Falconer (3.5e Prestige Class)

Falconer

Falconry is the art of using a bird of prey for hunting. Usually, only small game, vermin, and birds are taken, but more powerful birds can even take down deer and other large game. Taken to its logical conclusion, a bird of prey can even be used in combat. A falconer and her bird can prove a deadly combination.

Becoming a Falconer

Rangers are the most common base class for the falconer, combining the martial prowess and beast-taming ability to both train and fight alongside a magnificent bird of prey. A druid, possibly with a few levels of fighter or another martial class, can also qualify. Dexterity and Constitution are the most important abilities for a falconer, providing AC and hit points. Following that, Intelligence helps diversify the falconer's skills, while Strength can help damage if she uses throwing weapons. Charisma and Wisdom are of lower importance, mostly helping Handle Animal and Will saves, respectively.

Entry Requirements

Base Attack Bonus:	+4
Skills:	Handle Animal 8 ranks, Survival 4 ranks.
Feats:	Track
Special:	Must have a Hawk, Eagle, or Owl animal companion.

Table: The Falconer

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+2	+0	Animal Companion, Falconer Gear, Precise Shot
2nd	+2	+3	+3	+0	Harrying Strikes, Piercing Sight (Overhead Tracking)
3rd	+3	+3	+3	+1	Improved Share Spells, Evasive Flight
4th	+4	+4	+4	+1	Flyby Attack, Spotter
5th	+5	+4	+4	+1	Gouge, Tag Team Flanking
6th	+6	+5	+5	+2	Improved Multistrike, Piercing Sight (See Invisible)
7th	+7	+5	+5	+2	Aerial Acrobatics, Fending Shot
8th	+8	+6	+6	+2	Talon Rend
9th	+9	+6	+6	+3	Razor Talons
10th	+10	+7	+7	+3	Martial Companion, Piercing Sight (True Seeing)
Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level) Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex).

Table: The Epic Falconer

Level	Special
11th	Harrying Strikes, Animal Companion
12th	---
13th	Bonus Feat
14th	---
15th	---
16th	Bonus Feat
17th	---
18th	---
19th	Bonus Feat
20th	---

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the falconer.

Animal Companion (Ex): A falconer adds her falconer level to her effective druid level for her animal companion, so long as it is a hawk, eagle, or owl.

Falconer Gear: Falconers have some specialized gear to help them handle and protect their birds. They wear an oversized leather gauntlet over on arm for their companion to land on. Due to its rugged construction, it can also be used to block attacks. It provides an AC bonus as a buckler, except that it is made out of leather. The glove prevents the use of two handed melee weapons and bows, as well as one handed or light weapons in that hand, but does not impact the use or reloading of crossbows or slings. The glove can be enchanted as a shield and does not fill the glove item slot; other gloves may be worn underneath it. While wearing the falconry glove, the falconer may add her class level to Handle Animal checks regarding her bird.

Precise Shot: Falconers gain the Precise Shot feat at first level, allowing them to avoid the risk of shooting their animal companion when they attack the same target.

Harrying Strikes (Ex): The combination of ranged and melee attacks coming from two sources in perfect concert disorients opponents, who cannot focus on defending against a single attacker. If a second level or higher falconer and her animal companion both hit an enemy with an attack in the same round, that enemy takes a penalty to AC, attack rolls, and Concentration checks equal to the number of attacks the falconer and animal companion landed put together during their turn. These penalties last until the end of the falconers next turn. In addition, the first time the falconer or her animal companion attacks a target each turn, the other member of the pair gains +1 to damage against the target until the next turn. At fifth level and every three levels thereafter (including epic levels), the damage bonus increases by one.

Piercing Sight (Ex): The hawk, eagle, or owl animal companion of a falconer second level or higher gains the Track feat, and may follow tracks while flying. The bird may use its Spot skill in place of Survival for all purposes, including tracking and providing food. When the falconer reaches sixth level, her companions incredible vision allows it to see through invisibility as though effected by a See Invisibility spell. At 10th level, its vision instead allows it to see as if effected by True Seeing.

Improved Share Spells (Ex): A falconer of third level or higher and her animal companion may share spells cast upon them by an outside source, and may continue to share spells even if they are more than 5 feet apart.

Evasive Flight (Ex): Once per round, a falconer third level of higher may direct her bird of prey to take evasive action when it would be hit by an attack. This acts the same as the Mounted Combat feats ability to negate an attack, except the falconer uses her Handle Animal skill instead of Ride, and does not need to be riding her companion. In addition, the falconer and her animal companion both gain evasion or improved evasion if either one of them have that ability.

Flyby Attack: The animal companion of a fourth level or higher falconer gains Flyby Attack as a bonus feat. The falconers animal companion also gains full BAB from its animal HD.

Spotter (Ex): A falconer fourth level or higher takes no penalties for attacking targets with cover or concealment so long as her animal companion can see the target, her range increment penalties are halved, and she suffers no range increment penalties for attacks that are only one range increment away. In addition, both the falconer and her companion do not lose their dexterity bonus to AC against enemies they cannot see as long as one of them can see it. This counts as the Uncanny Dodge ability.

Gouge (Ex): If a fifth level or higher falconer's hawk, eagle, or owl confirms a critical strike with a talon or bite attack, the target is rendered blind for one round. If the bird lands multiple attacks on a single target during a round, the target will be blinded for a number of rounds equal to the number of attacks landed, as long as one of them is a confirmed critical hit.

Tag Team Flanking (Ex): If a fifth level or higher falconer and her bird companion both strike a target during a single round, that target is considered flanked for all attacks against it until the falconer's next turn.

Improved Multistrike (Ex): At sixth level, a falconers animal companions combat ability improves. A hawk or owl companion gains a second primary talon attack with the same bonuses as its normal one, and an eagle gains the Multiattack feat. In addition, the bird may make a full attack instead of taking a single standard action as part of a flyby attack. This replaces the multistrike class feature from the druid animal companion table.

Aerial Acrobatics (Ex): A seventh level falconer's eagle, hawk, or owl's manoeuvrability is increased by one stage.

Fending Shot (Ex): Attacking a seventh level or higher falconer's animal companion provokes a ranged attack of opportunity if the attacker is within one range increment of the falconer.

Talon Rend (Ex): If an eighth level or higher falconer's animal companion hits with two claw attacks in a single round, it rends its foe, dealing 1d8 + the companion's Dex modifier slashing damage. This increases the attack count for Gouge and Harrying Strikes by one.

Razor Talons (Ex): The talon attacks of a ninth level falconer's animal companion now critical hit on a 19 or 20. This is a change to the base critical threat range, and thus stacks with other effects that increase critical threat range, such as Keen or Improved Critical

Martial Companion (Ex): At tenth level, a falconer may use her Base Attack Bonus as her effective druid level for her animal companion, if it would be higher, so long as her companion is a hawk, eagle, or owl. As long as the falconer has more than ten levels in falconer, she may add her total epic level to her base attack bonus for the purpose of this class feature.

The epic falconer gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic falconer feats) every three levels after tenth level.

Epic Falconer Bonus Feat List:

Ex-Falconer

None of a falconer's animal companion related bonuses work if she selects a new companion that is not a hawk, eagle, or owl.

Campaign Information

Playing a Falconer

Combat: Falconers and their birds of prey serve as damage dealers and distractions, skirmishing on the sidelines and focusing on priority targets. Combining their attacks makes their foes less effective, turning a strong offense into defense. Staying at range is important, however, as the falconer gets little in the way of defensive abilities and her hawk can easily fall to concentrated attacks.

Advancement: Any multiclassing should be into other pet-related classes if the falconer does not have ten levels of falconer yet. Even afterward, a class that helps advance her pet as well as her is an advantage. Barring that, focusing on full-BAB combat classes to improve her own martial prowess, while Martial Companion keeps her bird up in levels.

Resources: There is no world-wide organization for falconers, but within an advanced enough nation, an informal network of various falconers and breeders could help acquire gear or birds of prey, possibly even exotic ones.

Falconers in the World

Falconers fill a similar role to the ranger. They are skilled in natural areas and capable combatants. A falconer might be a village's protector or one of their premier hunters. Due to falconry's popularity with nobility, the class is likely to be more popular among the upper crust, as well. A falconer might be a nobleman's retainer, or a particularly rough-and-ready noble might be one himself. A bird of preys scouting ability is not to be overlooked, either; the vanguard of a military force could easily have a falconer or two serving as scouts alongside their bird companions.

NPC Reactions: NPCs will generally have the same reaction to falconers as they would have to a ranger. Nobles may be one step more friendly toward falconers than to normal rangers.

Falconer Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge(Nature) can research falconers to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

DC	Result
11	Falconers train birds of prey to fight.
16	Falconers fight alongside their birds to tag team their opponents.
21	A falconers bird of prey can easily take your eyes if you don't watch out.
26	Information regarding specific master falconers in the game.

Falconers in the Game

A falconer will generally resemble a Ranger, especially since they will likely have ranger levels. Due to their connections to nobility, a falconer may be of somewhat higher social status than a typical woodsman.

Adaptation: A falconer could be a retainer of a noble who is more dangerous than he first appears, or be a hunter or woodsman. Hawks, eagles, and owls are not the only birds of prey used for falconry, they are merely the only ones available as animal companions. Feel free to expand the list of acceptable companions to include any relevant birds of prey. In a universe significantly different from our own, other non-magical avians like winged lizards or predatory bats could also be allowed.

Sample Encounter: A local lords prized horse has gone missing. Unsure if it has merely escaped, or been stolen by orcs infesting a nearby swamp, he has tasked his huntmaster, Terren, with recovering it by any means necessary.

EL 7: Terren is preparing to search for his master's lost horse, but could use some additional muscle. Based on some scouting he and his avian companion have already done, he suspects the stallion's disappearance is no accident, and while he's confident in his own abilities, he'd rather not take on an orc nest on his own if he doesn't have to. The lord has authorized Terren to spend quite a bit if it helps get his companion back, and Terren will pay the parties expenses if they accompany him, with a bonus on recovering the horse.

Terren

CR 15

	Male Human Ranger 5/ Falconer 2
	Lawful Neutral Medium humanoid (human)
Init/Senses	+2/Listen +1, Spot +1
Languages	Common
AC	15, touch 12, flat-footed 11 (+2 armor, +2 Dex, +1 shield)
hp	60 (11 HD)
Fort/Ref/Will	+12/+13/+9
Speed	30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee	masterwork shortsword
Base Atk/Grp	+11/+11
Atk Options	Rapid Shot, Rapid Reload
Abilities	Str 12, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8
Feats	Track, Rapid Shot, Rapid Reload, Point Blank Shot, Far Shot, Precise Shot, Animal Affinity
Skills	Handle Animal (Cha) +11 (+2), spot (Wis) +11, Listen (Wis) +11, Survival (Wis) +11, Ride (Dex) +15
Possessions	+1 Heavy Crossbow, Masterwork Leather Armor, Masterwork Short Sword, Masterwork Falconer Glove

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