[3.5 PrC] Peerless Archer (Redux) [PEACH]

[Pink]

"Arrow! Black Arrow! I have saved you to the last. You have never failed me and always I have recovered you. I had you from my father and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain, go now and speed well!"
-Bard I, King of Dale ("The Hobbit" by J. R. R. Tolkien)

Prerequisites:
Skills: Craft(bowmaking) 8 ranks
Proficiency: Longbow, Comp. Longbow, Shortbow, or Comp. Shortbow
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quickdraw
Special: Must have successfully recovered an arrow that delivered the final blow to an opponent. It takes a DC15 Heal check to safely recover an arrow from a felled enemy.

HD: d10

Class Skills: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal(Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival(Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex)

Skill Points at each additional level
4 + Int modifier

Peerless Archer
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+0|Expert Bowyer, Legendary Arrow +1 (1 Arrow), Call the Name, Ranged Sneak Attack +1d6 (30'), Threaten (5')

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+0|Legendary Arrow Enhancement +1 (2 Arrows), Through Wind and Rain, Peerless Archery Trick

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+1|Legendary Arrow +2 (3 Arrows), Power Shot, Ranged Sneak Attack +2d6 (30')

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+1|Legendary Arrow Enhancement +2 (4 Arrows), Peerless Archery Trick

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+1|Legendary Arrow +3 (5 Arrows), Ranged Sneak Attack +2d6 (60')

6th|
+6|
+5|
+2|
+2|Legendary Arrow Enhancement +3 (6 Arrows), Threaten (10'), Peerless Archery Trick

7th|
+7|
+5|
+2|
+2|Legendary Arrow +4 (7 Arrows), Ranged Sneak Attack +3d6 (60')

8th|
+8|
+6|
+2|
+2|Legendary Arrow Enhancement +4 (8 Arrows), Through Wind and Rain and Storm, Peerless Archery Trick

9th|
+9|
+6|
+3|
+3|Legendary Arrow +5 (9 Arrows), Ranged Sneak Attack +3d6 (90')

10th|
+10|
+7|
+3|
+3|Legendary Arrow Enhancement +5 (10 Arrows), Threaten (15'), Peerless Archery Trick[/table]

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
A Peerless Archer gains no proficiency with any weapon or type of armor.

Expert Bowyer: At 1st level, an archer gains a +3 bonus on all Craft(bowmaking) skill checks.

Legendary Arrow(Su): A peerless archer's arrows are just as legendary as their skill. These arrows often have their own names or a unique appearance. At 1st level a peerless archer gains a legendary arrow. This arrow never breaks after being fired from a bow, whether it hits or misses its target, and can always be recovered, provided that the arrow is not destroyed by falling into a harmful substance (ie, lava), and the body of the slain foe is not inaccessible. A Legendary Arrow may still be broken by other methods.

A peerless archer’s legendary arrow improves as the character gains higher levels. At 1st level and every second level thereafter, the legendary arrow gains a cumulative +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls (+2 at 3rd level, +3 at 5th level, +4 at 7th level, and +5 at 9th level).

At 2nd level, a peerless archer may add any allowable weapon special ability that has an enhancement bonus value of +1 to the legendary arrow. At every second level beyond 2nd (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th), the value of the enhancement a legendary arrow can have improves to +2, +3, +4, and +5 respectively. A peerless archer can choose any combination of weapon special abilities that does not exceed the total allowed by the peerless archer’s level. The weapon abilities stay the same each time the legendary arrow is used.

At 2nd level and every level thereafter, a peerless archer may have an additional legendary arrow, to a maximum of 10 legendary arrows at level 10. Each new legendary arrow has the maximum enhancement bonus and weapon special ability value of a peerless archer's level. However, each legendary arrow may have different weapon special abilities (ie, a 3rd level peerless archer has one legendary arrow that is a +2 Flaming arrow, and another legendary arrow that is a +2 Arrow of Giant Bane)

To obtain new legendary arrows (and replace those lost or destroyed), a peerless archer must recover an arrow that has delivered the final blow to an opponent (Requiring a DC15 Heal check to safely remove the arrow). If such an arrow is magical, it keeps it's original enhancement and special abilities, only increasing if the abilities of a legendary arrow surpass the original. If a peerless archer is already at their maximum amount of legendary arrows, they may not 'stockpile' such potential replacements. A new legendary arrow that replaces a legendary arrow that has been lost or destroyed need not have the same special abilities as the previous. If a peerless archer is capable of retrieving a legendary arrow and chooses not to, they are not able to gain a replacement until they either retrieve it or receive atonement.

A peerless archer's legendary arrow fired by someone beside the peerless archer functions as per it's abilities, but suffers the regular chance of being destroyed as other ammunition.

Call the Name(Su): As a swift action a Peerless Archer may call the name of one of their legendary arrows. If the arrow is within 100 ft, it returns to the quiver of the Peerless Archer. The distance of this ability increases by 100 ft per level of Peerless Archer past the first.

Ranged Sneak Attack: At 1st level, a peerless archer gains the ability to execute a ranged sneak attack if they catch an opponent unable to defend himself from attack.
A peerless archer loses this ability when fighting in medium or heavy armor.
Any time the peerless archer's opponent would be denied his Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (whether he actually has a Dexterity bonus of not), the peerless archer's ranged attack deals +1d6 points of damage.
This extra damage increase to +2d6 at 3rd level and +3d6 at 7th level.
Should the peerless archer score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied.
It takes precision and penetration to hit a vital spot, so the ranged attacks can only count as sneak attacks if the target is no farther than 30 feet away. This increases to 60' at 5th level, and 90' at 9th level.
A peerless archer can only sneak attack living creatures with discernible anatomies - undead constructs, oozes, plants and incorporeal creature lack vital areas to strike. Additionally, any creature immune to critical hits is similarly immune to sneak attacks.
The peerless archer must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot.
The peerless archer cannot sneak attack while striking at a creature with concealment (unless it is overcome by improved precise shot or a similar method) or by striking at the limbs of a creature whose vitals are not in their line of sight.
If the peerless archer gets a sneak attack bonus from another source (Such as rogue levels), the bonuses to damage stack, and may be made at the maximum distance of the Peerless Archer instead of the regular class.

Threaten: At 1st level, a peerless archer gains the ability to threaten nearby areas with a bow as if it were a melee weapon. This special ability is lost when fighting in medium or heavy armor. While wielding a bow, a Peerless Archer is considered armed, does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity when firing their bow, and threatens an area of 5' as though wielding a melee weapon. Any attacks of opportunity a peerless archer delivers this way are normal ranged attacks, and count against the maximum number of attacks of opportunity per round.
At 5th level, a Peerless Archer's bow threatens an area of up to 10 feet away.
At 10th level, a Peerless Archer's bow threatens an area of up to 15 feet away.

Through Wind and Rain (and Storm): At 2nd level, a peerless archer gains the ability to fire accurately, even during inclimate weather.
A peerless archer may make a ranged attack with their bow without penalty through weather effects that would normally apply a penalty to the attack, while within one range increment of the peerless archer's bow. Any weather effect that would make ranged attack impossible still prevents the use of arrows.
At 8th level, this ability increases to allow a peerless archer to make a ranged attack with their bow without penalty in all weather effects, including magically created effects and those that would otherwise make attacking with arrows impossible, while within one range increment of the peerless archer's bow.
A peerless archer loses this ability when fighting in medium or heavy armor.

Peerless Archery Tricks: A Peerless Archer is able to perform supernatural feats with their legendary arrows, sometimes turning a simple arrow into a fireball, other times firing one arrow to cause a hail of arrows to rain down on their opponents. At 2nd level and each even level thereafter, a Peerless Archer learns a special trick that they can perform with their legendary arrows. A Peerless Archer must select the trick learned when they gain the level, and once selected, the choice cannot later be changed. Unless otherwise stated a Peerless Archer can’t select the same stunt more than once. A Peerless Archer cannot perform these tricks when fighting in medium or heavy armor.

Arrow of Penetration: As a standard action, a Peerless Archer may fire one of their legendary arrows as a 60' line area attack. The attack roll is made as normal, applying all modifiers, and is used as a save DC vs Reflex for half damage. A Peerless Archer may take a -5 penalty to increase the length of the line by 30'. This extra distance does not incur a penalty for going beyond the range increment of the bow. This penalty may not exceed their base attack bonus.

Blinding Arrow: As a standard action, a Peerless Archer creates a wound that blocks their opponents vision. The attack roll is made as normal and if successful, in addition to dealing damage the target is blinded. They must receive healing equal to the damage received by the Blinding Arrow attack to regain vision. This trick can only be used once per day per legendary arrow. The same legendary arrow can not be used with Blinding Arrow more than once a day.

Deadly Bane: This ability can only be used with a legendary arrow that has the 'Bane' special ability. As a standard action a Peerless Archer can make a death attack against a creature that is shares the type or subtype designated by the Bane special ability. An attack roll is made as normal, applying all modifiers, and if the attack is successful the attack roll is used as a save DC vs Fortitude to negate. If the death attack is negated, the arrow deals damage as normal. This death attack can only be used once per day with each legendary arrow. The same legendary arrow can not be used with Deadly Bane more than once a day. If the designated foe of a Bane arrow has a racial ability that provides immunity to death attacks, it reduces them to 0 HP on a failed save.

Elemental Boost: This ability can only be used with a legendary arrow that has a special ability that deals extra energy damage on a successful hit. When a legendary arrow is used it deals an additional 10 elemental damage per enhancement bonus on the arrow on a successful attack (Ie, a +2 Fiery Arrow deals +20 fire damage). If a legendary arrow has more than one ability that deals extra elemental damage, the Peerless Archer must choose before the attack which ability is used to determine the energy type of the extra damage. This trick can be taken multiple times, each time it's taken it increases the extra damage by 10 per enhancement bonus. This trick can only be used once per day per legendary arrow. The same legendary arrow cannot be used with Elemental Boost more than once a day.

Fill the Quiver: When using the 'Call the Name' class ability, a Peerless Archer returns all arrows within range to their quiver.

Legendary Barrage: As a full-round action, a Peerless Archer may fire all of their legendary arrows in a rapid fire barrage. Treat as a full-attack action, except that the Peerless Archer gets a number of additional attacks at their full base attack bonus per legendary arrow they choose to fire as part of that attack. This trick can only be used once a day. This trick can be taken multiple times, each time it's taken it can be used an additional time per day.

Pinning Arrow: As a standard action, a Peerless Archer may fire one of their legendary arrows and pin an opponent to the wall behind them. This trick may only be used is an opponent is adjacent to a solid wall or supporting object. The attack roll is made as normal and if successful, in addition to dealing damage the target is pinned immobile (but not helpless) to the wall. They must make either a strength check or an escape artist with a DC equal to the attack roll that pinned them. The arrows can also be removed as a standard action by another. This trick can only be used once per day per legendary arrow. The same legendary arrow cannot be used with Elemental Boost more than once a day.

Rain of Arrows: As a standard action, a Peerless Archer may fire one of their legendary arrows as a 10 ft radius spread area attack within one range increment. The attack roll is made as normal, applying all modifiers, and is used as a save DC vs Reflex for half damage. A Peerless Archer may take a -5 penalty to increase the size of the radius by 5'. This penalty may not exceed their base attack bonus.

Power Shot: At 3rd level, a peerless archer learns how to make devastatingly powerful bowshots.
On their action, before making any attack rolls, a peerless archer may choose to subtract a number from all ranged attack rolls and add the same number to all ranged damage rolls. This number may not exceed their base attack bonus. The penalty on attack rolls and bonus on damage rolls apply until the peerless archer's next round.


Design Notes and Such
Alright, so in my game, one of my players asked me about peerless archer. Neither of us having a book at the time, he described it to me briefly and it sounded alright. When I get to actually looking it up though, well, I find it's 3.0, so I figure I'm gonna have to convert stuff anyway (Heh, yeah right, not hard to switch some skills up), so I look over it in detail and don't like what I see. Making magical ammunition, but still paying exp and gold, not to mention the down time required. A class ability that is basically Improved precise shot. It wasn't too impressive beyond the ranged power attack and the threaten. So I decided to give it a tweak, and this is what turned up. I may get around to adding a more proper fluff and such to it, and add it to the homebrew archive here if it's well received.

I want to know what people think of this though. Are the abilities too varied? Do they not mesh into a good cohesive whole? I am stepping on the toes of a PrC that already does something like this? Is anything overpowered? (doubtful, I mean, it's archery, hard to make that overpowered in 3.5)

So please, read, criticize, and most importantly, comment.

Version 1.1: Okay, so took some of the initial criticism and have revamped it to add some active abilities and more arrows and such. Please tell me what you think of it, as well as give any suggestions for some new Arrow Tricks.

Version 1.2: Made some corrections to abilities, changed somethings up, mostly Threaten and Elemental Boost. Pretty happy with this. Still, suggestions, criticism and new Arrow Tricks are encouraged and welcome. Also looking for anybody willing to playtest it and tell me how it goes.

[Pink]

Giving this a bump so it doesn't get lost before some feedback. Please, even if you look over it briefly, I'd appreciate the first impression it gives.

[SilverStar]

Yay, archer classes.

The mechanics on the Legendary Arrow seem to be sort of convoluted, though. By that, I mean the whole "you can't break it, but must retrieve it" sort of thing. The enhancement and such I like, it's just that tying so many abilities to a single object seems kind of eh. Maybe it should be sort of like the kensai's weapon instead, except you are tied to the bow, and the enchantments only apply to the arrows?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Going to have to go with the following: "Meh, but with promise."

As written, this suffers from Soulknife disease: it gets nice weapons, but not many actual interesting abilities, especially since those arrows aren't returning, so, once he's shot them, he's out of tricks.

I like the Legendary Arrow touch, but it does seem like more of a side ability, as you get one shot per encounter with each arrow, on average, and only have five arrows.

Sneak attack is nice, but Sneak Attack, Power Shot, Through Wind and Rain, and the Threat ability don't fill up a 10 level class.

I'd also just expand the threat range, rather than moving it further and further out. Moving a range out isn't necessarily a good thing in many situations, and it probably won't overpower the class to have a massive threat range, given the relative weakness of ranged attacks compared to the variety of tricks that could be pulled on melee attacks.

That said, it needs more. If this were the class...AND it had full maneuver progression from, say, one of the many ranged weapon martial disciplines out there? Sure. As it is, it needs a boost...maybe some stuff to make those Legendary Arrows more special, maybe a way of getting special attacks with them...that sort of thing.

[Pink]

Yay, archer classes.

The mechanics on the Legendary Arrow seem to be sort of convoluted, though. By that, I mean the whole "you can't break it, but must retrieve it" sort of thing. The enhancement and such I like, it's just that tying so many abilities to a single object seems kind of eh. Maybe it should be sort of like the kensai's weapon instead, except you are tied to the bow, and the enchantments only apply to the arrows?

Thank you for commenting :D

Concerning the whole "can't break or leave your arrows behind" this is mostly so that someone doesn't break all their legendary arrows the night before the battle with the lich to go hunting and replace them all with undead bane holy arrows. I see this going against the spirit of the class feature, however it wouldn't necessarily be broken. Perhaps if there were a less destructive and careless way of getting rid of old legendary arrows. Need to think on that.

As far as targeting the ammo over the bow, well, simply because I wanted to make it a full enchantment ability (+5 enhancement, and +5 special qualities), but did not want to take the kensai's schitck away from it, nor did I want to worry about things like exp costs. I'm assuming at these levels an archer will already have a decent bow, the arrows are something that can give the archer an added bonus or more qualities or something to be saved for more situational use. However, only five of them a battle may be too little, especially if they are designed situationally. Maybe I should make it one arrow per class level?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Even then...at best, each arrow is something like the following:

+5 to attack and damage, +1d6 flaming, no miss chance, and bull-rushes the target with a +8 modifier

Or something of similar power.

This is at 15th level. Compare that effect to even just a 3rd level spell, and you'll find the spell more useful 9 times out of 10. The legendary arrows, as just magical arrows, aren't useful enough to merit a 10 level class. The whole thing needs more of a kick to it's primary thing.

[Pink]

Going to have to go with the following: "Meh, but with promise."

As written, this suffers from Soulknife disease: it gets nice weapons, but not many actual interesting abilities, especially since those arrows aren't returning, so, once he's shot them, he's out of tricks.

I like the Legendary Arrow touch, but it does seem like more of a side ability, as you get one shot per encounter with each arrow, on average, and only have five arrows.

Sneak attack is nice, but Sneak Attack, Power Shot, Through Wind and Rain, and the Threat ability don't fill up a 10 level class.

I'd also just expand the threat range, rather than moving it further and further out. Moving a range out isn't necessarily a good thing in many situations, and it probably won't overpower the class to have a massive threat range, given the relative weakness of ranged attacks compared to the variety of tricks that could be pulled on melee attacks.

That said, it needs more. If this were the class...AND it had full maneuver progression from, say, one of the many ranged weapon martial disciplines out there? Sure. As it is, it needs a boost...maybe some stuff to make those Legendary Arrows more special, maybe a way of getting special attacks with them...that sort of thing.

Thanks for more feedback. Apologies for double post, posting by mobile.

I'll admit that this does have a bit of soulknife fail. I was hoping that opening it up to all eligible magical special qualities would help a bit instead of the soulknife's limited list, but maybe not much.
My fear with the legendary arrows was that if I made them returning, I'd basically be imitating the kensai with no exp cost. I plan to increase the arrows to once per level, and with this advice, may also give an ability that, with a swift action, let's you retrieve an arrow as though it had the returning ability.

As for class features, I think I tend to show reserve. I was comparing this to what the old peerless archer was, and what other archery prcs are out there, instead of what a kickass archery class should be, especially in light of tomb of battle. I may do some redesign on this. I'm wondering if you noticed the increased distance on the ranged sneak attacks, or is that a feature to small to mention?

As for the range on threaten, my intention was that the whole threatening range increases. Can you help edit my wording to better reflect that intention maybe.

I'll look at martial disciplines when I have the chance. I think it's worth mentioning again that when designing, I was thinking more so dnd before ToB as opposed to dnd afterwards(which was kinda dumb on my part). Would it be too limiting to only allow martial manuevers with legendary arrows?

[Drolyt]

First off, Legendary Arrow is too complicated. Just make it apply to any bow the character wields (instead of, you know, having to choose special bows or arrows). It's not a particularly interesting ability, but it is powerful in that it saves you 200,000 GP over 20 levels.

Expert Bower is... flavor.

Ranged Sneak Attack is worded weird. I'd split it into two abilities, one that just gives you sneak attack, and a separate ability that allows you to make sneak attack at range. Also go ahead and allow sneak attack from other sources to be used at range. Not sure why a master archer gets sneak attack, but whatev.

Through Wind and Rain and Storm is nice. Helps to make ranged combat more useful.

Power Shot is neat.

Threaten is useful.

Okay, the class as it is looks sound (except for the extremely complicated Legendary Arrow thing), but it is not terribly interesting. Adding some cool abilities, like those gained in the Arcane Archer PRC would help. Admittedly Arcane Archer is a terrible PRC, but one thing they did right was to give some active abilities. All your abilities are fairly passive. They make the archer a bit stronger, but not more fun to play. So I recommend making the changes I suggested above (change Legendary Arrow to just a bow upgrade and make Sneak Attack less weird) and adding some active abilities. If you gave enough powerful active abilities then I would also go ahead and replace Sneak Attack with something else. Maybe a smaller damage bonus that applied to all attacks instead of having to be sneaky.

Edit: I'll have more to say later. I didn't get enough sleep last night.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I'm going to disagree with the arrow thing suggested by Drolyt. The one thing that struck me as interesting about this class was the existence of the Legendary Arrows...not just some special bow.

[Drolyt]

Would it be too limiting to only allow martial manuevers with legendary arrows?
Yes. This class is already far less versatile than a Martial Adept class, why would you only allow maneuvers with those legendary arrows?

I'm going to disagree with the arrow thing suggested by Drolyt. The one thing that struck me as interesting about this class was the existence of the Legendary Arrows...not just some special bow.
The problem with the legendary arrows is that even if you get ten of them, that's what, less than two rounds of full attack? With a +16 BAB, Rapid Shot, and either Haste or a speed bow you will use all your arrows in less than two rounds of full attacks. Even if you can recover one as a swift action you still use them all with two full attacks. Because of this you are forced to go ahead and get a +5 bow anyways so the only real advantage you have with the legendary arrows is that they can have different special abilities that stack with your bow's special abilities. It's just not a very useful ability. If you made them returning, or better yet just had one legendary arrow that as soon as you attack with it it comes back to you so you can shoot it again, multiple times a round, then I would be ok with it. Also give an ability so that if you use the Legendary Arrow with Manyshot it will magically split into up to four arrows (depending on how many you can fire with Manyshot).

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

True. But another possibility would be to play up the moment of that one, perfect shot: i.e. basically make each shot with a Legendary Arrow into a powerful Martial Maneuver of sorts.

So that +5 Flaming Screaming Fiery Burst Wounding arrow you have? The one you call Pelor's Lance? Yeah. That one.

What if shooting that off was a standard action, and, for example, it made a ranged touch attack in a straight line between you and the target, and dealt +20d6 points of damage (half fire, half divine) to anything you hit in the line before hitting the target (who takes normal damage in addition to the extra 20d6)?

[Drolyt]

True. But another possibility would be to play up the moment of that one, perfect shot: i.e. basically make each shot with a Legendary Arrow into a powerful Martial Maneuver of sorts.

So that +5 Flaming Screaming Fiery Burst Wounding arrow you have? The one you call Pelor's Lance? Yeah. That one.

What if shooting that off was a standard action, and, for example, it made a ranged touch attack in a straight line between you and the target, and dealt +20d6 points of damage (half fire, half divine) to anything you hit in the line before hitting the target (who takes normal damage in addition to the extra 20d6)?

You could go that route, giving each arrow a special power that can be used as a standard action. That would make a pretty interesting class. As it is now though, the Legendary Arrow feature is pretty much useless.

[Pink]

So, I've finally got around to revisiting this. Thoughts? balance issues? Any criticism is welcome.

I know one thing I'd like is more tricks but for right now that's all my mind can come up with.

[Lix Lorn]

I like it!

Blinding Arrow: As a standard action, a Peerless Archer creates a wound that blocks their opponents vision. The attack roll is made as normal and if successful, in addition to dealing damage the target is blinded. They must receive healing equal to the damage received by the Blinding arrow attack to regain vision. This trick can only be used once per legendary arrow.
Once per day, once per encounter, once per lifetime?

Also, for all the once per something arrows, can you take the trick twice to get it twice per something?

[Drolyt]

I like it. I'll try to come up with some more "trick" ideas. This is the first truly effective Archer class I've ever seen. The only thing I'd like added is an ability to not provoke attacks of opportunity while shooting your bow.

[Pink]

I like it. I'll try to come up with some more "trick" ideas. This is the first truly effective Archer class I've ever seen. The only thing I'd like added is an ability to not provoke attacks of opportunity while shooting your bow.

I think I'll probably include that somewhere in the threaten ability. Maybe draw that out to 5', 10' then 15'. I'll probably make some minors corrections and changes (Elemental boost might be too powerful, taking it twice to add potentially +250 damage to an attack. Maybe each time you take it you can add extra damage for another elemenetal ability on the arrow)

[Lix Lorn]

The only thing I'd like added is an ability to not provoke attacks of opportunity while shooting your bow.
I think there's an epic feat for that. However, from what I hear about 3.5 archery, said feat is not good enough to be epic. XD

[Drolyt]

I think there's an epic feat for that. However, from what I hear about 3.5 archery, said feat is not good enough to be epic. XD

Only about 10 out of the 100s of Epic Feats are actually worth being Epic, the most obvious being Epic Spellcasting. The fact that it is an Archery feat makes it not worth being a feat at all. As a special ability for this class though it is a good idea.

[Pink]

Small updates and corrections.