Divine Archer PrC

Prestice Class for crusaders and warrior priests of god of archery and hunting:

Divine Archer

Prerequirements:
BAB: +6
Ability to cast 3rd level divine spells
Feats: Presice shot, Weapon Focus (Any bow)
Skill: Knowledge(Religion) 5 ranks, Craft(Bowmaking) 3 ranks

BAB: Cleric
Saves: Poor Fort, Good Will & Ref
Hit Dice: d8

Skill points: Int + 2
Class Skills: Climb, Concentration, Craft, Heal, Jump, Knowledge (Religion), Profession, Wildernes Lore

Special:
1st Blessed Arrow +1
2nd One with the Bow
3rd +1 Caster Level
4th Blessed Arrow +2
5th Divine Range
6th +1 Caster Level
7th Blessed Arrow +3
8th Guidance
9th +1 Caster Level
10th Divine Arrow

Blessed arrow: All arrows fired by Divine archer ar considered blessed with +1 enchantment bonus, this bonus increases to +2 at fourth level and +3 at seventh

One with the bow: Divine archer can use arrows to deliver touch spells. Casting a spell and firing the arrow is full-round action.

Spell Casting ability: Every third level Divine Archer gains one level to his existing divine spell casting ability

Divine Range: Divine Archer gains befits of Distance enchantment when using bow

Guidance: Divine Archer's nex bow attack is automatical critical threat. This power is usable Divine Archer Level times per day. Using this power is a standard action.

Divine Arrow: Instead of using arrows Divine Archer can fire bolts of puredivine energy, which do 1d6 force damage and give no bonus to hit and damage (can't be combined with Blessed Arrow ability). Strenght bonus from using mighty bow does not apply.

Guidance is too many times per day.

Other then that it doesn't look that bad. I little too similiar to the Arcane Archer for my tastes, though.

I think I agree with Crothian, I'd limit the Guidance ability to simply DA level times per day.

I do like this class idea though, makes perfect sense for clerics or rangers who follow gods like Solonor or Ehlonna or Meilikki.

Crothian:
I think the similarity to the arcane archer is intentional. If you're playing a cleric of Solonor, Elven god of archery, it seems odd that you can't access similar powers to those an arcane archer can. The arcane archer still has the upper hand though, since Noldor didn't grant the divine archer any type of death arrow ability.

Edit:
Noldor: one oversight I noticed. Does this prestige class grant any sort of advancement in your divine spellcasting? I'm inclined to say that you might give a +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class for spellcasting purposes at level 3,6, and 9. The improved combat potential of this pr class calls for a slowing down of spellcasting progression, but eliminating it altogether makes it hard to imagine why a cleric or ranger would want to take the class at all.

Edited PrC to ten levels:
Added spell casting every third level and one new ability, changed Guidance and Divine Arrow

Similarities with Archane Archer are intentional.

I'd change good fort save to good reflex save.

I understand that need for a devine archer class. No arguement there. I just don't really like prestige classes that look a like. It'd be easier to just switch a few thinhs on the Arcane archer class around and make a Divine version.

Personally, I'd give them some skills points per level and a few class skills. But that's just me.

Edit: Added skills and skill points, Changed saves (good ref instead of good fort)

It's true that this PrC might be unnecessary, since same role can be achieved by some minor modifications to Archane Archer, but what I'm trying to find out is those abilities balanced.

So all further comments are welcome.

Very good job Noldor Elf, I agree with Crothian and Corndemon that a divine archer class is not out of context.

But speaking of balance one thing bothers me.

The Arcane Archer uses a fighter BAB as an improvement over the wizard BAB, since it seems that a lot of players will be clerics before entering the class, or even rangers, won't it be reasonable to use a fighter BAB too? Due to the low spellcasting improvement of your prestige class I do not see it as unbalanced at all.
In fact, one of the main powers of the PrC seems to be the One with the Bow ability, and since it is a lv2 ability, and you are using a cleric BAB, I see no reason for a player not to get 2 lv in this PrC then come back to cleric. He won't really loose in the BAB range and will have better spellcasting abilities (Greater Magic Weapon will compensate the Blessed Arrow ability).

I am not here to rant, I love the idea of such a PrC running in my campaign (all credits due of course ) and you did a very good job, but I know a lot of players who will think :
" Let's see, 11th-level cleric + 2th Level Divine Archer = Harm Arrows "

Maybe you could push players to stay in this PrC by increasing its BAB (Rangers will bless you ) and/or making the One with the Bow ability availabe at a later level?

Version 1.9

Prerequirements:
BAB +6
Feats: Weapon Focus (Any bow), Precice Shot
Skills: Craft (Bowmaking) 3 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 5 ranks
Spell Casting Ability: Ability to cast 2nd level Divine spells
Special: Character must have a patron deity, which has to be god of archery

Abilities:
Hit Dice: D8
BAB: Fighter
Saves: Good Ref and Will, Poor Fort
Skills: Int + 2
Class Skills: Climb, Concentration, Craft, Heal, Jump, Knowledge (Religion), Profession, Wildernes Lore

Level Special
1st Blessed Arrow, +1 Existing Caster Level
2nd Divine Range
3rd One with the Bow, +1 Existing Caster Level
4th Guidance
5th Divine Arrows, +1 Existing Caster Level

Blessed arrow: All arrows fired by Divine archer ar considered blessed with +1 enchantment bonus

Spell Casting ability: Every second level Divine Archer gains one level to his existing divine spell casting ability

Divine Range: Divine Archer gains befits of Distance enchantment when using bow

One with the bow: Divine archer can use arrows to deliver touch spells. Casting a spell and firing the arrow is full-round action.

Guidance: Divine Archer's nex bow attack is automatical critical threat. This power is usable Divine Archer Level times per day. Using this power is a standard action.

Divine Arrow: Instead of using arrows Divine Archer can fire bolts of puredivine energy, which do 1d6 force damage and give no bonus to hit and damage (can't be combined with Blessed Arrow ability). Strenght bonus from using mighty bow does not apply.

I think that there were not enough good ideas to support 10 level PrC, so I made a 5 level version.

Few changes were made at the same time: Now prerequirements can be fulfilled by:
Cleric 8
Fighter/Cleric 3/4 or 4/3
Ranger or Paladin 8 (with Wisdom 14 or more)

When in 10 level version Prerequirements can be fulfilled by:
Cleric 8
Fighter/Cleric 3/5
Ranger or Paladin 11 (with Wisdom 16 or more)

I like it. Your changes took this prestige class from a bit awkward to just right.