The Ballistarius (Class in 30 minutes; PEACH)

[Jormengand]

By request, another class made in just 30 minutes, it's the Ballistarius!

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Rapid Reload, Pavise
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Bonus Feat
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Brace, Aim, Fire
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Bonus Feat
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Area Attack (5 foot)
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	Bonus Feat
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Cover Blitzer
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Bonus Feat
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	Smash Down
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	Bonus Feat
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3	Right Between the Eyes
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Bonus Feat
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4	Smash Back
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4	Bonus Feat
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	Area Attack (10 foot)
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Bonus Feat
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	Area Attack (15 foot)
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	Bonus Feat
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	Area Attack (20 foot)
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Boltstorm, Bonus Feat

Alignment: Any
Hit Die: 1d10

Class Skills:
The ballistarius' class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis) and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Weapon and Armour Proficiency
Ballistarii are proficient in all simple weapons and all crossbows. They are proficient in all armour and the tower shield.

Rapid Reload
Ballistarii gain rapid reload in any one crossbow as a bonus feat at first level. They can reload any crossbow they have the rapid reload feat for as a free action, even though the feat doesn't normally do that.

Pavise (Ex)
Ballistarii can wield and reload crossbows one-handed so long as they wield a Tower Shield in the other hand. Ballistarii with more than two hands must have at least one tower shield, and can use this to wield many crossbows.

Bonus Feat
Ballistarii gain bonus feats just like a fighter does except that they do not get to choose their first-level feat (it must be Rapid Reload). They are treated as fighters for feat prerequisites.

Brace, Aim, Fire (Ex)
From 3rd level, the ballistarius gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls for each round (including this one) that he did not move, though if he claims this bonus he can't move later in the round. This bonus is up to a maximum of his class level.

Area Attack (Ex)
A ballistarius can use his crossbow as though it were an unusually-long-ranged splash weapon from 5th level, though it deals its full damage to creatures in all squares. The attack affects creatures in squares within 5 feet of the target square (including the target square itself), increasing to 10 feet at 15th level, 15 feet at 17th, and 20 feet at 19th.

Cover Blitzer (Ex)
From 7th level, ballistarii ignore cover except total cover with their attacks. They can also choose to deal damage to interposing cover as well as their enemy, except if that cover is a creature (though the creature may be caught in an area attack anyway).

Smash Down (Ex)
From 9th level, any creature struck directly by a ballistarius' crossbow shot falls prone. A reflex save with a DC equal to the damage dealt negates this effect.

Right Between The Eyes (Ex)
From 11th level, any creature struck directly by a ballistarius' crossbow shot takes double damage; the extra damage is multiplied "Properly" on a critical hit (so with a *3 critical, a critical hit deals 6 times damage, not 4 times).

Smash Back (Ex)
From 13th level, a creature knocked prone by the ballistarius' shot also moves 5 feet directly away if the ballistarius wishes.

Boltstorm (Ex)
At 20th level, the ballistarius gains the ability to resolve his entire full attack twice as a full-round action.

[nikkoli]

It would seem as though boltstorm is missing. Since they get fighter bonus feats they count as fighters correct?

[Jormengand]

It would seem as though boltstorm is missing. Since they get fighter bonus feats they count as fighters correct?

Fixed and specified yes.

[sengmeng]

Is the area attack consuming more ammo? How about the boltstorm? I feel that should be specified.

It's strictly better than a fighter, but that is only a reflection of the Core's imbalance.

I'd allow it in a game for sure, but I don't know if I'd be tempted to stick it out for twenty levels. It could be a good dip for many builds, but most of them would end up wasting its heavy armor. Shouldn't it need a way to negate the Dex bonus restriction from the heavy armor?

This is how I would play the Punisher in medieval times, so kudos on that.

[Jormengand]

Is the area attack consuming more ammo? How about the boltstorm? I feel that should be specified.

No for the area attack (you're firing one bolt, it slams into an area), yes for the boltstorm (you fire twice as many shots).

It's strictly better than a fighter, but that is only a reflection of the Core's imbalance.

Not quite (No nontower shield proficiency and few martial proficiencies; forced to take rapid reload at 1st) but yeah, basically.

I'd allow it in a game for sure, but I don't know if I'd be tempted to stick it out for twenty levels. It could be a good dip for many builds, but most of them would end up wasting its heavy armor. Shouldn't it need a way to negate the Dex bonus restriction from the heavy armor?

Nothing about the ballistarius screams mobility to me, from the ranged full attacker schtick to the bonus for not moving. The first thing I'd do as one is find some way to add a non-dex score to my attack rolls and pump that instead.

This is how I would play the Punisher in medieval times, so kudos on that.

[sengmeng]

I can't be bothered to reread the srd at the moment, but some people I've played with have interpreted the max dex bonus of armor to apply to EVERYTHING that uses dexterity, not just AC. If that's not correct, then no problem.

[nikkoli]

Max dex most definitely only apply a to bonus to AC.

[CinuzIta]

Nice class, simple and fun! I'm actually thinking about playing it in my next mini campaing.

On a side note, no Dex to damage and/or Ranged Power Attack? 'Brace, aim, fire' make up for a food damage bonus on the long term but a ballistarius who needs to move during a combat will have her damage output seriously reduced :)