Order of the Bow Initiate

[dman11235]

Still have no table.  It's obvious, no?

Order of the Bow Initiate

I am the true master of the bow, you cannot even comprehend it. - Sarth Muldana, Order of the Bow Initiate

Those that seek the way of the bow know nothing of mastery.  Only those who join the Order of the Bow know what it means to be true masters of ranged combat.

BECOMING AN ORDER OF THE BOW INITIATE
Most initiates start off as fighters, due to their military backround.  But initiates come from all over the spectrum, ranging from scouts and rangers to rogues, and even some barbarians and paladins take up the path of the bow.  Due to the skill and feat requirements, most initiates take a couple levels of ranger for the bonus skill points and feat, but it is possible to start taking this class without it.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Craft (bowmaking) 8 ranks, Concentration 4 ranks, Spot 4 ranks
Feats: Precise Shot, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (any bow)
Special: Must be inducted in to the Order of the Bow

Class Skills
Balance, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Heal, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Ride, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Survival, Tumble, Use Rope
Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + int

Hit Dice: d10



Weapon Proficiencies: An Order of the Bow Initiate is proficient with all bows, and gains no new armor or shield proficiencies.

Bow Aptitude: You have great skill with any bow, not just the bow you first trained with.  You may apply any weapon specific feats you have for a bow (such as Weapon Focus) to any bow you wield.  In addition, you qualify for fighter feats as if you were a fighter of a level equal to your Order of the Bow Initiate level minus 2, but you must select feats that apply to bows.

Ranged Precision: It's 1d8 on every odd level, but I need restrictions.  not done here yet.  It's definitely not a full-round action for +xd8.  I don't want it to be a Sneak Attack duplicate, but either just flanking or just denied dex isn't right (you should be able to do it with both, probably).  It will require thought. *swift action+spot check based on target's AC.  Not sure what math will be behind this yet.  Probably something like 10+natural armor+armor+shield as the DC.*

Close Combat Shot: An Order of the Bow Initiate is so in tune with his bows that he no longer provokes attacks of opportunity for firing one.  He still incurs attacks of opportunity for using other ranged weapons, such as crossbows.  In addition, the Order of the Bow Initiate counts as threatening a 30' radius for the purposes of receiving flanking benefits.  An Order of the Bow Initiate does not allow others to flank solely because he is within 30' though.  The ally that is providing flanking benefits to you must not be on the same side of the enemy as you are. *addendum: I still can't remember the third thing I had for this, and probably will never remember it.  The way I had it sucked because I was stretching for that third ability.  Will probably change to 1st level receive flanking and 6th level full benefits of reach.*

Sharpshooting: At level  an Order of the Bow Initiate begins to learn how to reduce the benefits of cover.  The bonus to AC from cover and partial cover is reduced by two.  In addition, and Order of the Bow Initiate reduces miss-chances by .  At level 10 the bonuses from cover reduce by another 2. *addendum: I may change this to utilize the mechanics of spot check+swift action.  In fact, I probably will.  It might do something else too.*

Increase Range: At level 4 an Order of the Bow Initiate adds 30 feet to the range of his Close Combat Shot class feature, and to the range of precision based attacks, such as Sneak Attack, up to a maximum of one range increment of the bow he is using.  At level 7 and 10 he adds another 30 feet to this, for a total of 120 feet at level 10.  This ability only applies to him if he is using a bow. *Addendum: I may provide a small change to base mechanics of precision damage range.  Idea was to have a "precision range" which is the range for all precision damage.  This is based on creature size, and much like range increment, can be increased.  this would also allow a more "realistic" way to increase range for it without spending anything, except for some penalties, much like range increments.*

Improved Threat: At level 5, and again at level 9, an Order of the Bow Initiate increases the threat range of any bow he wields by one.  This stacks with the effects of Keen or Improved Critical.

Extra Shots: When sniping (see the Hide skill), an Order of the Bow Initiate of 6th level may make a full attack action or a standard action and still hide. *addendum: this is a sucky ability that I feel bad for creating.  Will change*

Deadly Threat: At level 7 an Order of the Bow Initiate increases the threat multiplier of any bow he wields by one.

Ranged Trip: At level 8 an Order of the Bow Initiate gains the Improved Trip feat for free.  In addition, he may use his arrows to attempt to trip an opponent.  This follows the normal rules for tripping, but if he fails the defender may not attempt to trip him in return.  He adds his dexterity modifier to the check instead of strength, and does not gain any benefits from being any larger, nor does he take penalties for being smaller.  Instead, he gains a bonus based on the bow's strength: +2 for being composite, and +1 per strength rating beyond the minimum.  In addition, longbows get a +2 bonus, and greatbows get a +4 bonus.  Finally, he adds his class level as a bonus to the attempt. *addendum: will probably get worked into a new class feature, something like "Ranged Maneuvers" or something better named.  This will allow you to perform combat maneuvers at range, but only with a bow.*

Perfect Archery: An Order of the Bow Initiate is defined by his archery.  He gains the Improved Critical feat with any bow he wields.  In addition, he adds his dexterity modifier to damage dealt with a bow.  Finally, he reduces the penalty for sniping (see the Hide skill) by 10. *addendum: this is a bad ability and needs to be changed.*

PLAYING AN ORDER OF THE BOW INITIATE
Brief description on how to play the class you are designing.
Combat: Here's a section where you will describe common combat methods for your class. Remember to include information on how your class will use his powers in combat.
Advancement: This is a section on different options and paths that the class can go down when they advance in power.
Resources: What resources might a member of this PrC be able to draw on..

ORDER OF THE BOW INITIATES IN THE WORLD
I tell ya!  I've seen some fine shootin' in my day, by this guy?  He done shot the orc commander dead between the eyes from a hunderd feet away! -A farmer talking about an Order of the Bow Initiate hired to help fend off a raiding orc tribe.


Daily Life:
Notables:
Organizations:

NPC Reaction
NPCs are generally indifferent to members of the Order of the Bow.  Mainly this is because members are so diverse (anyone who wishes to master the way of the bow can join) and because the Order of the Bow has no over-arching plan that might get in the way of any potential overlords or humanitarians.

ORDER OF THE BOW INITIATES IN THE GAME
This is a good place to provide a quick note on how your class will effect game play statistically.
Adaptation: This is a place where you put in detail how people can adapt your class into their campaign setting.
Encounters: This is a place to describe what sort of encounters PC's will have with NPC versions of your class.

[Ubernoob]

Needs moar Real  Abilities^TM.  A decent start point.

Basically, work from the fluff up rather than the numbers down.

[AfterCrescent]

Some thoughts.
Weapon Proficiencies - grants proficiency with every exotic bow, as written. So that's a nice little bonus.

Ranged Precision - My two ideas for this are either A) make it like skirmish, but functioning when you don't move (i.e. aiming). or B) make it more maneuver-y, and use a standard action with a swift action recovery or some-such.

Close Combat Shot - Probably should make it scale, so small/medium get 30' but bigger archers get more? Just a thought. I also agree that you need to figure out what that third benefit was...

Sharpshooting - May need to put a clause in this, or at 10th level, if a OotBI can hear you, he can hit you, since he negates total concealment...

Extra Shots - Needs to specify that you don't take that huge Hide penalty.

Perfect Archery is a bit weak. Dex to Damage is nice, but not enough for a capstone.

[dman11235]

On Sharp Shooting: that's the point.  Note that you must target the correct square, and only hearing does not pinpoint the square usually, only the general direction.  And even if you did guess correctly, you won't normally know that you hit, unless you have some means of detecting when others are hurt or hit or something.

Extra Shots: it doesn't negate the hide penalty.  I did pretty much stick that in at the end because I had a stealth ability in the capstone, but nothing supporting the style earlier, and I remembered that the biggest bane to sniping was the action loss.  So it's understandable that it doesn't fit very well.  I tried to hurriedly fix the placement of everything else.  This is probably the most poorly thought out ability I did for this class.  So yes, I need to work on that.

Capstones: should not be too powerful.  They need to make you want to take the level, nothing more.  They should not define your character.  Your character should gain meat abilities at level 1.  Then augment those abilities at later levels.  Also note that at that level you gain +1 threat range and +30' precision damage.

Close Combat Shot: I always thought that would be a good idea, but all of the other abilities that rely on this thing are set distances.  And I'm not talking about Ranged Skirmisher and Crossbow Sniper, but Sneak Attack.  It's only 30' for colossal creatures too.  That's a problem with the base abilities.  I'm open for ideas here though.  And I want that third ability back!

@uber: The reason I had all those feat there was because I wanted an archer to be able to do most combat maneuvers (besides grapple and bull-rush, for obvious reasons).  But those feats already exist.  So why re-invent the wheel?  Especially when getting it for free means the bad design of them goes away for the most part (taking a feat to justify a combat tactic).  And I did work from fluff up.  That's how I roll.  It's just that I'm terrible at writing and all that jazz, so I usually leave that out until I'm done with the mechanics (because I have the fluff....in my brain....)

And don't worry your pretty little head, I'm re-writing this soon.  As soon as I figure some abilities out.  I will be using the swift action+spot check for Ranged Precision.  This means I need more abilities that involve this new mechanic, else it be a wasted restriction, as only martial adepts/casters really use swift actions.  And half of the scouts out there.  As for yours: some good ideas.  Will be yoinking if I re-write rather than review.

[Ubernoob]

@uber: The reason I had all those feat there was because I wanted an archer to be able to do most combat maneuvers (besides grapple and bull-rush, for obvious reasons).  But those feats already exist.  So why re-invent the wheel?  Especially when getting it for free means the bad design of them goes away for the most part (taking a feat to justify a combat tactic).  And I did work from fluff up.  That's how I roll.  It's just that I'm terrible at writing and all that jazz, so I usually leave that out until I'm done with the mechanics (because I have the fluff....in my brain....)

And don't worry your pretty little head, I'm re-writing this soon.  As soon as I figure some abilities out.  I will be using the swift action+spot check for Ranged Precision.  This means I need more abilities that involve this new mechanic, else it be a wasted restriction, as only martial adepts/casters really use swift actions.  And half of the scouts out there.  As for yours: some good ideas.  Will be yoinking if I re-write rather than review.

Frankly the ability to trip, disarm, and pin people at range (assuming you make it so that the feats actually work because even with your adding the class level to the check they don't work) could be a single ability of the PrC granted at level 3 or so.

Actually, disarm sort of works with adding your class level to the attempt.  That's a decent way to work ranged disarm.
Ranged trip is flat out way too good the way you've written it.  You effectively have the trip attempt at Dex+Str+2 or 4+Class level vs Str.  That makes tripping rediculusly good.  Might want to rewrite that (eliminate the bow rating bonus and the bonus based on what bow is used would be a decent way to stay on the RNG).  Also, make a note that you ignore the usual one size cap on tripping.  Right now the bonuses are too high, but it is too binary.  We want abilities that work with a chance all the time.
Ranged pin as written is worthless because it uses grapple mechanics (which archers usually don't have good modifiers) and DC 25 str or escape artist check isn't really any big deal (especially when skill tricks come into play).

[woodenbandman]

Factotum 8/Fighter2/OotBI 10

EDIT: Ooh, maybe make ranged precision do bonus damage based on the result of a spot check for a single attack (even out of a full attack), similar to Iaijutsu Focus.

@Uber: true it's easy to escape, but it's not easy to make up that standard action you just lost 

[dman11235]

Frankly the ability to trip, disarm, and pin people at range (assuming you make it so that the feats actually work because even with your adding the class level to the check they don't work) could be a single ability of the PrC granted at level 3 or so.

Point.  When I made this (it was a quick build btw, not much thought went into it) I kinda thought "hey, I can't give these abilities all at once, because that's so many abilities!", thinking of them as separate abilities instead of a single "allow so melee maneuvers at range" ability.  Not one of my finest moments.

Actually, disarm sort of works with adding your class level to the attempt.  That's a decent way to work ranged disarm.
Ranged trip is flat out way too good the way you've written it.  You effectively have the trip attempt at Dex+Str+2 or 4+Class level vs Str.  That makes tripping rediculusly good.  Might want to rewrite that (eliminate the bow rating bonus and the bonus based on what bow is used would be a decent way to stay on the RNG).  Also, make a note that you ignore the usual one size cap on tripping.  Right now the bonuses are too high, but it is too binary.  We want abilities that work with a chance all the time.
Ranged pin as written is worthless because it uses grapple mechanics (which archers usually don't have good modifiers) and DC 25 str or escape artist check isn't really any big deal (especially when skill tricks come into play).

For the trip: I was trying to make it viable because they don't have size bonuses to the attempt.  That's how trippers normally get their bonuses so high.  Normally it's around str+8+4+2 or 4 for tripping, or str+two short of 10 levels+4+2 or 4.  So this gets probably 6 more than normal.  This assumed only two size increases.  And no feats to increase trip modifier (two Mastery feats from dragon give you +24 at 20, it's +4 and +character level respectively...Blue Mountain mastery?), and only a +6 secondary stat (str for the archer).  I'm aware that it can go higher, but I build for average optimization.

As for pin: I'll have to look at it again.  I'll probably re-do it if it sucks in the re-write.  I didn't want the bonus to go too high because, well, I wanted it to not fall off the RNG.  The fact that Escape Artist is one of the options kinda makes that part hard though.  For str: 13 str at 20, DC 25 str check...that's not all to easy to escape.  This assumes no str boosts like Rage or larger creatures, and a +2 racial bonus.  And for characters with low str...

[veekie]

RE: the trip, you could just say that the ranged trip ignores size modifiers on both sides.

[dman11235]

How does being bigger NOT help you avoid being tripped?  Being bigger and firing a bow would probably not help, that's why that is gone.  Also, I'd still need boosts, because a battle of the d20s means you aren't an expert at it.  And that's what dex+1d20 vs str+1d20 would be in some cases.  Common cases.