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Old 03-31-2011, 05:38 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1
ErrantX
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Default [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Solar Wind

The disciples of the Solar Wind learn their arts in the windy plains where they train for precision in any environment with deadly force. Throwing weapons and archery are their tools, and they rarely miss. Hallmark maneuvers include richochet maneuvers, deadly precision strikes, supernaturally forceful maneuvers that may fire through opponents in a deadly line, showers of phantom weapons that inflict true damage, and ranged attack counters by shooting enemy missiles from the sky.

Solar Wind is a style for those who focus primarily on ranged combat and use its maneuvers to sculpt the battlefield, control enemy tactics, and provide attacks against multiple foes in short amounts of time. Solar Wind’s associated skill is Perception and its weapons are crossbow (hand, heavy, or light), bow (long or short and composite versions of those bows), shortspear, thrown dagger, sling, and throwing axe.

[Compatibility Note: If used with 3.5 and/or Tome of Battle, this discipline will go to Crusaders (as they're proficient in ranged weapons) or Swordsages (granting them proficiency, replacing Tiger Claw). Associated Skill becomes Spot. Primary Initiator Attribute for Tome of Battle users: Swordsage = Wisdom, Crusader = Charisma, Warblade = Intelligence.]

[Author's Notes: This is a discipline written by the three main authors on the Libram of Battle as a collaborative effort; while the revision here is my latest revision of the discipline as editor, it is not solely my own.]
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Last edited by ErrantX : 03-31-2011 at 05:44 PM.
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Old 03-31-2011, 05:39 PM   Top  -  End  -  #2
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Maneuver List

1st Level
Stance of Piercing Rays- Stance- While in this stance fired ranged weapons / thrown weapons gain an additional 1d6 points of damage.
Double Solar Shot- Strike- Make a ranged attack against two enemies that are less than 10ft apart as a single attack.
Horizon Wind Lancet - Boost- Give a single ranged attack a +1d6 damage bonus.
Curving Ray Shot- Strike- Roll Perception check against target's AC, negate cover for this attack.
Range Increasing Exercise- Boost- Increase the range on a missile weapon attack by +30ft.
Phantom Sun Stance- Stance – Generate phantom ammunition for ranged attacks by copying a single weapon, arrow, or bolt.
2nd Level
Feel the Wind- Boost- Overcome enviromental difficulties for ranged combat.
Solar Flare- Strike- Make a ranged attack and add +2d6 to damage and ignore cover.
Intercepting Shade- Counter- Make an opposed attack against an incoming ranged weapon attack, success negates the attack.
Solar Lance – Strike With a single arrow or thrown weapon, create a phantom 30ft line of arrows which inflict 3d6 + IL (+10 max) damage to all in the area of effect.
3rd Level
Sunwalker Stance- Stance- May make attacks while moving, +2 AC vs ranged attacks.
Solar Reflection- Strike- Make a ranged attack at a foe with a +2d6 damage bonus, if this attack is successful you can ricochet the shot to another enemy within 20ft using the same attack roll (no bonus damage).
Phantom Wind Ray- Boost- Next ranged attack is sheathed in dazzling light to obscure it, target must make an opposed Perception check to the attack roll or be caught flat-footed.
Blinding Ray Shot- Strike- Ranged attack becomes inflused with blinding light.
4th Level
Solar Prominence- Strike- Make a ranged attack against three enemies, no two that are less than 10ft apart as a single attack with a +2d6 damage bonus.
Dazzling Solar Flare- Strike- Make a ranged attack against a foe, inflicts +4d6 points of damage and chance of dazing.
Piercing Wind Crash- Strike- Make a Perception check against a foe's flat-footed AC, if this is higher, make a ranged attack against the foe as they are flat-footed and add +4d6 damage.
Solar Wind Lancet - Boost - Next ranged attack gains +2d6 points of damage for the round, potentially knocks foe down.
5th Level
Double Solar Reflection- Strike- Shot strikes three targets with one attack roll. First target takes +4d6 damage, second takes +2d6 damage, third just takes weapon damage. No two targets can be more than 20ft apart.
Focused Solar Lance- Strike – With a single arrow or thrown weapon, create a 60ft line of phantom weapons which inflict 8d6 + IL (+20 maximum) points of damage to all in the area of effect.
Searing Break – Boost – All ranged attacks gain +3d6 points of damage for the round.
Blinding the Bull – Boost – Automatically confirm a critical threat on a missile weapon attack.
6th Level
Solar Nova Prominence- Strike - Make a ranged attack against four enemies, no two of which can be more than 10 ft apart as a single attack with a +4d6 damage bonus.
Twisting Wind Shot - Strike- make a ranged Ranged attack and a Perception check, inflict double the result of that roll as damage for this attack.
True Shot Stance - Stance - Ignore concealment, double the threat range on ranged attacks. *Burning Break – Boost – All ranged attacks gain +5d6 points of damage for the round.
7th Level
Triple Solar Reflection- Strike -Shot strikes four targets with one attack roll. First target takes +6d6 damage, second takes +4d6 damage, third takes +2d6 damage, and the fourth attack takes normal damage. No two targets can be more than 20ft apart.
Phantom Sunstorm- Boost- Creates a hail of quasi-real weapons that strike with the real one, causing maximum double base weapon damage on a single attack
Stunning Solar Flare- Strike - Make a ranged attack against a foe, if successful the target takes an additional +8d6 points of damage and has a chance of being stunned.
8th Level
Solar Wind Tsunami- Strike- With a single arrow or thrown weapon, generate a phantom wave of arrows in a 60ft cone, inflicts 15d6 + IL (+20 max) points of damage to all in the area of effect.
Aurora Break - Boost - All ranged attacks gain +8d6 points of damage for the round.
Solar Hailstorm Stance- Stance- Gain 2 extra attacks on any full round attack with a ranged weapon.
9th Level
Solar Wind Nova- Strike- Make a ranged Ranged attack for all enemies within 30ft, each attack inflicts an additional +12d6 damage and on failed Reflex they are knocked prone.
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Last edited by ErrantX : 03-31-2011 at 05:40 PM.
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Old 03-31-2011, 05:42 PM   Top  -  End  -  #3
ErrantX
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Solar Wind Maneuvers

1st Level
Spoiler


2nd Level
Spoiler


3rd Level
Spoiler


4th Level
Spoiler


5th Level
Spoiler


6th Level
Spoiler


7th Level
Spoiler


8th Level
Spoiler


9th Level
Spoiler
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Last edited by ErrantX : 04-04-2011 at 12:14 AM.
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Old 03-31-2011, 05:47 PM   Top  -  End  -  #4
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Alright, PEACH away. Please read the Compatibility Note in the first post for use with 3.5 / Tome of Battle. This discipline is for the Libram of Battle, link to it's main page is in my signature, a replacement book for martial adept / martial initiators.

Let me know what you see in here. Is too strong? Too weak? Too weird? Spelling/grammar of course, what do you like about it? What don't you like about it? Would you use it, yes or no? Why? Things like that.

Alright, thank you all for reading!
-X
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Old 03-31-2011, 06:01 PM   Top  -  End  -  #5
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

All right, let's go through.

1st Level
Spoiler


2nd Level
Spoiler


3rd Level
Spoiler


4th Level
Spoiler


5th Level
Spoiler


6th Level
Spoiler


7th Level
Spoiler


8th Level
Spoiler


9th Level
Spoiler


I'll finish sometime tonight or tomorrow. So far, I'm seeing a lot of situational maneuvers that don't scale well, but there are some solid ones too.

Edit: Okay, done. Most of the situational maneuvers are gone by maneuver level 3, so it's not really a problem. It looks solid to me, and most of what I did was nitpicking.

Hey, maybe I should go dig up that Soulbow/Swordsage build I made a couple months ago.
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Last edited by Lateral : 03-31-2011 at 07:56 PM.
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Old 03-31-2011, 06:32 PM   Top  -  End  -  #6
ErrantX
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

@Lateral: Forgive me if this sounds rude, because it's totally not intentional, but do you know how maneuvers and their power level scaling works?

Low level maneuvers don't scale well intentionally because the martial adept trades them out as he levels, dropping one every even level starting at level 4. So as you level, those lower level abilities that don't scale well go away and are replaced with bigger and better versions of similar things. Same goes with the saving throw DC's. Heck, those are the same formulas for saving throw DC's as every other type of ability (spells, powers, etc etc). So those go up as well. You may start with a bunch of n00b maneuvers, but as you level, they get stronger when you trade them out for bigger and better.

Also, boosts and stances can be used concurrently. Example, first level stance Stance of Piercing Rays when used in conjunction with Horizon Wind Lancet adds a total of 2d6 points of damage to a ranged attack, and that's nothing to sneeze at. A first level character firing a shortbow for 3d6 at first level is decently impressive. Horizon Wind Lancet only works on one attack, but during the time you'd be using it, you likely will only have one attack (especially if you use it with a strike). As you advance, Stance of Piercing Rays is still decent in that it consistently adds 1d6 extra damage for no real penalty, and there are bigger and better boosts (Searing Break, Burning Break, and Aurora Break, for examples) that will continue to stack with it. Additionally, counters and boosts are supposed to be sorta situational. A ranged discipline is not going to have a whole lot of counters, so Intercepting Shade for example, is good against ranged attacks again yourself and any ally of yours in range. Suddenly that counter becomes a bit better when the goblin crossbow wielders go after the party cleric or the party sorcerer. Just something to think about as you go through the discipline.

Again, apologies if you take offense as that's not my intent, but I'm not entirely sure you understand how maneuvers work and how they scale in power. Either that, or I just don't understand your perspective as to why you feel the way you do about the maneuvers you've reviewed thus far.

-X
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Last edited by ErrantX : 03-31-2011 at 06:58 PM.
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Old 03-31-2011, 07:16 PM   Top  -  End  -  #7
Lateral
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

I'm not offended. Yes, I know that you can swap out maneuvers known, but that doesn't mean that the maneuvers don't need to scale at least a little. You won't ready all maneuvers of your highest level, after all, so they should at least scale enough that they're still relevant in two or three levels. After that, they should be swapped anyway, so it doesn't matter if they don't scale after that. I just marked the ones that I saw were useless too quickly. For instance, Phantom Sun Stance is nice at 1st level, but unless it can duplicate alchemical metals it's not useful past 1st since you'll have enough money by then to buy plenty of arrows.

I... completely didn't notice that Horizon Wind Lancet was a boost. Will change.

I realize that counters are supposed to be situational, but Intercepting Shade specifically is sort of weak. It deflects a shot, sure, but honestly, it doesn't deal any retribution to the shooter. They're free to do it again and again and again, so there's very little net gain besides time, and bows don't do all that much damage alone anyway.
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Old 03-31-2011, 07:56 PM   Top  -  End  -  #8
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Giving it a quick read, I found it a very flavorful discipline (my comments in blue)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ErrantX View Post
Solar Wind Maneuvers

1st Level
Spoiler


2nd Level
Spoiler


3rd Level
Spoiler


5th Level
Spoiler


6th Level
Spoiler


7th Level
Spoiler


8th Level
Spoiler
Also as a general comment, to the line of boosts that give bonus damage (like searing break etc) the fluff strongly suggests that the bonus damage is fire, yet you state it as bonus weapon damage. I suggest toning down the aspect of fire, just to avoid confusion.
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Old 03-31-2011, 07:58 PM   Top  -  End  -  #9
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Actually, Peacenlove, full attacks don't include swift actions. They consume one standard and one move action.
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Old 03-31-2011, 08:01 PM   Top  -  End  -  #10
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lateral View Post
Actually, Peacenlove, full attacks don't include swift actions. They consume one standard and one move action.
My point was that if I scored a critical hit on a full attack, I couldn't use Blinding the Bull maneuver to confirm it, because it is a swift action to activate (edit here) and only a 5-foot step can be taken during a full attack.

EDIT 2: Jarian, 2 posts below has proven me wrong and i retract my comment.
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Old 03-31-2011, 08:04 PM   Top  -  End  -  #11
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Oh.

Ignore me, then.
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Old 03-31-2011, 08:08 PM   Top  -  End  -  #12
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

*pops in*

Actually, I believe the Rules Compendium clarifies that a swift action, like a free action, can be taken at any point in your turn.

Neat discipline, ErrantX. Can't say more at this time as I haven't given an indepth look at the maneuvers yet.
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Old 03-31-2011, 09:36 PM   Top  -  End  -  #13
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Burning Break [level 6] has a duration and is thus a boost, not a stance.
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Old 04-04-2011, 12:11 AM   Top  -  End  -  #14
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Posted some revisions based on the above suggestions and mistake corrections. I'm not sure if I like my correction for Phantom Sun stance, so please to anyone reading this to pay special attention to that one. Please, one and all, feel free to look it over!

-X
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Old 04-07-2011, 03:05 PM   Top  -  End  -  #15
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Neat discipline as always from LoB. I do have a suggestion in relation to the Solar Reflection series, in that, since you don't want a target hit more than once, just say that "A creature may only be targeted once during this manuever." Currently, while Double Solar Reflection can't hit an earlier target, Triple Solar Reflection can with it's last attack.
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Old 04-07-2011, 03:35 PM   Top  -  End  -  #16
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Looks better! I still think Sunwalker Stance is too weak, and Dazzling Solar Flare is too weak now (dazzling's a weak effect), but other than that, it looks good.
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Old 04-08-2011, 10:10 AM   Top  -  End  -  #17
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Default Re: [3.5/PF] Solar Wind, an archer / thrown weapon discipline [LoB/ToB, Discipline]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lateral View Post
Looks better! I still think Sunwalker Stance is too weak, and Dazzling Solar Flare is too weak now (dazzling's a weak effect), but other than that, it looks good.
I agree on both accounts (I dislike dazzled as a condition, as it's pretty inconsequential at level 1, let alone later). For Sunwalker Stance, why not just define what you get instead of granting Shot on the Run and make it consequential, as basically all Sunwalker does for you is grant you a full round move and shoot that can be boosted. I'd specifically allow standard action strikes, since you can only do a standard ranged attack with Shot on the Run. Plus, I'm not entirely comfortable with stances granting virtual feats, really, though that could just be me.
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