Beast gun

Beast gun

(Magic item)

Uncommon

Magical

Item Level (2E)

Varies

Type

Weapon

Usage (2E)

Held in 1 or 2 hands

Origin

Arcadia

Images of beast guns

Source: Guns & Gears, pg(s). 154ff.

Beast guns may be the first forms of firearms created on Golarion. Many Arcadian cultures learned how to create guns by altering monster flesh and bone. The people of the Illani Plains were among the first to manufacture and use them, and still do to this day.

Background and function

Beast guns use magic instead of black powder, making them similar to star guns but as a distinct and separate application of magic. They must be loaded with specially designed ammunition, like miniature tentacles fired from the tentacle gun or javelin-like spikes from the spike gun.

The Arcadian tradition of using and creating beast guns is still practised in the present day but is increasingly rare, as mundane firearms offer similar destructive power for less work. However, Arcadian monster hunters continue to invent new beast gun designs that expand their possible uses.

Creation

Beast guns are created by a multi-step ritual, requiring hunting a powerful monster and then using magical taxidermy to create the gun. The art of creating beast guns is more than 10,000 years old, predating star guns, and wards and hazards that deter foreign exploitation of Arcadia have also limited their use to that continent.

Beast gunners

A person who has ritualistically bonded with a beast gun, known as a beast gunner, can draw out the full magical power dormant in their weapon. This bonding ritual can occur either at the gun's creation or with an existing gun. It requires the bonder to hunt a monster to be used to make the gun, or for an existing gun the same monster that was used to create it. In the latter case, fresh parts are symbolically added during the bonding process. Another important part of the bonding ritual is telling the story of the monster, the hunt, and the resulting weapon. The ritual ends with the beast gunner tailoring the gun for their use.

The beast gunner can hunt the monster by themselves and can perform the bonding hunt with no stipulations about the relative powers of hunter and prey. A beast gunner can also take companions, typically a maximum of five assistants, plus a hunting beast. However, if a group's combined power gives the hunted creature no chance to survive, the ritual automatically fails.

Beast gunners are nearly unknown outside of Arcadia. Rahaksenwe, a Mahwek venture-captain of the Pathfinder Society based in Port Valen, is a prominent beast gunner known to outsiders.