Is this hunter class balanced? a good archetype?

[kenjib]

I wanted to create a class that covered both non-magical woodsmen as well as bounty hunters - basically all warriors that rely on stealth and cunning rather than brute force to take down their enemies. Does the following class work or should I make changes? I know that there are lots of things out there like this already, but I haven't kept up unfortunately.

It's mostly the ranger with the following modifications.
Removed: Spells, concentration, medium armor proficiency, two weapon fighting.
Added: Gather info, some knowledge skills, and sense motive, surprise attack which is a weakened form of sneak attack (does not work with flanking and follows a reduced progression)

This seems like a fair trade to me. The hunter can sneak up on prey using skills and then get the jump on them, taking advantage of both favored enemy and surprise attack in their ambush to do large amounts of damage in the first assault and hopefully eliminate foes quickly. If stuck in a protracted toe to toe battle with a fighter, however, they are in trouble. Hit and run is the goal, which should be fairly easy against slow, heavily armored targets.

Does the class seem balanced against both the ranger and fighter? Is surprise attack too powerful in this incarnation of the class? Does the class seem to achieve what it is supposed to achieve?

Hit Die: d10

Class Skills
Animal Empathy (Cha, exclusive skill), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Geography) (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int)), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) X 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

BaB as fighter
saves as fighter

specials:

1: Track, 1st favored enemy
2: Surprise Attack +1d6
3:
4:
5: 2nd favored enemy, surprise Attack +2d6
6:
7:
8: Surprise Attack +3d6
9:
10: 3rd favored enemy
11: Surprise Attack +4d6
12:
13:
14: Surprise Attack +5d6
15: 4th favored enemy
16:
17: Surprise Attack +6d6
18:
19:
20: 5th favored enemy, surprise Attack +7d6

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the hunter.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Hunters are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, and shields.
Track: A hunter gains track as a bonus feat.
Favored Enemy: As per the ranger but note that I am also introducing a new feat called "avenger" which allows a ranger to take her own race as favored enemy. This can be done at first level too.
Surprise Attack: As per the rogue sneak attack ability but the surprise attack ability does not apply when the defender is flanked, only when she loses her dex bonus to AC. Surprise attack damage stacks with sneak attack damage when both are applicable.

 

[las]

I have one simeler but it does have the monks AC bonus. Pluse it donest know how to use any armer, sheild, they have to be unlawful and cant right. But other wise there very simeler.

 

[Forrester]

I was thinking *exactly* along those lines . . . even with the "surprise attack" thing.

The question is, is it worth it to add the new complication? Would it not be simpler to just make it a regular old sneak attack bonus?

 

[Dr. Zoom]

I would just make it a regular sneak attack. It would not be worth having without being able to use it when flanking. But I would not give a core class, especially one of the fighter types, the sneak attack ability. Leave it to the rogues and to certain prestige classes.

This leads me to my first suggestion. Do you have the d20 Star Wars book? It has a nice bounty hunter prestige class you could use in your game with very little modification. Its major features include d10 HD, 6 skill points per level, target bonus starting at +1 and increasing to +5, and sneak attack every 2 levels (5d6 max).

If you want a woodsmen variant of the ranger core, drop the spells and grant a bonus feat at each level where the ranger would gain access to a new spell level (4th, 8th, 11th, and 14th level). Do what you want with TWF. Some like it, some don't.

Losing Concentration and gaining Gather Info sounds alright. Drop Sense Motive as a class skill unless your normal rangers also have it. Same with the two extra Knowledge skills.

I would not remove the medium armor proficiency. If the character chooses to wear it, then they just have to suffer the armor check penalty and lost speed.

One last suggestion. Get Master's of the Wild. I just got my copy today and it has some very nice material for rangers (and barbarians and druids). Edit: I just read the Bloodhound prestige class and it might suit your needs for a bounty hunter type, too.

 

[kenjib]

Thanks for all of the feed back. I'll have to turn it over in my head a bit. As a clarification, I was trying to create a class that covered anything from bounty hunters to woodsmen all at the same time - basically it should encompass all warriors that rely on stealth, surprise, and ambush, rather than brute force. They all share in common the need for stalking skills, mobility, and a good system of being well informed on who and what is skulking around their territory - whether it be urban or wilderness. I added sense motive because I thought that bounty hunters would need to be able to more easily see through deception. I added gather information and the knowledge skills because both bounty hunters and woodsmen/warriors would have a great understanding of their area and many useful contacts to help keep track of their quarry - whether they be contracted targets they are hunting through the city streets, or keeping an eye on the wild frontiers for invading orcs, etc.

There are no standard rangers in the setting that I'm creating this class for. The setting is more magic-rare, so the PHB ranger doesn't fit. That's why I created this one. Otherwise I have no qualms with the standard ranger.

The reasoning behind removing the flanking for sneak attack would be that these people gain advantage by stalking their prey and catching them by surprise. That way they can do a great deal of damage in the first round while their opponent is flatfooted. I don't want them to be better fighters than fighters are in a stand-up fight, which I feel they might be if they could get sneak attack for flanking.

Anyway, that was the reasoning that went into it. I'll have to check out star wars and master of the wild to see how they handled things in those books. Thanks for all of the feedback. It's definitely given me some things to think about. Going with something like the Star Wards or Wheel of Time variants might be the best way for me to go since it's already been playtested a bit.

 

[Ku Kullin]

I think it looks good but is a bit light. Give them some bonus feats at 4th and every 4th after. Strip the list down to some specifics (not all fighter feats of course). They don't have the oomph that fighters do because of lack of feats and favoured enemy is a pretty limited class ability. Overall, I'd say it's good.