Homebrew long range precision damage

[GrumblyBear]

Hello all! I was looking for some advice/input... I'm looking to homebrew a sort of "sniper" class. I was hoping to add some form of precision damage (similar to Sneak Attack, Sudden Strike, or the Skirmish features) that applied to ranged attacks made by the character class.

I was unsure how to go about it, though... I want the class to stay competitive in terms of damage output and I was hoping to have the class feature restricted to certain conditions (maybe... An additional 1d6 damage per 40ft away from the target?).

Suggestions?

[Invader]

You'll probably have better luck in the homebrew forums.

[ArcturusV]

Well... it probably wouldn't be bad if you did it. Here's the chief problems I see involved with this:

1) Most precision damage abilities require some sort of advantage over the target that prevent you from spamming at range. See: Flatfooted, denied Dex to AC, etc.

2) Most encounters don't happen "At long range", as an artifact of system design in general (Outside bow users no one really has a lot of "long range" options, so they don't make encounters AT long range), and dungeon design (It's hard to have "long range" in an enclosed environment). So the ability isn't likely to come up. Be even worse than say, Sudden Strike, in most games.

Due to number 1, you often have "Shoot and Scoot" style archers doing the sniper thing. Where they take a point blank shot (Because that's where precision damage happens) and then spend a turn hiding to regain the ability to do precision damage. Which lowers the damage output.

You could tie the ability to the almost never used Aim Action, each Aiming gives you xd6 precision damage dice. That still runs into the problem where you are only attacking half the time, at best.

[thatryanguy]

So you mean something like the Sniper(Scout) variant from Dragon Magazine 346, which removes Fast Movement, and replaces Skirmish with the equally levelling:

Sniper Shot +Nd6 – as a Full Round Action (that does not allow a 5’ Step), make a single shot with a projectile weapon. If it hits no matter what the range, it does
+Nd6 damage. The target must be alive, corporeal, vulnerable to Critical Hits, not benefiting from Cover or Concealment, etc

?

[Lonely Tylenol]

The Sniper's Shot spell (Sor/Wiz1, Rng1, Asn1?) out of Spell Compendium is good for this sort of thing. It removes the range limit on Sneak Attack. Combine with True Strike and some form of remote-viewing divination (Arcane Eye?) and you have a true-to-life sniper.