Soulbow (3.5e Prestige Class)

Soulbow

“	"The bolts fell like a shower of stars, scything through the duergar raiders with lethal accuracy. The War of Reclamation had begun, and we led the way in a rain of glory."	”
——NatharaTeng, a soulbow

In the tradition of the soulknife, a soulbow realizes the direct capacity of her own mind to give shape to weapons of psionic perfection. Through desire alone, a soulbow creates a semisolid blade composed of psychic energy, just as any soulknife can. Unlike a soulknife, however, a soulbow can also produce dazzling shafts of deadly grace that she can project with all the force of a composite longbow—using nothing but her mind. The soulbow relishes her ability to attack foes at a distance. Accuracy, speed, distance, and lethality are all skills a soulbow pursues and perfects—and in so doing, discovers serenity in lethal mastery.

Becoming a Soulbow

Any character with a desire to become a master of mental archery might be drawn to train as a soulbow. In practice, however, becoming a soulbow requires a character to take at least two levels of the soulknife class to gain the throw mind blade prerequisite.

Entry Requirements

Skills:	Autohypnosis 8 ranks.
Feats:	Point Blank Shot.
Special:	Throw mind blade class feature.

Table: The Soulbow

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Mind Arrow, Bonus Feat
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Mind Arrow Enhancement (+1 bonus equivalent ability)
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+3	+1 Mind Arrow, Bonus Feat
4th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Close Combat Shot
5th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Bonus Feat
6th	+4	+2	+5	+5	Mind Arrow Enhancement (+2 bonus equivalent ability)
7th	+5	+2	+5	+5	+2 Mind Arrow, Bonus Feat
8th	+6	+2	+6	+6	Phase Arrow
9th	+6	+3	+6	+6	Bonus Feat
10th	+7	+3	+7	+7	Mind Arrow Enhancement (+3 bonus equivalent ability)
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) Autohypnosis (Int), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex).

Class Features

All the following are class features of the soulbow. The abilities described here turn a soulknife into someone who is proficient at ranged combat using a manifestation of the mind blade more akin to an arrow. In addition to that, the class generously hands out bonus feats ideal for making ranged attacks, and grants a few class-specific abilities.

Mind Arrow (Su): As a free action, you can create a semisolid arrow composed of psychic energy distilled from your mind. If your base attack bonus is high enough to grant you multiple attacks, you can create multiple mind arrows as part of an attack. You must have one hand free to create and project a mind arrow.

The bolt is identical in all ways (except visually) to an arrow shot from a composite longbow. For instance, a Medium soulbow materializes an arrow that speeds toward the specified target, and if it hits, deals 1d8 points of damage (crit ×3) plus extra damage equal to the soulbow's Wisdom modifer. Soulbows who are smaller or larger than Medium create mind arrows identical to arrows shot from composite longbows appropriate for their size, with a corresponding change to the arrow's damage. You gain the usual benefit to your attack roll from a high Dexterity bonus.

Whether a mind arrow hits or misses, it dissipates 1 round after being shot. A mind arrow is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. A mind arrow can be charged with a psychic strike as if it were a mind blade. If a soulbow has enough soulknife levels to have the knife to the soul ability, that ability also applies to her mind arrows.

You can use feats such as Point Blank Shot or Precise Shot in conjunction with a mind arrow. You can also choose mind arrow for feats requiring a specific weapon choice, such as Weapon Specialization. Powers or spells that upgrade weapons can be used on a mind blade. Any feats previously requiring specific weapon choice (such as Weapon Specialization) for your mind blade also apply to your mind arrow, if applicable.

Your mind arrows improve as you gain higher levels. At 3rd level, a mind arrow gains a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls, and at 7th level the bonus improves to +2. These enhancement bonuses stack with previous enhancement bonuses gained earlier for your soulknife class levels. Likewise, these enhancement bonuses also improve your soulknife base attack bonus. If your return to your soulknife class progression, these mind arrow enhancement bonuses on attack and damage are cumulative bonuses on top of any new enhancement bonuses gained, and they benefit both your mind blade and mind arrows.

Even in places where psionic effects do not normally function (such as within a null psionics field), you can attempt to attack foes with mind arrows by making a DC 20 Will save. On a successful save, you can freely produce mind arrows for a number of rounds equal to your class level before you need to check again. On an unsuccessful attempt, you must wait 1 round before trying again while you remain within the psionics-negating effect.

Bonus Feat: At 1st level, you can choose a bonus feat from the following list: Far Shot, Precise Shot, Psionic Shot, Greater Psionic Shot, Fell Shot, Rapid Shot, Manyshot, Greater Manyshot, Shot on the Run, Improved Precise Shot, and Mounted Archery. You must meet the prerequisites for the feat as normal. Feats that grant additional attacks, such as Rapid Shot, allow you to create additional semisolid arrows of psychic energy as needed to make additional attacks.

The list of potential bonus feats can be expanded by the DM to include any feats from other supplements that improved ranged attacks. For instance, if your game makes use of Complete Warrior, this list might also include Improved Mounted Archery, Improved Rapid Shot, Ranged Disarm, Ranged Pin (in which case the mind arrow persists until the pinned character breaks the pin), Ranged Sunder, Sharp Shooting, and Zen Archery.

Choose another bonus feat from the list at 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level.

Mind Arrow Enhancement (Su): At 2nd level, you can enhance your mind arrows with ranged special abilities. Choose any one of the weapon special abilities on the table below that has an enhancement bonus value of +1. From now on, mind arrows you produce as part of an attack possess that special ability. At every four levels beyond 2nd (6th and 10th), the value of the enhancement you can add to your mind arrow improves to +2 and +3, respectively. You can choose any combination of weapon special abilities that does not exceed the total allowed by your soulbow level. The special ability provided by this class feature does not stack with the soulknife’s mind blade enhancement ability.

Ranged Weapon Special Ability	Bonus Value
Bane	+1
Distance	+1
Flaming	+1
Frost	+1
Lucky	+1
Merciful	+1
Psychokinetic	+1
Returning	+1
Seeking	+1
Shock	+1
Anarchic	+2
Axiomatic	+2
Collision	+2
Flaming burst	+2
Psychokinetic burst	+2
Psibane	+2
Shocking burst	+2
Suppression	+2
Wounding	+2
Dislocator	+3
Speed	+3

You can reassign the ability or abilities you have chosen for your mind arrows. To do so, you must spend 8 hours in concentration. After that period, all subsequent mind arrows you produce as part of an attack action possess the new ability or abilities selected by you.

Close Combat Shot: At 4th level, you can attack with your mind arrow while in a threatened square and not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Phase Arrow (Ps): At 8th level, you can take a full attack action (in lieu of your regular attacks) to expend your psionic focus and launch a mind arrow at a target known to you within range. The mind arrow travels to the target in a straight path, passing through any nonmagical or nonpsionic barrier or wall on its way. (A wall of force, wall of fire, wall of ectoplasm, or the like stops a mind arrow.) This ability negates cover, concealment, and even armor modifiers, but otherwise the attack is rolled normally.

Ex-Soulbows

Playing a Soulbow

Combat:

Advancement:

Resources:

Soulbows in the World

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NPC Reactions:

Soulbow Lore

Characters with ranks in can research to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

DC	Result
11	.
16	.
21	.
26	.

Soulbows in the Game

Adaptation:

Sample Encounter:

EL whatever:

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