Graveslinger (Gunslinger Archetype)
(art by 0xConfig on DeviantArt)
From grimdark comic books to video game shooters to dozens of other gunslinging “exorcists” with guns, media is full of characters that face demons and the restless dead not with prayer, but rather a nice, hefty boomstick, though plenty of them wield blessed tools of destruction to ensure that such foes stay dead.
No matter the source, we love such badass warriors for the power fantasy they represent (unless you’re a conservative Christian that considers being able to slay evil with gunplay as an affront to your “only prayer can defeat evil” beliefs, of course, but that’s the sort of dogma designed to make others feel dependent upon you).
In any case, today we’re tackling a gunslinger that emulates these bullet-spouting titans of righteous destruction, specifically targeting the undead!
Graveslingers may be former priests that lost the faith to rely upon their deity to face the horrors of the night, or they might be laypersons who lost everything to the dead and learned enough to make them pay, or they may be genuinely empathetic souls seeking to use their knowledge of the occult sciences and gunsmithing to put the dead to rest.
Whatever origin you come up with for them, these slingers prove lethal to the undead, even those that lack a physical form, and today we’re going to see exactly how!
Early on in their careers, these gunslingers learn occult secrets for using powdered bone and grave dust to imbue a handful of bullets with the ability to strike the ghostly dead as if they were corporeal.
Later on, they improve the technique enough to infuse their shots with ectoplasm, causing said spirits to become partially solid so that others might strike true against them.
As they grow in power further, all undead learn to fear their bullets, which gain baneful properties against the restless dead.
They even learn to strike the undead in just the right places to leave such foes reeling from their powerful shots.
Whether it be ordinary sense honed by years of training or living among unliving dangers, or a supernatural sense they are blessed with, these graveslingers has a seemingly paranormal ability to react to and sense the dangers of the undead and haunts alike, reacting instinctively even if they are not otherwise aware of the danger.
As we can see, this variety of gunslinger is all about providing an answer to incorporeal undead, which others might have trouble with. You can still build them pretty much any way you wish, though you lose out on some mainstay deeds and those that target living foes are a result. Overall, this is a fun archetype perfect for a character adventuring in an undead-haunted land.
This sort of character trope tends to be the jaded yet pragmatic type, the guy who will save you from a ghoul and then instruct you on how to protect yourself in the future without even looking at you and probably move on unless you follow them. However, this is hardly the only possible character, but such hardened outlooks seem pretty common.
Those who have ventured into the Dead Lands have reported seeing a figure known locally as the Masked Usher, a gun-toting warrior who has a knack for putting down the walking dead with blessed bullets. What none realize is that this figure is undead themselves, a skeletal champion who has devoted their unlife to destroying those similarly cursed to such a blighted existence.
Grimstone is unique among gargoyles in that he is something of hermit, living in the parapets of the necropolis alone, picking off the undead from afar with a powerful rifle. Exactly why this figure preys upon the dead rather than the living is unknown.
The End Times are coming, the signs are already here as multitudes of undead rise up, including the rotten form of the undead thunder behemoth The Emptier of Graves. However, prophecy also claims that one scarred by the dead will take up a weapon of thunder and fire and become a scourge upon the deathless horde alongside their companions, who have the potential to turn back this horrific tied and preserve the world.
