The Alkenstar Ranger

[ericthecleric]

OK, here’s a little idea I’ve thrown together which may interest others, and is a variant ranger class called the Alkenstar Ranger. They have alternate training to that of standard rangers, given that they come from a dead-magic area! :p
I don’t know how balanced it is, but some may like it, and at the least, it provides a basis for discussion.

Alkenstar rangers lost the following abilities: animal companion, evasion, spellcasting ability, wild empathy. Also, an Alkenstar ranger may not take the two-weapon style of bonus combat feats.

Instead, they gain the following abilities: Free Draw, Gunfocus, Enhanced Gunfocus, and Wild Talent.

Additional changes: They have Fort and Will in place of Fort and Ref as good saves; this is because Gunfocus depends on good Will saves; they gain Autohypnosis and Knowledge (psionics) as class skills (see the d20SRD); and gain proficiency with all guns as well as those they normally have access to.
For 3.5 rangers, the combat style path provides: Point Blank Shot, then Far Shot, then Improved Precise Shot.
For both versions, Manyshot should not be available, but Gunslinger (from the Pathfinder Campaign Setting) may replace it as a bonus choice.

I’ve included tables based on the 3.5 and the PFRPG versions.

The Alkenstar Ranger

Alkenstar rangers are a breed apart. From sources unknown, although some believe the training came from travellers from Akiton the Red, this hardy bunch of gun-wielding rangers have mystical powers that ensure their survival in magic-dead Alkenstar. Such skills are useful outside their homeland, too, although they are rarely seen outside their homeland.

Alkenstar Ranger (based on 3.5 version)
Lvl_BAB_Fort_Ref_Will__Special
1__+1__+2__+0__+2__1st favoured enemy, Track, Wild Talent
2__+2__+3__+0__+3__Combat style (Point Blank Shot)
3__+3__+3__+1__+3__Endurance
4__+4__+4__+1__+4__+1 gunfocus
5__+5__+4__+1__+4__2nd favoured enemy, Free Draw
6__+6__+5__+2__+5__Enhanced gunfocus +1, Improved combat style (Far Shot)
7__+7__+5__+2__+5__Woodland stride
8__+8__+6__+2__+6__+2 gunfocus, swift tracker
9__+9__+6__+3__+6__
10_+10_+7__+3__+7__3rd favoured enemy, enhanced gunfocus +2
11_+11_+7__+3__+7__Combat style mastery (Improved Precise Shot)
12_+12_+8__+4__+8__+3 gunfocus
13_+13_+8__+4__+8__Camoflague
14_+14_+9__+4__+9__Enhanced gunfocus +3
15_+15_+9__+5__+9__4th favoured enemy
16_+16_+10_+5__+10_+4 gunfocus
17_+17_+10_+5__+10_Hide in plain sight
18_+18_+11_+6__+11_Enhanced gunfocus +4
19_+19_+11_+6__+12_
20_+20_+12_+6__+12_5th favoured enemy, +5 gunfocus

Alkenstar Ranger (based on PFRPG version)
Lvl_BAB_Fort_Ref_Will__Special
1__+1__+2__+0__+2__1st favoured enemy, Track, Wild Talent
2__+2__+3__+0__+3__Combat style feat
3__+3__+3__+1__+3__Endurance, 1st favoured terrain
4__+4__+4__+1__+4__+1 gunfocus, hunter’s bond
5__+5__+4__+1__+4__2nd favoured enemy, Free Draw
6__+6__+5__+2__+5__Enhanced gunfocus +1, combat style feat
7__+7__+5__+2__+5__Woodland stride
8__+8__+6__+2__+6__+2 gunfocus, swift tracker, 2nd favoured terrain
9__+9__+6__+3__+6__
10_+10_+7__+3__+7__3rd favoured enemy, combat style feat, enhanced gunfocus +2
11_+11_+7__+3__+7__Quarry
12_+12_+8__+4__+8__+3 gunfocus, camoflage
13_+13_+8__+4__+8__3rd favoured terrain
14_+14_+9__+4__+9__Combat style feat, enhanced gunfocus +3
15_+15_+9__+5__+9__4th favoured enemy
16_+16_+10_+5__+10_+4 gunfocus
17_+17_+10_+5__+10_Hide in plain sight
18_+18_+11_+6__+11_4th favoured terrain, combat style feat, enhanced gunfocus +4
19_+19_+11_+6__+12_Improved quarry
20_+20_+12_+6__+12_5th favoured enemy, +5 gunfocus, master hunter

New abilities:
Wild Talent: The Alkenstar ranger gains Wild Talent as a bonus feat. (This class feature provides the character with the psionic power he needs to use his gunfocus ability, if he has no power points otherwise.)
Gunfocus (Su): At the beginning of the day, an Alkenstar ranger must meditate for one hour; this prepares him mentally to focus his mental energies on summoning his gunfocus. He must do so while holding a crossbow or gun. If he does not do this, then he may note use this ability or enhanced gunfocus.
Once the meditation has been performed, as a move action, the Alkenstar ranger may focus his mental energies to summon his gunfocus.
At 4th-level and every four levels thereafter, the weapon that he meditates on gains an +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls (+2 at 8th-level, +3 at 12th-level, +4 at 16th-level, and +5 at 20th-level). The weapon used counts as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Even in places where psionic or magical effects do not work (such as within the realm of Alkenstar), an Alkenstar ranger can attempt to sustain his gunfocus by making a DC 20 Will save. On a successful save, the Alkenstar ranger retains his gunfocus for a number of rounds equal to his class level before he needs to check again. On an unsuccessful attempt, the gunfocus vanishes. As a move action on his turn, the Alkenstar ranger can attempt a new Will save to resummon his gunfocus while he remains within the nullifying area.
Enhanced Gunfocus (Su): At 6th-level, an Alkenstar ranger gains the ability to enhance his gunfocussed weapon. He can add any one of the weapon special abilities on the table below that has an an enhancement bonus of +1.
At every four levels beyond 6th (10th, 14th, and 18th), the value of the enhancement an Alkenstar ranger can add to his weapon improves to +2, +3, and +4, respectively. An Alkenstar ranger can choose any combination of weapon special abilities that does not exceed the total allowed by the Alkenstar ranger level. For example, an 18th-level Alkenstar ranger could add two +2 weapon special abilities, or one +1 weapon ability and one +3 weapon ability.
The weapon ability or abilities remain the same every time the Alkenstar ranger summons his gunfocus (unless he decides to reassign its abilities; see below). The ability or abilities apply to the weapon that the Alkenstar ranger meditated upon that day.
Weapon Special Ability___Enhancement Bonus Value
Bane (favoured enemies only)___+1
Distance___+1
Merciful___+1
Seeking___+1
Psychokinetic*___+1
Collision*___+2
Psychokinetic Burst*___+2
Psibane*___+2
Dislocator*___+3
Speed (guns only)___+3
* These are weapon special abilities included in the psionics part of the d20SRD.

An Alkenstar ranger can reassign the ability or abilities he has added using enhanced gunfocus. To do so, he must first spend 8 hours in concentration, and with the next day’s meditation, the weapon gains the new ability or abilities. For example, an 10th-level Alkenstar ranger might have initially chosen to imbue psychokinetic burst, a +2 weapon special ability. Every time he summons his gunfocus, the weapon is counted as a +2 psychokinetic burst gun. However, on learning he may face undead the next day (a favoured enemy for him), he could take 8 hours to change this special ability to add the undead-bane and seeking abilities, instead of psychokinetic burst.
Free Draw: The Alkenstar ranger can summon his gunfocus as a free action instead of as a move action. He can make only one attempt to summon his gunfocus per round, however (if, for example, he must make a Will save to summon it within a dead-magic field).

[Absinth]

First, this looks nice! It's cool to see something like this. Thanks for sharing! The only concern I have so far (haven't looked at the numbers closely so I can't say if it's balanced or not...), is that I won't call this class a ranger anymore. Maybe it's just me, but the whole animal/nature-aspect of the original ranger class (animal companion, wild empathy etc.) is something that defined the class for me. This class isn't aimed at animals or nature anymore. Besides having track, this class doesn't seem to be more suited to wilderness, than a typical fighter. It might be a good idea to rename the class into Alkenstar scout or something like this...

[ericthecleric]

Thanks, Absinth! I’m glad you like it.
Maybe “Alkenstar sharpshooter”, or maybe just “sharpshooter” would be a better name.
It doesn’t lose its nature abilities or Survival skill, but if you picture a Lone Ranger-type with a (horse) animal companion, you could always delay the favoured enemy gains by two levels (meaning that the 5th favoured enemy would be lost, unless you’re running an epic game; ie. 3rd, 8th, 13th, and 18th-level) and/or drop the bonus Endurance feat.

[Absinth]

Firearms are common in my homebrew setting (similar to the Iron Kingdoms regarding this subject) and so this class really is interesting. We had a character death in our last session and the player is working on a concept for a new one and so I linked him this thread and he's really interested. Looks like he'll take this class (renamed of course, because there's no Alkenstar in my homebrew) and test it using the PFRPG stats. I hope it's OGC! :-D
So, I might be able to give you a playtest feedback in a few weeks. He'll create a fifth lvl PC and is thinking about taking two levels of Psychic Warrior and then continuing with this class. I'll keep you updated on experiences and changes we'll eventually make.

The first subject to change will be, that it takes eight (!!!) hours of concentration to change the special ability of the gun. This feels a little over the top to me. This means, that a PC won't be able to change it during an adventure (at least not one, that won't allow a down time of 16 hours). Why not make it changeable once per day or something simple like this? It could even be a progressing ability that allows more daily uses as the PC increases in level.

[ericthecleric]

All the material is OGC. The various new abilities are exactly the same as, or adapted from the soulknife class, which is available on www.d20srd.org, so no worries there! :-)
The 8 hour concentration thing is what a soulknife would require to do the same thing, but you can of course change that if you like.

I would like to hear how the class works out, and hope it brings a lot of fun to your game, so thanks for offering the feedback!

[Absinth]

Oh, I never realized that the soulblade had the same restriction. Never had a soulblade in one of my campaigns...
I wonder why Cordell designed it that way. This feels way too limiting to me compared to the benefit one receives when changing abilities.

[DorianHelm]

The only problem with this is that it seems to be the same thing as a Psionic power. Psionics don't work in Alkenstar and there is no reason for guns to gain special magic abilities without, redundancy intended, magic.

Just think about it this way it would lose all the innovation and scientific properties if there is, proverbially, ESP.

[Montalve]

I am in this with Dorian, this was mentioned by Jacobs, saying that Alkenstar nor magic (which for him would be arcane, divine and psionic) works at all.

what I have read of the class is pretty cool... unfortunately as the setting is right now, it won't work (that doesn't stop people to still add them to their games)

here we are trying to create somethign around Alkenstar

[Zootcat]

Pathfinder classes have no "dead levels." Level 9 needs some CPR. That said, this class does look like it would be fun to play. :)

[ericthecleric]

Sorry about the delay to my reply- I’ve been very busy recently!
Thanks for the comments. You could remove the “Alkenstar” part of the name, and call it something else; this removes the issues raised.
Regarding the dead level, here’s a suggestion that shouldn’t be too unbalancing.

Steady Hand (Ex): Upon reaching 9th-level, your keen eye, steady hands, and skill at maintaining, making, and repairing guns results in mastery of gunmaking. Add your Dexterity bonus to your Craft (gunmaking) bonus (as well as your Intelligence modifier, if any).

Note: Doing it that way, the bonus will scale with the character’s level. I’d thought of other methods, like a flat bonus to the Craft (gunmaking) skill, or one dependent on levels (eg. 1 per 4, 1 per 3, or 1 per 2 class levels), by my solution above seems best!

Do post in here if anyone playtests the class!