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Gunslinger Handbook: DnD 5e Class Guide –
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Gunslinger Handbook: DnD 5e Class

Guide – RPGBOT
T.E. "RPGBOT" Kamstra April 20, 2021

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Introduction
This handbook is for version 1.3 of Matt Mercer’s
Gunslinger (Affiliate Link). While there are
numerous homebrew incarnations of a gunslinger
class or archetype, Matt Mercer’s has gained a
great deal of traction in the DnD community, and I
have received numerous requests to cover it.

   -2:42

A Crap Guide to D&D [5th Edition] -…
The Gunslinger is in many ways similar to the Battle
Master fighter. You choose a set of “Trick Shots”
which let you expend a limited resource pool (grit
points) to do some extra stuff on top of attacking
and dealing damage. The Gunslinger was originally
adapted from the Pathfinder RPG when the Critical
Roll podcast migrated from Pathfinder to 5th Edition
DnD, and there are still a handful of things which
call back to the Pathfinder rules.

···

It’s important to note that Mercer’s Gunslinger was

published several years prior to the official Gunner
feat’s publication in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything,
and as such the two are not designed to work
alongside each other. This handbook assumes that
you are not combining the two options.

This guide is specifically for the Gunslinger Fighter,

and omits sections of my typical class handbooks
when those sections aren’t meaningfully different
from other members of the subclass. For more
information on the Fighter, see my Fighter
Handbook.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Disclaimer
Fighter Class Features
Subclasses – Gunslinger
Ability Scores
Races
Feats
Firearms
Firearm Properties
Choosing a Firearm
Armor
Example Build – Variant Human Fighter
(Gunslinger)
Abilities
Race
Skills and Tools
Background
Feats
Levels

Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has
become common among Pathfinder build
handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy
to read at a glance.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options which

are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
Orange: OK options, or useful options that
only apply in rare circumstances. Useful
sometimes.
Green: Good options. Useful often.
Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the
function of your character. Useful very
frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including

content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official
content because we can’t assume that your game
will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also
won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s
not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be
available to you in your games.

···

The advice offered below is based on the current

State of the Character Optimization Meta as of
when the article was last updated. Keep in mind
that the state of the meta periodically changes as
new source materials are released, and the article
will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Fighter Class Features

This article presents a subset of the Fighter’s class
features specifically relevant to the Gunslinger. For
more on the Fighter’s class features, see my
Fighter Handbook.

Fighting Style: One of the Fighter’s iconic

abilities, your choice of fighting style has a
significant effect on which firearms are appealing
for you.

ArcheryPHB: The obvious choice for ranged

builds. +2 to hit is a big deal in a game where a
20th-level character can expect a maximum of
+11 to hit.

···

DefensePHB: You’re fighting at range, so AC

isn’t quite as important as it is for melee
fighters.
DuelingPHB: +2 damage while using a
single pistol.
Great Weapon FightingPHB: A possibility for
muskets, but muskets aren’t good enough to
justify it.
ProtectionPHB: You are not a tank.,
Two-Weapon FightingPHB: Pistols can fire
four shots before reloading, and with some
simple management and Quickdraw you can
easily avoid reloading in combat. That makes
dual wielding pistols a possibility. However,
two-weapon fighting still isn’t a good
proposition for fighters because the math
simply doesn’t work out. You can still do two-
weapon fighting without the fighting style, and
Archery will probably net better damage output.

···

Subclasses – Gunslinger
Firearm Proficiency: Proficiency in firearms
is obviously important for a character built
around firearms. Of course, waiting for your
subclass to get proficiency means that you
spent two levels using some other weapon.
Gunsmith: Tinker’s Tools will prove to be an
important part of your character. Tinker’s Tools
are used to repair your firearms, and the more
you fight the more frequently you’ll be repairing
a broken firearm.
Adept Marksman: Trick Shots are the most
interesting part of the Gunslinger. You get two
options at 3rd level, and pick up 6 more over
the rest of your career, so you’ll get most of the
8 available Trick Shot options.

Adept Marksman also gives you a pool of Grit

Points which you’ll use to fuel your abilities.
You recharge grit points by shooting stuff rather
than by resting, which helps when you’re in a
long series of fights. The most recent update to
the Gunslinger makes it harder to recharge
your grit points by shooting a barrel full of rats
(which was a huge problem in Pathfinder), but
given sufficient ammunition you could still shoot
an inanimate target repeatedly until you roll
enough natural 20’s to recharge your grit pool
between encounters.

···

Quickdraw: Real-world flint-lock weapons

take a lot time to load, but drawing them is
quick, so when flint-lock weapons were the
dominant form of weaponry it was common for
people to carry several loaded pistols into
battle and switch between loaded pistols rather
than reload them in the middle of a fight. If you
can afford multiple firearms (and by this level
you can), it’s often smarter to draw a spare
weapon than to spend an attack or an action to
reload. In Pathfinder this was less feasible
because players sunk tens of thousands of
gold into a single weapon, and putting down
your +3 pistol to draw another pistol was an
absurd prospect.

You also add your proficiency bonus to

Initiative, which is really nice.
Rapid Repair: You already have Quickdraw.
If your gun jams, draw another one. Fix them
between fights when someone can cast
Guidance on you.

···

Lightning Reload: Unless you’re doing two-

weapon fighting with pistols, you’re not using
your bonus action on most rounds. If you’re
using a weapon that’s hard to carry multiples of
(such as a magic weapon, an expensive
weapon, or simply a weapon that’s very heavy),
reloading is a big problem. Moving the reload
to a bonus action gives you back an attack
every round.
Vicious Intent: Doubling the critical range
makes it much easier to regain grit points.
Hemorrhaging Critical: More damage is
always nice, and since you’re scoring critical
hits on a 19 or 20 you may get to enjoy this
frequently.
Trick Shots:
Bullying Shot: A fighter is not a face.
Dazing Shot: An excellent debuff.
Deadeye Shot: Easy access to
Advantage is really helpful against foes
with high AC, and it makes it more likely
that you will roll a critical hit and regain
your spent Grit Point.
Disarming Shot: Most monsters you face
won’t be using weapons.
Forceful Shot: Situational. Pushing foes
is only rarely useful.
Piercing Shot: Even though the
additional attacks are made at
Disadvantage, the possibility of hitting one
or more additional targets could be a
significant amount of extra damage.
Winging Shot: Knocking a foe prone is
really nice for melee characters, but it
doesn’t help you at all.
Violent Shot: I would only use this with a
firearm with large damage dice like a
musket, and even then only if I had
Advantage. Raising the misfire chance
becomes a problem quickly, so try to save
this for when you have Advantage.

Ability Scores
The Gunslinger runs on Dexterity, but you need
some Wisdom for Grit Points.

Str: Dump.

Dex: Dexterity is everything to the Gunslinger.

Get as much as you can as fast as you can. It also
makes Dexterity-based skills like Stealth a viable
choice, allowing you to also serve as your party’s
Scout.

Con: Essential on any adventurer.

Int: Dump.

Wis: More Wisdom means more Grit Points and

makes Perception a viable skill option.

Cha: Dump.

Point Buy Standard Array

Str: 8 Str: 8
Dex: 15 Dex: 15
Con: 14 Con: 13
Int: 10 Int: 10
Wis: 14 Wis: 14
Cha: 10 Cha: 12

Races
Dexterity increases are an absolute must. A
Wisdom increase is nice, but not strictly necessary.
Since none of the firearms in the gunslinger PDF
are “heavy”, small size isn’t an impediment. Beyond
that, any race which works a Dexterity-based fighter
build will work fine.

The list of races and subraces below is intentionally

reduced to those options which I think make an
effective Gunslinger Fighter or which offer traits
which are illustrative of what you should look for in
other races. These are by no means the only viable
options (especially with the optional rules in place),
and I encourage you to explore other options not
listed below. For full race coverage, please see my
full Fighter Handbook‘s Races section, which
includes the full range of available races.

AarakocraEEPC: Dexterity and Wisdom

increases and flight. Simple and effective without
the custom origin rules, though the Owlin may be
more interesting. If you’re using the custom origin
rules, the Winged Tiefling is a much better option.

Dwarf: No Dexterity increase unless you’re using

the custom origin rules. If you are using the custom
origin rules, the Stout Halfling will generally be a
better choice than any dwarf.

···

MountainPHB: Two +2 increases is always

tempting with the custom origin rules, but I
don’t think it’s useful enough for the Gunslinger
to make this a great option.

ElfPHB: A Dexterity increase and Perception

proficiency to capitalize on your high Wisdom.

DrowPHB: Charisma isn’t especially helpful,

but the spells are nice.
High Elf: A cantrip is neat, but not especially
helpful. True Strike might be an option if you
want to make use of a musket and Violent
Strike, but even that isn’t geat.
Wood ElfPHB: Dexterity and Wisdom
increases, and a little extra movement speed to
keep you out of reach of your enemies. If
you’re not using the custom origin rules, this is
one of few Dex/Wis splits available. Of course,
the Variant Human will be more effective, and
with the custom origin rules there’s basically no
reason to play a wood elf.

Half-ElfPHB: Half-elf can be a great option, but

there’s nothing you get from the Half-elf as a
Gunslinger which the Variant Human can’t do
better.

HalflingPHB: Dexterity increase, and Lucky makes

you nearly immune to the misfire chance of
weapons with Misfire 1.

···

LightfootPHB Charisma isn’t especially

helpful, and without Cunning Action there’s little
reason to use Naturally Stealthy in combat.
StoutPHB Constitution and poison
resistance. Always a solid basis for a martial
character, and combined with the Halfling’s
core traits this is a sturdy and reliable build.

HumanPHB: Versatile and fantastic at everything.

Vanilla: Bonuses to Dexterity, Constitution,

and Wisdom are all great.
Variant: +1 Dex, +1 Wis, and a feat. Take
Dual Wielding if you want to dual-wield pistols
or Sharpshooter if you don’t.

Owlin: +2 Dex and +1 to either Con or Wis, or

just +1 to to each of them to start with 16
Dex/Con/Wis. Flight, Darkvision, and proficiency in
Stealth. This is arguably the Gunslinger’s best
flying option because it supports both your core
function of shooting stuff and supports expanding
into a Scout role.

Tiefling: Several viable subraces. If you’re not

using the custom origin rules, the Feral variant
gives you a Dexterity increase. You can combine it
with the Winged variant to get a flying gunslinger
with fire resistance and Darkvision, which is a great
starting point.

Feats
This section does not address every published feat, as d
growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Ins

Crossbow ExpertPHB: Don’t plan to use

crossbows, but the second benefit (no
disadvantage for making ranged attacks while
adjacent to an enemy) isn’t limited to
crossbows. Of course, if you want that
capablity the Gunner feat provides that and a
Dexterity increase.
Dual WielderPHB: Tragically, this only
applies to melee weapons.
Fighting InitiateTCoE: An additional Fighting
Style means that you can get Archery+Dueling
or Archery+Two-Weapon Fighting. Either would
increase your damage output, but feats like
Sharpshoot
GunnerTCoE: The Gunslinger was written
years before this feat was published, so it’s
clearly not intended to be used with this feat.
My suggestion is to mostly ignore this feat’s
third bullet, essentially reducing this feat to +1
Dex, proficiency in firearms, and no
Disadvantage when using firearms in melee.
For pistol-wielding gunlingers, that’s still a
decent feat if you want to gun pistol+shield and
stand on the front lines.

···

···

Martial AdeptPHB: Many maneuvers

function with ranged attacks, but only getting to
use your maneuver once per short rest doesn’t
seem good enough for a feat.
SharpshooterPHB: A significant boost to
your damage output, especially if you take
Fighting Style: Archery to offset the attack
penalty.

Firearms
5e’s weapons generally don’t have a lot to
distinguish them. Most of the special properties that
made weapons unique in previous editions were
removed in favor of simplicity. Matt Mercer’s
firearms introduce several complicated new
weapon properties which make your choice of
firearm hugely important.

Keep in mind that the firearms discussed here

deviate from those presented in the Dungeon
Master’s Guide, and were written before the
publication of the Gunner feat in Tasha’s Cauldron
of Everything.

Firearm Properties
Explosive: Only matters for hand mortars, and
hand mortars are bad.
Misfire: Pathfinder used misfire chance as a
way to balance firearms because their ability to
ignore armor and shields made them extremely
powerful. Matt Mercer’s firearms no longer
ignore armor and shields, but he chose to
retain the misfire mechanic. This is essentially
a handicap for firearms to prevent them from
making other weapons obsolete. However, the
Gunslinger’s subclass features make it easy to
totally disregard misfires by switching weapons
or by quickly repairing your firearms.