Gunslinger

Recommended Build Guide — Classless System This file describes the Gunslinger recommended build: a curated path through Ashfall's shared skill trees designed for this build's core fantasy. Under the current rules, you are not locked to this build. Choose a chassis for your starting stats and proficiencies, then spend Character Points (CP) in any skill trees that match your character concept.

• Chassis selection and starting stats: see Chassis
• CP economy, spending rules, and milestones: see Character Points
• Full skill tree catalog: see Skill Trees

The ability descriptions, skill tree layouts, and feature details in this file remain the authoritative rules reference for those abilities. The CP values listed in the skill trees are the costs for purchasing abilities.

The Wasteland is a shooting gallery, and you're the best shot in it. While others fumble with rusty rifles or spray-and-pray with automatics, you make every bullet count. You've learned to read wind, distance, and target behavior in the split-second before you pull the trigger. In a world where ammunition is precious and mistakes are fatal, you are precision incarnate.

You are the Gunslinger. Whether you're perched on a rooftop picking off raiders or dancing through cover in a close-quarters firefight, your weapon is an extension of your will. You don't miss. You don't hesitate. You don't need a second shot — but you'll take it anyway, just to be sure.

Base Build (Levels 1-5)

Core Stats

Starting Equipment

• Rifle or two sidearms
• Light armor
• 30 rounds ammunition
• Cleaning kit and binoculars

Level Progression (1-5)

Level 1: Steady Aim & Quick Draw

Level 2: Called Shot

Level 3: Extra Attack

Extra Attack: When you use 1 action to Strike, you make two attacks instead of one. The second attack does not incur the multiple attack penalty. If you use additional actions to Strike, those follow the normal multiple attack penalty (-3 for the second Strike action, -6 for the third, etc.). Extra Attack can only trigger once per turn.

Level 4: Attribute Improvement

Increase one attribute by +2, or two attributes by +1 each (maximum 20 before modifiers).

Level 5 Capstone: Dead Eye

At Level 10, Dead Eye recharges on a short rest and can be used twice per short rest.

Skill Trees

Gunslingers have access to three skill trees:

Marksmanship (Precision & Range)

• Long Shot (5 CP): Double the normal and long range of your ranged weapons.
• Sniper's Focus (10 CP, Requires Long Shot): If you don't move on your turn, gain +2 to ranged attack rolls until the start of your next turn.
• One Shot, One Kill (15 CP, Requires Sniper's Focus): Once per short rest, deal maximum damage on a ranged attack (no roll required).

Gunsmith (Weapon Customization)

• Field Maintenance (5 CP): You can repair a damaged firearm in 10 minutes using scrap materials.
• Custom Modifications (10 CP, Requires Field Maintenance): Choose one ranged weapon. It gains +1 to damage rolls and one of the following: +10 ft range, +1 to crit range (19-20), or reloading costs 0 actions.
• Masterwork Weapon (15 CP, Requires Custom Modifications): Your customized weapon becomes a signature piece, dealing +1d6 damage and never jamming.

Gunsmith and Weapon Modifications: Gunsmiths have a unique professional relationship with the modification system (see Equipment — Weapon Modifications). Gunsmiths install or remove modifications in half the normal time, automatically identify found modifications without a check, and can fabricate any Tier 1 modification from scrap in 1 hour without a workshop. See Equipment — Gunsmith Synergy for the complete rules.

Skirmisher (Mobility & Tactics)

• Evasive Maneuvers (5 CP): Moving through difficult terrain doesn't cost extra movement, and you don't provoke opportunity attacks when moving out of an enemy's reach.
Combat Roll 1 Action (10 CP, , 1/Short Rest): Move up to your speed without provoking opportunity attacks. You can make one ranged attack at any point during this movement.
• Hit and Run (15 CP, Requires Combat Roll): After making a ranged attack, you can immediately move up to 15 feet as a free action.

Magic Relationship

Gunslingers have no innate magical ability. However, they can learn cantrips by spending 15 CP per cantrip. Cantrips use the Gunslinger's Wisdom modifier for attack rolls and save DCs. Gunslingers cannot learn leveled spells unless they multiclass or take a specific Mastery Path.

Advanced Specializations (Levels 6-10)

Gunslingers who reach level 6 have proven their skill with firearms. Now they specialize: becoming patient snipers as Sharpshooters, explosive Demolitionists, or flashy Trick Shot artists who never stop moving.

System Notes:

• All characters gain 10 CP per level from levels 6-10
• Short rest: 8 hours
• Long rest: 1 week
• Bounded accuracy: maximum total bonus of +18
• 3-action economy per turn

Sharpshooter (Range/Precision)

Patient, calculated, and deadly at extreme range. The Sharpshooter is a master of precision — every shot is measured, every breath controlled. One shot, one kill.

Prerequisites: Level 6, Gunslinger build

New Skill Tree Unlocked: Precision (range extension, critical hits at distance, called shots, armor penetration)

Level 6 Features

Example: A rifle with 150 ft normal range / 600 ft long range becomes 300 ft normal / 1200 ft long — and you shoot at 1200 ft without disadvantage.

While a creature is marked, all of your ranged attacks against that creature deal an additional +1d6 damage.

Mark rules:

• You can only have one marked target at a time. Marking a new target immediately removes the mark from the previous one.
• The mark lasts until the marked creature dies or you mark a new target.
• You can change your mark once per turn as a free action.
• The +1d6 applies to all ranged attacks against the marked target, including Called Shots, Ricochet, and attacks augmented by Dead Eye.

This is the Sharpshooter's defining tactical decision each combat: which target is worth sustained focus? Mark the highest-priority threat and hunt them down, or shift marks as the battlefield evolves. Unlike the old Precision Shot (which depended on enemies standing still), the mark triggers reliably and creates genuine moment-to-moment choice.

Example: You're fighting three enemies — a sniper in cover, a charging brawler, and a medic healing in the rear. Your mark sits on the medic. Every attack against them gets +1d6, burning them down before their heals become a problem. When the brawler reaches your ally, you shift the mark — free action — and redirect your focus.

Level 8 Features

• +3d6 damage (in addition to normal damage and any other bonuses)
• Ignores cover (short of total cover)

This represents taking careful aim and delivering a shot designed to kill.

Spotter (Cooperative Feature) If an ally uses their action to spot for you (calling out range, wind, target movement), your next ranged attack before the end of your next turn gains:

• +2 to hit
• +1d6 damage

This requires the ally to be within 30 feet of you and be able to see the target.

Level 10 Capstone Ability

• Automatically hits regardless of the target's Defense Value
• Automatically crits (multiply damage dice)
• Forces the target to make a DC 18 Fortitude save

On a failed save, if the target has 50 or fewer current hit points, they are reduced to 0 HP. On a success, they take the critical damage normally.

This represents a shot through the eye slit, the weak point in armor, or the critical system in a machine — the kind of shot that ends battles.

Precision Skill Tree

The Precision tree rewards the Sharpshooter's core fantasy: deliberate, devastating single shots at range. Each tier unlocks a new decision layer rather than simply adding damage.

Tier 1 Abilities (5 CP each)

• Armor Piercing Rounds (5 CP): Your ranged attacks ignore up to 3 points of damage reduction from armor. You load purpose-crafted ammunition — tungsten-tipped, hardened, designed for precision penetration rather than raw force.

• Windage Correction (5 CP): You calculate for wind direction, rainfall, humidity, and obscuring smoke automatically. Environmental conditions (strong wind, heavy rain, smoke, fog) never impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.

Tier 2 Abilities (10 CP each, requires one Tier 1 ability)

• Vital Strike (10 CP, Requires Armor Piercing Rounds): Your Called Shot attack penalty is reduced from -5 to -2. Additionally, Head Called Shots deal +3d6 damage (increased from +2d6). You know where to aim.

• Pinning Shot (10 CP, Requires Windage Correction): When you miss a ranged attack intentionally (you must declare this before rolling), the target must make a Reflex save (DC = 8 + your AGI modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failure, they cannot willingly move closer to you until the start of their next turn. On a success, they are unaffected. Use this to control enemy positioning without wasting a hit.

Tier 3 Abilities (15 CP each, requires one Tier 2 ability)

• Execution Distance (15 CP, Requires Vital Strike): When you score a critical hit at your weapon's normal range or beyond, all bonus damage dice increase by one die size (d6 → d8, d8 → d10, d10 → d12). Additionally, your critical hit range expands to 19-20 (instead of 20 only). This critical range improvement is cumulative with other crit range expansions — each additional source of crit range expansion decreases your threshold by 1 (two 19-20 expansions → 18-20).

• Zero Movement (15 CP, Requires Pinning Shot): Once per short rest, as a free action at the start of your turn, declare Zero Movement. Until the start of your next turn: if you do not move for any reason, all your ranged attacks ignore all damage reduction from armor, deal +2d6 bonus damage, and ignore partial cover and heavy cover. Zero Movement ends immediately if you move — including free movement from Gunslinger's Flourish or similar effects.

Demolitionist (Explosives/Area Damage)

If it's not on fire, you're not trying hard enough. The Demolitionist is a master of explosives, area denial, and creative destruction. Where others see a locked door, they see an opportunity to practice their craft.

Prerequisites: Level 6, Gunslinger build

New Skill Tree Unlocked: Demolitions (explosives crafting, area control, structural demolition, incendiary devices)

Level 6 Features

Explosives Expert (Crafting) During a short rest, you can craft grenades and other explosives from scavenged materials. Each explosive you create has the following properties:

• Range: Can be thrown 30 feet (requires Athletics check for longer distances)
• Area: 15-foot radius
• Damage: 3d6 fire or force damage (your choice when crafting)
• Save: Reflex save DC = 8 + your INT modifier + your proficiency bonus
• Effect: Half damage on a successful save

You can carry a number of explosives equal to your Intellect (INT) modifier (minimum 1). Unused explosives become inert after your next short rest.

Level 8 Features

• Cone: 30-foot cone (instead of 15-foot radius)
• Line: 5 feet wide, 60 feet long (instead of 15-foot radius)

This uses the same damage and save DC as your normal explosives.

Trap Setter (Setup Action) You can spend 1 minute setting an explosive trap. The trap:

• Triggers when any creature enters a designated 5-foot square
• Deals damage as per your Explosives Expert feature
• Knocks targets prone on a failed save (in addition to damage)
• Remains set until triggered or until you disarm it 1 Action

You can have a number of active traps equal to your INT modifier.

Level 10 Capstone Ability

• Area: 30-foot radius
• Damage: 8d6 fire and force damage
• Save: DC 18 Reflex save for half damage
• Effects:
  • Structures and objects take double damage
  • Failed save: target is knocked prone and deafened for 1 minute
  • Creates difficult terrain in the area for 10 minutes

This represents a truly devastating explosion — the kind that brings down buildings and ends sieges.

Demolitions Skill Tree

The Demolitions tree rewards terrain control, creative force application, and engineering cunning. The goal is never just damage — it's making the battlefield itself work for you.

Tier 1 Abilities (5 CP each)

• Improved Fuse (5 CP): You can set a countdown timer on any explosive you craft (1 round to 1 minute delay). You can also trigger your timered devices remotely as a free action at any point within 60 feet. Explosives that weren't thrown can be set with a timer without throwing — useful for rigged rooms, escape routes, and ambush preparation.

• Concussive Charge (5 CP): You can craft a crowd-control explosive variant during a short rest (uses one of your Explosives Expert capacity slots). Concussive Charges deal no damage, but all targets in the area must make a Fortitude save (DC = 8 + INT modifier + proficiency). On a failure, targets are knocked prone and Deafened for 1 minute. On a success, they are unaffected. Excellent for suppressing groups without spending lethal resources.

Tier 2 Abilities (10 CP each, requires one Tier 1 ability)

• Wall Breach (10 CP, Requires Improved Fuse): Your explosives deal double damage to structures, barriers, and vehicles. When your explosive destroys or opens a section of wall or barrier, it creates a 5-foot breach — a gap that removes all cover from that section. Sealed rooms and fortified positions are an invitation.

• Minefield (10 CP, Requires Concussive Charge): You can spend 1 minute to plant up to 3 pressure-plate mines in separate 5-foot squares. Each mine triggers when any creature enters its square; you can designate creatures to exclude when setting each mine. Mine damage equals your Explosives Expert feature. Active mines count against the same limit as Trap Setter mines — the total number of active traps (from all sources) cannot exceed your INT modifier.

Tier 3 Abilities (15 CP each, requires one Tier 2 ability)

• Napalm Charge (15 CP, Requires Wall Breach): You can craft incendiary explosives (fire damage only, uses an Explosives Expert capacity slot). The detonation area becomes a burning zone for 3 rounds: any creature that starts its turn in or enters the zone takes 2d6 fire damage (Reflex save for half, same DC as your Explosives Expert). The burning zone can ignite flammable objects and structures. You are immune to your own napalm fires.

• Remote Detonator (15 CP, Requires Minefield): You craft your explosives with integrated wireless detonators. Any of your mines, traps, or timered explosives within 300 feet can be triggered as a free action rather than waiting for a timer or pressure trigger. You choose exactly which device fires. Additionally, as a free action, you can perform a false trigger (press the detonator without firing): creatures who see you do this must succeed on a Will save (DC = 8 + INT modifier + proficiency bonus) or must use their reaction to take cover (they may not continue any movement they were taking this round). On a success, they are unaffected.

Trick Shot (Versatility/Mobility)

Flashy, unpredictable, and always moving. The Trick Shot specialist embodies the gunslinger aesthetic — dual-wielding pistols, ricocheting bullets off surfaces, shooting while diving through windows. Style is just as important as substance.

Prerequisites: Level 6, Gunslinger build

New Skill Tree Unlocked: Gun Fu (mobility, dual wielding, close-range firearms, acrobatic shooting)

Level 6 Features

This represents the constant motion and repositioning that defines your combat style.

Ricochet (1/Turn) Once per turn, when you miss with a ranged attack, you can attempt to ricochet the shot to another target. Choose a different creature within 15 feet of the original target and make a new attack roll at -2 to hit.

On a hit, the ricochet deals normal damage.

Level 8 Features

Your shooting style is built for close quarters — you weave between enemies, firing at point-blank range where others would draw a blade. You've trained to shoot in the spaces between heartbeats, turning proximity into an advantage rather than a liability.

• Your ranged attacks against targets within 15 feet do not provoke opportunity attacks
• When you hit a creature within 15 feet with a ranged attack, deal an additional +1d6 damage of the weapon's damage type
• This bonus damage applies once per attack roll (not once per turn — it rewards multiple close-range attacks across your 3-action turn)

"Most gunslingers learn to keep their distance. Trick Shots learn to close it. When you're inside arm's reach, your bullets arrive before the sound does."

You never stop moving. Each shot is a pivot, each reload a sidestep. Enemies who try to track you find you've already moved on to their flank — or their friend.

• After you make a ranged attack against a creature, you can immediately move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks from that creature. This movement is separate from Gunslinger's Flourish (which triggers on hits; Run and Gun triggers on any attack, hit or miss).
• If you attack a different target than your previous ranged attack this turn, you gain +2 to the attack roll against the new target. This bonus resets at the start of each turn.

"One target, one bullet, one step. Then the next. And the next. By the time they figure out who you're aiming at, you're already aiming at someone else."

Stacking with Gunslinger's Flourish: Run and Gun and Gunslinger's Flourish both grant free movement after ranged attacks, but they trigger differently and stack:

• Gunslinger's Flourish (L6) — triggers on a hit: 10 ft movement, no OA
• Run and Gun (L8) — triggers on any ranged attack (hit or miss): 10 ft movement, no OA from that target

On a turn where you hit a creature, both trigger: Gunslinger's Flourish gives 10 ft from the hit, Run and Gun gives 10 ft from the attack itself. Total: 20 ft of free movement after a single hit. The movement from each can be taken separately or combined.

Example: You hit an enemy within 15 ft. Gunslinger's Flourish triggers (10 ft, no OA). Run and Gun also triggers (10 ft, no OA from that target). You can use both: step 10 ft left, shoot again, step another 10 ft right. Or take all 20 ft at once after the attack. Gun-Fu's close-range bonus still applies if your next shot lands within 15 ft.

Level 10 Capstone Ability

• You gain 2 additional actions that can only be used for ranged attacks or movement
• All attack rolls against you have disadvantage

Extra Attack and Bullet Time: The 2 additional actions granted by Bullet Time each produce exactly 1 ranged attack — they do not trigger Extra Attack. These are single precise shots in your hyper-focused state, not full Strike actions. Your normal 3 actions still trigger Extra Attack as usual.

This represents entering a state of hyper-focus where time seems to slow down — you're moving, shooting, and dodging faster than enemies can track.

Corrected Example: With Level 3+ Extra Attack, your normal 3 Strike actions give you up to 6 ranged attacks (2 per action). Bullet Time adds 2 more actions, each producing 1 ranged attack (no Extra Attack). Total: 8 ranged attacks in one turn — or fewer if you use some actions for movement. All 8 attacks benefit from the disadvantage-on-attackers defense while Bullet Time is active.

You could also use both bonus actions for movement, giving you 3 Strike actions (6 attacks) plus additional repositioning to line up better shots.

Gun Fu Skill Tree

The Gun Fu tree rewards constant motion and spreading damage across multiple targets. Every ability either expands your movement options, adds another attack vector, or creates defensive counterplay. You are never where the enemy expects you to be.

Tier 1 Abilities (5 CP each)

Level 16: Hawkeye

Your marksmanship transcends normal limits. You can see and accurately target creatures up to 1 mile away with ranged weapons (assuming line of sight). You never suffer disadvantage due to range. Your ranged attacks ignore partial cover and heavy cover (but not total cover). Wind, rain, and environmental conditions do not impose disadvantage on your shots.

Level 17: Specialization Final Evolution

Sharpshooter — Death at Distance

Your called shots no longer impose the -5 penalty to your attack roll. When you score a critical hit with a ranged weapon, the target must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC = 8 + prof + AGI mod) or be instantly reduced to 0 HP (creatures with legendary resistances are immune). Your effective range doubles.

Trick Shot — Lightning Hands

You can draw and holster weapons without using your free object interaction. When you roll initiative, you may immediately make one ranged attack before initiative order begins. You gain +2 to initiative. Reloading a weapon now costs 0 actions (you reload seamlessly during your turn).

Demolitionist — Apocalypse Arsenal

Your explosive damage dice increase by one size (d6 becomes d8, d8 becomes d10, d10 becomes d12). You can set timed explosives that detonate up to 1 hour later. When you throw an explosive, you may split its damage across multiple 5 ft squares within its blast radius (dividing dice as you choose). You are immune to your own explosive damage.

Level 20 Apex Ability: Perfect Storm

Once per long rest (1 week)

You enter a state of perfect focus where your perception of time slows and your hands become a blur. Every enemy is a target, and every shot finds its mark.

Effects:

• At the start of each of your turns for 1 minute, you make one ranged attack against every enemy you can see within your weapon's range (maximum number of attacks = AGI modifier + proficiency bonus)
• Each successful hit deals your normal weapon damage + 1d6
• You do not consume ammunition during Perfect Storm — your shots seem to materialize from nowhere
• You ignore all cover penalties
• You have advantage on all ranged attack rolls

Drawback: When Perfect Storm ends, your hands shake and your vision blurs — you have disadvantage on ranged attacks for 1 hour.