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View Full Version : The Bone Archer. For Archers who have bones. (PrC)



Baron Corm
2007-01-25, 10:37 PM
The bone archer is a sort of sick individual who likes to play with bones. He's not necessarily evil, nor is he undead. He fashions powerful arrows using his own bone, and gains a mount similar to the paladin. Bone archers are "supposed to be" multiclassed off of the fighter class. They are tacticians; resourceful and quick like your typical rogueish or rangerish archer, but not sneaky in any way. I added in the Knowledge skills that they may be used in Amber E. Scott's way, which is in the gaming section of this site. Let it be known that "marrow" rhymes with "arrow" but I couldn't see arrows made of marrow being useful. Another pun would be "bow marrow", but that doesn't make any sense at all.

Bone Archer
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+0|Bone arrow, jagged skeleton +1

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|Tendon bowstring

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Jagged skeleton +2

4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1|Skeletal mount, shards

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1|Jagged skeleton +3

6th|
+6|
+5|
+5|
+2|Hardened skeleton

7th|
+7|
+5|
+5|
+2|Jagged skeleton +4

8th|
+8|
+6|
+6|
+2|Improved shards

9th|
+9|
+6|
+6|
+3|Jagged skeleton +5

10th|
+10|
+7|
+7|
+3|Skeletal warmount, thin man[/table]

Hit Die: d8
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Skills: Handle Animal, Ride, Knowledge (Any), Tumble, Use Rope, Survival, Concentration

Requirements

To qualify to become a bone archer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Base Attack Bonus: +6
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (longbow or shortbow), Weapon Specialization (longbow or shortbow), Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery
Skills: Ride 5 ranks
Special: Must be a creature with a skeleton

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Bone archers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Bone Arrow (Ex)

The bone archer may slide a bone out from his wrist into his hand as a move action. After 1 round of concentration from the bone archer, this bone becomes arrow-shaped, functions as an arrow, and may be magically enchanted as a non-magical arrow. When fired, a new bone arrow with the same enhancements as the old one slides out from the bone archer's wrist and is nocked and ready to fire, requiring no move action. This grants the bone archer essentially unlimited ammunition, unless he loses the arrow in a way other than shooting it. He may choose to throw it away on purpose. Any bone arrow not in the bone archer's possession disintegrates within 1 round, unless gentle repose is cast on it, in which case it will disintegrate after the spell ends. The bone archer may use his own Will save and spell resistance to resist this spell. If the bone arrow is fired by another, it disintegrates after dealing whatever damage it may have dealt. The bone archer may only have one bone arrow at any time. The bone taken from his body regrows instantly, and the entire procedure is painless.

Jagged Skeleton (Ex)

Any bone arrow the bone archer fires is treated as having a +1 enhancement for every odd level of bone archer (in addition to any other magical properties it might have).

Tendon Bowstring (Ex)

Beginning at level 2, the bone archer may extract a tendon from his arm as a move action. This tendon can be used to restring a bow (a process taking 5 rounds), allowing the bone archer to add any strength bonus he has to damage. This is a painless procedure.

Skeletal Mount (Sp)

Upon reaching 4th level, the bone archer may perform a ritual on a normal mount (usually a heavy warhorse or something similar size-appropriate). This ritual takes 24 hours and binds the mount to the bone archer, granting it special abilities. He is subject to concentration checks during this ritual. Should the mount die, the bone archer must find another one to replace it, and perform the ritual again. The mount must have been with the bone archer for at least a week, getting used to being around all the bones and trusting the bone archer enough not to bolt during the ritual.

The mount's base speed increases by 10 feet. The bone archer has an empathetic link with his mount. The mount has 7 Intelligence, +2 Strength, +4 Dexterity, enough bonus HD to make it CR 5, and +3 Natural Armor. It also applies the bone archer's Dexterity bonus to its Reflex saves (in addition to its own), and gains Evasion. Its type becomes magical beast.

The bone archer's mount appears in the shape of the animal it was, but no organs or muscles are visible on it (only the skeleton.. no veins etc). It never needs to eat, sleep, or breathe and is not subject to critical hits or fatigue, yet it gains no other features of an undead creature and is not inherently evil or undead.

Shards (Ex)

Also at level 4, the bone archer learns to put extra strength into an attack, causing his bone arrow to explode on impact and damage the inside of a creature. He designates an attack to have the shards effect, and if the attack hits, the damaged creature must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + bone archer level + Dexterity modifier) or suffer injuries that slow its move speed by 50%. This speed penalty lasts for 24 hours or until the injured creature receives a cure spell (which also restores lost hit points). Another character can remove the penalty by taking 10 minutes to dress the injuries and succeeding on a Heal check against the save DC.

This attack deals twice the normal damage from the bone archer's strength modifier in addition to the normal bone arrow damage, even if the Fortitude save is made. It is usable 1/day per two class levels. If the bone archer designates an attack as dealing shards but misses, the attempt is wasted.

Hardened Skeleton (Ex)

At level 6, the bone archer's bone arrows harden significantly, enabling them to bypass hardness and damage reduction as if they were made of adamantine.

Improved Shards (Ex)

At level 8, on missing a shards attempt, the bone arrow explodes in a 20 ft radius (centered on the creature missed), affecting all creatures with shards unless they make a Reflex save (DC 10 + bone archer level + Dexterity modifier) and the normal Fortitude save.

The bone archer deals 2x his strength modifier in piercing damage and normal damage from his bone arrow to every creature who fails the Reflex save, and half that to those who make it. Creatures who make their Reflex save yet fail their Fortitude save have their movement speed reduced by 25%. The bone archer may choose to "miss" (target a square) if he desires.

Skeletal Warmount (Sp)

At level 10, the bone archer gains additional bonuses for himself and his skeletal mount. There is no longer a penalty to attack when fighting ranged from the mount, the mount gains improved evasion, its speed increases by 40 feet, it has 13 Intelligence, +4 Strength, +8 Dexterity, enough bonus HD to make it CR 10, and +6 Natural Armor, replacing the previous bonuses. In addition, the bone archer now adds his Dexterity modifier as a dodge bonus to the mount's AC when riding it.

The bone archer may choose to have his mount appear non-skeletal, yet this always goes away as soon as it enters battle and whenever it is touched. A will save may be made at a DC of 25 to see the mount for what it really is. A standard action will turn the disguise on or off. A true seeing spell will automatically see past it.

Thin Man (Ex)

At level 10, the bone archer's organs fall from his body, causing him to appear as a skeleton, in the shape of his natural skeleton. He no longer has to eat, breathe, or sleep and becomes immune to critical hits and fatigue, but is not undead and gains no other features of your typical "skeleton". He can choose to appear as he did before this transformation, but a will save made at DC 25 shows him for his true self. His disguise will also drop if he enters battle or is touched. It takes a standard action to turn the disguise on or off. A true seeing spell will automatically seee past it.

The bone archer usually saves his old tissues as they hold a sentimental value for him, and as was mentioned you have to be a little messed up to take this prestige class.

Legoman
2007-01-26, 01:37 AM
I like the concept of a Bonefletcher (Dota?) I made one as an adversary to annoy the party - Level 2 Scout Bone Elf (bone from BOVD)

Dude fired paralyzing poisons, and carried a pick to CDG.

Total Party Kill, at level 4. The amount of +Dex is absolutely nasty.

I'd suggest maybe making this a 5-level PrC, (There's not really enough here that you gain over being a standard fighter) drop the bonus feats, and make being a skeleton already be a pre-req for the class.

Also, unlimited ammunition? Can get nasty... I'd suggest making a cap on the enchanting you can do to these unlimited arrows, a +1 ability at 1, a +2 at 3, and a +3 at 5. Since you're already giving a flat +5 bonus at level 5, you're getting effectively unlimited +8 arrows... Which blows the WBL out of the water.

Also, extracting a tendon from your arm is never a painless procedure, if you're living.

Also, appearing as a skeleton, with your guts falling off... but people can disbelieve it... it's just odd... and really creepy...

Creepier than a skeleton who shoots his own bones would normally be...

Rierdrex
2007-01-26, 09:20 AM
It's disgusting, someone using his own body parts for weapons, but I like it. I can truly see a sort of anti-hero character going through with this. The process of using your own bones and flesh to fire arrows is disturbing, but quite interesting. If I'm not mistaken, the jagged Skeleton ability is like the Arcane Archers enchanted arrows, right? If that's true, then this class is quite alright, powerwise. Maybe even a bit underpowered, considering the arcane archers other abilities. I don't see what could really be done to change this, but flavour wise, it's great. If you want to keep it a 10 lvl PrC, maybe we could add an ability like this.
Splintering Arrow(Ex): A bone archer can decide, as a standard action, to attack a square with a bone arrow. Wherever the arrow hits, it splinters and fires of bone shards in a 10 (or 20, not sure about the radius) ft radius burst, centered on the arrow. The burst's damage is the base damage of the arrow, plus any enhancement bonuses or magical abilities it may possess. Reflex save half DC 10+bone archer lvl+(I'm not sure about the relevant ability here).

Triaxx
2007-01-26, 09:55 AM
Perhaps Ride if mounted? Not certain about ground.

katarl
2007-01-26, 11:01 AM
Disgusting... and utterly brilliant.

Reminds me of a certain naruto character, who used bone darts as weapons, but then everything reminds me of someone from naruto.

Don't understand why it needs a war mount from a flavour perspective, but will take it as a campaign/idea specific thing. I'd give it magical abilities (such as exploding bone, or bone minions) instead. Firing bones at someone that turn into full skeletons is a classic greek moment (if slightly skewed).

I also feel that the thin man feature is unnecessary, at least the organs falling out bit.

I'm going to steal this class and make dozens of these bone archers for my necromancy campaign, though i am going to implement a different class feature to compensate for lack of mounts, and alter the thin man feature.

Icewalker
2007-01-26, 11:39 AM
I like it, would make a great villain. I agree with Rierdrex, it may be slightly underpowered, and you could add some magical effects. The idea of taking your tendon out as a bowstring was a brilliant touch, and that the bone continuously slides out to replace used arrows.
Yeah, definitely a great villain class, also could be quite cool for kinda screwy PCs, because people would always be scared of em.

Triaxx
2007-01-26, 06:43 PM
Perhaps the necromancers might find them useful as body guards. If you spend all day dealing with the undead, one more bone bag isn't going to bother you, and if you can have an intelligent conversation, so much the better.

Krimm_Blackleaf
2007-01-26, 09:42 PM
I like it. This is inspiring me to make an archer and use this class...hopefully my DM has the same morbid nature as I do.

Tussy the Druid
2007-01-28, 01:56 PM
Ew. Are you should that would be a painless process? I mean removing bones.... Ow.

Baron Corm
2007-01-28, 06:55 PM
thanks all for your comments, i'll consider this my first partial-success. as far as it being underpowered goes, you're probably right, the bonus feat levels were cop-outs. how about this at level 6:

Shards (Ex)

The bone archer may put extra strength into an attack, causing his bone arrow to explode on impact and damage the inside of a creature. He designates an attack to have the shards effect, and if the attack hits, the damaged creature must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + bone archer level + dex mod) or suffer injuries that slow its move speed by one-half. This speed penalty lasts for 24 hours or until the injured creature receives a cure spell (which also restores lost hit points). Another character can remove the penalty by taking 10 minutes to dress the injuries and succeeding on a Heal check against the save DC. This attack deals twice the normal damage from the bone archer's strength modifier in addition to the normal bone arrow damage, even if the Fortitude save is made. It is usable 3x/day. If the bone archer designates an attack as dealing shards but misses, the attempt is wasted.


and this at level 8:

Improved Shards (Ex)

On missing a shards attempt, the bone arrow explodes in a 20 ft radius (centered on the creature missed), affecting all creatures with shards unless they make a Reflex save (DC 10 + bone archer level + dex mod) and the normal Fortitude save. He deals 2x his strength modifier in piercing damage and normal damage from his bone arrow to every creature who fails the Reflex save, and half that to those who make it. The bone archer may choose to "miss" if he desires.


this is different from hail of arrows in that it only takes one of his attacks for that round to perform. in another recent thread i saw people call hail of arrows underpowered so that is why this is significantly better. kudos to Rierdrex for the idea.

Icewalker
2007-01-28, 11:44 PM
huh, I like the Shards idea, but maybe it shouldn't wear off after a day, I mean they do have shards of bone stuck in em, unless they disappear for magical reasons, like their arrows do, maybe it should stay until someone makes a cure of heal check.

Rethinking on my previous point, this would make an even better cohort or sidekick/assistant for a major necromantic villain. second in command hunched skeleton with a longbow slung over its back...I like it, I'm definitely using it, especially seeing as I already have a major undead raising villain.

Triaxx
2007-01-30, 09:30 AM
The process would be come painless as soon as the tissue in the way is removed.

Rierdrex
2007-01-30, 04:28 PM
Happy to have been able to help. Nice work on the PrC, and keep going!

Mewtarthio
2007-01-30, 04:34 PM
Are you sure these should all be (Ex) instead of (Su)?

Deus Mortus
2007-01-30, 09:10 PM
How about this:

Skeletal Seed

A bone archer can fire an arrow (bone archer level) times per day on a square, when it hits it creates one skeleton that will serve the archers for 1d4+1 rounds after which it falls apart, the skeleton's HD is equal to that of the archer and only one may exist, when the archer shoots another Skeletal Seed arrow while a skeleton is active, the first skeleton falls apart.

Fenrir
2008-04-03, 06:43 PM
I really liked this class, although I'm not so sure I would use the mount. But that's just me, I hate mounts.

And the attacks might be used in a Constitution base sort of way, I mean even if for some reason the tendon-ripping IS painless it might affect the users build

It is a bit underpowered, but I love it. It WILL make a great villain

Also I have a suggestion:

Bone burst (Ex)

The Bone Archer may shoot a series of bone arrows that are "magically" created as he pulls the cord of the bow and fire them in a 30ft cone that deals 1d6 damage per every bone archer level (or something like that)
The bone archer may use this ability 1 + Con modifier times per day

That is just something that came up and made sort of sense to me

I loved it, you think I could use it in a campaign?

...Eh?
2008-04-03, 10:06 PM
The first thing I thought of when I read the bone arrow ability was the spring-loaded crossbow, a lovely little fluff weapon from the 3.0 book Sword and Fist. Basically, it was a crossbow on the wrist that you fired by forming a fist and squeezing. The idea of the bone sliding right out of the wrist, into the crossbow, and being fired in one smooth action facinates me.

Speaking of, what size are these bones? Can a small Bone Archer make arrows for a gargantuan bow? Can he use his bones as crossbow bolts? How about throwing knives?

Baron Corm
2008-04-03, 11:26 PM
Oh January 30th, 2007, you sly dog you.


I really liked this class, although I'm not so sure I would use the mount. But that's just me, I hate mounts.

Yeah I don't know how that came in either.


And the attacks might be used in a Constitution base sort of way, I mean even if for some reason the tendon-ripping IS painless it might affect the users build

If you're referring to the save DC of Shards, it's Dexterity because accuracy is what is taken into account. If you're not, I got no clue.


It is a bit underpowered, but I love it. It WILL make a great villain

Aw, thanks. It was the first thing I ever made that people liked :smallbiggrin:. I especially liked it because it showed me that everyone who posted here is a sick puppy. "It's disgusting, someone using his own body parts for weapons, but I like it." Priceless.


Also I have a suggestion:

Bone burst (Ex)

The Bone Archer may shoot a series of bone arrows that are "magically" created as he pulls the cord of the bow and fire them in a 30ft cone that deals 1d6 damage per every bone archer level (or something like that)
The bone archer may use this ability 1 + Con modifier times per day

That is just something that came up and made sort of sense to me

Yeah the Shards thing might need reworking, but I don't think I'm going to put any more effort into this class heh.


I loved it, you think I could use it in a campaign?

I don't see how I could stop you, but you have my permission anyway! Hey why am I in such a good mood today?


Speaking of, what size are these bones? Can a small Bone Archer make arrows for a gargantuan bow? Can he use his bones as crossbow bolts? How about throwing knives?

I'm not sure a small bone archer can wield a gargantuan bow, but if he can, I'm going to go with yes, because it would be funny, and raise questions. The crossbow thing, according to the class, is not allowed, but you could easily change it to allow crossbows, or throwing weapons, or even melee weapons.

MelkorsHalo
2008-04-04, 01:58 AM
Pretty sweet class, i must say. As a big fan of undead and psuedo undead stuff, they've got a spot in my campaign ready to go.

Admiral Squish
2008-04-04, 02:35 AM
I think you should cut out focus and specialization in the requirements. Col for flavor, not so good in practice, because it means you actually have to take levels in fighter. Why exclude rangers, or any other martial class?

Also, the skeletal steed thing is cool, and probably useful in the build you had in mind, but it seems just thrown in with little regard for the rest of the features. Skeletal archer? Awesome! Skeletal archer on a bone horse? ...Huh? I'd replace it with some other features, personally. I like the skeleton-seed thing mentioned earlier.

Finally, onto thin man. Again, cool idea, not so cool execution. I suggest applying the skeleton template, but retaining the HD, int and con scores of the original. If your archer is dedicated enough to the Modification of their own skeletal structure to actually reach 10th level on this, and he's that messed up, too, why would they care enough to bother staying hidden? I'd make it so their shed skin is preserved indefinitely, and they can wear it for a +20 bonus to disguising as themselves?

Fenrir
2008-04-04, 03:21 PM
Yay sick puppies... huh?

Anyway i'm glad I could be of help, and what I meant about the constitution thing was that even if the process of ripping tendons and bones from your body was for some strange reason painless. The aftermath could mean some bad luck for the user... For example

If you take out a bone from your wrist and shaped it into an arrow maybe you should loose some hit points like say 2 or 3, to make the limitless arrow thing go away (of course that would mean re-making the whole PrC) OR the user may only take out bones from his wrist like say, 5 times + his constitution score times per day...

And since you said that you wont put much work into it, do you think I could take the concept and rebuild the class?

PS: I asked you if I could use the class because I don't like to not use my own ideas without permission.

Baron Corm
2008-04-04, 05:56 PM
And since you said that you wont put much work into it, do you think I could take the concept and rebuild the class?

If you want. It was thread necromancied from over a year ago and my views on things have changed a lot since then... so yeah I'm done with it.

Bobmufin52
2008-10-12, 11:13 PM
This class is so awesome! The class powers make it both a good class to give someone a creepy back story, while also giving them some awesome abilities at the same time. You also get a lot of points for originality. Keep you the great work dude!