the way of the triggerbrand in pathfinder 2e is really cool. a specific gunslinger way oriented entirely around the sick concept of combination weapons? wielding a fancy gunblade as you slice and blast your way across a battlefield? unbelievably cool in concept, right?
unfortunately, it seems a pretty universally agreed fact that - as written - the way of the triggerbrand is sorely lacking. more than half of its abilities are either copies of things that already existed (and in some cases, worse versions of them) or actions that are entirely too hard to pull off for benefits that are next to impossible to capitalize on. and of course, there's the fact that the gunslinger inherently prevents a triggerbrand from ever being as good with the melee part of their weapon as the ranged part - a major thorn in the side for anyone who wants a combination weapon as more than a backup melee weapon stapled to a mildly nerfed gun.
that's why i'd like to present the above as my alternative take on the way of the triggerbrand! this rework is focused on eliminating most of the copycat features (and the one nearly unusable ability), replacing them with things that lean much more into the interesting nature of combination weapons. this is my first attempt at homebrewing for pathfinder 2e, so advice and feedback and such are all welcome! i'll go into detail as to my thought process on the changes in the break below. thanks for reading and if you use this, let me know how it feels!
also this was made with https://scribe.pf2.tools/ !
ok so here's an overview of the changes: i completely reworked the Advanced Deed and the Triggerbrand Blitz feat, renaming both of them to Wind It Up and Triggerbrand Blast, respectively. i also reworked the Greater Deed to change the actions taken and renamed it minorly to Break 'Em Down, though I left the additional effect largely unchanged save for one small tweak. i also added an additional exclusive feat called Combination Weapon Training.
as for the reasoning behind each change:
ADVANCED DEED
the Advanced Deed was the worst of the lot. as originally written, you attempt a melee strike and then do a thievery check to steal with a -5 penalty. if you succeed to steal, the target is off-guard to your ranged strikes until the start of your next turn. sounds solid on paper, until you realize a crucial set of flaws: you're forced to be in melee mode to do this, it takes 2 actions, and your benefit applies after already increasing your MAP. that means that you get a sick +2 against that -5 MAP, and you would have to switch to ranged mode, which itself takes a whole action - that's all 3 actions you get. you could theoretically use Triggerbrand Salvo, but to make a deed (something all triggerbrands get) RELY on taking a specific feat is pretty uncool, even if most triggerbrands will universally take the feat. essentially: it just takes So Much Additional Setup to make it work that you may as well not use it at all, and that feels bad for a main gunslinger way feature.
my replacement is under the overarching philosophy of "let triggerbrands do More with combination weapons". in this case: a bit of a risk reward ability to make it easier to switch weapon modes, as well as give damage incentive to do so more often; but if you mess up, you get stuck in one mode until you address it. this, in my opinion, opens up new play opportunities and also grants unique interactions with combination weapons to triggerbrands.
GREATER DEED
a less extensive change than the Advanced Deed - the effect of inflicting persistent bleed and dazzled status is already good, but the actions to do so were essentially the exact same as what you would do in Triggerbrand Salvo with a minor tweak to numbers. not bad per se, but just uninspired.
my replacement adds another unique method for using combination weapons: an unexpected attack out of sync with the current weapon mode. harder to land given the unintended use, but deadlier due to the surprising nature of it. since this lets you do one less attack than the original, i also added that the target is off guard to your next attack for a little while. makes up for the change from two attacks to just one, and fits flavor-wise!
TRIGGERBRAND BLAST
this is a total overhaul of Triggerbrand Blitz, which sorely needs it. as written Triggerbrand Blitz functions the exact same as the Greater Deed from the Way of the Drifter: stride while making 3 strikes against 3 different targets. the main differences are solely debuffs - Triggerbrand Blitz doesn't give immunity to reactions, while also forcing you to be fatigued for 1 minute afterwards. it's extremely uninspired and nerfed for very little reason (after all, these features are accessed only 1 level apart).
my replacement, Triggerbrand Blast, tries to stand more apart by doing two things: first, it is an AoE attack, which is fairly rare among Gunslinger feats; and second, it varies the AoE type based on the combination weapon that was used. the size of the areas is set so that each grants 6-7 squares of effect, and the damage is based on what i read of other AoE abilities in the same level range. i'm not sold on making it count for two attacks against MAP, but it feels right somehow.
COMBINATION WEAPON TRAINING
this one is just flat out a new feat to combat something that bothers me: singular expertise is fundamentally at odds with Half of the triggerbrand's kit. this feat alleviates that with a single combination weapon of your choice. balanced such that you have to live with singular expertise for a while, and that you're locked into one choice of weapon (though by that level, you're probably hard set on a single weapon). just something to make the triggerbrand actually fully capable to do what they're ostensibly meant to do.
