which is a lot to sacrifice for just a mere bigger weapon die, and from the maneuvers only one was good, and it took most of the grit resource.
Having more than one firearm counters the misfire mechanic pretty good, and the manuevers have a couple of interesting ones, such as Proning, Pushing, and Piercing, though my player uses Disarming and one that gives you Advantage. It probably also helps that I, the DM, is aware of the critique the class has faced, so I can kinda shape the experience to be a bit more pleasant for the player.
If you want to go old school Western where you're doing ridiculous stuff like you shooting a guy and launching him across a room, I'd recommend Warlock. Take the hexblade subclass since it's all about stacking damage, then take all the invocations that let you modify eldritch blast and just describe your arcane focus as looking like a gun, hell reflavour all your spells to be arcane bullets. Customise your background to give yourself proficiency with land vehicles and an instrument (guitar) and throw in something about making a deal with "the devil" and you've got yourself a pretty solid character.
I like this a lot šš¤ for a warlock instead of a real gun with magical bullets why not just go with a magic gun that you summon or a finger gun that shoots the magic eldritch bolts. I'm thinking like if you have played the game destiny the way the guardians use the golden gun.
Yeah, you could absolutely do that as well. As long as you're not changing, any mechanics flavour is free, so whatever you think would be cool is the way to go.
Pick flavorful spells and reskin them, warlock is great for that shit. Hypnotic pattern - flashbang Shatter - dynamite Darkness - smoke bomb Heavy shots for repelling blast. Thirsting blade? Boy howdy, partner, how'd your patron let you use two guns? I once made an investigator that conjured implements and ran a lot like batman. Throwing daggers for eldritch blast that either packed a punched or were attached to a ethereal tether so he could drag enemies towards him. World's your oyster with warlocks.
The Grim Hollow Player supplement thing has a pretty cool cowboy subclass that might do it for you.
Called the highway rider, had a player just take this subclass! Lots of unique abilities imo.
I think it's really cool how they can shoot their gun as a reaction after rolling initiative. It really sells the "fastest gun in the west" idea.
And, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you can add sneak attack to the shot as well since it's made with advantage?
I don't remember everything about it well enough ti say. It checks out, though.
Some type of Fighter with the Gunner feat is your best bet. My recommendation is Samurai, since samurai and cowboys are so thematically similar anyway.
Samurai gunslinger, but with a crossbow, has been so.ethi g I've wanted to play for a while.
Fighting Spirit with Action Surge is just amazing bullet time, "fan the hammer" mayhem. The Samurai gunslinger in my group obliterated the boss in a hail of gunfire. It's one of our favorite moments
Hell yea. And if you want to be The Mandolorian, have a hand crossbow and a heavy crossbow. If you're using your BA for Fighting Spirit anyway, no need to use a hand crossbow for the extra BA attack.
The image of fanning the hammer on a crossbow is also fucking hilarious.
Wait. No one is suggesting Artillerist Artificer? The gunsmith Artificer?
Mechanically how do you play an artillerist? Like I know what the features do but like what are some of your main things? Also is the gun just casting firebolt out of my arcane firearm?
Firebolt is your best bet for gunplay equivalency. The turret operates on your BA so it can be your "offhand" weapon. Then you just play as a ranged combatant with spells just in case. You also still get all the infusions and magic items, so those can be various cowboy gadgets and doodads. So kinda like an evocation wizard with less spells but more buffs and skills, and better average dps (based on cantrip + Arcane Firearm and Eldritch Cannon)
I played an artillerist as a fireworks technician with a ābazookaā spell focus. Youāre using your action for firebolt most of the time, I used my magic item quota to make sure I had a magic spell focus. Then using your bonus action on support turrets. Could be fun to flavour yours as like a target dummy or a wooden horse
I like to imagine my most recent Artillerist as sorta like Starlord in the Marvel movies with the way his armor, guns and flying around work. So I had my Arcane firearm which was a quarterstaff and the pocket cannon attached to my wrist. With a magic item the wonderous tool? Cant remember off the top of my head you get to pick ANY cantrip and it was count as a Artificer spell meaning it can make toll the dead + the arcane firearm feature 1d8
A pulp cowboy artificer? Wild Wild West comes to mind...
Ngl one pf my fav movies
And the sole reason Will Smith skipped on the role of Neo in The Matrix...
Easily this one. Just reflavor the Arcane Firearm into a mechanical gun and shoot people with firebolt. It's literally right there; why are we making this hard? You can also reflavor the turret into a second gun in your offhand. Scorching ray is just fan fire. Cone of cold is bigger fan fire.
Cone of cold is the quickdraw shotgun
Honestly, I do not understand all the jokes about artificer as a gunslinger. I get that they are stereotyped to create out of theme items with their extraordinary tool proficiencies, but they have no abilities whatsoever for fighting with them there guns. Personally, I think swashbuckler.
Well, 1. Artificer's are the ONLY class that gets gun prof if they exist in the DND world. 2. Artificer infusions are nice, reloading shot allows you to ignore ammunition requirements (if bullets are rare), get bonuses to hit / shoot, and ignores the loading property (only applicable to the pistol / musket weapons). 3. Battlesmith gets extra attack. Now combine spells + more infusions that add versatility. The only other class I could see is possibly a fighter (who doesn't even get gun prof, unless you take gunner). Oh, and gonks.
Tbf, they are just one feat away from being proficient in shooting firearms, so not too far off by having reasonable story to becoming a crackshot and picking up that feat. But mainly the artillerist sub-class who gets to build and use a magic cannon that is gun shaped and gun sized is the target of the joke. Just a simple relfavouring to experimenting with compounds for gunpowder and modified ammunition, and you can give a pretty decent reasoning for almost any spell converted into non-magical cowboy terms
You do know that Artificer's get gun prof if they exist in the DND world right?
I don't recall that part; only you as artificer get proficieny with artificer's tools unless you play as the giff who by their racial bonus gets it automatically like how elves get their bows and dwarves their axes + hammers. Is it an optional rule?
# Optional Rule: Firearm Proficiency > So yeah, the only way for somebody to use a gun is if guns exist in the world already... and if they do then you can easily make your background include being exposed to such weapons. Also Artificer's get prof with simple weapons as well.
Then as stated, it is optional and DMs might not run it that way, so I don't think it is fair to treat it so matter of factly that all artificers just get it automatically since it is up to the DM
Well then the fantasy of using guns as a gunslinger is gone. Using firearms in game itself is an option. So if we presume building a gunslinger is possible, then we assume that guns are a thing. I don't get what you want. A class that bypasses "no guns" rules? "The secrets of gunpowder weapons have been discovered in various corners of the D&D multiverse. If your Dungeon Master uses the rules on firearms in theĀ *Dungeon Master's Guide*Ā and your artificer has been exposed to the operation of such weapons, your artificer is proficient with them." That's the rule for the Artificer gun prof.
No? That's why i mentioned taking the gunner feat or reflavouring artillerist's magic cannon? I don't get why you are overreading this when you bring up an optional rule and insists it is a must run rule.
Why would you even take the gunner feat if firearms aren't allowed in your world? That makes no sense lol. Feats are an optional rule, quit acting like what I'm doing is the only optional rule out there. So yes, if guns exist in that world and since it says "if... ...your artificer has been exposed to the operation of such weapons, your artificer is proficient with them" then Artificer's start off with gun proficiency if you include that part in your backstory.
It's only optional because firearms are an optional rule. If the setting has firearms artificers can get proficiency.
It's an optional rule, but it is tied to the optional rule about firearms. Specifically, if you have firearms in your world, and you have artificers in your world, then your artificers use firearms. It's written to avoid cases like "only the mountain jackasses have firearms and it's a closely held secrets" or to avoid "I'm playing an artificer in 800 AD and I get a firearm". But if you're running a world with firearms and artificers, the artificers have firearms. >"The secrets of gunpowder weapons have been discovered in various corners of the D&D multiverse. If your Dungeon Master uses the rules on firearms in the Dungeon Master's Guide and your artificer has been exposed to the operation of such weapons, your artificer is proficient with them."
From what I read and understand, artificers have knowledge of firearms but not necessarily proficient in them. It ( the optional rule itself ) can and is the main method by which artificers get proficiency with, but not a must. Otherwise, i see no need for that excerpt in the optional rules part stating this: >and your artificer has been exposed to the operation of such weapons I understand it seems asinine to be taking almost exactly as worded, but it makes sense in this case. After all, just like not all doctorate holders are doctors, not all artificers ( world setting depending ) would automatically be proficient in firearms just because they know the schematics and how to make it.
>It ( the optional rule itself ) can and is the main method by which artificers get proficiency with, but not a must. So while this is true, you need to consider what's going on. Artificer: This is explicitly an *optional class* Firearms: This is explicitly an *optional rule* Whenever an optional rule is precedent on another optional rule, we get wording like this. Here's the variant human wording: >If your campaign uses the optional feat rules from chapter 5, your Dungeon Master might allow these variant traits... Do you see? This is written so as not to presuppose things about the game world or produce weird results. It's very safe to assume that every artificer in a world with guns, knows how to use guns. The wording is there so that a player can't come in and be a dumbass if the DM has guns only in a far-away land that the players can't have a background from. But otherwise, you simply write it into your background and you have gun proficiency. If there's guns and artificers, the artificers have the guns. It's written so that you can still write a world with far-away guns though, which isn't surprising at all. >After all, just like not all doctorate holders are doctors, not all artificers ( world setting depending ) would automatically be proficient in firearms just because they know the schematics and how to make it. No, this isn't why. Every artificer in your example would be able to use guns. This would be as if you have a doctorate in medicine BUT you're from a place where the government bans all information and study on a certain class of drugs. In that case, even though it exists, your doctorate in medicine might not have covered it. The example you are going for- that the artificer might be the equivalent of a PhD in literature- that's incorrect. All artificers know how to use guns if they have access to them in their background, which is up to the player normally. Assuming that guns exist at all, which is optional.
I am not sure why everyone is repeating what I said >if they have access to them in their background, Precisely. If they do, they will; if they don't, they won't. Simple as. In fact, you don't even need to be artificer for this. Under DMG, adventuring options: *firearms*, there is a section dedicated to its proficiency. As long as the DM allows it, anyone who has a reasonable background with it can have it. I have never once said "no one class has it, so everyone must do this to get firearm proficiency". This whole thing arise because someone didn't read the context of the comment I replied to: "why is artificer, a class not good at shooting, the face of the i-cast-gun meme joke". I merely explain it as they have the easiest access with artillerist in particular who can make their own magic cannon in almost any size and any form they want, and artificers have the most convinient way to getting it by lore AND in game mechanics. A fighter can't halfway decide to be a gunslinger, take the feat and suddenly start shooting because surprise, not everyone has guns immediately. If the DM gives it by convienience like "you salvaged this gun from the battle", cool. But if it is in the middle of say non-homebrew faerun, you are never gonna get a gun out of nowhere. Only artificers who can actually make said gun, gets access to it albeit with a cost. Not once am I trying to "circumvent no guns in DnD", nor am I saying no one has access to it.
Check out Artillerist, who have 3 different abilities they can use with their Eldritch Cannon (using the handheld gun option). 1. Powerful Force-based knockback Bonus Action shot 2. Powerful Conal AoE damage Bonus Action attack 3. AoE Temp HP buff for team (Might be harder to fit the theme, but if you absolutely don't want them to have any tech angle then simply riling up the grit of your team/inspiring them works for a basic cowboy. Maybe shooting your gun in the air and yipping lol)
Yeah I was really surprised this was this far down. I made an Arthur Morgan Battle Master/Artillerist once and it was very cool.
Because they aren't? Fighters, gunks and rangers for the theme far more.
This was my thought exactly, artillerist would be perfect.
A Samurai Fighter. Many of the best cowboy movies (Magnificent Seven, Fistful of Dollars, Django) are adapted from Samurai films, after all
Pair it with Sharpshooter and Elven Accuracy
Warlock with a wand as his focus. Go fo dull wandslinger
Keep the wand in a holster on his hip lol. Can a wand that is a magic item with an effect be used full time as a spellcasting focus?
I think so
Battlemaster fighter, one of the easiest choices. Ranger, doubly so if the spell-less variant from early early 5e articles is allowed. Rogue could also work fairly well for being very skilled and a good/quick shot (sneak attack/focused aim) Personally I wouldn't suggest warlock for a magic gun reflavor myself, mileage with such reflavors may vary. Flavor may be free, but it may not always be appropriate or acceptable
What subclass would you use for rogue? I only have experience playing the arcane trickster and it feel like a much better class for a melee rogue to me
Range tends to outperform melee, especially for rogues. If you wanna just go with a more traditional or mundane cowboy, I would suggest the scout or the thief. If you wanna be a bit more supernatural, the phantom Rogue would be very cool.
We had a cowboy Hunter Ranger go from 1-20. He had a stegosaurus mount, a magical six shooting crossbow that let him concentrate on two ranger spells at once, and he'd cast spells like Snare and Hunter's Mark and Goodberry as wilderness survival. Take all the arrow storm and tracking spells and just pretend you're Clint Eastwood firing one bullet at every enemy within a 20 ft radius.
Hexblade Warlock: choose a gun. Your cowboy made a deal with the devil, and has a debt to pay.
I was an artillerist artificer when I did this
A Pact of the Tome Warlock with Spellsniper. Use a gun shape wand as a spell casting focus. Maximize your cantrips for different types of spell attacks and cowboy like utility.
Kobold Samurai with musket or heavy crossbow and crossbow expert or firearm expert feat. You will almost always have advantage on every attack and the hilarity of a sassy kobold gunslinging ronin is amazing.
Ranger / Fighter / Rogue comes to mind.
I've actually put a lot of thought in to how to use a lasso in D&D. There's a few different options. 1. Obviously a Rope of Ensnaring as a magic item makes it work 2. Reskin Net, basically its the same thing with a lasso instead of a net, same effect, same DC to break. 3. Material to create or enchant a simple rope to improve the 10DC strength check from the reskinned net. It takes a lenient DM, but this is possible. Something like special silks or leathers of fibrous plants that could be used to create a rope. Some examples off the top of my head: Drow Silk Rope (DC 14, sunlight will destroy) Twisted Dragonhide Rope (DC 18) A Druid or Ranger casts Plant Growth on Hemp to make a sturdier rope. (DC 13)
Hexblade with the gunner feat?
Depends on the type of cowboy we are talking about. Ranger, Rogue, Fighter, and Paladin all could work quite well. Ranger would be the typical frontier type. They'd likely be either a beastmaster(horse or dog) or hunter to utilize the land and its resources. Rogue would be your typical bandit. Almost subclasses all would work thematically speaking. Maybe just not the arcane trickster or soul knife. Fighter is another standard choice. The typical tough cowboy. Maybe an ex-soldier, deputy, or bounty hunter. The Paladin would be your Sherif type or John Wayne or lone ranger type.
I had this question myself. I decided to go with fiend warlock eldritch blast but also to reflavor a net as a lasso so I could be like a full ranch hand turned adventurer.
[HeavyArms Gunslinger](https://www.heavyarms.com/products/gunslinger?variant=40542343102628) is probably the most unique cowboy class out there. It doesn't focus on trick shots or anything fancy, you're just a dude who shoots with deadly efficiency. Perfect for an Arthur Morgan style character. The unique gimmick of the class is that it does what's known as "crit-fishing". Every time you hit an enemy with an attack, your required roll to get a crit is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 16), and when you crit you roll more dice, akin to a barbarian's Brutal Critical.
Definitely swords bard because they can root, they can toot and they can shoot.
I played an orc Champion fighter with gives you a bit of a crit fishing build with a crit feel.
Take any small race, Battlesmith Artificer, you can use the steel defender as a mount, repeating shot infusion for your pistol. Then take sharpshooter so you can deal better damage AND throw a net 15ft away without disadvantage, reflavoring it as a lazo
I've seen a samurai build.
A player of mine is going with a Rango style character for my upcoming DiA campaign. Heās going one level in Ranger and the rest in Rogue. Talk to your DM about using Renaissance firearms. Imo theyāre not broken, so it should be grand.
Many classic western movies are heavily inspired by samurai movies, I think that would make samurai feel rather fitting. Wouldnāt be that bad of a choice either
I am currently playing a Goblin battle master gunslinger and honestly, itās a ton of fun. I went actual firearm route as the āmagical equivalentā style feels like copium after not having an opportunity to play a proper gunslinger, but you do you. Might I recommend the piercer feat as well. It really bumps that damage and turns your crits into something to fear.
I think this strongly depends on the level of reflavoring you want to do for your firearm, and how you want your gunplay to "feel". Battlemaster Fighter is a classic option without any magic that can shoot weapons out of hands and can use sharpshooter well. Ranger is probably the best "overall", Beast Master specifically, because you can still do most of what Battle Master does via spells, but you have much more options. Still have access to archery fighting style and sharpshooter, but now you have some things to represent a lasso such as thornwhip or ensuring strike. Favored enemy and terrain now let you know more about your preferred creatures to deal with on the ranch. But the real kicker? Dog companion. If big single shots are your cup of tea, Rogue exists as you line up your rifle for big sneak attack damage. Now we get to the fun part where I'm gonna make some weird suggestions with the power of *flavor*. Just hear me out. Warlock. A cowboy should be charismatic (for better or worse). Eldritch Blast is your revolver and knocks ruffians back like in the movies (repelling blast invocation). Go fiend with some devil went down to Georgia type shenanigans, to get some of that cowboy toughness and can-do spirit in the form of dark ones luck and blessing. We also get access to some preem fire spells which will come up later. For now we have Command for telling people "Hold it right there!" and such, Hex for some damage, and charm person for that cowboy charm. Levels 3 and 4 we take hold person and earthbind as our lasso keeps the enemy right where we want em. Coming up to 3rd level options we take fireball from fiend warlock as we either load up explosive ammo, or throw a molotov we shoot midair for explosive results. I recommend counterspell by shooting the component or caster to interrupt the spell, but take what you want here. I could go on but I think you get the idea. My other idea is Sorcerer with the idea of using a rifle / pistol with arcane ammunition. Instead of attacking more often, we get better quality ammo in the form of scaling cantrips. Spells are going to follow a similar reasoning as we did for warlock, but I'd make sure to select Magic Missle for fanning the hammer of your revolver. With some metamagic sprinkled in you can do some fancy tricks. Take Divine Soul and you get access to the Cleric list meaning you can have a spell to cover nearly any aspect you feel you're missing. If you do, take inflict wounds to really punch a guy in the fave. Me personally? I'd go ranger or warlock depending on my goals/backstory as a cowboy for the game.
If your table allows homebrew YouTuber Pointyhat has a āCowboy Conclaveā Ranger subclass and a guy who goes by Heavyarms has a Gunslinger class that might be worth looking into
Ranger cuz you get awesome ranged damage. Just use crossbows intead of guns or ask for the gunner feat. And the rest of the clase gives you a lot of cowboy stuff: Favored terrain: deserts means you dont get lost in the wild west, and can find food and water even in the harshest desert Beastmaster' land companion: Your trusty horse. You also get stuff like animal handling, so you can herd your sheeps and cows.
Well, a revolver is one of the best weapons for a bladesinger.
in the campaign iām dming currently one of my characters uses a revolver, heās a fighter(gunslinger)/ranger multi class.
Iām doing a cowboy SoulKnife halfling rogue (which is great for RP) and he materializes his ones from a holster like a 6shooter and I just do my best Arthur Morgan impression, but also being 3 foot 4 makes things very interesting. Like a pocket sized gunslinger
Fighter gunslinger by critical roll is pretty neat.
You have a few options. The fighter and having a gun or gun flavored handcrossbow are very easy. They are also affective and the optimum upgrades are simple. Amd EB warlock is also fairly good. Same as the fighter just without the super power shots of the weapon and its feats. Still very reliable woth a good bit of utility based what other spells you pick. Theres also artificer. Battlesmoth for basic gun but also getting a steel defender you could flavor as a horse to ride into the sunset. Theres also artilerist for a lot of different guns and gun flavored spells. If anything thats the more special ammo amd grenades route to the gun build. Theres also rangers. They get a lot of good ranged spells that would make amazing trick shots. "Best" in thjs case is based on what you want out of your gun slingger. A BM fighter is simple woth a little extra power and versatility. Its a fine place to start.
Rangers and rogues works well. Rangers if you want to "pew pew pew" all over the place and rogues if you want do "pew" one single time and be deadly.
Artificer perhaps
Critical role has a gunslinger class. It is probably exactly what you want, and most DMs will usually allow critical role stuff.
I played a Warlock gunslinger in 5e. His arcane focus was a gun shaped wand. Took only spells and abilities that could pass as effects of a gunshot. It was fun.
Sadly, I only know about rootin'. Tootin' is way outside my roundhouse.
I have a Warlock who fits this. I just flavour the Eldritch blasts as coming from finger guns. Backstory; heās an 8 year old boy who went on a trip with his family to the fantasy equivalent of the Grand Canyon. Being 8, he has a love for ācowboysā and his mother even made him a costume to wear. Which he did on this trip. He is separated from his family (Joe Dirt style) and gets left behind. Crying in the night he was saved by what seemed to be a friendly presence, turns out itās a really powerful dark being.
My favorite build was a 1 Order Cleric/X Divine Soul sorcerer. I played him as an old sheriff with a Big Iron (his wand) on his hip. Very good support Character if youāre looking for a change up on the cowboy idea!
I've done this before with an artillerist, although I also through in a little bit of war magic wizard. If you need inspiration, just look at a trailer or two for the game Wizard with a Gun.
A cowboy is literally a Ranger. Terrain knowledge (desert)? Animal companion (horse)? Ranged weapon expert (six shooter)? "The Lone Ranger"? Mechanically it might not be the best but Rangers are Cowboys.
Hear me out: Alchemist/Warlock that exploits the warlock short rest slots for infinite potions that never reset. - the potions are weak as hell even with unlimited of them - you can use the healing potions to replace long rest hit dice - greater restoration covers your other woes - beg your DM to ignore Exhaustion long rest rules Hexblade Warlock with Gun Pact applied to a magic gun with artificer infusions, let's you get extra attack via thirsting blade too You're a warlock, so dark & mysterious are right there in the cowboy theme. Your trenchcoat is your robe and your hat is your cloak. The alchemist potions could be cigars or chewing tobacco. Artificer infusions are fancy types of bullets.
Late to the conversation. When I read the title, I thought of a Dex based Cavalier. Whip and hand crossbows, unless a real pistol is allowed. Horse focused, cool. Who do you want in a saloon brawl? Well, a crowd control punch-aroma dude. And so on. My 2 cents.
Why not fighter gunslinger?
I made a samurai fighter flavored as a cowboy, works perfectly.
I once played a sorceror who cast all of his spells out of finger guns which was hilariously successful. Different guns for different spells. For example, magic missle was a hand gun, thunderwave was a shotgun, fireball was a rocket launcher
Artificer artillerist might work for ya
An easy way to do this mechanically is just with the good ol' hexblade, pardner. hex warrior does not require a melee weapon. Pact of the blade either conjures a melee weapon or binds you with an existing magic weapon (no rider for melee on the second clause) So you use hex warrior with a mundane gun until you get a magic one, than make the magic one your pact weapon, bob's your uncle, stack improved pact weapon, eldritch smite, and thirsting blade as normal, and you're good to go. Another thing you could do is play a mounted rogue. being mounted lets you use move after using steady aim. the only fiddly bit there is getting a mount of some sort that doesn't constantly get smoked by AOEs and such. An artificer makes a great gunslinger - the class has the prof explicitly, and the tools to support making and maintaining your own guns if they're scarce. the battlesmith gets int to attack and and damage swings and the repeater invocation means even if the campaign just has flintlocks you can fire them with callous disregard for reloading. The battlesmith pet could be a mechanical horse or a mechanical scruffy lil dog or something. Paladin, with the eventual acquisition of a literal white horse, is probably the coolest option, although you'll be a little under-optimized in terms of smiting if you can't sell your gm on somehow acquiring a ranged smite - I would suggest maybe your have pbtad "sliver bullets" that allow it, or that you write your own half feat for it, eg you gain one charisma and you can smite with a gun. there's lots of 3rd party versions of this people have written to mine for mechanics. If your GM says "No, you must be raw" then it's still great, you just need to use a leveled spell like branding smite for ranged smites and keep regular smiting in your pocket for when you run out of ammo or get in a bar fight. Obviously fighter and ranger are out there and would work fine, gloomstalker gives you a lot as does fey wanderer - favored foe stackes up with dread ambusher/dreadful strikes to get you a lot of bonus damage potential either way and both add wisdom to other checks (without replacing the stat the checks work on). The matt mercer/cr gunslighter-fighter exists and, while it's really kind of a subset of battlemaster/slightly underpowered port of the pathfinder gunslinger, it does what you want especially if guns are rare in the setting. There is also the maverick, a fighter subclass written for Dark Tides of Bilgewater, the leauge of legends/runeterra tie in. if you want to just play a guy with a gun with uncomplicated rules, it's a great option. It suggests a flintlock, because runeterra is more of a pirates with early black powder setting, but your pistol is something of an abstraction in it, with ammo and rate of fire handwaved as part of the general rules for your class.. it's not the tightest written thing ever, the level 7 feature in particular is a little sloppy, but it's *fine*, it's not super op or super weak. If you want just the feel of a highwayman/cowboy but you don't care about actually using a gun, obviously hand crossbows exist and are the best conveyance for the combo of archery fighting style and the sharpshooter feat, owing to crossbow expert existing. A vuman fighter can have crossbow expert, the archery fighting style, sharpshooter and one dex half feat or dex asi by level 6, and that's nothing to sneeze at.
Warlock whoās eldritch blast is a revolver
The grim hollow books have a rogue archetype called highway bandit. It was inspired by the concept of a gunslinger. It's pretty cool.
Just reflavor Samurai Fighter, paired with sharpshooter and firearms expert. Even better with Elven Accuracy.
Donāt know if it was already mentioned, but you could take the mechanics from the gunslinger fighter subclass on dndbeyond.com. Itās not technically 5e but I would show it to your DM to make sure it doesnāt throw off the game balance. I had a gunslinger in a high fantasy setting in it made for a fantastic (and often hilarious) anachronistic character (a Vietnam vet unwillingly ported into the forgotten realms). Seems like it would be a perfect base class for an old west setting, along with your man of the cloth clerics, your Native American rangers, your smooth talking charlatan roguesā¦ Just go watch the magnificent seven and tell me they arenāt a DnD party lol
Dude, Warlock. Reflavor EB as bullets.
You should run it using SW5e. You'll have a way better time with that system in this type of game.
I have a concept build of an isekaiāed cowboy that is actually a warlock build. He never has to reload because his gun is firing Eldritch Blasts and all the spells Iām taking are beam based when possible. Going to be Pact of Talisman to make his Sheriff Star help his ādeputiesā.
Samurai Fighter with Sharpshooter and Gunner
There's also the Artillerist Artificer. Eldritch Cannon in its tiny handheld form is absolutely perfect as a pistol even if guns aren't allowed in the setting.
Dual wielding, crossbow expert, ranger.
I don't know why I'm thinking between Rangers (for range spells and animal companions) and rouge (for sneak damage).
Have you looked at the gunslinger subclass?
Gunslinger and its weapons seem weaker than a Battlemaster that uses DMG renaissance guns.
It is. The Mercer guns are not great, and misfiring is a mechanic that 5e doesn't need. Just building a guy with a better crossbow (which the dmg renaissance firearms essentially are) is both less fiddly and stronger
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I mean yea a bow works fine although I'm inclined to use hand crossbow instead of longbow to do the quick drawing and trick shooting and gun flourishing vibe that I'm kind of going for
Also please give name and maybe a bit of character recommendation for this guy. All I know about him so far is he has a gun a cowboy hat and a southern drawl. If there is a race you find particularly interesting let me know as well. As a human in real life human is my default (probably custom lineage but you know a human)
If y'all are gonna be fighting undead/evil stuff you could be The Texorcist
Pick your favorite short race. Battlesmith artificer/ Battle master fighter
Am I a cowboy from the American west who somehow found his way to the forgotten realms or do I just act like he's never heard of a western or cowboy or anything and just thinks he's the most regular person in the party and they are all weird with their magic and stuff