Nomad (PrC)

[Paragon Badger]

Nomad
While many say that the Barbarian is unparalled in melee combat, the Nomad is even more greatly feared. Small squads of Nomads have picked off heavily armored armies who outnumbered them ten to one. The Nomad represents the pinnacle of training with both the bow and horse, and few can ever match their prowress on an open field.
Hit Die: d10

Requirements
Alignment: Any non lawful.
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Skills: Ride 8 ranks.
Feats: Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery

Class Skills
The Nomad's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Nomads are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, Bolas, Nets, and light armor.

Ride Bonus
A Nomad gains a competence bonus equal to her class level on all Ride checks, as well as on Handle Animal checks made in conjunction with her animal companion mount or special mount.

Mounted Archery Mastery
Nomads suffer no penalties to their ride check for riding bare-back. A Nomad may reduce the ranged attack penalties while mounted by 2, to a minimum of 0. The DC for epic usages of the Ride skill are reduced by 10. These bonuses only apply when the mount is wearing no barding, and the Nomad is wearing light or no armor.

Mounted Skirmish (Ex)
The Nomad may use the Skirmish ability (See Complete Adventurer) while mounted, but Skirmish bonuses granted from other classes do not stack with the Nomad's Mounted Skirmish.

Animal Companion Mount
A Nomad's mount may be designated as an animal companion.

This ability functions like the druid ability of the same name, except that the nomad’s effective druid level is one-half his nomad level.

Fifth Gait
A Nomad knows how to draw every bit of speed possible from their animal companion/mount. At 2nd level and higher, a Nomad (while mounted) increases his mount’s base speed by 10 feet. This increase affects every movement mode the mount has, including fly, climb, and swim speeds.

Ignore Cover
The Nomad's ability to judge distance and trajectory culminates in the fearsome ability to completely ignore obstructions, including total cover. At 10 feet, a Nomad must be able to shoot an arrow 60 feet into the air between them in order to attack his enemy. Reduce the required vertical space by 5 feet for each 5 feet of distance the Nomad is away from their target (to a minimum of 15 feet)

When calculating if the Nomad has enough vertical space or not, use the halfway point between the Nomad and his target. Reduce the required vertical space by 5 feet for each 5 feet away from the center point. The arrow must pass through this trajectory untouched.

This ability does not work if the target has cover over their heads.

(Example: A Nomad attacks a tower-shield wielding target at a distance of 40 feet. The Nomad requires 30 feet of vertical distance at the halfway point in order to ignore the target's total cover.)

The Nomad

[Stycotl]

do levels in this prc stack with other classes that give the animal companion ability as well?

why on earth is it 1/2 bab? give it 3/4 without a doubt, and you could probably argue full fairly easily.

i am not sure that i like the mechanics of ignore cover very much. shooting pretty much straight up (60' up x 10' over is pretty much straight up) negates the initial force of the launch, and therefore creates just a falling (probably aimlessly tumbling arrow). if you detail that it can only ignore upto a certain height of cover, give it a minimum distance that it could be used at (say 100', or maybe second range increment or something), a maximum (say 200', or maybe just 2nd or 3rd range increment--since the farther you shoot, the more horizontal the flight), and a minimum range increment to the weapon (say 100', since short range weapons cannot hold lethal velocity over an arc), then i could see it working.

on second thought though, you can actually launch a missile weapon farther than you can aim a missile weapon. the max range of an m16a2 service rifle is 3,534 meters, though the max *effective* range is much less. so never mind the maximum. we'll assume that if your weapon has the range sufficient to strike that far normally, you can strike that far with a greater arc.

example:

with a ranged weapon that has at least 100 feet as its first range increment, you can arc your shot enough to ignore some amount of cover (though you cannot ignore overhead cover).

This ability cannot be used within the first range increment of the weapon--if the target is too close, the arc required strips the projectile of its critical velocity.

If the target is within the second range increment of the weapon, you can ignore any of its adjacent cover upto its height x1.5. any cover that it is not adjacent to is automatically ignored.

If the target is within the third range increment, you can ignore adjacent cover upto its height x2. any cover that it is not adjacent to is automatically ignored.

if the target is within the fourth (or greater for applicable weapons) range increment, you can ignore adjacent cover upto its height. any cover that it is not adjacent to is automatically ignored.

The arc required to hit the target equals half the total distance to be fired. therefore, if your target is 150 feet away, you would need a 75-foot ceiling in order to arc your shot sufficient to ignore any cover whatsoever.

i'm sure i've forgotten something (if not many things), but this seems a little more doable to me.

[Overlord]

Wow. So the state of "not owning a house" apparently qualifies one for a prestige class, huh?

Jokes aside, I like the Hun-style theme you have with the Prc. It looks fairly balanced, at first glance.

[Stycotl]

other than those things, cool class. i suppose that i would like to see skirmish stacking, but that is more along the lines of it being hard enough to justify it in a prc or multiclass build that doesn't contribute.

cool flavor for a class.