(Base Class) The Dusk-Eyed Bowman [WIP]

[PeacefulOak]

This is my first homebrew, looking to get any insight that anyone has to offer.

Dusk-Eyed Bowman

The raiders had appeared as if from nowhere, swarming onto the road and cutting deep into the ranks of the shocked troops. Ramon loosed three arrows in rapid succession, hands a blur of motion as the arrows sank deep into their targets. The third arrow was drawn to his ear when his attention was caught by a sensation not unlike an icicle down the back of his neck. “Magic,” he growled under his breath. He closed his eyes and focused until his spirit guide formed. “Show me,” he commanded. Eyes open, he watched as his guide flitted through the undergrowth to hover in the midst of a thick group of trees. Beneath the spirit, the form of a man burst into glowing light, the magical energy gathered in its hands most evident. “Not on my watch, mage,” Ramon growled as he loosed the arrow. There was a cry of pain and the glow dissipated from the figure’s hands. “Just try to cast another spell. I’m waiting for you.”

The Dusk-eyed Bowman is an archer that has a deep connection to the spirit world. **Insert fluff here**



HD: d8
Skills: 6+Int
Class Skills: Craft, Hide, Knowledge (Nature), Listen, Move Silently, Spellcraft, Spot, Survival (and any ranger skills missed)

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|
+1|
+0|
+2|
+2|Track, Point Blank Shot, Disrupting Arrow 1/encounter
2nd|
+2|
+0|
+3|
+3|Sixth Sense (presence), Precise Aim
3rd|
+3|
+1|
+3|
+3|Spirit Touched Arrows (+1), Disrupting Arrow 2/encounter
4th|
+4|
+1|
+4|
+4|Spirit Guide, +10' base speed
5th|
+5|
+1|
+4|
+4|Bonus Feat
6th|
+6/1|
+2|
+5|
+5| Sixth Sense (magnitude/direction)
7th|
+7/2|
+2|
+5|
+5| Spirit Touched Arrows (+2), Disrupting Arrow 3/encounter
8th|
+8/3|
+2|
+6|
+6|Channel Essence (DR -5)
9th|
+9/4|
+3|
+6|
+6|Bonus Feat
10th|
+10/5|
+3|
+7|
+7|Straight to the Heart (1/day)
11th|
+11/6/1|
+3|
+7|
+7| Spirit Touched Arrows (+3), Disrupting Arrow 4/encounter
12th|
+12/7/2|
+3|
+8|
+8|Channel Essence (DR -10)
13th|
+13/8/3|
+4|
+8|
+8|Bonus Feat
14th|
+14/9/4|
+4|
+9|
+9|Straight to the Heart (3/day)
15th|
+15/10/5|
+4|
+9|
+9| Spirit Touched Arrows (+4), Disrupting Arrow 5/encounter
16th|
+16/11/6/1|
+5|
+10|
+10|Channel Essence (Bane)
17th|
+17/12/7/2|
+5|
+10|
+10|Bonus Feat
18th|
+18/13/8/3|
+6|
+11|
+11|Straight to the Heart (5/day)
19th|
+19/14/9/4|
+6|
+11|
+11| Spirit Touched Arrows (+5)/Disrupting Arrow 6/encounter
20th|
+20/15/10/5|
+6|
+12|
+12|Channel Essence (DR -15), Crippling Arrow[/table]

Weapons: All Simple Weapons, Martial Ranged Weapons (not thrown)
Armour: Light Armour, no shields
Track: The Dusk-Eyed Bowman gains Track at first level, in the same manner as a Ranger.

Disrupting Arrow(EX): Once per encounter, when an opponent within your weapon's first range increment is involved in an action that requires a concentration check; you may make an attack of opportunity against them.

The bowman receives a bonus to their attack roll equal to their Wis modifier. If the attack hits, the bowman adds their Wis modifier as well as their class level to the damage roll.

You may use this ability an additional time per encounter at 3rd level and every four levels after 3rd.


Sixth Sense(SU): The Dusk-Eyed Bowman can feel the presence of magic in his immediate area. The magic must have line of effect with the Bowman, and must be within 10’ per class level to trigger the Sixth Sense. Persistent magic must have line of effect with the Bowman, be within 10’ per class level, and is felt as a minor irritation (itch, shiver, etc). Magic that is actively being cast can be felt at a range of 50' + 5' per level as a sharp sensation (icicle down the neck, sharp pain, muscle spasm, etc). If the Bowman is in the company of casters, he becomes accustomed to their magical feel and can distinguish between those effects to which he is accustomed, and new effects that have come to his attention.

At sixth level, the Bowman can tell the direction of the magic if it is in the process of being cast, and can also determine the magnitude of the effect as minor (lvl 1-3), moderate (lvl 4-6), or major (lvl 7-9). The Bowman can detect only the magnitude of persistent effects, not the direction.

Precise Aim (EX): The Dusk-Eyed Bowman adds his dexterity bonus to damage with any bow or crossbow he uses. This is in addition to the Strength bonus to damage that is given by Composite Bows.

Spirit Touched Arrows(SU): The Dusk-Eyed Bowman is able to imbue his arrows or crossbow bolts with the energy of the dead. This is reflected as a +1 enchantment, and increases by an additional +1 per four levels past 3rd (+2 at 7th, +3 at 11th, +4 at 15th, +5 at 19th). The Bowman has 2 methods of accomplishing this enchantment. The first is to spend 8 hours meditating in a place where spirits would gather. Such places include (but are not limited to) graveyards, ancient battlefields, or the sites of natural disasters. This meditation requires the burning of incense and special materials worth the cost of enchanting the arrows normally, and permanently enchants 50 arrows or quarrels.

The second method available is to use the essence of the freshly slain. The Dusk-Eyed Bowman can use the energy of a recently slain corpse (no more than 2 minutes dead) to enchant his arrows. Only one arrow can be enchanted per hit-die of the slain foe, and these enchantments last until the end of the following day. There is no specific cost associated with this method of enchantment.

Spirit Guide: At fourth level, the Dusk-Eyed Bowman gains the ability to summon a spiritual companion. The normal summoning takes 5 minutes of time. Alternatively, during battle, the Bowman may summon his Spirit Guide as a swift action, but only if he gives up two uses of his Disrupting Arrow for that encounter.

The Spirit Guide is an extension of the Bowman's will, and is immune to mind-affecting abilities. Its abilities are described in the table below.

Improved Movement: At fourth level, the Dusk-Eyed Bowman permanently gains +10 to his base movement speed.

Bonus Feat: At 5th level, and every 4 levels after, the Dusk-Eyed Bowman can select any feat for which it qualifies, so long as that feat relates to archery or movement.

Channel Essence (SU): At 8th level, the Dusk-Eyed Bowman is able to channel the essence of his enemy into his arrow, allowing it to bypass his enemy's defenses. For this ability to function, the Bowman's spirit guide must share the same space as the enemy to be effected by this ability. So long as the Bowman is attacking that creature, or any creature of IDENTICAL TYPE, the bowman's arrows gain the following: 8th - Arrows ignore 5 points of damage reduction, 12th - Arrows ignore 10 points of damage reduction, 16th - Arrows become Bane to that type of creature, dealing 2d6 additional damge in addition to ignoring 10 points of damage reduction, 20th - Arrows ignore 15 points of damage reduction in addition to having the Bane property.

Straight to the Heart: Once per day, as a full round action, the Dusk-Eyed Bowman can make a ranged touch attack against a single target using its bow/crossbow. If that attack hits, it is treated as a critical hit that automatically confirms and does maximum damage for any part of the damage that is affected by critical hits (damage such as elemental damage is rolled seperately). The Dusk-Eyed Bowman gains an additional two uses per day at 14th and 18th level.

Crippling Arrow: At 20th level, the Dusk-Eyed Bowman gains the ability to strike at the very essence of his enemy. Three times per day, as a full-round action, the Bowman can make a single ranged attack at his highest attack bonus. If that attack hits, he chooses on attribute of the target (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, or Cha) and does damage equal to the normal damage of his arrow, modified by his Wisdom modifier.


Spirit Guide:
The Spirit Guide is a medium sized incorporeal creature that is visible only to it's own Dusk-Eyed Bowman, who sees it as a ghostly elder of its species. It may be noticed as a slight distorion in the air to others, but this requires a Spot check (DC 20 + 5 per 4 levels of Dusk-Eyed Bowman). Detect Magic and Detect Undead will both reveal a hazy humanoid figure. It has Hit-points and defenses equal to that of the bowman, but is unable to take offensive action.

The Spirit Guide acts as a scout, support, and guide for the Dusk-Eyed Bowman. It has the following Abilities:
{table]Class Level|Movement|Abilities

4 - 7|
30'|Empathic Communication, Detect Magic at Will

8 - 11|
40'|Telepathic Communication, Commune With Dead 2/day

12 - 15|
50'|Share Senses, Track Magic Aura

16 - 19|
60'|Borrow Essence

20|
90'|Touch of the Beyond[/table]

Skills:The Spirit Guide has max ranks per level in Spot, Listen, Search, and Survival. It gains the benefit of the Track feat in the same way that its summoner does.

Movement: The Spirit Guide flies at the speed listed with perfect maneuverability.

Empathic/Telepathic Communication: The spirit guide can communicate only with its summoner, via the methods listed. This method of communication mirrors that of intelligent magic weapons.

Detect Magic: At will, as a standard action, the Spirit Guide can cast Detect Magic at a caster level equal to its summoner's class level. At sixth level, it can share a hazy sense of this spell with its master. At 8th level, the sharing of the Detect Magic is complete, and the Bowman is able to see any magic that is seen by the Spirit Guide. The Detect Magic effect is still centered on the Spirit Guide, and the Bowman sees from his own point of view when seeing the revealed magic.

Commune with Dead: As the spell, twice per day.

Share Senses: As a standard action requiring concentration, the Dusk-Eyed Bowman may see and hear from the perspective of his Spirit Guide. During this time he uses the higher of his own or the Spirit Guide's skills for Spot, Listen, Search, and Survival checks made to Track.

Track Magic Aura: The passage of powerful magic, or powerfully aligned creatures or items, leaves a trail that is visible to those who have passed beyond. A Spirit Guide summoned by a Dusk-Eyed Bowman level 12 or higher is able to follow such trails as easily as it could follow a material trail. Use the same DC's as listed in the Track feat, applying modifiers that would be relevant to disturbing such a trail.

Borrow Essence: At 15th level, the Spirit Guide is able to steal some of the spiritual essence of a creature that it shares its space with. As a full round action, the Spirit Guide makes an attempt to steal any existing Supernatural or Spell-Like ability or Spell effect that is affecting its target. This attempt functions exactly like a targeted Dispel Magic effect in terms of the rolls required. The roll is modified by the Dusk-Eyed Bowman's class level and Wisdom modifier.

If an effect is "stolen", the Spirit Guide must then choose what to do with the effect. It can choose to suppress the effect, causing it to have no effect whatsoever for 10 minutes. It can take the effect for itself, in which case it is kept for 5 minutes and functions for the Spirit Guide exactly as though it normally had this effect. The third option is to transfer the effect to its summoner, which then lasts for 2 minutes. Regardless of the option chosen, at the end of this span of time the effect returns to its source creature (or dissipates, if that creature has been slain).

Touch of the Beyond: At 20th Level, as a full-round action, the Spirit Guide can bring some of the essence of the realms beyond into the material realm (or whichever realm it currently exists in). This has the effect of enacting an Anti-Magic Field with an area exactly equal to the space of the creature that the Spirit Guide shares a space with. This effect persists as long as the Spirit Guide concentrates on it. The Dusk-Eyed Bowman's arrows that have been enchanted with his Spirit Touched Arrows or Channel Essence abilities are not affected by this anti-magic field.

[Amnoriath]

1. Why the short skill list? Only Knowledge(Nature)? This guy is a trained hunter with spirits helping him right? In general classes such as this have at least 6+int.
2. You forgot armor and shield proficiencies
3. Need to specify what these abilities, especially the function of your spirit companion.
4. You have a lot of dead levels.
You have a lot of work to do.

[PeacefulOak]

1. Why the short skill list? Only Knowledge(Nature)? This guy is a trained hunter with spirits helping him right? In general classes such as this have at least 6+int.
2. You forgot armor and shield proficiencies
3. Need to specify what these abilities, especially the function of your spirit companion.
4. You have a lot of dead levels.
You have a lot of work to do.

Thank you! I definitely still have a lot of stuff to input, including the details and expansion of the Spirit guide.

I will update the Armor and Shield Proficiencies, and update the skills. I was on the fence about the number of points to allow.

[Cheiromancer]

I really like the introductory text! It gives a good feel for what the class is supposed to accomplish.

Also, I wouldn't worry about a few dead levels. Clean and simple has a lot to recommend it.

For sixth sense, I would suggest making the range 50 ft. + 5 ft./level. For a first level DEB to know that a spell is being cast within 10 ft. isn't very useful. :) In fact, sensing over even greater ranges (even miles) might be workable.

I am not sure how useful the Disrupting Arrow ability would be in actual play. Readied actions are often wasted actions, you are not always fighting against spell-casters, spell-casters often have protection or cover against arrows, and they often have Concentration scores high enough to make any save. Perhaps if Disrupting Arrow hampered spells (or spell-like abilities) in the subsequent round?

Some kind of movement based abilities sound like they would fit. Also the ability to detect magic at will, and track magical creatures simply through their auras. Maybe the ability to detect (or even disarm?) magical traps?

In other words, mix together some of the elements of ranger, scout and rogue, with a focus on dealing with magical opponents, particularly spellcasters.

edit: P.S. I like your avatar! :smallwink:

[Xaotiq1]

I suggest looking at the Nightstalker base class from Races of Ansalon. Yeah, it's a 3rd party book; but it's got a couple features that would mesh well with this classes crunch and fluff. Can't remember the page number. I think it's in the 70's somewhere.

With 6th Sense, it would be much less cumbersome to give them at-will detect magic. That also frees up space for some of those tasty Nightstalker abilities.

I agree with Amnoriath that this class needs more than the 8 skills you've given. Hit up the Ranger skill list. And definitely think about 6+Int mod points per level.

I would make disrupting arrow affect any action the requires concentration and make the bonus to attack equal the penalty to the roll; and then cap that number to 10. That's more sporting than just thumbing your nose at them. Also, make it either per encounter OR 3+Wis mod per day.

Sooo, how fresh does the corpse have to be? I might remove the second charge option for Spirit touched arrows. I mean, someone bites it, they get slathered in quintessence and you have a magic arrow factory.

If you stick with the first charge option; which has a flavor I can get behind, the materials needed should scale with the enhancement bonus being received. I would say materials equal to 1000gp per +1 with a max enhancement bonus determined by the class level.

I definitely see this guy with a boost to their movement speed. I dunno, just seems right.

Some of the abilities from the Arcane Archer PrC (I know) might look good on this.

Idea for Straight to the Heart: Sudden Strike egardless of anatomy. Dice= Wis mod (Max 10). I dunno.

Last quick thought: I get the distinct felling this guy is to be another in the long line of "mage slayers". I warn you that lake has been fished dry, Sir. I humbly suggest you look at the work that has been done previously and roll from there. Best of luck to you!

[PeacefulOak]

I really like the introductory text! It gives a good feel for what the class is supposed to accomplish.

Also, I wouldn't worry about a few dead levels. Clean and simple has a lot to recommend it.

For sixth sense, I would suggest making the range 50 ft. + 5 ft./level. For a first level DEB to know that a spell is being cast within 10 ft. isn't very useful. :) In fact, sensing over even greater ranges (even miles) might be workable.

I am not sure how useful the Disrupting Arrow ability would be in actual play. Readied actions are often wasted actions, you are not always fighting against spell-casters, spell-casters often have protection or cover against arrows, and they often have Concentration scores high enough to make any save. Perhaps if Disrupting Arrow hampered spells (or spell-like abilities) in the subsequent round?

Some kind of movement based abilities sound like they would fit. Also the ability to detect magic at will, and track magical creatures simply through their auras. Maybe the ability to detect (or even disarm?) magical traps?

In other words, mix together some of the elements of ranger, scout and rogue, with a focus on dealing with magical opponents, particularly spellcasters.

edit: P.S. I like your avatar! :smallwink:
Thank you for the input! You have read my mind in terms of some of the abilities that are planned for this class, although I'm trying to stay away from the extra-dice-of-damage route, as I don't want to overly clone the Scout.

As for rogue abilities, I am planning a PRC for this guy that mixes use of the Spirit Guide and Sneak Attack dice, so I don't want too much overlap in the abilities.


I suggest looking at the Nightstalker base class from Races of Ansalon. Yeah, it's a 3rd party book; but it's got a couple features that would mesh well with this classes crunch and fluff. Can't remember the page number. I think it's in the 70's somewhere.

With 6th Sense, it would be much less cumbersome to give them at-will detect magic. That also frees up space for some of those tasty Nightstalker abilities.

I agree with Amnoriath that this class needs more than the 8 skills you've given. Hit up the Ranger skill list. And definitely think about 6+Int mod points per level.

I would make disrupting arrow affect any action the requires concentration and make the bonus to attack equal the penalty to the roll; and then cap that number to 10. That's more sporting than just thumbing your nose at them. Also, make it either per encounter OR 3+Wis mod per day.

Sooo, how fresh does the corpse have to be? I might remove the second charge option for Spirit touched arrows. I mean, someone bites it, they get slathered in quintessence and you have a magic arrow factory.

If you stick with the first charge option; which has a flavor I can get behind, the materials needed should scale with the enhancement bonus being received. I would say materials equal to 1000gp per +1 with a max enhancement bonus determined by the class level.

I definitely see this guy with a boost to their movement speed. I dunno, just seems right.

Some of the abilities from the Arcane Archer PrC (I know) might look good on this.

Idea for Straight to the Heart: Sudden Strike egardless of anatomy. Dice= Wis mod (Max 10). I dunno.

Last quick thought: I get the distinct felling this guy is to be another in the long line of "mage slayers". I warn you that lake has been fished dry, Sir. I humbly suggest you look at the work that has been done previously and roll from there. Best of luck to you!

I will try to hunt down that book to take a look at Nightstalker. I liked the flavor of Sixth Sense better than Detect Magic at will, particularly as that is a feature that is planned for the Spirit Guide.

I wasn't sure about per encounter, but I think that might be more suitable. I just rewrote disrupting arrow, what do you think?

As to corpse freshness, I was going to say one minute past the end of an encounter. I liked the short-term nature of that enchantment bonus. Do you think that allowing it is overpowered? In terms of the permanent enchantments I agree and will make that change when I have some more time.

Mage-slayer... not particularly although that is definitely one of his functions. I was more looking to make an archer a viable, competitive and useful party member. More abilities to come as I get time to write them, relating to things like overcoming Damage Resistance (something I think Archers often fall victim to).

[Xaotiq1]

When I said that distracting Arrow should disrupt anything that requires concentration to maintain, I meant anything. Here's my take:

Disrupting Arrow (Ex): Once per encounter, when an opponent within your weapon's first range increment is involved in an action that requires a concentration check; you may make an attack of opportunity against them.

The bowman receives a bonus to their attack roll equal to their Wis modifier. If the attack hits, the bowman adds their Wis modifier as well as their class level to the damage roll.

You may use this ability an additional time per encounter at 3rd level and every four levels after 3rd.

How's that??

[PeacefulOak]

Thank you for the input!

I have the class pretty much fleshed out, just missing the descriptions for the capstone ability and the Spirit Guide.

I would still be delighted to get input on the relative power-level of the class (admitting that the Spirit Guide is missing to date).

[Xaotiq1]

I'd put this in the middle of Tier 4; which for a first effort at homebrew ain't too shabby!

[PeacefulOak]

I have finished the descriptions for the Capstone ability and the abilities of the Spirit Guide.

Once again I would appreciate any thoughts on the playability and power-level of the class, now that it is fully complete.

[Cloud]

Well, on the skills, the Ranger skills you missed are Climb, Concentration, Handle Animal, Heal, Jump, Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Knowledge (Geography), Profession, Ride, Search, Swim, and Use Rope.

Of those, you probably shouldn't add concentration as the class doesn't have spells. Knowledge wise, given the fluff and abilities, instead of Knowledge (Dungeoneering) and Knowledge (Geography), perhaps Arcana and Religion instead, given the whole magic sense and power of the dead themes. I suppose Handle Animal doesn't make much sense either (and you're getting spellcraft in return so kind of works out).

Disrupting Arrow may not work how you think it works. For example spell casting never actually requires a concentration check in itself, so you would only get this if you have a melee buddy forcing them to cast defensively. That aside I would make it probably add only class level or wisdom modifier to damage, not both, and would type the bonus to attack and damage rolls (insight, maybe? I don't know, typing it isn't that important, but good habit to be in to stop excessive stacking).

Spirit Touched Arrows...to be frank probably needs to be free, or it's completely useless. The vast majority of people are going to buy a +1 bow with a million and two abilities on it, and then get greater magic weapon cast on it anyway. Your ability if it was completely free at best is greater magic weapon 1 level earlier. Considering it costs money and only effects arrows which are still destroyed when you fire them...yeah, I don't see anyone using it. Cute but useless, or even harmful if people let it eat into their gold.

I'd personally also type Precise Aim and Improved Movement, even if it was just as competence bonuses.

For Channel Essence, considering bane is more than +2d6 damage, you're implying it does bane (+2 to the weapons enhancement, and +2d6), plus another 2d6, plus the ignore 10 points of DR. Also the ignoring DR is cute...but most archers will probably buy a force bow anyway (or use Hank's Energy bow) and that makes the majority of this ability useless. (If they use a Force Bow with Raptor Arrows...well...)

While maybe intended being a capstone, crippling arrows is a save or die/suck/lose, without a save, instead an attack roll for a full BAB class, though how much damage it does isn't exactly clear. At first reading I thought base arrow damage + wisdom modifier, but on my second reading, it sounded more like, well, normal arrow damage, so, 1d8 (or whatever) + str + enhancement + etc. + wis.


Probably more to comment on but I'll leave it at that for now. Basically three of it's features that should be rather cool and either non-functional or not that good, while the capstone is arguably broken (the martial adept equivalent while usable more often is only an average of 7 attribute damage, melee only, requires you to be on the ground, and can only be con).

[Amnoriath]

Spirit Touched Arrows...to be frank probably needs to be free, or it's completely useless. The vast majority of people are going to buy a +1 bow with a million and two abilities on it, and then get greater magic weapon cast on it anyway. Your ability if it was completely free at best is greater magic weapon 1 level earlier. Considering it costs money and only effects arrows which are still destroyed when you fire them...yeah, I don't see anyone using it. Cute but useless, or even harmful if people let it eat into their gold.

I'd personally also type Precise Aim and Improved Movement, even if it was just as competence bonuses.


I agree with most of what you said except that you forget bows have 2 areas of enchantments(bow and arrow), not one. It also says enchantments, not enhancement bonuses so it is quite a bit better than greater magic weapon.

[Amnoriath]

You have improved this considerably but I think you ought to mesh some abilities and your flavor out better.
Some of what Cloud said is quite true. This class isn't a full ranger he is a spirit guided warrior. You need to change the skills to match that. It also doesn't have any means to interact with or even see the spiritual other than its companion. The companion itself is even limited only having a commune undead spell-like ability. It obviously needs some means to see them so things like see-invisibility, ghost tough, and true seeing are obvious. The spiritual, in you context, seems to extend beyond just incorporeal including magic and supernatural. A small ability that allows to invoke a disruptive field around a caster even with a small check will enable disruptive arrow to work.

I would say that the Spirit Companion needs to have a much larger skill list and points of its own. As of now there is no customization and any good companion feature allows some. I would splash in social skills but it could only use them with other incorporeal beings and maybe at some point give you a bonus equal to half its ranks. I may even go as far as to allow the companion to lend a feat as it is a form of a guide. Also detect magic normally requires 3 rounds to give full detail, obviously this needs to be reduced to at least one. Also the dispel and steal plus limited anti-magic ability come really late. Parts of or smaller versions need to come earlier.