DungeonFinder/ShadowFinder Soldier Fighting Style (Expanded Post) (Patreon)

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So, yesterday I pitched on way to handle weapons in DungeonFinder or ShadowFinder, both concepts for 100% Starfinder-compatible campaign settings (one classic fantasy, the other modern urban fantasy). I mentioned that while equipment was a big part of what would be needed to make such settings work, there would also have to be some work done on classes. Some classes would need to be tossed out and replaced. But others, like operative and soldier, just need new genre-appropriate choices.

So, what might those look like? Let’s look at the soldier.

Obviously the soldier class is going to stand in for the fighter, and likely a lot of fighter-adjacent base and hybrid classes. Now, some of that work can be done with archetypes and existing material (the assassin and battle leader archetypes work for any class and are pretty good as-is, and would take at most just a little tweaking, while the wrathful warrior fighting style does a pretty good job of turning a soldier into a rage-themed berserker). But there are some classic fantasy/modern combat tropes that no existing Starfinder material does a good job of covering. for example, the very first fighter archetype in PF1 is the archer, and nothing in Starfinder really fills that conceptual space.

So, we’d almost certainly want an archer fighting style. (As an aside – we might ALSO want an archer archetype, so other classes can do some archery-stuff, in which case we’d certainly want the two to be compatible. We might even want to have them draw from the same pool of abilities. But those are concerns we can tackle later — a proof-of-concept effort shouldn’t try to tackle every possible nuance. We can adjust the idea as needed when we’re further along – none of the work we do here is wasted, even if we move around who gets it and how.)

(As a second aside – we’d ALSO need to do something about how bows work, too, but given we tackled the core idea of fantasy weapons in Starfinder yesterday, for now I feel comfortable saying “I could manage that.”)

So, what would an archer fighting style look like?

(Art by grandfailure)

Archer

You are a master of early ranged weapons and, despite this fighting style’s name, are expert with bows, crossbows, and slings. Whenever this fighting style says “bows,” the rules apply to any analog ranged weapon that is not thrown.

Hawkeye (Ex): At 1st level, Perception becomes a class skill for you. If it is already a class skill, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Perception checks. Additionally, you increase the range increment of bows by 10 feet of any You add an additional 10 feet to such range increments at 5th level, and every 4 levels thereafter.

Trick Shot (Ex): At 5th level, select one of the following combat maneuvers: dirty trick, disarm, sunder, trip. You can perform this maneuver at range using a bow. You can pick a second combat maneuver from the list to perform with such weapons at 11th level, and a third at 17th level.

Safe Shot (Ex): At 9th level, when making attacks with a bow, you do not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Sharpshooter (Ex): At 13th level, when making attacks with a bow, you add half your Dexterity bonus to the damage done.

Volley (Ex): At 17th level, as a full-round action, you can make a single bow attack at your highest base attack bonus against each creature in a 15-foot- radius burst, making separate attack and damage rolls for each creature. You use ammunition for each creature attacked.

Other Abilities (Extended Content)

Of course there are lots of other ranged-combat abilities we might want to give archer soldiers, or add to an archer archetype, or both. Here are some things I have in my DungeonFinder/ShadowFinder folder under 'Archer Options.' 

Nail In Place (Ex): You can make a ranged grapple check with a bow attack. You do not gain the grappled condition yourself, and you cannot pin a target. A target grappled by an arrow can break free by destroying the arrow (hardness and HP determined by the item level of the arrow)) or with an Acrobatics check (using the escape task against a DC equal to 10 + 1.5x the archer's base attack bonus).

Penetrating Shot: As a full-round action, you can make a single bow attack at your highest base attack bonus as a line, with a range out to half your range increment. You use a single arrow for this attack.

Pinpoint Targeting (Ex): You allies do not grant cover against your bow attacks. 

Ranged Defense (Ex): You know how to better defend yourself against the ranged attacks of others. You gain DR x/-- against ranged attacks, with a value equal to half your base attack bonus.