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flabort
2011-09-16, 03:07 PM
Stormblade

Alignment
Any

Hit Die
d8

Class Skills
The Stormblade's class skills (And the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill points at 1st level
(4 + Int modifier) x4

Skill points at each additional level
4 + Int Modifier

Class Features

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1|+0|+0|+2|+0|Storm Strike, Barrage +1d6
2|+1|+0|+3|+0|Storm Style
3|+2|+1|+3|+1|Barrage +2d6
4|+3|+1|+4|+1|Stormy Blow
5|+3|+1|+4|+1|Rain Strike, Barrage +3d6
6|+4|+2|+5|+2|Fast Movement
7|+5|+2|+5|+2|Barrage +4d6
8|+6/+1|+2|+6|+2|Stormy Blow, Improved Storm Style
9|+6/+1|+3|+6|+3|Barrage +5d6
10|+7/+2|+3|+7|+3|
11|+8/+3|+3|+7|+3|Barrage +6d6
12|+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Stormy Blow
13|+9/+4|+4|+8|+4|Barrage +7d6
14|+10/+5|+4|+9|+4|Greater Storm Style
15|+11/+6/+1|+5|+9|+5|Barrage +8d6
16|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+5|Stormy Blow
17|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+5|Barrage +9d6
18|+13/+8/+3|+6|+11|+6|
19|+14/+9/+4|+6|+11|+6|Barrage +10d6
20|+15/+10/+5|+6|+12|+6|Stormy Blow[/table]

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A stormblade is proficient in all simple weapons, plus all light martial weapons, and shortbow. The Stormblade is also proficient in light armor, but not with shields.

Storm Strike
Similarly to the Monk's Flurry of Blows, a Stormblade may make an extra weapon attack each round, at his highest base attack bonus, at the cost of accuracy, meaning all attacks made that round take a -2 penalty to hit. The Stormblade may make this attack as part of any attack action, but if it is not a full round action, he takes a further -4 penalty.

The normal penalty decreases to -1 at 5th level, and goes away completely at 13th. The penalty for using this extra attack outside of a full attack decreases to -3 at 5th, -2 at 9th, -1 at 13th, and goes away completely at 17th.

Unlike Flurry of Blows, he may use this attack with any weapon. However, he takes yet another -2 penalty for using Storm Strike with a weapon with which he is not proficient, beyond the normal non-proficiency and Storm strike penalties.

Barrage
It is a Stormblade's philosophy that by hitting as many times as they can, as fast as they can, they can overwhelm their target's defenses, leaving them disoriented, and open for further damage.

When a Stormblade hits with two or more attacks in one round, he may add xd6 damage to all the attacks beyond the first, as dictated on the table, above, or 1d6 at first level, and increasing by 1d6 every odd level afterwords, to a maximum of 10d6 at 19th level. Should the Stormblade score a critical hit, the extra damage is not multiplied.

Ranged Attacks can only deal barrage damage if the target is within one range increment.

Storm Style
A Stormblade can use any number of fighting styles, even if they all have the same philosophy concerning fighting.

At second level, by picking a style from the list below, a stormblade gets the benefits associated with it. Once a choice is made, it cannot be changed.
Whirlwind Bowmaster
The Stormblade of the Whirlwind Bowmaster style gains Rapid Shot as a bonus feat, even if he does not qualify for it normally.

Thunderstrike Fists
When the Thunderstrike Fists style Stormblade makes an unarmed attack, it qualifies as a weapon attack for purposes of Storm Strike and other Stormblade abilities. He may also use his Unarmed Strike as both a main and off-hand weapon in the same round, should he normally be unable to.
He also gains Flurry of Blows, as the monk ability, allowing him to attack a third time with his unarmed strikes at a further -2 penalty to all attacks that round (although it decreases to -1 at 5th, and goes away completely at 9th).

Steel Downpour
A Stormblade with the Steel Downpour style gains Two weapon fighting as a bonus feat, even if he does not normally qualify for it.

Blizzard Barrier
The Blizzard Barrier style Stormblade gains proficiency in Medium and Heavy armor, and with all shields (except Tower Shield). He also gains Improved Shield Bash as a bonus feat. Unlike the other styles, he does not lose the benefits of his Style while wearing medium or heavy armor (see below).

The benefits of a stormblade's style only apply when wearing light or no armor (with the exception of the Blizzard Barrier style).

Stormy Blow
At 4th level, and every level divisible by 4 after that, a Storm blade gains a special ability of his choice from among the following options. Each option can only be taken once, unless otherwise stated.
Gale Force Strike
When a Stormblade could apply Barrage damage, he may decrease this damage by 1d6 to knock the target prone. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#prone)

Opportunist
As the Rogue ability of the same name, once per round the Stormblade can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who has just been struck for damage in melee by another character. This attack counts as the stormblade's attack of opportunity for the round. Even a Stormblade with the Combat Reflexes feat can't use the opportunist ability more than once per round.

Barrage +1d6
The Stormblade's Barrage damage increases by 1d6. He can take this option more than once.

Crippling Barrage
When a Stormblade could apply Barrage damage, he may decrease this damage by 2d6 to deal 1d4 strength damage, in addition to the normal damage dealt.

Gruesome Barrage
When a Stormblade could apply Barrage damage, he may decrease this damage by 3d6 to deal 1d4 constitution damage, in addition to the normal damage dealt.

Rapid Barrage
The first time during a round that a Stormblade could apply Barrage damage, he may decrease this damage by 2d6 for the entire round to gain an additional attack at his highest attack bonus. Apply any penalties applied to attacks made that round, although this additional attack does not apply any further penalties to attacks already made this round (ignoring such abilities like Storm Strike).

Feat
A Stormblade may choose to gain a feat. The feat must be on the fighter bonus feat list, and the Stormblade must otherwise qualify to take this feat.

Rain Strike
When a 5th level or higher Stormblade falls 10 feet or more into an occupied square, either from falling off a tall point, or from jumping, he may make a single attack against whichever creature occupies the square as a free action. Should he take damage from any sort of attack of opportunity made against him, he does not gain this extra attack.

Fast Movement
A 6th level Stormblade's base land speed is 10 feet faster than that of the norm for his race. This functions as the first level Barbarian ability of the same name.

Improved Storm Style
Depending on the Style the Stormblade selected at 2nd level, his aptitude in this style increases at 8th level, giving him new abilities.
He may not gain abilities from a different style than that which was previously selected.
Whirlwind Bowmaster
A Stormblade of the Whirlwind Bowmaster style gains Manyshot as a bonus feat, even if he does not qualify. In addition, he may replace a normal attack with a Manyshot attack, as if using a standard action, even during a full attack, but receives an additional -2 penalty to all attacks that round for doing so.

Thunderstrike Fists
The Thunderstrike Fists style Stormblade gains the Pounce ability, letting him make a full attack after a charge.

Steel Downpour
A Stormblade with the Steel Downpour style gains Improved Two Weapon Fighting as a bonus feat, even if he does not qualify.

Blizzard Barrier
Whenever the Blizzard Barrier style Stormblade is hit by a critical hit, the attack against him only does half damage (meaning most critical hits do normal damage, and those that deal x3 damage only deal x1.5). As well, whenever the Stormblade successfully hits with a shield bash, the target must make a fortitude save (DC = 10 + the stormblade's Str mod), or be sickened for two rounds. Should a target that's already sickened fail this save, the effects and durations do not stack.

As with before, the benefits of a stormblade's style only apply when wearing light or no armor (with the exception of the Blizzard Barrier style).

Greater Storm Style
At 14th level, Depending on the Style the Stormblade selected at 2nd level, he becomes even greater in this style, gaining further abilities.
He still may not gain abilities from a different style than that which was previously selected.
Whirlwind Bowmaster
The Stormblade of the Whirlwind Bowmaster style gains Improved Precise Shot as a bonus feat, even if he does not qualify for it. He also gains a +2 to hit with all ranged attacks.

Thunderstrike Fists
The Thunderstrike Fists style Stormblade treats his unarmed strikes as if he were one size cattegory larger. He also gains a second extra attack from flurry of blows, as if he had gained Greater Flurry from taking the 11th level of monk.

Steel Downpour
A Stormblade with the Steel Downpour style earns Greater Two-Weapon fighting as a bonus feat, as even if he does not qualify for it. As well, he gains a +2 to damage with all off hand attacks.

Blizzard Barrier
A Blizzard Barrier style Stormblade may negate the damage and effects of one attack made against him each round entirely, even if it hits. He must declare the use of this ability before the attack roll is made. The attack roll is still made anyways, should the attacker still have any abilities that require it to hit with an attack, that don't affect the attack.

Again, the benefits of a stormblade's style only apply when wearing light or no armor (with the exception of the Blizzard Barrier style).

flabort
2011-09-16, 03:13 PM
I was inspired by what I said here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215474), and decided to actually make a class that gains Barrage damage. It came out very storm themed. Regardless, I think it turned out OK.

What you're looking at is very much a fusion of Rogue and Ranger, and would synergize very well with either Rogue, Scout, or Monk.

Any ideas on additional abilities for Stormy Blow would be nice. Any balance concerns would be nice. Any praise would be nice.
Just, PEACH, please.

Ziegander
2011-09-16, 03:37 PM
Barrage sounds horrible to me, actually. The idea is interesting, but the execution leaves far too much to be desired.

Your example requires a medium BAB class to take a feat and a -6 penalty to attack rolls in order to eek out +1d6 damage and properly use its class feature.

1) Class features shalt always do something before feats are taken to improve them.

2) Flurry of Blows isn't the greatest mechanic in the world. Making an abjectly worse mechanic to justify Barrage is... ill-advised.

Unfortunately, I don't think Barrage can work. Not as a sneak attack substitute anyway. No class gets multiple attacks per round at 1st level without a feat or flurry of blows, and forcing Barrage to always sit next to flurry of blows is pretty much unacceptable. It would work for a single class*, but it's not a "new source for precision damage" at that point.

*EDIT: And even then you'd have to change it to, "whenever a Barrageer hits a foe with two or more attacks in a round he deals an additional +Xd6 damage..."

EDIT2: Sorry, it's actually worse than I thought! Sneak Attack can apply to multiple attacks per round, such that an 11th level Rogue that hits with two short swords against a flanked/flat-footed target deals 14d6 + twice modifier damage. An 11th level "Barragist" that takes a -2 penalty from flurry of blows (my version, -6 or more with your version) and hits with two (or three) short swords against a target deals only 8d6 + twice modifier damage.

Garryl
2011-09-16, 03:58 PM
Barrage damage looks like a renamed version of Rend (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/troll.htm), a common monster ability that deals extra damage when you hit with multiple natural attacks. WotC even printed a TWF version for players (Two-Weapon Rend (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060406a)). The need to make at least 3 attacks (even if you need to hit with only 2) makes it ridiculously hard to use until you have a +6 BaB, and all but impossible at level 1 unless you want to waste a feat you'd get anyways the next level. Other than that, Ziegander summed up most of my complaints about Barrage (hard to use, only applies once per round, etc.).

Storm Strike is very bad. It applies crippling attack penalties to a fighting style that itself applies nontrivial attack penalties, all on a character with only mediocre attack bonuses to begin with. A Storm Blade making a simple 3 attacks, including one from Two-Weapon Fighting or Rapid Shot (as normal for 2nd-7th level Storm Blades) suffers a whopping -8 penalty on attack rolls.

The class lacks class features. Stormy Blows are okay, but are very few, aren't that amazing (roughly equivalent to an Ambush feat), and, well, that's it.

A d6 hit die and medium BaB does not make a frontliner, especially one expected to sit still and full attack all the time (the only way other than Manyshot at level 8+ to trigger Barrage). Having only 2+Int skill points from a paltry list ensures that the class can't do anything else, either.

Edit: Check out the Girallon Windmill Flesh Rip maneuver (TC 7 or thereabout, I'm AFB) from Tome of Battle for more rending goodness. It's like a Barrage that actually works.

flabort
2011-09-16, 03:59 PM
... OK. So.... Really bad. :smalltongue: :smallamused:

I'd never meant it to be necessary to dip monk. And while I knew -2/attack to all attacks each round was being mean, I didn't know it was THAT unbalanced.

Yeah, I'll see if I can fix it... tomorrow. I want to see how bad other people think it is before I change anything. And how they think it can be changed.

edit: ninja'd, and again I'm told it's really bad. :smalltongue:

OK, so so far I should:
-Decrease penalty from Storm strike
-remove the "Three attacks" thing.
-let Barrage deal damage multiple times.
-increase BaB.

Ziegander
2011-09-16, 04:17 PM
OK, so so far I should:
-Decrease penalty from Storm strike
-remove the "Three attacks" thing.
-let Barrage deal damage multiple times.
-increase BaB.

In my opinion, you should change Storm Strike to flurry of blows. Also, increase the BAB to full and HD to d10.

Then we come to the Barrage issue. How do you justify letting Barrage deal damage multiple times? I'm not sure how it would work right.

You could, I suppose, change it so that it reads:

"Whenever you hit a foe more than once on your turn you deal Xd6 additional damage for each attack you hit that foe with."

And you should also remove the "precision damage" part of this in all honesty. There is nothing at all precise about hitting someone as hard and as fast as you can, and nothing about the ability indicates that undead or other creatures should be immune to the effect. At least I don't think so.

Metahuman1
2011-09-16, 04:52 PM
Here's what I'd do with it.

Give them the Fighting Style at lvl 1, and add a modified flurry ability too the unarmed section (No Icky Penalty's and as a standard action attack.). I'd also give them Improved Rapid shot on the archery front and a special class feature for TWF and Sword and Board styles that get's the -2 penalty off the Stormblades back, and get's them too normal modifier on damage and too hit form ability scores with that off hand attack. Making the fighting styles worth while for competing with THF.

Give them a full BAB.

Up there skills. Seriously, all the class has right now is damage output. It also might not hurt to up them too a d8 hit die.

Make Barrage apply to all attacks made in a round when activated.

Make Barrage so that it isn't so much "Extra damage form throwing a lot of attacks at the enemy and hoping one his something important." as "Extra damage form throwing so many attacks at an enemy so fast it utterly overwhelms his defenses, and thus cases more sever damage to be sustained." What's the mechanical difference? The latter can be made to apply too EVERYTHING!!!!! This get's around the endless list of hoops you've got to jump through for a TWF, sword and Board or archery build because your extra damage is reliable if you can get a couple of attacks off, which is really what I think people want to see from something like this.

Give it a couple other class features. Pounce is good for all these styles except archery. For Archery, make an alternative that functions like pounce so that you can move and shoot in the same round reliably. For unarmed, since you were gonna give them pounce, give them something else, maybe an ability that says if you grapple you can still full attack or something. A couple of other nice things might be Evasion and maybe some ability that makes moving on difficult terrain easier, gives you some different kinds of movement speeds, ext.

Fast Movement. Make sure it's listed as something other then an Enhancement bonus, becuase otherwise a Haste Spell makes it totally irrelevant.

Last but not least, give them a class feature that says when you get an extra attack from a source like say haste, you automatically get to apply it too all weapons you wield if you make an attack with them that round. So, your TWF normally get's attack with primary had, haste bonus attack with primary hand, attack with off hand. Now, he get's, attack with primary had, haste bonus attack with primary hand, attack with off hand, haste+class feature attack with off hand.

And Congratulations, the class is now a solid teir 3-4 class that makes several styles of combat that have been up too now a pain in the butt to make work effective out of the box, so to speak.

Domriso
2011-09-16, 10:59 PM
Love the idea, but I agree with the others. The mechanics need a bit of work. Looking forward to how you attempt to fix it!

ForzaFiori
2011-09-16, 11:36 PM
Here's what I'd do with it.

Give them the Fighting Style at lvl 1, and add a modified flurry ability too the unarmed section (No Icky Penalty's and as a standard action attack.). I'd also give them Improved Rapid shot on the archery front and a special class feature for TWF and Sword and Board styles that get's the -2 penalty off the Stormblades back, and get's them too normal modifier on damage and too hit form ability scores with that off hand attack. Making the fighting styles worth while for competing with THF.

Give them a full BAB.

Up there skills. Seriously, all the class has right now is damage output. It also might not hurt to up them too a d8 hit die.

Make Barrage apply to all attacks made in a round when activated.

Make Barrage so that it isn't so much "Extra damage form throwing a lot of attacks at the enemy and hoping one his something important." as "Extra damage form throwing so many attacks at an enemy so fast it utterly overwhelms his defenses, and thus cases more sever damage to be sustained." What's the mechanical difference? The latter can be made to apply too EVERYTHING!!!!! This get's around the endless list of hoops you've got to jump through for a TWF, sword and Board or archery build because your extra damage is reliable if you can get a couple of attacks off, which is really what I think people want to see from something like this.

Give it a couple other class features. Pounce is good for all these styles except archery. For Archery, make an alternative that functions like pounce so that you can move and shoot in the same round reliably. For unarmed, since you were gonna give them pounce, give them something else, maybe an ability that says if you grapple you can still full attack or something. A couple of other nice things might be Evasion and maybe some ability that makes moving on difficult terrain easier, gives you some different kinds of movement speeds, ext.

Fast Movement. Make sure it's listed as something other then an Enhancement bonus, becuase otherwise a Haste Spell makes it totally irrelevant.

Last but not least, give them a class feature that says when you get an extra attack from a source like say haste, you automatically get to apply it too all weapons you wield if you make an attack with them that round. So, your TWF normally get's attack with primary had, haste bonus attack with primary hand, attack with off hand. Now, he get's, attack with primary had, haste bonus attack with primary hand, attack with off hand, haste+class feature attack with off hand.

And Congratulations, the class is now a solid teir 3-4 class that makes several styles of combat that have been up too now a pain in the butt to make work effective out of the box, so to speak.

This is excellent advice. As a longtime monk lover (and having finally found a monk fix I love), this class really makes me happy, and I'd love to see it get good enough to make it worthwhile to think about multiclassing into.

flabort
2011-09-17, 11:44 AM
Ok, so, I'm updating it.

I did the following things:
-Increased HD and BaB, added a couple class skills and skill points.
-Rewrote Storm Strike to be more like flurry of blows. However, while you normally shouldn't be getting any more than a -2 penalty at first, it's still possible to get a -8 penalty (use Storm strike as a standard action, with a non-proficient weapon), before penalties from other sources.
-Added flurry of blows to the first Thunderstrike Fists style ability.
-Added a third Style increase at 14th level.
-Reduced the amount of barrage damage each time it's applied, but it now applies to every attack made that round except the first. You no longer need to make three attacks.
-Added Rain Strike, lets you get ANOTHER attack by jumping or falling on your opponent. May need rewriting.

I did NOT:
-move storm style to first level. I couldn't imagine anyone NOT dipping Stormblade 1 if I did that. And we all know what welknair says about that:

What's the first rule of homebrewing and creating additional material? "If you can't imagine someone not wanting to use it, it's too powerful. If you can't imagine someone wanting too use it, it's not powerful enough"
-give EVERYONE pounce. I already gave thunderstrike fists pounce, I don't want to have to give it a new ability there.
-give it a class feature that needs a spell to function. I may later, on a second update, but not yet.

Yitzi
2011-09-17, 10:20 PM
Looks like a very interesting class...somewhat like the monk, it'd be designed primarily on taking down easy-to-hit enemies quickly (or at least burning through high HP at a reasonable rate), although the full BAB makes it somewhat more useful against somewhat stronger enemies as well. It'd be weak against someone with high AC, of course, as that'll prevent him from getting the needed two blows in one round.

I'd cut him to a d8, though, as that seems more in line with the concept of the class.

I'd also suggest comparing his attack to typical "low-defense" enemies (based on the campaign in question); if he can be made to hit with his primary attacks substantially more than 60 to 70 percent of the time (with the top-BAB attack) even against such enemies, you might want to seriously consider increasing the Storm Strike penalty or even cutting him back down to medium BAB, to keep him from being too good in his role.

flabort
2011-09-18, 12:30 AM
:smalltongue: :smallbiggrin: Now that I've increased it's power level, somebody says it's TOO strong. :smallamused:

Well, how about I increase the amount of barrage damage back up to 10d6 by 19th, knock the HD to d8 (previously d6, now d10, this would be a balance), and lower BaB back down to medium?

With my other changes, it still works right out of the box, but if I counterbalance my previous changes like this, do you guys think it will finally balance this right?

Even though the idea was great, obviously my initial attempt wasn't the best implementation. :smallannoyed: But it should work now, eh? :smallbiggrin:

Metahuman1
2011-09-18, 12:49 PM
I'd keep the BAB, but adjusting the Barrage damage and the hit die would be fine.

Everyone says BAB is undervalued and site certain classes like Wizard, Druid, Cleric, and on lower Tiers Swordsage, Bard, Beguiler, Sorcerer, Psion and Favored Soul as the reason.

But these classes aren't trying to throw out large numbers of medium damage attacks in a round as there means of combat usually, and typically have access too boosts to off set not having a full BAB progression. Since this class doesn't have those kinds of Martial Maneuvers or self boosts, a Full BAB will be improtant.

Yitzi
2011-09-19, 04:27 PM
The real question is what's its role. If its role is to fight normal or high-AC opponents (like a fighter or barbarian) then it needs a full BAB, but then the skillset, armoring, and new hit die don't make so much sense. Everything about the class implies "mobility fighter", and those generally have the role of going after vulnerable targets. And for that, medium BAB is plenty.

flabort
2011-09-19, 06:21 PM
With the exception of the Blizzard Barrier style, it was supposed to be fairly mobile, yes.
You know what? I'll take medium BaB, full just seems too strong.
I'm going to go with d8 hd, and boost the barrage damage back up to 10d6, too.

Just to let you know, when I first wrote the first draft (Before even posting, when it was still too unbalanced), I had poor BaB. Those classes aren't even trying to hit at all :smalltongue:, and this one is, so I boosted to medium before I posted. Now it's max, and I'm changing it down to medium again.

flabort
2011-10-28, 04:28 PM
Finished the Wind Chaser (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12117889#post12117889), a PrC for this class, and Grod_the_giant's Speedster.

Lots of speed focus. This turns you into a hurricane. Wielding a tornado. Riding on a bigger Hurricane. :smalltongue:

Funinyourgame
2011-11-26, 08:12 PM
Barrage
It is a Stormblade's philosophy that by hitting as many times as they can, as fast as they can, they can overwhelm their target's defenses, leaving them disoriented, and open for further damage.

When a Stormblade hits with two or more attacks in one round, he may add xd6 damage to all the attacks beyond the first, as dictated on the table, above, or 1d6 at first level, and increasing by 1d6 every odd level afterwords, to a maximum of 10d6 at 19th level.

The thing I don't understand is, if 3 of my attacks touch (monk and this class) at lvl 2, does that mean that I add 1d6 for each attack so in the end I add +3d6 to my damage?! If yes that its a bit OP I think because you can have a lot of STR so the -2 is not really a problem for low lvl and high lvl you don't have the problem anymore. Also think that high lvl if 4 of your attack succed, you add 40d6 dmg....wait WHAT!?

Please tell me I'm wrong and explain it a bit better plsif I am wrong because I don't see maximum in the ability. Thank you for your concern :smallsmile:

flabort
2011-11-27, 11:43 AM
So your first attack (of three) hits. As this is your first hit that round, you DON'T add extra damage to that his.
Your second attack hits, so you DO. And your third attack hits, so you do.

So you add +2d6.
And while the -2 might not be much of a problem for a high STR character, you're still going to miss a fair amount of the time.

at 20th, if you hit four times, you're adding 30d6, but that's IF you hit four times.

DeAnno
2011-11-27, 11:54 AM
Mechanically all seems to be in order, so here's a few balance ideas:

Rapid Barrage seems fairly strong for an ability at level 4, especially compared to the rest of the class. Early on its a way to get (theoretically unlimited) extra attacks with no penalty for four class levels (generally not an easy thing to do). Later losing 2d6 barrage damage out of 10d6 isn't really that much, and it would make sense to Rapid Barrage each hit almost no matter what. You may want to limit it per turn, increase the die cost, or do something else, but as it is, it centralizes the whole class around it, which isn't something you want to look for in an ability that's supposed to be a choice.

You have some dead levels, you may want to fill them with more Fast Movement, as it's a nice inoffensive thing to give someone.

Medium BaB is sufficient, as the number of attacks you put out there will cause a decent amount of hits even with a difficult target needed on the d20.

Storm Styles:
Whirlwind Bowmaster: I don't actually know all that much about Archery, but the second ability here could get ridiculous sort of fast, considering that Barrage isn't precision damage (also you don't really specify if penalties for Manyshot being used on an iterated attack stack). It might not be broken, but its mechanically a little strange, and you might be better off just incorporating Greater Manyshot somewhere.
Blizzard Barrier: This is very backloaded to the last feature. You may want to just change the middle one to full fortification
Thunderstrike Fists: Seems like the strongest offensively, with two extra attacks and Pounce.
Steel Downpour: TWF with no Pounce is inherently pretty weak compared to Thunderstrike Fists, especially when you consider it imposes -2 penalties and that its bonus attacks are -2/-7/-12 instead of 0/0, and that Thunderstrike could take the TWF feats if it wanted anyways. The only case where this is really useful is a Thri-Kreen trying to avoid feat taxes. I would just add moar stuff, possibly attack bonuses or a Sudden Leap like thing or something else. Lastly +2 damage to just about anything at 14th level is pretty laughable. At least change it to full STR damage on the off-hand to reduce bookkeeping.

Generally this class seems, on the surface, to be a relatively competent low to mid T4 damage dealer. Rogue has stealth and UMD on it, but barrage at the end of the day is less of a pain than sneak attack (crit immunity ugh), and this has its own multiattacking features. Like the Rogue it suffers from being made of paper mache, with the bad Fort/Will and no reason for lots of Con or Wis just making things awful defensively (though Blizzard Barrier sort of helps at 14 if you're willing to slog through it till then).

I might look this over again with more thinking later.

bobthe6th
2011-11-27, 12:02 PM
so now it can take as many attack as other classes, with a lower to hit? this is a class based on hiting things alot, I think it should either keep full or add more flury.

perhaps it can gain another flurry every time it gets an iterative at med BAB? then at 15th it could take a -to hit and get off 6 attacks to full BAB classes 4. boom, it is going to miss most of the time but it gets to try a lot.