(3.5 Prestige Class) Cold-Fury Archer

[Lix Lorn]

Cold-Fury Archer
”It was… strange. He had a huge axe on his back and I was sure he was gonna be frothing at the mouth-but instead he just draw a bow, and watches them for a few moments, before sending an arrow into every one, through the eye slits of their helmets.”

Background: Most berserkers are like fire; a deadly and destructive force that destroys all before them. The cold-Fury Archers are more like blade-sharp ice. Every strike they make is calculated, driven by an anger so intense it freezes their heart and hones their mind.
Races: Any race can become a Cold-Fury Archer.
Other Classes: Cold-Fury Archers tend to perturb Paladins, their reliance on emotion and anger seeming dark to them. Other Barbarians tend to either deride or worship them, either seeing their internal anger as impressive or a waste.
Role: A Cold-Fury Archer is both a combatant and a decent scout. As they are almost always Barbarians, they can move quickly to check what is ahead, and then during an actual fight can either snipe at their enemies or simply draw a melee weapon and attack normally.
Cold-Fury Archers in the World: Cold-Fury Archers are better suited to the military than normal Barbarians, as their cold fury leaves them more rational. They make excellent assassins and bounty hunters, and skilled adventurers.
Inspiration: Barbarian with bow. (Shrug)

Prerequisites:
BAB: 5
Feat: Rapid Shot
Special: Rage 2/day
Special: Proficiency with at least one type of bow.

Class Skills: The Cold-Fury Archer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Move Silently (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points per Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier

Level	BaB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special
1	+1	+2	+2	+0	Cold Fury, Mighty Arrow
2	+2	+3	+3	+0	Rage (1/Day)
3	+3	+3	+3	+1	Piercing Arrow
4	+4	+4	+4	+1	Storm of Arrows
5	+5	+4	+4	+1	Rage (2/Day), Furious Arrow

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: A Cold-Fury Archer gains no new weapon or armour proficiencies.

Cold Fury (Ex): Whenever a Cold-Fury Archer would Rage, they can instead enter a Cold Rage. This functions as per the Barbarian’s Rage ability, but provides +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, and a +2 morale bonus on will saves. While in a Cold Rage, a Cold-Fury Archer cannot use any Charisma- or Intelligence-based skills (except for Intimidate). However, unlike a normal rage, they may use the Combat Expertise feat, if they have it.

When/if the Cold-Fury Archer gains the Greater Rage ability, these bonus become +4 to Strength and Dexterity, and their morale bonus increases to +3.

When/if the Cold-Fury Archer gains the Mighty Rage ability, these bonus become +6 to Strength and Dexterity, and their morale bonus increases to +4.

Mighty Arrow (Ex): While raging, a Cold-Fury Archer may treat the strength rating of any composite bow they wield as equal to their strength bonus.

Rage (Ex): As per the normal Barbarian ability. If the Cold-Fury Archer already has this ability, the uses per day stack. If they do not, then they may only use the Cold Fury version above, and not the standard Rage ability.

Piercing Arrow (Ex): A Cold-Fury Archer of 3rd level is constanrtly watching for the slightest weak point. Whenever they make an attack with a bow, they may ignore an amount of AC equal to their class level, although they may only ignore AC granted from armour or as an Armour bonus.

Storm of Arrows (Ex): At 4th level, a Cold-Fury Archer can strike many enemies simultaneously. While in a rage of any sort, they may make a single ranged attack against each enemy in range. If they do, they immediately end their rage. (Becoming fatigued, unless they have the Tireless Rage ability.)

Perfect Shot (Ex):
With no words, the archer locked eyes with his target. The victim’s hands went numb. He dropped his sword, and it seemed like slow motion as the bow came up, and an instant later an arrow struck him through the skull.
Whenever a Cold-Fury Archer in a Cold Rage successfully hits with a bow, they may make a Concentration Check with DC equal to 10 + their targets AC. If they pass, then they automatically score a threat. (Though they still need to confirm a critical.)

Done. Comments, please?

[Fortuna]

Your last ability opens with a [i] and ends with a [/b]. Doesn't work too well.

Cold Rage is neat, but almost strictly weaker than Rage. Boost the stat boost, and bear in mind that that's enough because standard rage boosts its own duration.

Mighty Arrow is nice, but nothing to write home about.

Piercing Arrow is scary. Really scary. Touch ACs tend to be so much lower than regular ACs, that I'm going to have to say that's probably overpowered for 11th level.

Storm of Arrows is good, but not incredibly so. A nice option to have, and takes care of mooks like there's no tomorrow.

Perfect Shot/Furious Arrow (change either the table or the ability) is also incredible. If you hit their Touch AC, then you get to make a Concentration check against their full AC to threaten a crit (against their Touch AC no less!). I'm calling this one too much for 13th level, too.

And this is all assuming a 'clean' entry (that is, no shenanigans). Your entry criteria need cleaning up, because I can enter this class at level 2. Human Barbarian 1 with one flaw, Human feat is Point Blank Shot, level 1 feat is Rapid Shot, and the feat from the flaw is Extra Rage. I now get to make all bow attacks as touch attacks, starting at level 4.

In summary: nerf Piercing Arrow, and possibly the capstone. Tighten up your entry requirements. And boost Cold Rage.

[Lix Lorn]

Fixed that part. XD

Boosted the stats slightly and the duration slightly.

Okay.

Weakened significantly.

(nods) Kay.

What would you recommend I do to weaken it?

I added another feat as a prerequisite. Should I put in a requirement for BAB 5 or something?

Thanks for the comments.

[Xallace]

Neato class.

Firstly, lets add Base Attack Bonus: +5 to the prerequisites. Higher if you think it necessary, but I don't.

Now, Piercing Arrow. Hmm. I definitely want to say we should limit this in some way. A move action to line up the shot?

My issue with Perfect Shot / Furious Arrow is that the need for a Concentration check kinda comes out of nowhere. There's no real reason to even be boosting Concentration except for this ability here. Now what with Storm of Arrows, there is precedence to make it a rage-ender. End rage, auto-crit. Maybe with a bonus (critical multiplier increases by 1 for purpose of the shot, so x3 becomes x4 and the like).

Everything else seems pretty sweet!

[nxwtypx]

Perhaps making perfect shot a full round action for one attack would be a good revision? Turning an archer into all ranged touch attacks is very powerful.

[Lix Lorn]

Thanks!

Added the BAB requirement.

Did you see the weakened version of Piercing Arrow?

Hmm. :/ I wanted to make it a kind of constant ability, rather than a one off thing. Any ideas on how we could get that to work?

[Xallace]

Did you see the weakened version of Piercing Arrow?

The one I'm looking at right now says that all bow attacks are treated as ranged touch attacks. Is this the weakened version?

Hmm. :/ I wanted to make it a kind of constant ability, rather than a one off thing. Any ideas on how we could get that to work?

Make it a full-round action?

[Lix Lorn]

Oops. I thought I changed it.

That makes sense...

[Xallace]

Heh, that explains it.

So basically, a +5 bonus on attacks with ranged weapons? Mm-hmm... My only suggestion there would be that it only pierces Armor, Natural Armor, Enhancement and Shield bonuses. Being able to pierce through stuff doesn't exactly help against Dodge, Luck, Insight, Morale...

[Lix Lorn]

Oops, good point. XD

I was originally planning on letting Perfect Shot and Storm of Arrows stack-that's why it was a skill check, you could do it with each shot.

Is there a way I could make that not overpowered?