A very small kit mod I made in a couple of days for the 3e prestige class, Arcane Archer. Still in playtesting stage though mostly working.
Kit Description:
[spoiler]ARCANE ARCHER: Master of the elven warbands, the arcane archer is a warrior skilled in using magic to supplement their combat prowess. Beyond the woods, arcane archers gain renown throughout entire kingdoms for their supernatural accuracy with a bow and their ability to imbue their arrows with magic. In a group, they can strike fear into an entire enemy army.
Advantages:
- +1 to hit and damage rolls with any missile weapon at level 1 and every 5 levels afterwards.
- May use Enhance Arrow ability once per day per 7 levels.
ENHANCE ARROW: Using arcane magic, the arcane archer can enchant his arrows. For 1 round, all arrows fired by the arcane archer deal 1d4 magic damage. The damage increases to 1d8 at level 8 and 1d10 at level 14.
- 5th level: May use Imbue Arrow ability once per day per 7 levels.
IMBUE ARROW: Using arcane magic, the arcane archer can imbue his arrows with an area spell. For 1 round, all arrows fired by the arcane archer explode dealing 1d6 fire damage plus 1 damage per level (save vs. spell for half).
- 9th level: May use Seeker Arrow ability once per day per 7 levels.
SEEKER ARROW: A skilled arcane archer can launch an unerring arrow to any target known to them in their range. For 1 round, the arcane archer gains +20 to hit rolls on ranged attacks.
- 13th level: May use Phase Arrow ability once per day per 7 levels.
PHASE ARROW: An experienced arcane archer can launch an incorporeal arrow that penetrates armor. For 1 round, targets struck by the arcane archer lose 10% cumulative resistance to missile damage for 3 rounds.
- 17th level: May use Arrow of Death ability once per day.
ARROW OF DEATH: A master arcane archer can launch a powerful arrow that can instantly strike a foe dead. For 1 round, targets struck by the arcane archer must make a save vs. death at -2 or die.
- May acquire more uses of all abilities as HLAs. Extra uses of Arrow of Death are limited to two.
Disadvantages:
- Rolls d8 for hit points instead of d10.
- Race restricted to elf or half-elf.
- Minimum DEX of 15 required.
- Minimum INT of 14 required.
- May not exceed proficiency (one slot) in weapons other than longbows, shortbows and crossbows.
- May not exceed proficiency (one slot) in any weapon style.
- May not wear armor heavier than splint mail.
- May not acquire the following HLAs: Deathblow, Greater Deathblow, Hardiness.[/spoiler]
Screenshots of abilities (courtesy of poor Bob Ogre):
Enhance Arrow
[spoiler]![image]()
[/spoiler]
Imbue Arrow
[spoiler]![image]()
[/spoiler]
Phase Arrow
[spoiler]![image]()
![image]()
[/spoiler]
(wait, an ogre with 16 INT? O_O)
Arrow of Death (R.I.P Bob Ogre)
[spoiler]![image]()
[/spoiler]
Ability Icons (currently placeholders)
[spoiler]![image]()
[/spoiler]
Bugs/Issues:
- Imbue Arrow doesn't scale with level. It should deal 1d6 +1/level but currently only does 1d6+5. I'm not sure how to fix this, as there seems to be no way to make the Cast Spell effect take your level. I may keep it this way as firing multiple 1d6+20 fireballs in a round at high levels seems a bit overpowered.
- Can't get the d8 hit point roll to work. Still figuring it out.
Future additions (if I can figure out how to implement them):
- Choose your own effect for Imbue Arrow in an Enchanted Weapon style list: fire, cold, magic, even dispelling!
- Prettifying and flashifying ability effects
- Unique icons (current icons are recolored vanilla spells)
- Potentially new abilities (e.g. Hail of Arrows replacing Whirlwind Attack)
- Seeker Arrow becomes Critical Strike for ranged weapons only (overpowered?)
Limitations:
- Enhance Arrow by 3e rules innately enchants normal arrows (so an unenchanted arrow can hit as a +5 weapon). Can't be done in the Baldur's Gate engine, so I made my own variation of the ability.
Comments: I know the vanilla kits aren't the definition of balance, but I would like to make this a viable choice over the Archer, and vice versa. It has slightly lower prowess in combat in exchange for some cool effects on its attacks. I'd appreciate people giving this kit a run and deciding whether it's a balanced and usable kit for the game.
Kit Description:
[spoiler]ARCANE ARCHER: Master of the elven warbands, the arcane archer is a warrior skilled in using magic to supplement their combat prowess. Beyond the woods, arcane archers gain renown throughout entire kingdoms for their supernatural accuracy with a bow and their ability to imbue their arrows with magic. In a group, they can strike fear into an entire enemy army.
Advantages:
- +1 to hit and damage rolls with any missile weapon at level 1 and every 5 levels afterwards.
- May use Enhance Arrow ability once per day per 7 levels.
ENHANCE ARROW: Using arcane magic, the arcane archer can enchant his arrows. For 1 round, all arrows fired by the arcane archer deal 1d4 magic damage. The damage increases to 1d8 at level 8 and 1d10 at level 14.
- 5th level: May use Imbue Arrow ability once per day per 7 levels.
IMBUE ARROW: Using arcane magic, the arcane archer can imbue his arrows with an area spell. For 1 round, all arrows fired by the arcane archer explode dealing 1d6 fire damage plus 1 damage per level (save vs. spell for half).
- 9th level: May use Seeker Arrow ability once per day per 7 levels.
SEEKER ARROW: A skilled arcane archer can launch an unerring arrow to any target known to them in their range. For 1 round, the arcane archer gains +20 to hit rolls on ranged attacks.
- 13th level: May use Phase Arrow ability once per day per 7 levels.
PHASE ARROW: An experienced arcane archer can launch an incorporeal arrow that penetrates armor. For 1 round, targets struck by the arcane archer lose 10% cumulative resistance to missile damage for 3 rounds.
- 17th level: May use Arrow of Death ability once per day.
ARROW OF DEATH: A master arcane archer can launch a powerful arrow that can instantly strike a foe dead. For 1 round, targets struck by the arcane archer must make a save vs. death at -2 or die.
- May acquire more uses of all abilities as HLAs. Extra uses of Arrow of Death are limited to two.
Disadvantages:
- Rolls d8 for hit points instead of d10.
- Race restricted to elf or half-elf.
- Minimum DEX of 15 required.
- Minimum INT of 14 required.
- May not exceed proficiency (one slot) in weapons other than longbows, shortbows and crossbows.
- May not exceed proficiency (one slot) in any weapon style.
- May not wear armor heavier than splint mail.
- May not acquire the following HLAs: Deathblow, Greater Deathblow, Hardiness.[/spoiler]
Screenshots of abilities (courtesy of poor Bob Ogre):
Enhance Arrow
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Imbue Arrow
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Phase Arrow
[spoiler]
[/spoiler](wait, an ogre with 16 INT? O_O)
Arrow of Death (R.I.P Bob Ogre)
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Ability Icons (currently placeholders)
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Bugs/Issues:
- Imbue Arrow doesn't scale with level. It should deal 1d6 +1/level but currently only does 1d6+5. I'm not sure how to fix this, as there seems to be no way to make the Cast Spell effect take your level. I may keep it this way as firing multiple 1d6+20 fireballs in a round at high levels seems a bit overpowered.
- Can't get the d8 hit point roll to work. Still figuring it out.
Future additions (if I can figure out how to implement them):
- Choose your own effect for Imbue Arrow in an Enchanted Weapon style list: fire, cold, magic, even dispelling!
- Prettifying and flashifying ability effects
- Unique icons (current icons are recolored vanilla spells)
- Potentially new abilities (e.g. Hail of Arrows replacing Whirlwind Attack)
- Seeker Arrow becomes Critical Strike for ranged weapons only (overpowered?)
Limitations:
- Enhance Arrow by 3e rules innately enchants normal arrows (so an unenchanted arrow can hit as a +5 weapon). Can't be done in the Baldur's Gate engine, so I made my own variation of the ability.
Comments: I know the vanilla kits aren't the definition of balance, but I would like to make this a viable choice over the Archer, and vice versa. It has slightly lower prowess in combat in exchange for some cool effects on its attacks. I'd appreciate people giving this kit a run and deciding whether it's a balanced and usable kit for the game.