Mystic Gunhand

Many who seek to perfect the use of the gun sometimes pursue the path of the mystic gunhand. Mystic gunhands are masters of ranged combat, as they possess the ability to strike at targets with unerring accuracy and can imbue their bullets with powerful spells. Bullets fired by mystic gunhands fly at weird and uncanny angles to strike at foes around corners, and can pass through solid objects to hit enemies that cower behind such cover. At the height of their power, mystic gunhands can fell even the most powerful foes with a single, deadly shot.

Role: Mystic gunhands deal death from afar, winnowing down opponents while their allies rush into hand-to-hand combat. With their capacity to unleash a hail of gunfire on the enemy, they represent the pinnacle of ranged combat.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the mystic gunhand prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A mystic gunhand is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, and shields.

Spells per Day

At the indicated levels, a mystic gunhand gains new spells per day and spells known as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain other benefits a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased caster level. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming an mystic gunhand, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Enhance Bullets (Su)

At 1st level, every nonmagical bullet or shotgun shell a mystic gunhand lets fly automatically becomes magical, gaining a +1 enhancement bonus. This bonus increases by +1 for every 4 levels after 1st gained in this class, to a maximum of +3 at 9th level.

In addition, the mystic gunhand's bullets gain a number of additional qualities as he gains additional levels. The elemental, elemental burst, and aligned qualities can be changed once per day, when the mystic gunhand prepares spells or, in the case of spontaneous spellcasters, after 8 hours of rest.

At 3rd level, every non-magical bullet fired by a mystic gunhand gains one of the following elemental themed weapon qualities: flaming, frost, or shock.

At 5th level, every non-magical bullet fired by a mystic gunhand gains the distance weapon quality.

At 7th level, every non-magical bullet fired by a mystic gunhand gains one of the following elemental burst weapon qualities: flaming burst, icy burst, or shocking burst. This ability replaces the ability gained at 3rd level.

At 9th level, every non-magical bullet fired by a mystic gunhand gains one of the following aligned weapon qualities: anarchic, axiomatic, holy, or unholy. The mystic gunhand cannot choose an ability that is the opposite of his alignment (for example, a lawful good mystic gunhand could not choose anarchic or unholy as his weapon quality).

The bonuses granted by a magic gun apply as normal to bullets that have been enhanced with this ability. Only the larger enhancement bonus applies. Duplicate abilities do not stack.

Imbue Bullet (Su)

At 2nd level, a mystic gunhand gains the ability to place an area spell upon a bullet or shotgun shell. As a standard action, the mystic gunhand can fire one shot and cast an area effect (e.g. line, cone, burst) spell that would normally take 1 standard action to cast. If the bullet hits its target, the spell’s area originates from where the bullet strikes, even if the spell could normally be centered only on the caster. This ability allows the gunhand to use the gun's range rather than the spell’s range. If the bullet misses, the spell is wasted.

Seeker Shot (Su)

At 4th level, a mystic gunhand can fire a bullet or shotgun shell at a target known to him within range, and the bullet travels to the target, even around corners. Only an unavoidable obstacle or the limit of the gun's range prevents the bullet's flight. This ability negates cover and concealment modifiers, but otherwise the attack is rolled normally. Using this ability is a standard action. A mystic gunhand can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3+1/2 mystic gunhand level.

Phase Round (Su)

At 6th level, a mystic gunhand can enhance a bullet or shotgun shell in Close range as a swift action. If fired on the same turn, the bullet travels to the target in a straight path, passing through any non-magical barrier or wall in its way. Any magical barrier stops the bullet. This ability negates cover, concealment, armor, and shield modifiers, but otherwise the attack is rolled normally. A mystic gunhand can use this ability once per day at 6th level, and one additional time per day for every two levels beyond 6th, to a maximum of three times per day at 10th level.

Hail of Gunfire (Su)

In lieu of his regular attacks, once per day a mystic gunhand of 8th level or higher can fire a bullet or shotgun shell at each and every target within range, to a maximum of one target for every mystic gunhand level he has earned. Each attack uses the gunhand's primary attack bonus, and each enemy may only be targeted by a single bullet. This ability does not consume ammunition in the gunhand's weapon.

Missile of Death (Su)

At 10th level, a mystic gunhand can create a special type of slaying bullet or shotgun shell that forces the target, if damaged by the bullet's attack, to make a Fortitude save or be slain immediately. The DC of this save is equal to 20 + the mystic gunhand's Intelligence modifier. It takes 1 day to make a slaying bullet, and the bullet only functions for the mystic gunhand who created it. The slaying bullet lasts no longer than 1 year, and the gunhand can only have one such bullet in existence at a time.