Stinger

The hulking barbarian gritted his teeth and smiled through his dirty beard. A small, lone opponent stood in the corner of the room, barehanded and apparently defenseless. The smile changed to a snarl as Bjorn gripped his enormous greatsword and began his charge. As the first chorus of his war-chant echoed through the large room, the barbarian saw the opponent notice him and launch a small projectile his way. The dart found a weak point in the huge warrior's armor, biting deeply into his left arm.

Just as Bjorn completed his rush and swung his mighty weapon, the small man dodged and bounded just out of reach. As the barbarian turned to again address him, the rogue's hands moved with blinding speed. A volley of darts flew from the man and struck the giant, one lodging in his neck and virtually paralyzing him. With a cat's grace, the smaller man pounced upon his helpless foe, driving a dart deep into his eye and ending his life.

Stingers are experts with an often-overlooked weapon, the dart. Using its precision, they learn to circumvent all but the most comprehensive armors. Its speed and ease of use allow multiple extra attacks. Stingers also learn to operate in melee with these weapons, and move about the battlefield with ease, picking off opponents with volleys of flying steel projectiles.

Hit Die: d6

Requirements:
BAB: +5
Skills: Tumble- 6 ranks
Balance- 4 ranks
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (Dart), Quick Draw

Class Skills:
The Stinger's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points Each Level: 6 + Int Mod.

Lvl BAB Fort Ref Will Special . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 . . +0 . +0 . .+2 . +0 . .Precise Shot
2 . . +1 . +0 . .+3 . +0 . .Find the Chinks (-1 AC), Stinger
3 . . +2 . +1 . .+3 . +1 . .Seize Opportunities (5' radius), Close Combat
4 . . +3 . +1 . .+4 . +1 . .Find the Chinks (-2 AC), Lightning Shot
5 . . +3 . +1 . .+4 . +1 . .Strike Vitals
6 . . +4 . +2 . .+5 . +2 . .Find the Chinks (-3 AC)
7 . . +5 . +2 . .+5 . +2 . .Seize Opportunities (10' radius)
8 . . +6 . +2 . .+6 . +2 . .Find the Chinks (-4 AC)
9 . . +6 . +3 . .+6 . +3 . ."Keep Your Distance!"
10. .+7 . +3 . .+7 . +3 . .Find the Chinks (-5 AC), Sting-Blossom

Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Stinger gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies. All abilities can only be used when wearing medium, light, or no armor.

Precise Shot: The Stinger also gains the Precise Shot feat.

Find the Chinks (Ex): Stingers are masters of precise shots. As they advance in experience, they gain the ability to find the weak points in armor and better exploit them. When they attack with a dart, this ability allows the Stinger to ignore a certain number of armor class bonuses from armor and natural armor. At 2nd level, all opponents effectively have 1 less AC bonus from all armor or natural armor. This increases at every other level, for a maximum of -5 AC at level 10.

Close Combat (Ex): Attacking with a dart while in a threatened square no longer provokes an attack of opportunity for the Stinger.

Stinger (Ex): Further refining their ability to hit critical spots on their opponents, the Stinger gains the ability to strike at a location on the opponents body which causes severe pain, thereby dazing them for a short time. A Stinger can use this ability once per round, but no more than once per level per day. She must declare she is using a stinger before making the attack roll (thus, a missed attack roll ruins the attempt). A foe struck by the shot if forced to make a fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + Stinger level + Dex modifier). In addition to receiving normal damage, a failed saving throw causes the opponent to be stunned for 1 round.

Seize Opportunities (Ex): The Stinger soon learns how to strike at opponents when they are in their most vulnerable moments. At 3rd level, the Stinger is considered to threaten foes in a 5' radius for the purpose of determining attacks of opportunity anytime he has at least one dart in his possession. At 7th level, this range increases to a 10' radius.

Lightning Shot (Ex): When using Rapid Shot, the Stinger may make an one more additional attack. This attack is made at the character's second highest BAB, and also suffers the -2 penalty from Rapid Shot. Both hands must be free to use this ability.

Strike Vitals (Ex): When attacking with a dart, the weapon's critical hit threat range is doubled. This can stack with the feat Improved Critical.

"Keep Your Distance!" (Ex): To better use the ranged abilities of this class, Stingers learn to keep themselves out of melee combat. Once a round when an adjacent opponent attacks the Stinger, she may make a Reflex saving throw against a DC of 10 + opponent's BAB. If successful, she may move 5 feet in any direction to avoid the attack. If this move takes the character into a threatened space, it provokes an attack of opportunity, unless the Stinger has the Mobility feat or makes a Tumble check vs DC of 20. If there is no empty space available to move into, this ability may not be used. To use this ability, the Stinger must have moved no more than a 5 foot step previously in the round.

Sting-Blossom(Ex): As a full-round action, the Stinger is able to make one ranged attack on each opponent within one range increment (20 feet), which is obviously limited by the total number of darts held. These attacks are all made at the character's highest BAB, but with a -4 penalty to the roll. This ability may be used once per day per point of Dex bonus (minimum of once per day).