Halfling Wolf riders

[Archon-Blade]

ok so the idea might be trite, goblins have been doing it since tolkien, but I figure, it's about time some one showed riding wolves in a more possitive, less evil light. And so I give you The Sentinel of Biam. It's a PRC for a homebrew setting that I'm helping make, and I'm wondering about balance. The goal is a sort of wolf-riding mongolian horde sort of halfling. Anyway, without further ado:

The Sentinels of Biam
.
Hit Die: d8

Requirements:
To qualify to become an Sentinel of Biam, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Race: Halfling
Base attack bonus:+5
Feats:
Martial Weapon Prof. (shortbow)
Mounted Combat

Skills:
+4 Handle animal
+8 ride
+8 survival

Class Skills:
The Sentinels of Biam's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis).
Skill points at each lvl
2 + Int modifier.

{table]|Level|Base Attack|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|
|1|+1|+2|+2|+0|Animal Companion|1|-|-|-|
|2|+2|+3|+3|+0|Leader of the Pack +1, Mounted Archery|1|-|-|-|
|3|+3|+3|+3|+1|Improved Dismount|1|0|-|-|
|4|+4|+4|+4|+1|Swift Tracker,Leader of the Pack +2|1|0|-|-|
|5|+5|+4|+4|+1|Rapid Shot, Coordinated Efforts|1|1|-|-|
|6|+6/+1|+5|+5|+2|Leader of the Pack +3|1|1|0|-|
|7|+7/+2|+5|+5|+2||1|1|1|-|
|8|+8/+3|+6|+6|+3|Improved Mounted Archery,Leader of the Pack +4|2|1|1|0|
|9|+9/+4|+6|+6|+3|Weapon Specialization (shortbow) |2|1|1|1|
|10|+10/+5|+7|+7|+3| |2|2|1|1|[/table] Special Abilites:

Animal Companion (Ex):
As part of the test of initation into the Sentinels, applicants must tame a full grown wolf, and complete a binding ritual. This ritual binds the wolf as the sentinel's personal animal companion.
A 1st-level Sentinel's companion is completely typical for its kind except as noted below. As a Sentinel of Biam advances in level, the animal’s power increases as shown on the table. If a Sentinel releases her companion from service, she may gain a new one by performing a ceremony requiring 24 uninterrupted hours of prayer. This ceremony can also replace an animal companion that has perished. A sentinel's animal companion must be a wolf, or some variation there of (dire wolf, celestial wolf, etc.) The animal companion of a Sentinel of Biam progresses just as a druid. A character's druid and ranger levels stack for the purpose of calculating a Sentinel of Biam's animal companion.

Leader of the Pack:
Begining at level 2, and every two levels there after, A Sentinel of Biam gains a commultive +1 bonus to Handle Animal and Ride cheaks when dealing with wolves or dogs.

Improved Dismount:
After reaching level 3 a Sentinel of Biam has become so in-tune and used to the movements of her riding companion wolf, that she can dismount and mount as a free action if she is sharing a square with her wolf.

Scent:
After reaching fourth level, a Sentinel of Biam gains the Scent feat, allowing her to track by scent.

Swift Tracker:
Begining at 4th level, a Sentinel of Biam can track at her normal speed without taking the standard -5 penalty. She takes only a -10 penalty (instead of the normal -20) when moving at up to twice normal speed while tracking.

Coordinated Efforts:
At 5th lvl a Sentinel and her companion wolf have become so intuned to each other's movements and combat styles that they can both attack in the same round when the Sentinel is mounted. While being ridden, a Sentinel's wolf does not get it's trip attempt as a free action.

Improved Mounted Combat:
After reaching level 8 a Sentinel of Biam reduces the penalties for firing a bow while mounted is reduced by 2, with no penalty for firing if her mount is taking a double move, and only a -2 penalty if her mount is running.

[Peregrine]

Please, use a table. And bold headings. And other things that make it possible to read your post. The idea sounds interesting, but as you say, wolf-riding in itself is not particularly new, so without the stats being in a format that's easy on the eyes, it's hard to see what you've done with the concept.

That said: did someone say halflings on canines?

[Archon-Blade]

I'm sorry about that, it was a bad copy job from our Wiki

[Icewalker]

I like the idea of wolf-riding halflings.
First of all, the Animal Companion ability you have as first there is also part prerequisite, so I suggest adding that to the prerequisites list (even if you just write special: see Animal Companion).
Other than that, it looks pretty balanced to me, although I'm not sure if I know all those feats.

But overall, I like it. It could be really cool to have a society based on wolf-riding, some halfling town or even small country or some such thing.

in your table there is a 1st 2nd 3rd and 4th section, does this class gain spells? If so, you need to elaborate on that (prepared, spontaneous, spell list, etc).

[Darkshade]

wouldn't it be a special mount?
shouldn't the MOUNT who already has scent do the tracking?
give it an improved int score and some skill ranks so it doesn't suck
there are no mounted prestige classes without mounted combat as a prerequisite, which it should be. not a class power!
why does this remind me of Halfling Outrider?

[Darkshade]

also a bonus feat EVERY level? thats a little crazy find one other PrC that does that and I will bow down and say it is perfectly great, but I bet money there isn't one out there

[Gnifle]

also a bonus feat EVERY level? thats a little crazy

I agree with Darkshade, a bonus feat each level is a bit to much, furthermore giving the class spells is a bit overkill in my opinion.

Personally I like the idea of wolf riding halflings, that gives them a more feral feel, reminds me a bit about the Wolfriders from Elfquest.

Also I have never liked prestige classes, I find it much better just to stick with the standard player classes, and modify them accordingly. Why don't you modify the ranger class? Move up the animal companion to first level, remove the spells, and make it compulsory to choose the ranged ranger instead of the close-combat one.

[Eighth_Seraph]

...because players might still want levels in the current Ranger? I like the class, but needs some tuning. Also, what role is to be played by this class? Is the scout looking ahead unseen, finding the location of the camp of trolls up ahead by smell? Is it the quick-moving and elusive warrior weaving between opponents while unceasingly shooting arrows into their ranks? Is it a guide to be used mostly by NPCs to lead PCs through the forest near the halflings' home? It would be a good idea to define that before deciding what to cut out. Also, yeah. Take the feats out, let them be prerequisites or use the feat every third level to fill 'em in. Maybe keep Improved Dismount and maybe Scent, if you really have your heart set on it. Every other feat needs to go.

[sktarq]

Gernally I'd have a few issues.
One I'd allow Rangers and Druids who already have an animal companion of the appropriate sort to stack their levels (with levels in the PrC acting as druid levels if a ranger) to find out the power of their animal companion.

Second the class is generally overpowered. Max BAB, Two of three good saves, a feat every level, and spells. Plus the most logical way to get to this PrC would be a Ranger following the archery path. Which would give you allot of repetion in general.

Scent-Why? I could see allowing the Halfling's and the Followers survival bonus to stack if you wanted an extra bonus. Or While mounted the information that the mount recieves from their scent ability can be somewhat comunicated to the reider (perhaps giving the Blindfighting feat only while mounted perhaps?) What I can't wrap my head around is that learning how to shoot arrows and ride well helps your nose. The logic fails me.

Recomendations. Drop the Spells for one. Drop Scent-perhaps replace it with a bonus to track but still the halflings use their own noses only so well. Put leader of the pack bonuses on the chart every time they come into effect and you'll see how many beef up you are getting every level-impressive). Drop a couple of the the feats-perhaps with the caveat that if the character already has one of the feats they gain the improved version instead.