Class: Sharpshooter

Background

The tickle of fletching against the cheek, the whir of the sling through the air, the recoil as the bolt leaves the crossbow – these are more beautiful than the sweetest sonnet to the sharpshooter. The force of concentration and aim, the gasp of the shot – these give life meaning. His skill at making and using bows, crossbows, and slings is beyond measure. It is as if the sharpshooter’s projectile weapon were a part of him, and he, part of it.

The Mailed Fists, the Woldian League of Adventurers, the Houses of Dirt City, and other organizations in the Wold are always looking for marksmen. An experienced sharpshooter can’t be beat in his aim and skill with projectiles. But not only that, he’s an exceptional artisan as well. In fact, it’s that craftsmanship that helps him in his amazing skill with weapons. In crafting his bows, slings and crossbows, he gains a deeper understanding of exactly how best to use the weapons he makes with his own hands.

• Adventurers: A sharpshooter works best in smaller units. With his stealth abilities and his ranged attacks, he can deliver a staggering blow to the enemy before they can even react to his presence. To this end, many sharpshooters choose to forego the common military life, in which their skills are often underused, and take up adventuring.

• Characteristics: Sharpshooters are the ultimate ranged combatants. They use their craft to create projectile weapons, giving them detailed knowledge of every facet of their construction and use, above and beyond that of other classes that use slings, bows and crossbows. This insight into each minute detail grants them special bonuses when using weapons they make themselves. This deeper understanding may make them superior marksmen, but their melee prowess suffers. As a sniper, location can be exceptionally vital and remaining concealed once finding that location can be almost, if not more important.

• Alignment: Sharpshooters can be of any alignment, but most tend toward lawful, as their craftsmanship and aim requires a more focused mind. Good sharpshooters will often work as mercenaries for good causes, where evil sharpshooters often hire themselves out as assassins, striking down their victims from a safe and undetectable position.

• Religion: Those sharpshooters that do choose to worship a deity tend to choose martial deities, such as Domi, Pantheon, or Jancassis. Craft-conscious deities such as Ffloy are often a secondary choice for a sharpshooter’s religion. Although they tend to have the utmost confidence in their abilities, some choose to follow Warrd, as one can always use a little extra luck.

• Races: Individuals from all races can become sharpshooters. However, the shorter races, such as, halflings and gnomes, tends to use slings. Humans and elves have the highest number of archers. Dwarven sharpshooters tend to use crossbows. But individuals of all races may defy these traditions.

• Other Classes: Sharpshooters are a fine complement to nearly any party. They do tend to have a friendly rivalry with rangers who have chosen the archery weapon path. They work extremely well with anyone that can keep enemies away from them, allowing them to use their ranged attacks to their fullest extent.

• Role: The sharpshooter provides the ranged attack support for the group, using their phenomenal aim to pelt their enemies with arrow after arrow. They are poor combatants in melee, however, so they prefer to stay out of direct conflict whenever possible.

Game Rule Information

Sharpshooters have the following game statistics

• Abilities: Dexterity and Intelligence are by far the Sharpshooter’s most important ability scores. Dexterity provides him with his bonus to ranged attacks as well as a good number of his skills. Intelligence offers him the important bonus to his craft skills. Strength is important for slingers and archers who make bows with heavy pull. Wisdom helps him in spotting his quarry from further away.

• Alignment: Sharpshooters can be of any alignment, but tend toward lawful.

• Hit Die: d10

• Class Skills

The sharpshooter’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise(Int), Bluff(Chr), Climb(Str), Craft(Int), Perception (Wis), Profession(Wis), Ride(Dex), Stealth (Dex), and Swim(Str)

Skill Points per level: 6 + Int modifier

Table: The Sharpshooter

Level	BAB	Fort	Reflex	Will	Benefits
1	+1	+0	+2	+0	Artisan’s Gift, Bonus Feat
2	+2	+0	+3	+0	Trick Shot
3	+3	+1	+3	+1
4	+4	+1	+4	+1	Bonus Feat
5	+5	+1	+4	+1	Artisans Innovation
6	+6	+2	+5	+2	Trick Shot
7	+7	+2	+5	+2	Archery Mastery
8	+8	+2	+6	+2	Bonus Feat
9	+9	+3	+6	+3
10	+10	+3	+7	+3	Trick Shot
11	+11	+3	+7	+3
12	+12	+4	+8	+4	Bonus Feat
13	+13	+4	+8	+4	Artisan’s Lore
14	+14	+4	+9	+4	Trick Shot
15	+15	+5	+9	+5
16	+16	+5	+10	+5	Bonus Feat
17	+17	+5	+10	+5
18	+18	+6	+11	+6	Trick Shot
19	+19	+6	+11	+6	Artisan’s Ingenuity
20	+20	+6	+12	+6	Supreme Archer

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Sharpshooter

• Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Sharpshooters are proficient in the use of all projectile weapons: composite longbows, composite shortbows, hand crossbows, heavy crossbows, light crossbows, longbows, repeating crossbows, short bows, and slings. They are proficient with no other weapons. They are proficient with light armor and shields. When using armor heavier than light armor, sharpshooters lose their Artisan’s Gift and the ability to make Trick Shots.

• Artisan’s Gift (Ex): When using a projectile weapon that he has made himself, the Sharpshooter receives a bonus to attack rolls (but not to damage rolls) equal to one third of his appropriate Craft ranks (round down) plus 1. For slings and crossbows, use Craft (Weaponsmith) ranks; for bows, use Craft (Bowyer) ranks. This bonus is referred to as his Artisan’s Gift and stacks with all other modifiers to attack rolls. A sharpshooter loses this bonus when using weapons another has enchanted, even if he originally made it. He also loses this bonus when wearing armor heavier than light.

• Bonus Feat (Ex): The Sharpshooter gains a bonus feat from the following list. They must still qualify for the feat. Combat Shooting, Deadly Aim, Defensive Shooting, Far Shot, Improved Sniping, Many Shot, Mounted Archery, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Precise Shot (Improved), Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot, Shot on the Run, Speedy Slinger, plus all feats listed in the Critical Feats section of the rule book.

• Trick Shots (Ex): Starting at 1st level and every four levels thereafter, the sharpshooter begins to learn special “trick shots” that he can perform with projectile weapons. He learns a number of trick shots equal to his Int modifier + 1. Each of these trick shots is a standard action (and cannot be combined with the Manyshot feat), unless otherwise noted.
  • Disarm Trick: Sharpshooters may make disarm attacks against weapons up to 30 feet away. These resolve exactly like melee disarm attacks, but the shooter does not drop his weapon on a failed attempt. Each time the Disarm Trick is taken beyond the first, a +1 bonus on disarm opposed rolls and an extra 5 feet of range is gained.
  • Grapnel Trick: Sharpshooters can use an arrow or bolt as a grappling hook, requiring a special bowstring filament. The sharpshooter learns how to make three kinds of special bowstring that can be used as rope (see below). To make a successful Grapnel Trick (as with a grappling hook, PHB126), make a Use Rope check, DC 10, +2 per 10 feet of distance. The DC is increased by +5 for a medium filament and +10 for a heavy filament. Each time the Grapnel Trick is taken beyond the first, a +2 bonus on Grapnel Trick Use Rope checks is gained.
    • Light (50 ft): AC18, 1 HP, Str break DC18, Cost 10 gp, can support up to 150 pounds
    • Medium (50 ft): AC20, 2 HP, Str break DC20, Cost 15 gp, can support up to 225 pounds
    • Heavy (50 ft): AC22, 3 HP, Str break DC22, Cost 20 gp, can support up to 300 pounds
  • Staple Trick: Sharpshooters may attempt a ranged grapple attack by pinning the target’s garments to a nearby structure with an arrow or bolt. Against targets up to 30 feet away, a staple shot suffers a –4 penalty to the attack roll and the target must be in a square adjacent to a structure no less than one size category smaller than it. A successful staple shot does not cause the target to suffer any penalties, but it cannot move away unless it uses a standard action to pull free (Strength or Escape Artist check vs. a DC equal to the damage the bolt or arrow would have inflicted). If the target is stapled by more than one arrow or bolt, the DC to pull free is the total of all the damage that would have been inflicted by all projectiles – or each projectile must be broken. Each time the Staple Trick is taken beyond the first, a +1 bonus on staple attack rolls and an extra 5 feet of range is gained.
  • Sunder Trick: Sharpshooters that have taken this feat may attempt to sunder items from up to 30 feet away with sling bullets. With crossbows and bows, sunder attempts may be attempted against slashing weapons only. Sunder shots are resolved exactly like melee sunder attacks. Within the conditions specified above, ranged weapon attack damage is not halved. Each time the Sunder Trick is taken beyond the first, a +1 bonus on sunder opposed rolls and an extra 5 feet of range is gained.
  • Slice Trick: Sharpshooters can cut weaker items, such as paper, rope or glass (see PHB165) without having their range weapon damage halved. Each time the Slice Trick is taken beyond the first, a +2 bonus on attack rolls is gained to hit objects.
  • Arching Trick: Sharpshooters learn to arch their shots to extend their range. Each time the Arching Trick is taken, extend the range increment for that weapon type by 5 feet. This applies to all attacks and does not require a standard action.
  • Blindfold Trick: Sharpshooters can train their observation skills and memory to allow them to make amazing shots, even while blindfolded. In target shooting (non-combat), the Sharpshooter is considered to have the Blind-Fighting feat. In combat, by making a Listen check DC 10 + HD/Lvl of the target, the Sharpshooter can negate 3% of the target’s concealment. If the target is moving silently, then the DC is the move silent check + HD/Lvl of the target. Each time the Blindfold Trick is taken beyond the first, an additional 3% can be negated. This trick applies to all attacks and does not require a standard action.
  • Ricochet Trick: You can use hard objects in the area to help bank sling bullet shots against targets who have cover. When you are firing at a target with less than total cover, target’s cover bonus to AC is reduced by one. Also, as a standard action, you can shoot around corners at foes; if you cannot see the target, you can attack around corners into a square as if attacking an opponent with total concealment (PHB p 152). Each time you take this trick beyond the first, the target’s cover bonus is reduced by one. Reducing cover bonuses can be used with any attack, not just with standard attacks. The DM may rule that this trick does not work if there is no hard surface available.

• Artisan’s Innovation (Ex): You gain the Master Craftsman Feat for either Craft: Bowmaking or Craft: Weaponsmithing, even if you do not meet the prerequisites.

• Archery Mastery (Ex): For the purpose of qualifying for feats that may be used with ranged weapons, the Sharpshooters BAB is considered 2 higher than it currently is. If the feat requires you to choose a weapon, or weapon category, it must be a ranged weapon. If the feat is one that can be used interchangably with ranged and melee weapons, you do not gain the benefit of the feat with non ranged weapons until you would qualify for it without this ability. Example: A Sharpshooter 7 may take the feat Critical Focus at 7th level, as their BaB is considered +9 for the purpose of feat qualification. However, they would only get the benefit of the feat with ranged weapons until they reached 9th level, at which point they could gain the benefit with melee weapons as well. In addition, you are considered a fighter of a level equal to your sharpshooter level minus 2 for the purpose of feats which have fighter levels as a prerequisite.

• Artisan’s Lore (Su): You can identify magical projectile weapons and related paraphernalia with an almost magical degree of accuracy. You may identify magical projectile weapons and magical ranged paraphernalia as if you had cast detect magic. You gain a bonus to your spellcraft check equal to 1/2 your Sharpshooter level. In addition, once per day when handling such an object for ten minutes, you may replicate the benefits of a Legend Lore spell.

• Artisan’s Ingenuity (Ex): At 19th level, the sharpshooter has become so skilled and precise at making projectile weapons and ammunition that he no longer needs to make weaponsmith and bowyer craft checks. All craft rolls for such items are considered to be a natural 20.

• Supreme Archer (Ex): A Sharpshooter chooses one ranged projectile weapon, such as the longbow. Any attacks made with that weapon automatically confirm all critical threats and have their damage multiplier increased by 1 (×2 becomes ×3, for example). In addition, he cannot be disarmed while wielding a weapon of this type.

Special Sharpshooter Only Feats

Currently Available Feats

• Combat Shooting
• Defensive Shooting
• Improved Sniping
• Speedy Slinger

Retired Feats

• Accuracy
• Dire Shot
• Wounding Shot
• Stunning Shot

This Woldian Class was created by Philip and approved by Development ACDM Cayzle on March 26, 2006.