PDA

View Full Version : I heard something about an impervious fortress...



Draken
2010-05-12, 03:37 PM
A pair of exotic weapons, their ammo, and a prestige class.

Exotic Weapon: Bombard
{table=head]
Ranged Weapon|
Cost|
Dmg (S)|
Dmg (M)|
Critical|
Range Increment|
Weight|
Type

Bombard, Light Hand|300 gp|2d6|2d8|x3|100 ft.|15 lb.|Bludgeoning

Shell (5)|3 gp|-|-|-|-|3 lb.|-

Shell, Explosive (5)|12 gp|+1d6|+1d8|-|-|3 lb.|Piercing

Shell, Firebomb (5)|30 gp|+2d6|+2d8|-|-|3 lb.|Fire

Bombard, Heavy Hand|600 gp|3d6|3d8|X3|130 ft.|30 lb.|Bludgeoning

Shell (5)|3 gp|-|-|-|-|3 lb.|-

Shell, Explosive (5)|12 gp|+1d6|+1d8|-|-|3 lb.|Piercing

Shell, Firebomb (5)|30 gp|+2d6|+2d8|-|-|3 lb.|Fire[/table]

Bombard, (Light and Heavy) Hand: A hand bombard is, at its most basic, a metal barrel with a wooden stock. It differs from most other firearms in that it is larger and much more unwieldy. For every 4 ranks in Profession (Siege Engineer) you have, you gain a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with a light hand bombard or a +1 bonus on attack rolls and a +2 bonus on damage rolls with a heavy hand bombard.
It takes one standard action to reload a light hand bombard and a full-round action to reload a heavy hand bombard. Using a hand bombard requires two hands.
Bombards are considered crossbows of the same qualification (light or heavy) for the purposes of magical enchantments specific to such weapons.

Shell: A shell is a special kind of ammo made for bombards. It cannot be used as a melee weapon.
Shells are enchanted in sets of 25, not in sets of 50 like with other forms of ammo.

Shell, Explosive: An explosive bombard shell is specially made to detonate into a rain of shrapnel on impact. It adds the amount of damage on the table to the damage dealt by the bombard (this extra damage is multiplied on a critical hit), and deals piercing damage as well bludgeoning damage. In addition, any creatures or objects within 5 feet of the primary target of an explosive shell take splash damage equal to half the damage taken by the initial target.

Shell, Firebomb: A firebomb is a bombard shell loaded with chemicals that explodes in a violent conflagration upon hitting its target. It adds the amount of damage on the table to the damage dealt by the bombard (this extra damage is multiplied on a critical hit); this extra damage is fire damage. In addition, this extra damage is also dealt to any creatures or objects within 10 feet of the primary target of the firebomb.
The Acidbomb is a possible variant of the more common Firebomb.


Bombardier
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3029/heavygunner.jpg
Mortar, Warforged Bombardier. - Image by David Cheung.

Some targets are too large or too tough for fommon warriors. A soldier can chip at a stone wall with his sword, and perhaps one day he might dig a hole that way. But that is not an option many will take if given a choice. Bombardiers are that choice. Man and women with dominion of ranged combat techniques and mastery of a weapon designed to punch holes through even the hardest defense. A single Bombardier in the battlefield can spell defeat for any oponent,no matter how large the army.

Entry Requirements:
BAB: +6
Skills: Profession (Siege Engineer) 4 ranks, Spot 9 ranks.
Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Hand Bombards)
Martial Maneuvers: Must know three Black Rain (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5471518) maneuvers.

Hit Die: d10
{table=head]
Level|
BAB|
Fort|
Ref|
Will|
Class Features

1°|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+0|Fast Reload, Demolition Expert


2°|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|One-Man Siege


3°|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Lightning Reload


4°|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1|Weapons of Mass Destruction


5°|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1|Nuke[/table]
Class Skills (4 + Int Modifier): Craft, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering), Knowledge (Geography), Martial Lore, Profession, Spot, Tumble, Use Magic Device.

{table=head]Level|Man. Known|Man. Readied|Stances Known
1°|0|0|0
2°|1|0|0
3°|0|1|0
4°|1|0|1
5°|0|1|0[/table]

Proficiencies: A bombardier gains proficience with all firearms. A bombardier takes no penalties on his attack rolls when firing a light or a great bombard (Stormwrack, pg 103).

Maneuvers: At each even-numbered level the bombardier gains a new maneuver known from the Black Rain discipline. He must meet the maneuver’s prerequisites to learn it. The bombardier adds his full class level to his initiator level to determine his total initiator level and highest-level maneuvers known.
At 3rd level and again at 5th level, the bombardier gains an additional maneuver readied

Stances Known: At 4th level, the bombardier learns a new martial stance from the Black Rain discipline. He must meet the stance’s prerequisites to take it.

Fast Reload:
At 1st level the bombardier becomes more capable at reloading all bombards.
Reloading a Light Hand Bombard becomes a move action and reloading a Heavy Hand Bombard becomes a standard action.
A light siege bombard manned by a bombardier requires only two other crew members, who can load the gunpowder, the wad and the shot in a single full round action, the bombardier himself can aim and fire the light bombard as a full round action.
A great siege bombard manned by a bombardier only requires four other crew members, who can load the gunpowder, the wad and the shot with two full round actions, the bombardier himself needs only one full round action to aim the shot and a standard action to fire it.

Demolition Expert:
A bombardier gains a bonus on all profession (Siege Engineer) and Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) checks equal to his class level. His attacks with any bombard ignores hardness and damage reduction as if made of adamantine, and fire damage dealt by his bombards deals full damage to objects, ignores fire resistance and deals 50% damage to fire immune creatures.

One-Man Siege (Ex):
A lone bombardier can topple the greatest tower and power through any wall. As a swift action, the bombardier may lose the benefits of any other stance they're in to gain the benefits of this one. While in this stance, all attacks made by him with a bombard deal additional dice of damage (same type as the die used by the bombard) equal to the bombardier’s class level, these extra die of damage are multiplied on a critical hit.
At 5th level, while in this stance, the bombardier may, as a full round action, perform a single attack against one stationary target (one that is unable to move or has not moved on this turn or on the previous turn), if the attack hits it is automatically treated as a critical hit.

Lightning Reload:
At 3rd level the bombardier can reload any bombard with almost supernatural speed.
Reloading a Light Hand Bombard becomes a free action and reloading a Heavy Hand Bombard becomes a move action.
A light siege bombard manned by a bombardier requires only two other crew members, who can load the gunpowder, the wad and the shot in a single full round action, and tamp the shot in the same action, the bombardier himself can aim and fire the light bombard as a full round action.
A great siege bombard manned by a bombardier only requires four other crew members, who can load the gunpowder, the wad and the shot with two full round actions and tamp the shot in those same actions, the bombardier himself needs only one full round action to aim the shot and fire it.

Weapons of Mass Destruction:
Starting at 4th level, all bombards fired by a bombardier have their critical range increased to 19-20 and deal four times their normal damage on a critical hit. Constructs and objects are subject to critical multipliers from the bombard attacks of a bombardier.

Nuke (Su):
A master bombardier can unleash destruction that even the greatest of mages have a hard time to mimic. At 5th level the bombardier can, once per encounter, as a full round action, convert any one Firebomb shell into a Nuke. The Nuke works as a normal Firebomb, but in addition to that it deals 2d6 damage per initiator level to everything within 30 feet of the initial target, half of this damage is fire damage from the conflagration and half is force damage from the pressure of the explosion.
The nuke can destroy force effects such as a Wall of Force or a Forcecage. The damage of the nuke is subject to critical multipliers on the initial target. A reflex save (DC 10 + half initiator level + the bombardier’s Intelligence modifier) can halve the fire damage of the nuke, but not the force damage. The primary target of the nuke is not entitled to a reflex save if the initial attack hits.
Nukes are unstable, and even if they are not fired they will detonate five rounds after being created. Any creature or object in contact with the Nuke at the moment of the explosion receives no save against its damage.

Jack of Spades
2010-05-12, 05:03 PM
In my opinion, this class isn't very practical. The way I'm reading all of this, he's only useful when 1 or 3 other 'crew members' help him, which means unless he gets a cohort or minions of some kind there will be PCs wasting time loading the cannons turn after turn.

:smalleek: Oh dear. Where are the rules for a bombard, anyway?

In addition, you'll want to make the numbers on the stance/maneuver table cumulative, methinks.

Draken
2010-05-12, 05:20 PM
Oh. No, no. The crew members only apply to the siege bombards in Stormwrack (I even listed the page they are found in), those are huge siege weapons mounted on static points (ships, basically).

All class abilities work fine with the Hand Bombards just above. Those can easily be used by a single person and carried around.

Edit: And the maneuvers and stances are in the usual form they are found in Prestige Classes. Each level lists how many you gain at that level.

Edit the second: Added "siege" to the lines refering to the stormwrack bombards to make a clearer distinction from the Hand Bombards depicted above.

DracoDei
2010-05-12, 08:47 PM
These weapons are intrinsically MORE accurate than any other. Give it an innate penalty to hit to make the flavor match the crunch.

Draken
2010-05-12, 10:41 PM
Well, I know Hand Cannons (and really most firearms before the invention of... those lines inside the barrel, the ones that make the bullet spin) were grossly innacurate, thanks also to poor quality of gunpowder at the time.

But I am not a proponent of weapons that have an innate attack roll penalty on them even for proficient users. I dunno, it just doesn't seem right to me. Specially since, given the weight of those weapons, plus their ammo, most would-be users would have to sacrifice some dexterity (considering point buy and on character creation) for additional strength.

I would say that most "common" users (those who aren't PCs or wouldn't go into the PrC) just wouldn't take the feat, sacrificing accuracy for the greater damage, and maybe compensating with ranks in Profession.

Story Time
2012-05-12, 09:20 AM
[...]those lines inside the barrel[...]

Rifling, my fellow Play-grounder. Rifling. :smallsmile: