Deepwood Sniper (3.5e Prestige Class)
Deepwood Sniper
An arrow flies from a high mountain aerie, unerringly striking a paladin's mount. Expecting only a flesh wound, the paladin is stunned to watch his companion of many adventures crumple to the earth. This unfortunate knight has trespassed into the domain of the deepwood sniper, and he may not make it out alive.
A deepwood sniper is patient, careful, quiet, and deadly accurate. She is a stealthy, long-range terminator whose arrows sail accurately from much longer ranges than those of other archers. In addition, she has magical abilities to help her shafts fly true.
Because of their alertness, dexterity, patience, and affinity for the bow, elves of almost any character class make excellent deepwood snipers. For a long time, elves would train only those of their own race in these techniques, but more recently some half-elves, Halflings, and humans have joined the ranks of the deepwood sniper.
Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
To qualify to become a deepwood sniper, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
- Base Attack Bonus: +6
- Skills: Hide: 6 Ranks, Move Silently: 6 Ranks, Spot: 7 Ranks, Survival: 5 Ranks
- Feats: Far Shot, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (any bow or crossbow)
Class Skills
The Deepwood Sniper’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill)are: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft(Bowmaking) (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge(Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier
| Level | Base Attack Bonus |
Saving Throws | Special | Range Increment Bonus | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Ref | Will | ||||
| 1st | +1 | +0 | +2 | +0 | Keen Arrows, Range Increment | 10ft |
| 2nd | +2 | +0 | +3 | +0 | Concealment reduction 10%, Greater Magic weapon, Projectile Improved Critical +1 | 20ft |
| 3rd | +3 | +1 | +3 | +1 | Poison use, Bonus Feat | 30ft |
| 4th | +4 | +1 | +4 | +1 | Take Aim +2 | 40ft |
| 5th | +5 | +1 | +4 | +1 | Consistent Aim 1/day | 50ft |
| 6th | +6 | +2 | +5 | +2 | Concealment reduction 20%, Keen Edge, Bonus Feat | 60ft |
| 7th | +7 | +2 | +5 | +2 | Consistent Aim 2/day, Projectile Improved Critical +2 | 70ft |
| 8th | +8 | +2 | +6 | +2 | Take Aim +4 | 80ft |
| 9th | +9 | +3 | +6 | +3 | Consistent Aim 3/day, Bonus Feat | 90ft |
| 10th | +10 | +3 | +7 | +3 | True Shot, Concealment reduction 30% | 100ft |
Class Features
All the following are Class Features of the deepwood sniper prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Deepwood Snipers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Range Increment Bonus (Ex): With each level the deepwood sniper gains, the range increments of her projectile weapons increase by +10 feet (added after all multipliers).
Keen Arrows: At 1st level, all projectiles the deepwood sniper looses gain the keen enhancement in addition to any other properties they might possess. Thus, a normal arrow loosed by a deepwood sniper has a threat range of 19—20 instead of 20. This effect does not stack with any other keen effect.
Projectile Improved Critical (Ex): At 2nd level, the critical damage multipliers of all her projectile weapons increase by +1. Thus, an arrow that normally deals damage ×3 on a critical hit instead does damage ×4 in her hands. When she reaches 7th level, these critical multipliers increase by an additional +1.
Concealment reduction (Ex): When the deepwood sniper reaches 2nd level her miss chance against opponents with concealment drops by 10%. Thus, she has miss chance of 10% rather than 20% against an opponent with one-half concealment. Her miss chance drops by an additional 10% per four deepwood sniper levels she gains thereafter, but this ability never reduces her miss chance against any opponent below 0%.
Greater Magic Weapon (Sp): At 2nd level, the character can produce an effect identical to that of a greater magic weapon spell cast by a cleric of her deepwood sniper level. This ability is usable once per day on projectile weapons only.
Poison Use (Ex):At third level a Deepwood Sniper can use poison without any chance of poisoning herself (see Perils of Using Poison in Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master's Guide).
Bonus Feat (Ex): At 3rd level the deepwood sniper gains a bonus feat, selected from the following list: Able Sniper, Alertness, Crossbow Sniper, Deadeye Shot, Defensive Archery, Greater Manyshot, Improved Initiative, Improved Precise Shot, Improved Rapid Shot, Manyshot, Penetrating Shot, Plunging Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Reconnoiter, Ranged Disarm, Ranged Pin, Ranged Sunder, Ranged Weapon Mastery, Rapid Reload, Ready Shot, Sharp-Shooting, Shot on the Run, Stealthy, and Woodland Archer. She must still meet the prerequisites as normal. She gains an additional bonus feat at 6th and 9th levels.
Take Aim (Ex): A 4th-level deepwood sniper can gain a +2 bonus on her attack rolls and deal 2d8 points of extra precision damage against a stationary target by aiming carefully. Taking aim is a full-round action and if the target moves more than 5 feet over that period, the bonus is lost. No additional benefit exists for spending more than 1 round aiming. This bonus increases to +4 and 4d8 points of precision damage at 8th-level.
Consistent Aim (Su): Once per day, a 5th-level deepwood sniper can re-roll one attack roll that she has just made with a projectile weapon. She must keep that result, even if it is worse than the original roll. She can use this ability twice per day at 7th level and three times per day at 9th level, though each use must relate to a different attack roll.
Keen Edge (Ex): At 6th level, the threat range of her bow or crossbow becomes double its original value and stacks with the effect of Keen Arrows. So a crossbow's critical would become 15-20x3, and a bow's would become 18-20x4. This ability is applied to the bow or crossbow with which she applied the Weapon Focus feat only. This does not stack with the Improved Critical feat or other Keen effects or abilities.
True Shot (Sp): At 10th level, the deepwood sniper can produce an effect identical to the True Strike spell cast by a cleric of her deepwood sniper level and if the attack hits, it will always be a critical. This ability is usable once per day on projectile weapons only, and cannot be stopped by the Snatch Arrows or Deflect Arrows feats. Using this ability is a standard action that includes firing the arrow.
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