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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010235" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Glenn Dean, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine RackSizing up the TargetThree Arrows for the King is a 50 page PDF supplement written by M. Jason Parent and Neal Levin with other contributing authors. Originally published by Ambient, Inc., this product is now distributed by E.N. Publishing and is available as a $5.75 download – with an option for a Print On Demand (POD) version through RPGNow.First BloodThe legendary archer has long been a staple of both myth and historical legend, and our fantasy roleplaying games are no different. Players have long sought to emulate their favorite archer, whether Robin Hood, Legolas, or someone in between. Many products have produced a plethora of archer classes and game mechanics; Three Arrows for the King is dedicated completely to this popular archetype, providing some basic history and real-world archery information along with a wide range of game mechanics for the creation of the ultimate archer.Three Arrows introduces a specialized core class, the archer, who is intended to be a dedicated specialist with the bow (though the same mechanics could be applied with some adaptation to a variety of missile weapons). The class uses the cleric’s Base Attack Bonus advancement and a d8 hit die to provide a less capable warrior who is proficient only with simple weapons and light and medium armor. He receives a starting +2 attack bonus with his primary weapon – some form of bow – that compensates for other weaknesses; along with the Point Blank Shot feat at 1st level this gives him an advantage over the average bow-wielding fighter. Good so far, but it goes rapidly down hill from there. At second level the archer gets the Extra Shot feat, which allows a second shot every round at no penalty, and that stacks with the Rapid Shot feat. Given that no archer in his right mind wouldn’t take Rapid Shot at first level, this means that the second-level archer can launch a volley of three arrows at a net –1 to hit after his primary weapon bonus. Later levels gain bonus archery feats, and abilities analogous to weapon specialization, an improved Point Blank Shot, and abilities that allow him to ignore cover. If you’re at all concerned about the balance between melee and ranged combat, have no fear – the archer will rule the battlefield.In contrast to the archer, the second variant core class, the archer-ranger, tones down the archer class to provide quite a nicely tuned huntsman. With a d8 hit die, ranged weapon feats and wider skill variety, the archer-ranger provides a great ranger variant if you’ve been looking for an archery-focused version. The archer-ranger maintains the ranger’s spell-casting ability with a slightly different spell list. Oddly, though, both the archer and archer-ranger discard the d20 convention of even-numbered class skill points, giving the classes three and five skill points respectively.Three Arrows also describes a host of class paths that can provide some variants on the archer class to fit your preferred character background – whether a hunter, a tribal warrior, a mounted archer, or an outlaw. There are also a number of multi-classed archer paths, including the quite interesting Warren Guard, a specialized archer-dwarven defender.For the experienced archer, there are a host of archery-based prestige classes. These vary widely in flavor and power, and can cater to other missile weapons as well. The Bone Hunter, for example, is a coolly creepy necromantic archer with wicked bone arrows; the Divine Huntsman and Seige Artillerist were also classes I found intriguing. In contrast, I found the Blood Hunter’s extended sneak attack (eventually to 90 feet) to be quite frightening, and the Master of Intuitive Archery incredibly powerful, though deucedly tough to qualify for. There is also one Legendary Prestige Class – a prestige class’s prestige class, if you will, that provides a range of potential abilities tied to class level, eventually including the ability to confirm a critical hit automatically.If you’ve been looking for that perfect archery feat, Three Arrows has 27 to choose from. If you’ve imagines it could be done with a bow or crossbow, it’s probably in here. You can Double Nock to fire two arrows at once (with a better mechanic, in my opinion, than a similar competing feat), or use Dead Shot to reduce your opponent’s cover bonus. Break out a mighty bow and Overpenetrate to hit two targets with one shot (think Cleave with a bow), or take the Threaten Zone feat to inflict ranged attacks of opportunity out to twenty feet. Rogues will like Distant Sneak attack (allowing sneak attacks at extended range) and Reactive Shot (allowing at attack even when surprised). There are even a couple of feats specifically for thrown weapons.There is an entire collection of new archery equipment, both magical and mundane. The exotic arrow concept provides for a great mechanic to deliver arrows with different abilities, for example, and there are rules for scaling bows to fit any size character. There are a number of new magical weapon properties (I particularly like thunderstone and dimension locking ammunition, great against troublesome wizards!). The best part of the equipment section, though, is the magical bows and named arrows – an entire collection of uniquely designed magical items, each with its own detailed history. An archer shouldn’t have a mundane +1 mighty (+2) longbow when he could be carrying Dragonbane!Finally, Three Arrows provides five new spells for the archer-ranger, and a system for hitting specific areas adapted from Mongoose’s Quintessential Fighter. This last bit is probably the closest I’ve seen yet to what I’d consider a viable called shot mechanic.Critical HitsThree Arrows provides a couple of interesting and useful mechanics – the Bone Hunter prestige class, exotic arrows mechanic, and named bows being my favorites in the work. The archer-ranger is also a ranger-variant that I like quite a lot, though there are already a tremendous number of alt.ranger classes out there.Three Arrows is also a very nicely formatted PDF. In your download you’ll receive three files – the covers, a portrait-formatted file for printing, and a landscape-formatted file for on-screen viewing. This last is tremendously useful. The files are illustrated throughout with pencil-style black-and-white art of varying quality.Critical MissesThere seem to be two schools of thought among RPG gamers – those who think the existing d20 archery mechanics are just fine, and those who think the core mechanics as they are give too great an advantage to the archer. I’m one of the former, and I really like archer characters and archery feats, but unfortunately I found Three Arrows to be pretty disappointing from a game balance and mechanics standpoint. While a specialist should gain some advantage, I find a second level character dealing out three attacks per round to be entirely too advantageous – providing Rapid Shot as a second-level ability would have been a much better balanced option, for example. I’d recommend about one-third to one-half of the prestige classes and feats in this work be used with extreme caution, because their potential for overshadowing other classes in the game isn’t sufficiently compensated by their prerequisites.Coup de GraceThree Arrows for the King provides all of its content as 100% Open Content. Designed for players and Games Masters alike, Three Arrows provides a number of options for the archer character. While much of its content is very similar to that found in a number of other d20 products, and has a number of game balance and other compatibility issues, it does at least provide a host of specific material on one nicely formatted, inexpensive product.To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=&topic=3" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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