Peerless Archer
Many armies boast units of soldiers who use a bow as their primary weapon, but most do not possess the discipline to gain the kind of expertise that the peerless archer has. The peerless archer devotes her life to perfecting her skill with the bow. Allother concerns are secondary. For her, the perfect moment in life occurs when the arrow is loosed and every-thing depends upon the accuracy of her eye, the steadiness of her hand, and her understanding of her chosen weapon.For the most skilled archers, life is lived to its fullest in that moment. Perfection is a bulls eye, and everything else is irrelevant.
Fighters and rangers are the most common peerless archers, but barbarians and paladins sometimes choose to follow this path of mastery. Monks are drawn to the almost spiritual nature of the discipline. Rogues and powerful sorcerers have been known to take up the class from time to time, but it is rare. Druids and wizards are rarely tempted to abandon their other pursuits to devote themselves so completely to a single weapon.
As NPCs, peerless archers are often mercenaries, hired by military officers or noble rulers either to augment the fieldunits or undertake some special task, such as picking off spellcasters in the opposing army’s ranks.
Hit Die:d10.
REQUIREMENTS
To qualify to become a peerless archer, a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +7.
Skills: Craft (bow making) 10 ranks.
Proficiency: Longbow, short bow, composite longbow, or composite short bow.
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Far Shot, Precise Shot,Quick Draw.
CLASS SKILLS
The peerless archer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (bow making)(Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).
See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Hand book for skill descriptions.
Skill Points at Each Level:2 + Int modifier.
Class Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special
1st +1 +2 +0 +0 Expert bowyer, ranged sneak attack +1d6
2nd +2 +3 +0 +0 Sharp shooting 1, fletching +1
3th +3 +3 +1 +1 Power shot
4th +4 +4 +1 +1 Ranged sneak attack +2d6, fletching +2
5th +5 +4 +1 +1 Sharp shooting 2
6th +6 +5 +2 +2 Fletching +3
7th +7 +5 +2 +2 Ranged sneak attack +3d6
8th +8 +6 +2 +2 Threaten, fletching +4
9th +9 +6 +3 +3 Sharp shooting 3
10th +10 +7 +3 +3 Ranged sneak attack +4d6, fletching +5
CLASS FEATURES
The following are class features of the peerless archer prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:A peerless archer gains no proficiency with any weapon or type of armor.
Expert Bowyer:A peerless archer understands her weapon on a fundamental level that most trained soldiers never achieve. At 1st level, an archer gains a +3 bonus on all Craft(bow making) skill checks.
Ranged Sneak Attack (Ex):When wearing light armor or no armor, a peerless archer can draw and fire in a split-second, catching her targets unawares. She loses this special ability when fighting in medium or heavy armor. At 1stlevel, a peerless archer gains the ability to execute a ranged sneak attack if she catches an opponent unable to defend himself from attack. Any time the peerless archer’s opponent would be denied his Dexterity bonus to Armor Class(whether he actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), the peer-less archer’s ranged attack deals +1d6 points of extra damage. This extra damage increases to +2d6 at 4th level,+3d6 at 7th level, and +4d6 at 10th level. Should the peer-less archer score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. It takes precision and penetration to hit a vital spot, so her ranged attacks can only count as sneak attacks if the target is no farther than 30 feet away.
A peerless archer can only sneak attack living creatures with discernible anatomies—undead, constructs, oozes,plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to strike.Additionally, any creature immune to critical hits is similarly immune to sneak attacks. The peerless archer must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot. The peerless archer cannot sneak attack while striking at a creature with concealment (unless her sharp shooting ability overcomes the concealment; see below) or bystriking at the limbs of a creature whose vitals are not inher line of sight.
If the peerless archer gets a sneak attack bonus from an-other source (such as rogue levels), the bonuses to damage stack.
Sharp Shooting (Ex):A peerless archer’s skill with her bow allows her to strike accurately at foes, even when they are attempting to take advantage of cover or concealment.Beginning at 2nd level, a peerless archer’s targets receive cover or concealment one step worse than they should. For example, a target with three-quarters cover is treated as if he had one-half cover. At 5th level, a peerless archer ignores two steps of cover or concealment, so the same target would be treated as if he had one-quarter cover instead of three-quarters cover. At 9th level, a peerless archer ignores threesteps of cover or concealment. This ability has no effect against foes with total cover.
Fletching (Su): At 2nd level, a peerless archer gains the ability to create magic arrows (and only arrows) with a +1 enhancement bonus, as if she possessed the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat and met all other requirements for the arrow she wishes to make. At 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th levels,the bonus of the arrows she can create with this ability in-creases to +2, +3, +4, and +5, respectively.
Crafting Arrows: Crafting a masterwork arrow requires 5gp in materials, a workshop of some kind, and two days per arrow (this is an approximation of average results of the Craft skill; if you wish to calculate exactly how long it takes,refer to the Craft skill description).
Enhancing Arrows: In addition to the arrows to be crafted, a peerless archer must use materials and spend XP to create arrows with an enhancement bonus, as shown below.
bones cost(one) cost(fifty) XP(one) XP(fifty) Arrows per Day
+1 20GP 1000GP 1 80 25
+2 80GP 4000GP 6 320 6
+3 180GP 9000GP 14 720 3
+4 320GP 16000GP 25 1280 2
+5 500GP 25000GP 40 2000 1
Cost is the cost in raw materials to craft one arrow, or fifty. This doesn’t include the cost of the arrows themselves.
XP is the amount of XP it costs to craft one arrow, or fifty.
Arrows per Day is the number of arrows of that value that can be crafted per day of work.
Power Shot: At 3rd level, a peerless archer learns how to make devastatingly powerful bow shots. On her action, before making any attack rolls, she may choose to subtract a number from all ranged attack rolls and add the same number to all ranged damage rolls. This number may not exceed her base attack bonus. The penalty on her attack rolls and bonus on her damage rolls apply until her next action.
Threaten: At 8th level, a peer-less archer gains the ability to threaten nearby areas with her bow as if she were wielding a melee weapon when wearing light armor or no armor. She loses this special ability when fighting in medium or heavy armor. Her bow functions as a reach weapon, threatening anything 10 feet away but not immediately adjacent to her. Any attacks of opportunity she receives because she threatens nearby areas are normal ranged attacks,and these count against her maximum number of attacks of opportunity per round.