Solonor Thelandira is the elven god of archery, hunting, and wilderness survival. He prefers action to talk, and is almost never away from the hunt. Whether bringing down fantastic game or fighting against the powers of evil, he wields Longshot, his magical longbow, always.
While nearly all surface elves hold archery skills in high regard, those who would emulate Solonor and become Bowhunters must reach a level of focus far beyond that of most of their kin. Bowhunters use longbows in preference to all other weapons (in fact, they must forfeit the use of all other ranged weapons to become members of this class).
Unlike Arcane Archers, Solonor’s Bowhunters place no special value on the study of magic. Rather, they place great emphasis on mastering the wilderness and hunting. While quite effective in the majority of adventuring environments, they never feel as comfortable when they are outside of the wilderness. This feeling will build to the point of distraction if they don’t return to a wilderness area for at least a few days each month (all attacks, skill checks, and saves suffer a cumulative -1 penalty after each full month outside a wilderness area).
Rangers, barbarians, and fighters (respectively), are most common among those elves who seek Solonor’s path. Rogues make fine Bowhunters. There are even a few bards, clerics and druids that choose this path, but Bowhunters coming from the remaining classes are exceedingly rare. Among the elven sub-races, grugach and sylvan elves have proportionally more representatives in the ranks of Solonor’s Bowhunters.
Alignment: non-evil, non-lawful.
Race: Elven, Half-Elven.
Base Attack Bonus: +5.
Craft (Bowyer/Fletcher): 2 ranks.
Hide: 4 ranks.
Knowledge (Nature): 2 ranks.
Move Silently: 4 ranks.
Wilderness Lore: 8 ranks.
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (Longbow or Composite Longbow), and Tracking.
Other: Must worship Solonor Thelandira.
Class
Skills:
The class skills for Solonor’s Bowhunters (and the key ability for each skill) are: Animal Empathy (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (bowyer/fletcher) (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (guide) (Wis), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class
Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Solonor’s Bowhunters do not gain any new weapon or armor proficiencies upon entering this prestige class. In fact, all Bowhunters must forego the use of medium and heavy armor, shields, and all ranged weapons aside from longbows or composite longbows.
|
Class Level |
B.A.B. |
Fort Save |
Reflex Save |
Will Save |
Special |
|
|
1st |
+1 |
+1 |
+2 |
+1 |
1st Shot Initiative: +0, |
Hunting, Clear Shot |
|
2nd |
+2 |
+1 |
+3 |
+2 |
1st Shot Initiative: +1, |
Close Shot |
|
3rd |
+3 |
+1 |
+3 |
+3 |
1st Shot Initiative: +2, |
Twin Nock |
|
4th |
+4 |
+2 |
+4 |
+3 |
1st Shot Initiative: +3, |
Prone Shot, Zen Archery |
|
5th |
+5 |
+2 |
+4 |
+4 |
1st Shot Initiative: +4, |
Improved Twin Nock |
|
6th |
+6 |
+2 |
+5 |
+4 |
1st Shot Initiative: +5, |
Transit Shot |
|
7th |
+7 |
+3 |
+5 |
+5 |
1st Shot Initiative: +6, |
Triplet Nock |
|
8th |
+8 |
+3 |
+6 |
+5 |
1st Shot Initiative: +7, |
Pierce-All Shot |
|
9th |
+9 |
+3 |
+6 |
+6 |
1st Shot Initiative: +8, |
Improved Triplet Nock |
|
10th |
+10 |
+4 |
+7 |
+6 |
1st Shot Initiative: +9, |
Soul Shot |
First Shot Initiative Bonus: So long as you have your bow nocked and ready, you gain this bonus to the first shot you fire in any encounter – but only if that is the first action you take. Any other actions and all shots after the first ignore this bonus.
Hunting: Bowhunters gain a tracking bonus equal to their class level when on the trail of any wilderness animal.
Clear Shot: You treat targets with some degree of cover as if they had one category less than their actual cover. This has no effect when your target has no cover or total cover.
Close Shot: Your ranged attacks no longer incur an attack of opportunity when you fire while in a threatened area.
Twin Nock: As a move-equivalent action, you may nock two arrows on your bow at one time. These cannot be aimed at separate targets. Your attack suffers a -3 penalty to hit (one roll for both arrows), as does your initiative when using this feat. Twin Nock does not increase damage bonuses (if any) due to strength or weapon specialization.
Prone Shot: You may fire your bow while lying prone without penalty.
Zen Archery: You acquire this feat for free. If you already have Zen Archery, then your ranged attack modifiers for wisdom and dexterity stack.
Improved Twin Nock: As Twin Nock, but your attack and initiative penalties for using the feat are now reduced to just -1.
Transit Shot: This allows
you to travel safely from wherever you fired the shot, to the spot where your
arrow lands. You may bring up to four
other beings along for the ride. They
must all be willing, and touching you at the moment you fire the arrow. Firing the Transit Shot is a full round
action and the transit time is an additional full round. You may perform this feat as many times per day
as your class level, but never more than once per minute.
Triplet Nock: This feat is similar to Twin Nock, but you
nock three arrows at once, instead of two.
Pierce-All Shot: As a full-round action you may fire a shot with incredible penetrating power. This shot completely penetrates all normal physical barriers (including cover, armor, and shields). All other bonuses to defense (including enchantments to armor or shields), still apply as normal. You may perform this feat as many times per day as your Bowhunter class level.
Improved Triplet Nock: This feat is similar to Improved Twin Nock, but with three arrows.
Soul Shot: At the pinnacle of a Bowhunter’s advancement they learn the Soul Shot. This can be used in three ways.
The first is to trap the soul of the targeted creature. This is similar to the spell of that name (object trigger variant) save for the following:
The range is as per your bow, the gem is actually fashioned into the head of the arrow, the arrow must hit the subject and they do get a save attempt (treat your character level as caster level).
The second variation allows you to preserve a life by absorbing the soul of a dying being into a specially prepared arrow (it must be solid silver with green fletching and of no less than 1000 gold pieces in value). Once absorbed, the soul can be safely preserved in the arrow indefinitely.
The third usage allows you to implant that soul (from the second variation of Soul Shot) into the body of a living creature. If the receiving creature is sentient/self aware then it must be fully willing or this form of Soul Shot will not work. Otherwise this has much the same effect as reincarnating the soul into the type of body chosen.
Either of the first two types of Soul Shot may be used up to 3 times per month (combined). The third variation has no usage restrictions.