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Mulletmanalive
2010-11-22, 04:30 PM
The Sniper

Note: I know this class has a vestigial class defence progression; it was simply more effort to strip that out than it was worth. Either ignore it or treat it as a Dodge bonus that applies only when lightly armoured and in cover. This was an attempt to modify my Mecha Victoriana Sniper class to be tactically interesting without resort to TOB style stuff, using WotC material [not because it's better but because people seem to like it being from them...]

Prerequisites:
In order to become a Sniper, a character must meet the following requirements:
BAB: +5
Skills: Craft [Gunsmith] 5 ranks, Concentration 2 ranks, Hide 8 ranks,
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Any Ambush feat
Special: Sneak Attack +2d6


{table]Level |
Base Attack |
Defence |
Fortitude |
Reflex |
Will |Notes:

1 |
+1 |
+1 |
+2 |
+0 |
+0 |Lockdown (Standard), One Shot One Kill, Ranged Sneak Attack +1d6/+0d6, Efficiency

2 |
+2 |
+2 |
+3 |
+0 |
+0 |Adjust for Range, Bonus Feat

3 |
+3 |
+3 |
+3 |
+1 |
+1 |Ranged Sneak Attack +2d6/+1d6

4 |
+4 |
+4 |
+4 |
+1 |
+1 |Hidden Flash +4, Bonus Feat

5 |
+5 |
+5 |
+4 |
+1 |
+1 |Lockdown (Move), Ranged Sneak Attack +3d6/+1d6

6 |
+6 |
+5 |
+5 |
+2 |
+2 |Farthest Shore [x2], Bonus Feat

7 |
+7 |
+6 |
+5 |
+2 |
+2 |Ranged Sneak Attack +4d6/+2d6

8 |
+8 |
+7 |
+6 |
+2 |
+2 |Hidden Flash +8, Bonus Feat

9 |
+9 |
+8 |
+6 |
+3 |
+3 |Ranged Sneak Attack +5d6/+2d6

10 |
+10 |
+9 |
+7 |
+3 |
+3 |Lockdown (Swift), Farthest Shore [x3], Bonus Feat[/table]

Hit Dice: d8
Class Skills: Balance [Dex], Climb [Str], Craft , Concentration [Con], Hide [Dex], Listen [Wis], Move Silently [Dex], Spot [Wis], Survival [Wis], Swim [Str]
Skill points per level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Abilities:
Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: Snipers gain proficiency with all rifle type weapons on attaining this class. They gain no proficiency with any form of armour.

Lockdown [Ex]: As a Standard action, you may relocate your Threatened area to another point withing your One Shot, One Kill range. This manifests as a 15ft by 15ft square in which your enemies provoke Attacks of Opportunity as if you were a within melee range. Obviously, you make these Attacks of Opportunity as ranged attacks. Note that you relocate your threatened area; you don't threaten squares adjacent to you.

At 5th level, the action required to use this ability is reduced to a Move action.

At 10th, it becomes a Swift action.

One Shot One Kill [Ex]: Snipers are masters of making single shots count. As a Standard action, you may make a single devastating attack. For every 3 points of you BAB, add your weapon's base damage dice and Enhantment bonus as bonus damage; for example, if you have a BAB of +9 and were firing a Longbow, you would add +3d8 damage to a One Shot, One Kill attack. If you were making the same attack with a +3 bow, this would increase to +3d8+9 damage.

In addition, you may Sneak Attack out to any range as long as you suffer no penalty to hit due to range. This applies to all ranged attacks you make.

Ranged Sneak Attack: At each odd numbered level, the Sniper gains additional Sneak Attack damage dice. These are specifically Ranged Sneak attack dice. If used in melee, the Sniper may add half his Ranged Sneak Attack dice to his damage, not the full amount. See the Rogue ability for details of Sneak Attack.

Efficiency [Ex]: Extensive training with a great many ranged weapons makes for a surprising level of adaptability. From this point on, any ranged weapon wielded by a Sniper counts as dealingSlashing, Piercing and Bludgeoning damage with every hit and the Sniper counts as having the Weapon Focus feat with every ranged weapon he picks up for purposes of meeting feat prerequisites.

Adjust for Range [Ex]: By taking time to prepare the weapon's sight and adjust his positioning, a skilled marksman can ignore the difficulties posed by range. By spending a move action, a Sniper can reduce the ranged penalties they suffer by one range increment. A Sniper may do this multiple times, though the benefits are lost the moment the Sniper moves from his current position. If the target moves sufficiently that they change range categories, the Sniper must spend another move action adjusting their ranging.

Firing under these conditions is more difficult than otherwise. If the Sniper takes a standard action to fire, the benefits of the ability take effect but are then lost. In these circumstances, the Sniper usually takes the time to relocate before firing again. If the Sniper takes a Full-round action to fire a single shot, the bonus is preserved, though this is often as a detriment if the targets are able to determine the location from which the attack came. Any special attack forms such as Pristine Shots are considered to be the equivalent of standard actions for these terms.

A Sniper can ignore a total number of range categories equal to his sniper level.

Bonus Feat: At 2nd level and every even numbered level thereafter, the Sniper may select any one bonus feat from the list below whose prerequisites he meets:

Any Ambush Feat, Far Shot, Rapid Shot, Improved Rapid Shot, Multishot, Improved Multishot, Weapon Focus [Any ranged weapon], Sharpshooting, Improved Precise Shot, Plunging Shot, Ready Shot, Crossbow Sniper

In general, any feat that uses[I] Point Blank Shot as a prerequisite is suitable.

Hidden Flash [Ex]: Given the ranges they usually function at, Snipers are usually revealed by their muzzle flash rather than the noise of their rifle, which usually hits after the bullet. Through the use of tricks and careful positioning, Snipers are able to minimise their muzzle flash. At 4th level, they gain a +4 bonus on Hide checks to avoid being detected after firing. At 8th level, this bonus increases to +8.

Farthest Shore [Ex]: At 6th level, the Sniper increases the benefits of the Far Shot feat to the point where the range category of their weapon is doubled rather than increased by 50%. At 10th level, this goes even further as the range increases to triple the weapon's base range category.

What do people think? It's not overtly powerful but it does have a reasonable amount of battlefield control, especially if combined with Rapid Shot...

arguskos
2010-11-22, 04:51 PM
What do people think? It's not overtly powerful but it does have a reasonable amount of battlefield control, especially if combined with Rapid Shot...
1. I like it. It's simple, fairly bland, but very functional, which is a great chassis for a PrC IMO.

2. No, it has absolutely no BC. Here's why: BC is the ability to control a battlefield in a method that doesn't equal "killing dudes". The Sniper has none of that, and in fact, is just really good at killing dudes from far away. Now, I know he gets lots of bonus feats, which likely are going to be Ambush feats, but then that's his feats doing it instead of him doing it. I'd like to see an ability such as a Ranged AoO or something, where if he's set up to snipe, and someone takes an action that would provoke an AoO in melee combat, he can take an AoO against them. *That* would be some scary BC, since now you've got a dude 500 yards away under a bush with a sniper rifle shooting people in the middle of melee combat when they step back to cast a spell or some such, which is the sort of BC that makes sniping fun, that "oh, no, you don't get to have hands" feel.

Understand that I *do* like it, but it's just fairly boring right now. However, you've given me a bit of inspiration to make my own sniping class sooner than later.

Mulletmanalive
2010-11-22, 05:12 PM
Y'know, i would have sworn there were more Ambush feats that there are.

Stunning, Slowing, Tripping and a more accessible move reduction were all things that i thought were there and apparently not, accourding to Realmshelp.

on the pinning bit:

Lockdown [Ex]: As a Standard action, you may relocate your Threatened area to another point withing your One Shot, One Kill range. This manifests as a 15ft by 15ft square in which your enemies provoke Attacks of Opportunity as if you were a within melee range. Obviously, you make these Attacks of Opportunity as ranged attacks.

FishAreWet
2010-11-22, 07:28 PM
One Shot One Kill (Ex): The maximum distance of your Sneak Attack is now a range increment which incurs no penalties. Normally maximum distance is 30ft.

And grant Sneak Attack at the same levels.

Also, Adjust for Range should be a swift action. You should avoid abilities which are anti-synergistic with full round attacks.

I love Lockdown [Ex]. I'm not completely sold on Standard action, maybe a Move action instead. The action required could scale with levels to make the class less dippable. Standard action at level 1, Move at 5, Swift at 10? I'd also be explicit whether or not you stop threatening your standard range. I love this ability.

But I'm not sure about the class. I should rephrase that to; I'm not sure about the concept. Does a sniper role exist in the DnD setting? Longbows with triple range increments can shoot REALLY far. Most maps don't even cover a single increment.

Mulletmanalive
2010-11-22, 07:36 PM
The point of it being a bunch of Move actions is the idea that it can be used for the big opening shot.

As an RAF Marksman standard shooter [circa 2004], my "silly" alarm goes off when you talk about multiple attacks at extreme range that actually hit. Beyond 300 yards, burstfire was basically wasting ammo...

The reason it's distinct from Sneak Attack is because I DIDNT want to end up in the situation where the class actually works better in the hands of a TWF melee rogue, which straight Sneak Attack would lead to...

Imagine the optimiser's view: DUDE...i get full sneak attack, full BAB and a bunch of free feats that stop people attacking me back properly...so meleeing that up!

FishAreWet
2010-11-22, 07:43 PM
That makes sense. Whisperknife in RotW does a similar thing and grants "Ranged Sneak Attack." In regards to the 'silly alarm'... this is DnD. There are Wizards. Sharpshooting will NEVER be comparable to arcane might. Realistic sharpshooting can't even compare to 3rd level spells.

But if you want the class to be based on Few Big Hits instead of Lots Of Hits, make it a class ability. Allow multiple iterative attacks to be rolled into big hits with a full attack action. Maybe if your attack spread is +17/+12/+7, you could instead make a single attack at +17 which deals x3 damage. Monks get an ability similar to this in an ACF in PHBII called Decisive Strike. Instead of being +20/+15/+10/+5, they are +20/+15 dealing double damage. You could probably lift this ability word for word but apply it to ranged attacks. Two shots in 6 seconds isn't ridiculous in comparison to creating planes of existence or stopping time, is it?

Mulletmanalive
2010-11-22, 07:50 PM
I have just implemented most of the changed you mentioned previously and I shall go ahead and slap that change into One Shot, One Kill. Part of me is thinking that it could use Death Attack but frankly...level dip...