[PF] Night Witch PrC - Feedback/advice needed

Please note that this Prestige Class is for a Homebrew Pathfinder setting, the information located in my signature. I'm mostly looking for a way to make this class a viable and attractive option without it being game breaking.

The objective for this class is a sort of aerial 3.5 Dervish that is not limited to slashing melee weapons. So making a Night Witch/Gunslinger is quite viable.

NIGHT WITCH

DESCRIPTION
Despite their name, Night Witches are not really witches, nor do they have any explicit magical powers. Night Witches serve the Queen as scouts, skirmishers and raiders, mostly used with keeping an eye on the border between the Queen's Lands and the Principality of the Moon. Not all Night Witches serve the Queen however, as some are self-taught individuals that longed to fly. The only real requirement is a set of wings and the will to use them, and most Flesh Shapers are willing to accommodate aspiring Witches, for a price of course.

ROLE
The Night Witch serves the role of high speed, high maneuverability, lightly armored skirmisher. Their role in combat is providing a multitude of attacks while always being in the right spot to support their allies. While this class works well for martial melee classes such as Barbarian, Fighter or Rogue, other classes such as Gunslinger, Magus, Ranger or even some casters will be able to get use out of becoming a Night Witch.

HIT DIE
D8

REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Fly 5 Ranks, Stealth 5 Ranks
Special: Must have a flight speed (Either naturally or via grafts)

Class Skills

The Night Witch's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Slight of Hand (Dex), Stealth (Dex), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks At Each Level: 4+Int

NIGHT WITCH

Level	BAB	Fort Save	Reflex Save	Will Save	Special	Aerial Superiority Bonus
1st	+1	+0	+1	+0	On Wings of Death, Aerial Superiority	+0ft
2nd	+2	+1	+1	+1	Got To Go Fast, Skirmisher +1d6	+10ft
3rd	+3	+1	+2	+1	Accomplished Flier, Free Aerial Feat	+15ft
4th	+4	+1	+2	+1	Leaf on the Wind, Skirmisher +2d6	+20ft
5th	+5	+2	+3	+2	Accomplished Flier, Free Aerial Feat	+25ft
6th	+6/+3	+2	+3	+2	Feather Wall, Skirmisher +3d6	+30ft
7th	+7/+3	+2	+4	+2	Cloud Born, Accomplished Flier, Free Aerial Feat	+35ft
8th	+8/+4	+3	+4	+3	Leaf on the Wind, Skirmisher +4d6	+40ft
9th	+9/+4	+3	+5	+3	Accomplished Flier, Free Aerial Feat	+45ft
10th	+10/+5	+3	+5	+3	Zephyr Dance, Skirmisher +5d6	+50ft

On Wings of Death (Ex): At level 1, the Night Witch becomes adept at attacking while on the wing. The Night Witch may, when declaring a Full Attack, move up to their movement speed between each attack, the total movement of which may not exceed their total movement speed. This ability is only usable while flying and incurs Attacks of Opportunity as per normal, though a Night Witch may use acrobatics as per normal to avoid the attacks. Cannot be used with armor heavier than Light.

Aerial Superiority (Ex): As the Night Witch adapts to the rigors of winged-combat, their flight speed increases little by little. Every level the Night Witch gains additional Fly Speed up to a maximum of +50ft.

Got To Go Fast (Ex): At level 2, the Night Witch becomes harder to hit as they become more and more of an accomplished flier. While flying, and upon moving at least 10 feet, a Night Witch gains 1/2 their Night Witch level as AC vs Attacks of Opportunity. This counts as a Dodge Bonus.

Skirmisher (Ex): At levels 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, the Night Witch progressively becomes more adept at attacking things while flying, able to deal more damage while moving. A Night Witch receives the Skirmish damage bonus after moving at least 10ft prior to the attack and only works while flying. This damage does not stack with Sneak Attack, and only one such ability may be used at a time. Cannot be used with armor heavier than Light.

Accomplished Flier (Ex): At levels 3, 5, 7 and 9, the Night Witch gains a slew of abilities to reflect their ever increasing competence with flying.

• At level 3, the Night Witch no longer suffers penalties from flying or operating in high wind conditions. This affects conditions up to "Windstorm" level.
• At level 5, the Night Witch has learned to dodge attacks even while moving at high speed. They no longer take penalties while using Acrobatics while moving at full speed through a threatened area.
• At level 7, the Night Witch has spent so much time above the clouds that they can move through them like they were open air. They ignore concealment offered by smoke, fog and cloud effects (other effects work as normal however).
• At level 9, the Night Witch's wings have become powerful enough to be able to kick up dust and debris with little effort. If the Night Witch hovers within 20 feet of the ground in an area with lots of loose debris, the draft from its wings creates a hemispherical cloud with a radius of 60 feet. The winds generated can snuff torches, small campfires, exposed lanterns, and other small, open flames of non-magical origin. Clear vision within the cloud is limited to 10 feet. Creatures have concealment at 15 to 20 feet (20% miss chance). At 25 feet or more, creatures have total concealment (50% miss chance, and opponents cannot use sight to locate the creature). This functions as the Hover feat, but is not subject to the size-requirements. If the Night Witch already has the Hover feat, increase the hover height range from 20 feet to 30 feet (30 being the maximum hight to use this ability) and increase the radius of the cloud to 80 feet.

Free Aerial Feat: At levels 3, 5, 7 and 9, the Night Witch may choose a feat from the following list for free regardless of prerequisites: Flyby Attack, Hover, Wingover, Metallic Wings, Stretched Wings (Please note that Metallic Wings and Stretched Wings are racial feats. For the purposes of the free feat, the racial requirements are also waived).

Leaf on the Wind (Ex): At levels 4 and 8, the Night Witch learns to read the wind and airflows about them as they fly. Their flight maneuverability increases by one step at level 4, and again at level 8.

Feather Wall (Ex): At level 6, the Night Witch has become adept at using their wings for more than just flying. When on the ground (i.e. not flying), the Night Witch may add half their levels in Night Witch to their AC as a Deflection Bonus. Alternatively, they may use their wings for offensive purposes as two Wing Buffet attacks, dealing 1d4 damage and dealing Bludgeoning damage. If the Metallic Wings feat was taken, the Night Witch adds an additional +2 to their AC atop the 1/2 level and counts it either as a Shield or a Deflection bonus (Choice is up to the Witch upon declaring the "stance") and their Wing Buffet attacks increase to 1d6 and deal Slashing damage in addition to Bludgeoning damage. Only one stance may be used at a time and must be declared during the Night Witch's turn (If attacking with the wings, they do not get the AC bonus for example). The Night Witch may only change stances at the beginning of their turn.

Cloud Born (Su): Staying up in the sky of the Barrier World has...consequences, though not all bad. In fact, some of them are quite good. At level 7, the Night Witch is able to manipulate, move and destroy cloud, fog or gaseous effect as if it were solid. Options are as follows:

• You may, as a move action, move a cloud, fog, or other gaseous effect up to your movement speed in any direction you can move yourself. You
  move with the gaseous effect, which must be within your reach when you start and end. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity. For the purposes of dragging/pushing, each square "counts as" 5lb (To help ensure that Night Witches don't just pick up entire fog banks and walk off with them).
• As a standard action, you may attack a cloud, fog, or magical gaseous effect with a natural attack (provided it is within reach) and destroy a 5ft section of the gaseous. Attacking such an effect is considered an attempt to Dispel and must roll 1d20+Character Level+Strength versus the target of 10+Caster Level. Success not only clears the 5ft space, but also dispels the entire effect. Failure still clears the targeted 5ft square.
• May treat clouds, fogs and gaseous effects, magical or otherwise, as solid objects. The extent of this ability is left up to the DM.

Zephyr Dance (Ex): At level 10, the Night Witch becomes a master of the skies. Once per day, the Night Witch may double their total number of attacks when making a Full Attack action. If used in conjunction with On Wings of Death, they may make an additional attack between movements. Cannot be used with armor heavier than Light.

I like the thematic element of this class. Unfortunately I really am stuck with the mental image of an old lady riding a broom. Can't be helped, I suppose. "Nightwing" just brings to mind old comic book characters.

You need about twice as many class skills to support 6 skill points per level. Unfortunately I know little about skills in Pathfinder.

There is really no harm in allowing sneak attack to stack with skirmish.

Features that would make the class more versatile or dervish-like:
AC bonus while moving.
Reduce or ignore penalties for high winds.
Ignore concealment or even total concealment from fogs and clouds.
Ignore skill check penalties for fast movement with acrobatics.
"Drag" or influence clouds so as to ensure the ability to use stealth while flying, or maybe utilize approaching from the direction of the sun to use its dazzling effects to be able to make Stealth checks.
Generate wind and dust cloud effects by flapping wings.
Utilize wings for attack or defense while on the ground.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jiriku

I like the thematic element of this class. Unfortunately I really am stuck with the mental image of an old lady riding a broom. Can't be helped, I suppose. "Nightwing" just brings to mind old comic book characters.

You need about twice as many class skills to support 6 skill points per level. Unfortunately I know little about skills in Pathfinder.

There is really no harm in allowing sneak attack to stack with skirmish.

Features that would make the class more versatile or dervish-like:
AC bonus while moving.
Reduce or ignore penalties for high winds.
Ignore concealment or even total concealment from fogs and clouds.
Ignore skill check penalties for fast movement with acrobatics.
"Drag" or influence clouds so as to ensure the ability to use stealth while flying, or maybe utilize approaching from the direction of the sun to use its dazzling effects to be able to make Stealth checks.
Generate wind and dust cloud effects by flapping wings.
Utilize wings for attack or defense while on the ground.

---

I'm thinking I'll take and lump the Ignore fog/cloud concealment, high wind penalty, fast acrobatics and the wind/dust cloud generation together for lvls 3, 5, 7 and 9. Possibly have at lvl 6 an ability that adds AC when not flying or allows for attacking (If you attack you lose the AC) that works with the Metallic Wings feat (Possibly an increase in damage and AC). There's also a feat I could use from the 3rd Party Ponyfinder book that allows for physical manipulation of clouds, and I suppose tacking on an on-movement Dodge AC bonus would be simple enough.

Righty-o, Night Witch v2.0 is up!

Also I found out that I can just copy and paste the thing into Google Docs which makes this all SO MUCH EASIER.