Slugger's Creed

What’s even more painful than a bullet to the gut? A point-blank bullet to the gut, of course. Sluggers exchange the relative safety of distance and cover for the exhilarating chaos of close-quarters combat, leveraging their superior agility to run circles around their foes and bring them down with a combination of blade and bullet. Detractors accuse these Gunners of simply covering for their poor aim, but curiously enough, they rarely voice this opinion within earshot of one.

There are many reasons why you may have chosen to be a Slugger. Perhaps you’re a thrill seeker who thrives on high-risk, high-reward tactics. You could be a maverick inventor who sought to merge firearms with melee weapons against the recommendations of your colleagues and in flagrant violation of local safety ordinances. Or maybe you do have bad aim—no one needs to know! Whichever the case, you’re among the rare few Gunners whose foes desperately wish would keep their distance.

Level 3: Close-Quarters Expert

Any enemy that thinks you won’t be as dangerous up close as you are from a distance is in for a very painful realization. You gain proficiency in the Acrobatics skill, and it becomes an extra Lucky Skill for you, as per your Lucky Skill class feature. In addition, you gain proficiency with Martial weapons that lack the Two-Handed property.

Level 3: Slugger's Flair

Alternating between gunshots and melee attacks, you unleash devastating combos. You learn unique ways to gain and spend Moxie:

• Blade & Bullet. The first time you hit with a ranged weapon attack using a firearm and a melee weapon attack on the same turn, you gain 1 Moxie.

• Tacticool Reload. Immediately after you reload a firearm, you can expend 1 Moxie as a special Reaction to make a melee weapon attack.

Level 7: Lead to the Face

You love the smell of powder burn in the morning. When you apply attachments at the end of a Long Rest, you can apply the Sawed-Off Barrel attachment to one of your firearms, even if the firearm already has a different Barrel attachment. This extra attachment doesn’t count against your total number of attachments or the maximum attachments a firearm can hold.

Level 7: Bullet Ballet

Quick feet and quicker fingers are a deadly combination on the battlefield. When you gain or expend 1 or more Moxie, you can move 5 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks. If the Moxie is expended as part of a Reaction, you can choose to move immediately before or after you take that Reaction.

Level 11: Concealed Parry

Your heightened reflexes allow you to deflect attacks using your firearms. As a Reaction when a creature hits you with a melee attack while you’re holding a firearm, you gain a +2 bonus to AC against the triggering attack, potentially causing it to miss.

Level 15: Bulletstorm

As an action, you can weave across the battlefield in a whirlwind of steel and gunpowder. Until the end of your turn, you can make a weapon attack against a creature (no action required) the first time you move within 5 feet of it. Once you’ve used this feature, you
can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.

Level 18: Counter-Strike

Each missed opportunity for an opponent is a new opportunity for you. The bonus to AC from your Concealed Parry feature increases to +3. If the triggering attack misses, you can make a weapon attack against the attacking creature as part of the same Reaction.