I've trying to do some conversions on the Silver Marches' prestige classes. It's not so much that there are a lot 3.5e compatability issues--there are, but they're trifling things--but in general the classes have that sloppy, incohesive design that was common with early 3rd edition PrC's.
The one that I actually went so far as to scrap altogether was the Peerless Archer. A real mess it was. I actually have a player showing some interest in playing an archery-oriented prestige though, so I wanted to try to take some of the pieces of the PA and make a new PrC for the Silver Marches.
The real trick with designing an archer is that there are a few different kinds of archer concepts. There's the one-shot-one-kill deadly accurate sniper, the melee-adapted skirmish archer who fires on opponents from point-blank range, the trick shot artist who pulls off special attacks that do things like bypass armor and hobble opponents, and then there's the concept I went with, the mobile rapid-fire archer. I figure that in the marches, where the main threat consists of hordes of orcs, the ability to drop lots of foes quickly would be most valued.
I retained the PA's ability to fletch magic arrows, and his ability threaten with his bow. I took the old Sharp Shooting ability and simply gave him Improved Precise Shot. The rest are ideas I've had for archers for a while. The Mobile Shot ability is the one I'm still worried about mechanically.
Direwind Archer
Many armies boast units of soldiers who use a bow as their primary weapon, but most do not possess the discipline to gain the kind of lethal expertise that the direwind archer has. The direwind archer devotes his life to honing one arrow after another to supernatural perfection, and then loosing them on the battlefield as a swarm of death-dealing steel. All other concerns are secondary. For him, the most sublime moment in life occurs when a volley of eldritch arrows tears through the air and each one fells its target.
Fighters and rangers offer the quickest path to becoming a direwind archer, but barbarians, rogues, and scouts sometimes choose to follow this path of mastery.
REQUIREMENTS
To qualify) to become a direwind archer, a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +7.
Skills: Craft (bowmaking) 10 ranks,
Feats: Manyshot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (any type of bow).
CLASS FEATURES
The following are class features of the direwind archer prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A direwind archer gains no proficiency with any type of weapon or armor.
Marksmanship (Ex): A direwind archer adds +1 to all attack and damage rolls whenever he makes an attack with a bow. The marksmanship bonus increases to +2 at 5th level and to +3 at 9th.
Eldritch Fletching: Any archer knows well that one of the more problematic side effects of unleashing a torrent of death in one battle after another is a rapidly-depleted quiver, and none unleash a greater torrent than a direwind archer. As a result, direwind archers have developed specialized fletching techniques. When a direwind archer makes a Craft (bowmaking) check to create ordinary or masterwork arrows, he can perform one week’s worth of work in one day (see the description of the Craft skill in the PHB).
Furthermore, a direwind archer’s fletching techniques allow him to infuse his weapons and ammunition with magic without the need for casting spells. Effectively, this grants a direwind archer an alternate version of the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat, limited to the creation of magic bows and arrows. Treat the archer’s effective caster level as equal to his direwind archer level + 5. If spells are involved in the prerequisites for making the weapon, the archer can imbue the item by substituting a successful Craft (bowmaking) check (DC 20 + spell level) for each spell required.
If all checks are successful, the archer can create the item and follows the standard rules for item creation, paying the XP cost and all other associated expenses. If a check fails, the creation of the item halts and no XP or expenses are paid. The archer cannot attempt another Craft check for that spell until he gains another character level.
Greater Manyshot: When a direwind archer of 2nd level of higher uses the Manyshot feat, he can fire each arrow at a different target instead of firing all of them at the same target. The archer makes a separate attack roll for each arrow, regardless of whether he fires them at separate targets or the same target. Any precision-based damage applies to each arrow fired, and, if he scores a critical hit with more than one of the arrows, each critical hit deals critical damage.
Mobile Shot (Ex): It’s essential that an archer be able to attack effectively while moving with the shifting tide of battle, rushing forward when the front line charges ahead, or withdrawing swiftly when at risk of being overrun. When a direwind archer of 3rd level or higher moves and then attacks with his bow he gains the benefit of performing a withdraw action. As a full-round action, he can move up to his speed, and then attack. The square he starts out in is not considered threatened by any opponent he can see, and therefore visible enemies do not get attacks of opportunity against him when he moves from that square. The attack can be any kind of attack that he is capable of making as a standard action (such as Greater Manyshot).
At 7th level, a direwind archer can move up to twice his speed when performing a mobile shot, although he takes a -2 attack penalty if he exceeds his base. He cannot continue to move after attacking.
At 10th level, a direwind archer can move up to his base speed take a full attack action while performing a mobile shot. He can move between each shot, but cannot continue to move once he’s made his final attack for that round.
Dire volley (Ex): At 4th level, a direwind archer gains the ability to fire one additional arrow when using Rapid Shot or Greater Manyshot. There is no additional attack penalty associated with this extra arrow. The archer simply gains one more attack using his highest attack bonus (minus the normal penalties incurred by Manyshot and Rapid Shot).
At 9th level, the archer can fire yet another arrow, although this second arrow has
penalties associated with it. In the case of Rapid Shot, the second extra arrow takes a -5 penalty. In the case of Greater Manyshot, the second extra arrow imposes a -2 attack penalty on each attack you make in that round (the extra one and the normal ones).
For example, a 9th-level direwind archer with a base attack bonus of +13 can fire six arrows as a full-attack action; one additional arrow from Rapid Shot, and two additional arrows from dire volley (the second one at a -5 penalty). After applying modifiers for marksmanship (+3) and Rapid Shot (-2), the attack bonuses for the six attacks would be +14/+14/+14/+9/+9/+4. Using Greater Manyshot he could fire five arrows, each with a -8 penalty.
Improved Precise Shot: At 6th level, a direwind archer gains the Improved Precise Shot feat even if he does not meet the Dexterity prerequisite.
Threat Perimeter (Ex): It’s said that a direwind archer’s bow is never found empty or unready for more than the space of a hummingbird’s heartbeat. Those reckless enough to attempt to lunge past or charge up to a direwind archer often discover how much merit there is to that claim as a shaft embeds itself in their forehead. At 8th level, a bow functions as a reach weapon for a direwind archer, threatening anything 10 feet away but not immediately adjacent to him. Any attacks of opportunity he receives because he threatens nearby areas are normal ranged attacks, and these count against his maximum number of attacks of opportunity per round.
EDIT--OK, I'm trying to use the code tags to preserve tab indentations, but now the lines don't wrap. Not sure how to fix. Any advice there?
The one that I actually went so far as to scrap altogether was the Peerless Archer. A real mess it was. I actually have a player showing some interest in playing an archery-oriented prestige though, so I wanted to try to take some of the pieces of the PA and make a new PrC for the Silver Marches.
The real trick with designing an archer is that there are a few different kinds of archer concepts. There's the one-shot-one-kill deadly accurate sniper, the melee-adapted skirmish archer who fires on opponents from point-blank range, the trick shot artist who pulls off special attacks that do things like bypass armor and hobble opponents, and then there's the concept I went with, the mobile rapid-fire archer. I figure that in the marches, where the main threat consists of hordes of orcs, the ability to drop lots of foes quickly would be most valued.
I retained the PA's ability to fletch magic arrows, and his ability threaten with his bow. I took the old Sharp Shooting ability and simply gave him Improved Precise Shot. The rest are ideas I've had for archers for a while. The Mobile Shot ability is the one I'm still worried about mechanically.
Direwind Archer
Many armies boast units of soldiers who use a bow as their primary weapon, but most do not possess the discipline to gain the kind of lethal expertise that the direwind archer has. The direwind archer devotes his life to honing one arrow after another to supernatural perfection, and then loosing them on the battlefield as a swarm of death-dealing steel. All other concerns are secondary. For him, the most sublime moment in life occurs when a volley of eldritch arrows tears through the air and each one fells its target.
Fighters and rangers offer the quickest path to becoming a direwind archer, but barbarians, rogues, and scouts sometimes choose to follow this path of mastery.
REQUIREMENTS
To qualify) to become a direwind archer, a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +7.
Skills: Craft (bowmaking) 10 ranks,
Feats: Manyshot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (any type of bow).
CLASS FEATURES
The following are class features of the direwind archer prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A direwind archer gains no proficiency with any type of weapon or armor.
Marksmanship (Ex): A direwind archer adds +1 to all attack and damage rolls whenever he makes an attack with a bow. The marksmanship bonus increases to +2 at 5th level and to +3 at 9th.
Eldritch Fletching: Any archer knows well that one of the more problematic side effects of unleashing a torrent of death in one battle after another is a rapidly-depleted quiver, and none unleash a greater torrent than a direwind archer. As a result, direwind archers have developed specialized fletching techniques. When a direwind archer makes a Craft (bowmaking) check to create ordinary or masterwork arrows, he can perform one week’s worth of work in one day (see the description of the Craft skill in the PHB).
Furthermore, a direwind archer’s fletching techniques allow him to infuse his weapons and ammunition with magic without the need for casting spells. Effectively, this grants a direwind archer an alternate version of the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat, limited to the creation of magic bows and arrows. Treat the archer’s effective caster level as equal to his direwind archer level + 5. If spells are involved in the prerequisites for making the weapon, the archer can imbue the item by substituting a successful Craft (bowmaking) check (DC 20 + spell level) for each spell required.
If all checks are successful, the archer can create the item and follows the standard rules for item creation, paying the XP cost and all other associated expenses. If a check fails, the creation of the item halts and no XP or expenses are paid. The archer cannot attempt another Craft check for that spell until he gains another character level.
Greater Manyshot: When a direwind archer of 2nd level of higher uses the Manyshot feat, he can fire each arrow at a different target instead of firing all of them at the same target. The archer makes a separate attack roll for each arrow, regardless of whether he fires them at separate targets or the same target. Any precision-based damage applies to each arrow fired, and, if he scores a critical hit with more than one of the arrows, each critical hit deals critical damage.
Mobile Shot (Ex): It’s essential that an archer be able to attack effectively while moving with the shifting tide of battle, rushing forward when the front line charges ahead, or withdrawing swiftly when at risk of being overrun. When a direwind archer of 3rd level or higher moves and then attacks with his bow he gains the benefit of performing a withdraw action. As a full-round action, he can move up to his speed, and then attack. The square he starts out in is not considered threatened by any opponent he can see, and therefore visible enemies do not get attacks of opportunity against him when he moves from that square. The attack can be any kind of attack that he is capable of making as a standard action (such as Greater Manyshot).
At 7th level, a direwind archer can move up to twice his speed when performing a mobile shot, although he takes a -2 attack penalty if he exceeds his base. He cannot continue to move after attacking.
At 10th level, a direwind archer can move up to his base speed take a full attack action while performing a mobile shot. He can move between each shot, but cannot continue to move once he’s made his final attack for that round.
Dire volley (Ex): At 4th level, a direwind archer gains the ability to fire one additional arrow when using Rapid Shot or Greater Manyshot. There is no additional attack penalty associated with this extra arrow. The archer simply gains one more attack using his highest attack bonus (minus the normal penalties incurred by Manyshot and Rapid Shot).
At 9th level, the archer can fire yet another arrow, although this second arrow has
penalties associated with it. In the case of Rapid Shot, the second extra arrow takes a -5 penalty. In the case of Greater Manyshot, the second extra arrow imposes a -2 attack penalty on each attack you make in that round (the extra one and the normal ones).
For example, a 9th-level direwind archer with a base attack bonus of +13 can fire six arrows as a full-attack action; one additional arrow from Rapid Shot, and two additional arrows from dire volley (the second one at a -5 penalty). After applying modifiers for marksmanship (+3) and Rapid Shot (-2), the attack bonuses for the six attacks would be +14/+14/+14/+9/+9/+4. Using Greater Manyshot he could fire five arrows, each with a -8 penalty.
Improved Precise Shot: At 6th level, a direwind archer gains the Improved Precise Shot feat even if he does not meet the Dexterity prerequisite.
Threat Perimeter (Ex): It’s said that a direwind archer’s bow is never found empty or unready for more than the space of a hummingbird’s heartbeat. Those reckless enough to attempt to lunge past or charge up to a direwind archer often discover how much merit there is to that claim as a shaft embeds itself in their forehead. At 8th level, a bow functions as a reach weapon for a direwind archer, threatening anything 10 feet away but not immediately adjacent to him. Any attacks of opportunity he receives because he threatens nearby areas are normal ranged attacks, and these count against his maximum number of attacks of opportunity per round.
Code:
[B]The Direwind archer
Level BAB Fort Reflex Will Special[/B]
1st +0 +0 +2 +0 Marksmanship +1, Eldritch fletching
2nd +1 +0 +3 +0 Greater Manyshot
3rd +2 +1 +3 +1 Mobile shot (move & attack)
4th +3 +1 +4 +1 Dire volley (1 arrow)
5th +3 +1 +4 +1 Marksmanship +2
6th +4 +2 +5 +2 Improved Precise Shot
7th +5 +2 +5 +2 Mobile shot (double-move & attack)
8th +6 +2 +6 +2 Threat perimeter
9th +6 +3 +6 +3 Marksmanship +3, Dire volley (2 arrows)
10th +7 +3 +7 +3 Mobile shot (move & full attack)
[B]Hit Die: d8
Class Skills (Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int. modifier): Balance, Climb, Craft, Hide, Jump, Ride, Spot, Swim, and Survival. [/B]EDIT--OK, I'm trying to use the code tags to preserve tab indentations, but now the lines don't wrap. Not sure how to fix. Any advice there?
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