Bow Lord (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

The bow lord is a ranger that focuses on the spirituality of the bow to the exception of all other magic.

Class Abilities

This archetype has all normal class abilities, except as noted.

Combat Style (Ex)

The Bow Lord must choose the archery, crossbow, or throwing combat styles.

Volley Fire (Ex)

At 4th level the bow lord learns to use volley fire. As a full-round action that triggers an attack of opportunity, the bow lord can use a bow, crossbow, or thrown weapon to attack all targets within a 15 ft. spread. The center of the area must be within the first range increment of a missile weapon or within 2 range increments of a thrown weapon. The damage is the same as a normal attack of this type, including any favored enemy bonuses, but you may not use Deadly Aim. There is no attack roll and no range penalties. Each target is allowed a Reflex saving throw (DC 10 + ½ the bow lord's level + the bow lord's Wisdom modifier) for half damage. The extra arrows, bolts, or thrown weapons are generated magically and do not consume additional ammunition.

At 6th level and every 2 levels thereafter, add the basic damage dice of the bow lord's weapon to the damage of volley fire. This applies only to the basic weapon damage - no other damage modifier is changed. This additional damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. At the same levels, the bow lord has the option to increase the radius of the spread by 5 ft. each time, to a maximum of 40 ft. at level 19. The bow lord decides if and by how much to increase the spread with each use of this ability.

A composite long bow does 1d8 damage, plus the appropriate modifiers. At 6th level, a bow lord using a composite long bow with volley fire does +1d8 damage, for a total of 2d8, without changing the damage modifiers. This increases to 3d8 at level 6, 4d8 at 8, and so on.

No Spells

Bow lords do not gain any spells or spellcasting ability, do not have a caster level, and cannot use spell trigger and spell completion magic items (except by using the Use Magic Device skill).

Summary of Changed Class Abilities

These abilities of the original class are lost or modified in this archetype:

• Combat Style
• Spells
• Quarry