Sagittary
Sagittaries are masters of ranged combat on the move, as they possess the ability to strike at targets with unerring accuracy, imbue their arrows with powerful spells, and run circles around their foes as they do so. Missiles fired by arcane archers fly at weird and uncanny angles to strike at foes around corners, and they can pass through solid objects to hit enemies that cower behind cover. Outside combat, sagittaries are trackers, guides, hunters, herders, and explorers beyond compare.
Legends say that liontaurs were the first sagittaries, and certainly their speed and expertise under open sky and on wide plains makes this prestige class a natural for them. But nowadays people of every race excel with this prestige class, from halflings with slings to dwarves with crossbows to elves with longbows, for example.
Role: Sagittaries tend to be aligned with nature, often beginning their careers as rangers or druids. Many explore magic first, then use imbued missiles to deliver spells along with deadly missile attacks. They tend to focus on slowing and hindering enemies and then shooting without fear of retaliation. They just have to be careful not to target allies along with enemies with their burst and emanation spells.
Requirements: The Universal System tends to offer the Sagittary prestige class to characters who have had remarkable experiences ...
- You are fast and mobile, enjoying the grace of movement in combat and travel.
- You are proficient with a missile weapon and have worked in some way to improve your facility with it.
- You prefer to use your missile weapon rather than melee weapons.
- You are a student of magic.
- You have lived under the clouds and stars, especially as a herder or hunter.
- You have delivered the death blow to a strong enemy with your shot.
- You have hunted and slain foes alone using only your magic and missiles.
Base Attack Bonus: +1 / level.
Caster Level: Similar to +0.5 / level, see below.
Will Save: +0.5 / level.
Fort Save: +0.5 / level.
Reflex Save: +0.5 / level.
Hit Die: d8.
Table: Sagittary Advancement Level Base Attack Bonus Caster Level Will Save Fort Save Refx Save Special 1st +1 +1 +0.5 +0.5 +0.5 Prestige Signature: Spellbound Shooting 2nd +2 +1 +1.0 +1.0 +1.0 Hunter I or Herder I 3rd +3 +2 +1.5 +1.5 +1.5 Shot on the Double or Safe Shot 4th +4 +2 +2.0 +2.0 +2.0 Hawkeye or Dowsing Missile 5th +5 +3 +2.5 +2.5 +2.5 Prestige Tier Choice 6th +6 +3 +3.0 +3.0 +3.0 Master Signature: Trick Shot 7th +7 +4 +3.0 +3.5 +3.5 Hunter II or Herder II 8th +8 +4 +3.0 +4.0 +4.0 Breakneck Dash or Hail of Missiles 9th +9 +5 +4.0 +4.5 +4.5 Portal Shot or Perfect Guide 10th +10 +5 +5.0 +5.0 +5.0 Master Tier Choice
Skill Proficiencies
The sagittary's proficient skills (and the ability scores used to boost each skill) are Climb (Str), Gather Information (Chr), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Nature, Geography) (Int), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Str).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
You are proficient with all simple, martial, and exotic weapons in the Projectile group. You are proficient with light armor and bucklers.
Spells and Spell Casting
Prestige classes do not add the usual fractional increase to caster level each time you advance. Instead, at some levels you add a full caster level, and at other levels you add none. The spell level of sagittary spells varies from sagittary to sagittary -- see these rules on prestige class spell aquisition. When you cast spells gained through this prestige class, those spells are natural by type. The casting ability score for this prestige class is dexterity; use your even (column B) dexterity modifier for sagittary spell DCs, and, if it is your highest casting ability score, to set concentration checks and bonus spells per day.
KNOWN SPELLS LIST: When you add a caster level, the spells you add to your known spells list are pre-selected:
- At level 1, add Sound Burst and Protection from Arrows.
- At level 3, add Fireball and Weapon of Awe (you can only cast this on bows, crossbows, slings, and staff-slings).
- At level 5, add Confusion and Keen Edge (you can only cast this on (up to 50) arrows, bolts, and sling bullets).
- At level 7, add Black Tentacles and Flame Arrow.
- At level 9, add Waves of Fatigue and Disrupting Weapon (you can only cast this on (up to 50) arrows, bolts, and sling bullets).
Class Abilities
PRESTIGE TIER
Level 1 Sagittary Prestige Tier Signature Ability: Spellbound Shooting You can create missiles as a free action multiple times per round, so that you never lack for ammunition. Every such missile you fire becomes magical, gaining an enhancement bonus equal to your character level divided by 3 (round down). After being fired by you and after the attack is resolved, the missile vanishes. In addition, you can bind an area-affect spell to such a missile when you shoot it at a creature. If this spellbound missile hits, it inflicts normal damage and the spell takes effect at the creature's location. If the spell has directionality (such as a cone or line), it radiates out away from you. A spell cast in this way requires its standard casting time -- and you fire the spellbound missile as part of the casting. If the missile misses, the spell is not cast, and the spell slot is not used.
Level 2 Sagittary Prestige Tier Interaction Ability (pick one):
- Hunter I (Ex): You gain the abilities of the Track feat. If you already have the feat itself, or if you gain it later, then you gain a bonus on Track checks equal to your odd (Column A) Intelligence modifier, and once you have found tracks for a target you seek, you gain a +10 bonus to continue to follow its trail if further checks are needed.
- Herder I (Su): Domestic (ie, tame or trained) animals and magical beasts with Intelligence 1 or 2 have a default attitude of friendly towards you. You gain a bonus on handle animal checks with domestic animals equal to your odd (Column A) Wisdom modifier. If such a domesticated creature is ordered to attack you or is hostile toward you, it will instead cower and not attack.
Level 3 Sagittary Prestige Tier Combat Ability (pick one):
- Shot on the Double (Ex): You gain the abilities of the Shot on the Run feat. If you already have the feat itself, or if you gain it later, then, as a full-round action, you can move up to your twice your speed and make a single ranged attack at any point during your movement; or you may move up to your speed and use your Spellbound Shooting ability to cast a spell and fire the spellbound missile at any point during your movement, so long as the spell has a casting time of one standard action or less.
- Safe Shot (Ex): You do not provoke attacks of opportunity when making ranged attacks with a missile weapon.
Level 4 Sagittary Prestige Tier Exploration Ability (pick one):
- Hawkeye (Ex): Your penalty on Spot and Search checks for distance is reduced from -1 per 10 ft distance to -1 per 50 ft distance. You can see details as if you were five times closer. You can judge line of sight distances with perfect accuracy. You are immune to snow blindness and the dazzled condition. You can see twice as far when vision is restricted by weather.
- Dowsing Missile (Sp): If you take one minute to concentrate on an object, and then you toss a missile into the air and let it fall, it will point the direction to the desired object (or roll in the correct direction, for a sling bullet). This at-will ability is otherwise like the spell Locate Object.
Level 5 Sagittary Prestige Tier Choice: Select a Sagittary Prestige Tier Interaction, Combat, or Exploration ability that you have not yet chosen, or choose a feat from the Shooter or Sniper Feat Trees for which you qualify, treating your own tier as if it were one step higher..
MASTER TIER
Level 6 Sagittary Master Tier Signature Ability: Trick Shot (Su) As a standard action, a missile you create with your Spellbound Shooting ability homes in on your target, veering around creatures, passing through obstacles, ignoring benefits for cover and reducing the miss chance for concealment by 25 percent. A trick shot requires line of effect or line of sight, but not both (if you are shooting into mist, you might have line of effect but not line of sight; if you are shooting through a wall at a target you see with a ring of x-ray vision, you have line of sight but not line of effect). A trick shot strikes incorporeal and ethereal foes as if the missile had the ghost touch ability. In addition, when you use a trick shot, you may choose one of the following combat maneuvers or actions (instead of attacking to inflict damage): disarm, snooker, sunder, or trip; add half your character level to your CMB to make one of these special attacks. You can bind a spell to a Trick Shot if the casting time is a standard action or less, but the combined Spellbound Trick Shot requires a full round action to execute. You can make a Trick Shot a number of times per day equal to your character level.
Level 7 Sagittary Master Tier Interaction Ability (pick one):
- Hunter II (Sp): You can cast Locate Creature as a spell-like ablity at will. If you know the creature well, having interacted with it for hours at a time, the range is 100 miles per sagittary level. If you have a drop of blood, fur, or hair, the range is 10 miles per level. If you have a possession of the creature, the range is 1 mile per level. Otherwise, the range is as the spell.
- Herder II (Su): When you are guarding other creatures or standing watch over them, you gain a bonus to your Spot and Search checks equal to your odd (Column A) Constitution modifier. On watch, you are immune to all sleep effects, and you ignore the need for normal sleep as well as any active fatigue or exhaustion effects for the duration of your watch. When your watch is over, you gain the benefits of resting as if you had slept instead of standing watch.
Level 8 Sagittary Master Tier Combat Ability (pick one):
- Breakneck Dash (Ex): In combat, your base land speed increases by 20, and all other modes of movement increase by 10. If you are attacked while you are moving, as with an attack of opportunity or a readied attack, you gain a +4 competence bonus on armor class and reflex saving throws. Finally, you can make a single missile attack as part of a run action; you can use your Spellbound Shooting ability to create the missile for this attack, but you may not bind a spell to it.
- Hail of Missiles (Su): Once per day as a full round action, you can fire a missile at each and every target within range. Each attack uses your primary attack bonus, and each enemy may only be targeted by a single missile. You can use your Spellbound Shooting ability to create the missiles for this action, but you may not bind any spells to them.
Level 9 Sagittary Master Tier Exploration Ability (pick one):
- Portal Shot (Sp): As a standard action, you shoot a spellbound missile onto an unoccupied space, and a 5 ft x 5 ft dimensional portal opens directly in front of you, such that any creature or object that passes through the portal is teleported without error to the space in which the missile landed. You must bind a spell slot to the missile; to correctly target the unoccupied square, you must roll a to-hit against AC25-X, where X is the level of the bound spell slot. If you miss the shot, the attempt fails but the slot and the use per day is NOT wasted. The portal lasts until the start of your next turn, and any creature or object may pass through. Travel is one-way only and requires one square of movement as part of a move action or a five-ft step. You may make a portal shot a number of times per day equal to 3 + your odd (Column A) Dexterity modifier.
- Perfect Guide (Ex): You gain 5 ranks in Profession (Guide). You are never surprised or lost. When you are exploring a place that is new to you, you and your allies within 50 ft gain a +2 competence bonus on initiative, Spot, Search, and Survival skill checks, as well as to create and use maps with the Scrivening skill.
Level 10 Sagittary Master Tier Choice: Select a sagittary Master or Prestige Tier Interaction, Combat, or Exploration ability that you have not yet chosen, or choose a feat from the Intuition or Dash Feat Trees for which you qualify, treating your own tier as if it were one step higher.