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What did the Archer of the White Steppes do that no one else could do?
Primarily provide AC and save bonuses to party members while being effective from range. It also created an interesting mechanic in that it was a ranged archetype that could effectively use Armiger's Mark at range. This meant that he actually had a unique level of battlefield control for a martial character, because not only could he position himself next to more fragile characters, he could then focus his Mark ability on whatever area of the battlefield most needed shoring up. Since he gave up Iron Palisade in exchange for Solar Wind, he also had some potential to drop his Mark on top of useful status effects, like making a single big shot to knock an enemy prone and Marking them as part of the same attack. This was extremely useful, and made for some interesting tactical possibilities.
By contrast, moving the Archer Lord archetype to the Warlord makes about as much sense as making an Archer Ranger archetype for the ranger. Why would you take a class that is already effective at range but has the advantage of being able to effectively switch-hit and then make an archetype that... makes it effective at range? And what would you give up that won't actually leave you with a less well-rounded and combat capable character? You're trading something awesome and unique for something generic and redundant by moving the archetype from a class where it actually created a new and interesting dynamic, and moving it to a class that didn't have any need of the archetype to begin with.
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Man, despite all my previous objections to so many archetypes for the Warder not having shields, I think Ssalarn might have convinced me.
Today looking at the new, polished sects I'm seeing nothing that uses a shield in a different way but everyone handling defense in a new way. The Empyrean does defense with dodging and swirling blades, the Defender defends his mount, and the Scarlet Sentinel does it with a spear. In light of this, I'm not seeing any reason why the Archer Lord shouldn't be here. I do think you should ditch the mounted bits of it, though. The warder doesn't need two archetypes that do mounted combat.
Although, I guess that's what you intend to do with the Warlord? Give it a mount and some mounted archery stuff? I see room for both. A mounted archery Warlord and a walking about Archer for the Warder.
What did the Archer of the White Steppes do that no one else could do?Primarily provide AC and save bonuses to party members while being effective from range. It also created an interesting mechanic in that it was a ranged archetype that could effectively use Armiger's Mark at range. This meant that he actually had a unique level of battlefield control for a martial character, because not only could he position himself next to more fragile characters, he could then focus his Mark ability on whatever area of the battlefield most needed shoring up. Since he gave up Iron Palisade in exchange for Solar Wind, he also had some potential to drop his Mark on top of useful status effects, like making a single big shot to knock an enemy prone and Marking them as part of the same attack. This was extremely useful, and made for some interesting tactical possibilities.
Despite never having read the warder class...ok, I think I get what it did.
That does sound fairly unique, yea.
Alright, I'll bring the Archer back. Did people like the fluff of it? Kind of Mongolian inspired, protectors of chiefs and shamans?
Also, of the archetypes planned for Warder, the ones that don't have a shield are the Scarlet Sentinel, the Empyreal Guardians, and apparently the White Steppe Archers. The rest will all have shields.
As far as the Warlord goes, I'm going to give it a less "Defender" feel like I did with warder, and instead focus on charging in and providing inspirational buffs from mount, lancer focus as well.
-X
Hehehe, I'll take some of your ideas Ssalarn and see how I can incorporate those into the new version of the White Steppe Archer and yeah, the horse is gone as far as that's concerned. I was thinking discipline-wise, Solar Wind, Primal Fury, Broken Blade, and Golden Lion, dropping Iron Palisade. I had considered giving it Veiled Moon in place of Primal Fury, but I was afraid of more Stalker overlap.
-X
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Seems at this point, you may as well make Ssalarn the co-designer. He's been pretty helpful.
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Nah, disciplines like Veiled Moon should appear infrequently in other classes.
You know, it doesn't have to have 4 disciplines. Isn't there supposed to be another archery discipline that doesn't do supernatural stuff? They could have Solar Wind, Unnamed Archery Discipline, Broken Blade, and Primal Fury.
I actually would prefer to see them with Primal Fury to give people some switch hitting options and reduce access to Golden Lion which should remain primarily a Warlord thing.
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Design Manager
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Hehehe, I'll take some of your ideas Ssalarn and see how I can incorporate those into the new version of the White Steppe Archer and yeah, the horse is gone as far as that's concerned. I was thinking discipline-wise, Solar Wind, Primal Fury, Broken Blade, and Golden Lion, dropping Iron Palisade. I had considered giving it Veiled Moon in place of Primal Fury, but I was afraid of more Stalker overlap.
-X
I think that discipline set is perfect. Let me know which ideas I posted you like/ don't like, or if you want to know more about what our playtest experience with the Archer Lord was in greater detail. If you'd like, I can e-mail you a copy of the character sheet.
One thing I was going with was using the suggested replacement of switching out Weapon Focus for an ability that allows them to ignore the penalty to attack for wearing a buckler and keeping the buckler's bonus to AC while using that arm to wield a ranged weapon. That helps with the defender-y goodness and also helps with the picture in my head of the guy with a hand-crafted bow and a horse-hide buckler.
...Keep in mind that the ability to get the bonus to AC with a buckler has been placed at a powerlevel of around 19th level :)
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...Keep in mind that the ability to get the bonus to AC with a buckler has been placed at a powerlevel of around 19th level :)
1. That's profoundly retarded.
2. There's a reasonable argument that archery is different. You can already use a buckler with a bow or crossbow without penalty.
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...Keep in mind that the ability to get the bonus to AC with a buckler has been placed at a powerlevel of around 19th level :)
I believe when that was made though, the author was operating under the impression that he was effectively allowing the character to Two Weapon Fight with a two-handed weapon while one of those hands was also shield-bashing. So a little bit of a different dynamic going on there, at least so goes my understanding.
He also wasn't dealing with a class that is literally spending every round of combat incentivizing people to hit it, which is a big part of what the Warder, and by extension the Archer Lord, does.
...Keep in mind that the ability to get the bonus to AC with a buckler has been placed at a powerlevel of around 19th level :)
*laughs* Oh man, I hadn't noticed that about that archetype.
Wasn't there a 3.5 feat called Improved Buckler Defense that didn't cost you your AC bonus when fighting with a weapon in that hand? It had like, 'Shield Proficiency' as a prereq and that's it? Kind of an underwhelming level 19 ability if I'm right.
-X
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...Keep in mind that the ability to get the bonus to AC with a buckler has been placed at a powerlevel of around 19th level :)*laughs* Oh man, I hadn't noticed that about that archetype.
Wasn't there a 3.5 feat called Improved Buckler Defense that didn't cost you your AC bonus when fighting with a weapon in that hand? It had like, 'Shield Proficiency' as a prereq and that's it? Kind of an underwhelming level 19 ability if I'm right.
-X
You are. :)
Not quite. That ability isn't really affected by the FAQ that hurt the archetype. Maybe 19th is pretty high, but it's definitely not a low or mid level ability.
What that ability does is it erases the choice of defense or offense. You get the best of both worlds, allowing yourself to have good defense and also have very potent offense (especially as an archer!). I wouldn't underestimate it.
And Complete books weren't exactly known for balance though, and in any event, it's a bit silly to rely on another game's feats as balancing counterpoints when you're writing for Pathfinder and that's where the Paizo devs placed the power at :)
Perhaps breaking it up. Initially saying, "No, you don't take penalties for wearing a buckler while using bow but you don't get the AC bonus." Then later on, say, 10-12th level area, you do get your cake and eat it too with no penalty to hit and retain the AC bonus.
I see Cheapy's point here; depending on if you advance study out for Iron Tortoise stances and counters, you'd be kind of a monster then. Lots of AC potential + shield using counters.
-X
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Perhaps breaking it up. Initially saying, "No, you don't take penalties for wearing a buckler while using bow but you don't get the AC bonus." Then later on, say, 10-12th level area, you do get your cake and eat it too with no penalty to hit and retain the AC bonus.
You already don't take the attack penalty when using a buckler with a bow or crossbow.
If they advance study out they're still burning feats to do it. The opportunity cost will probably limit the number of people interested in that.
Of course, you could specifically forbid them from learning Iron Tortoise (I'm going to keep calling it that) or add a caveat to Iron Tortoise that prevents you from using ranged weapons with stances or maneuvers from the discipline.
Frankly, I think a Warder with a buckler and a two handed weapon is much scarier. Sure they take a small penalty to attack but they'll get a significant bonus to AC in several stances.
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Perhaps breaking it up. Initially saying, "No, you don't take penalties for wearing a buckler while using bow but you don't get the AC bonus." Then later on, say, 10-12th level area, you do get your cake and eat it too with no penalty to hit and retain the AC bonus.
I see Cheapy's point here; depending on if you advance study out for Iron Tortoise stances and counters, you'd be kind of a monster then. Lots of AC potential + shield using counters.
-X
I'm down with breaking it up, though I don't really think that doing so is necessary.
I already know what Cheapy's response to this going to be, but I'll say it anyways:
There is already a feat called "Thunder and Fang" that was put out in a recently printed Paizo product, "Varisia: Birthplace of Legends", that allows a character to two weapon fight with an Earthbreaker and klar while keeping the klar's shield bonus to AC. This feat is several orders of power better than the ability I'm proposing, and can be taken by a human fighter at 2nd level.
I know Cheapy feels the feat is over-powered, but the guys at Paizo have actually printed it in two different books now, the last one having come out just a year ago, and it is legal for Pathfinder Society. So in that instance Paizo apparently thinks that keeping your bonus to AC while two weapon fighting with a two-handed weapon and a unique weapon that is both light shield and shortsword is actually an ability with a power level appropriate to 2nd to 5th level, and that ability was reprinted much more recently than Thunderstriker.
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That's a very good point.
Ssalarn, would you be comfortable giving up two bonus feats for the proposed class feature? That pretty much puts it on par with the feat costs of Thunder and Fang (which I realize has three feat prereqs but you're going to get 1-2 of those on any character that would use a shield and a weapon)
I agree with what Ssalarn said I would say.
But will add that James has said they sometimes use the campaign setting line as a launching pad for experimental rules, and that they are sometimes more concerned with telling a story than making balanced things, and Shoanti warriors with the klar and earthbreaker were a part of the story
Perhaps breaking it up. Initially saying, "No, you don't take penalties for wearing a buckler while using bow but you don't get the AC bonus." Then later on, say, 10-12th level area, you do get your cake and eat it too with no penalty to hit and retain the AC bonus.You already don't take the attack penalty when using a buckler with a bow or crossbow.
If they advance study out they're still burning feats to do it. The opportunity cost will probably limit the number of people interested in that.
Of course, you could specifically forbid them from learning Iron Tortoise (I'm going to keep calling it that) or add a caveat to Iron Tortoise that prevents you from using ranged weapons with stances or maneuvers from the discipline.
Frankly, I think a Warder with a buckler and a two handed weapon is much scarier. Sure they take a small penalty to attack but they'll get a significant bonus to AC in several stances.
Scarlet Sentinels are scary folks, man. Forbidding Iron Palisade is harsh, but the 2nd half is a good potential idea.
Personally, I want to keep it Iron Tortoise. I like that name. If enough people want it, then we'll see if we can change it back. I dunno. Post about it on Dreamscarred Press' forum in the playtest side. If enough people want it, we might change it back.
-X
Also, palisades are made from wood.:)
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Okay, here's my proposal for the new and improved Archer Lord of the White Steppes (I actually didn't change all that much from my last proposal....):
The archer lords of the White Steppes are world renowned as being some of the best archers in the world, and their reputation is well deserved. For centuries, the Archer Lords of the White Steppes have upheld an ancient trust, guarding the northern lands from which they hail from monstrous incursions. Standing side by side with the shamans of their tribes, the Archer Lords rained death upon their foes while shielding their magic-using allies from the stones and spells of their enemies. The heroic tales of the Archer Lords have now spread to lands far and wide, causing many to seek to learn or emulate their prowess. The people of the White Steppes are an untrusting and deeply spiritual lot, but they tend to distrust outsiders, some can be convinced to share
their ways.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The warder is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and he is proficient with light and medium armor, and with bucklers. This replaces the warder's standard weapon and armor proficiencies
White Steppe Training (Ex): With the exhaustive training that archer lords undergo, the character adds Perception to his list of class skills. He may select one ranged weapon to be his favored; when wielding this weapon, he does not suffer a penalty to hit for wearing a buckler and keeps his shield bonus to AC even when using that arm to attack with his chosen weapon. The Archer Lord also gains Point Blank Shot as a bonus feat. This replaces the warder's Defensive Focus class feature, and augments his class skills known
Disciplines: The White Steppe warder gains access to Solar Wind, losing access to Iron Palisade.
Eyes of the Watching Hawk: The Archer Lord is ever alert to threats that might endanger his wards and allies, using his his keen eye and swift signals to alert them to danger. Any ally that can see and hear the Archer Lord when he acts in the Surprise Round gains a +4 competence bonus to their Initiative checks. This ability replaces Tactician Acumen
Guardian of the Spirit-talkers: Upon reaching 8th level, the Archer Lord becomes increasingly adept at protecting his wards from harm. Once per day he is capable of extending the use of his defensive counters to react to multiple attacks. Any counter that the Archer Lord possesses that has a duration of instant instead has a duration of 1 round. He may then use this counter against any attack targeting an allied spellcaster that it could normally be used to repel. Every three levels beyond this (11th, 14th, and 17th levels) he may use this ability an additional time per day. This ability replaces Extended Defense, and counts as that ability for determining the Archer Lord's ability to qualify for feats and abilities dependent on that class feature.
Close Combat Archery (Ex): At 10th level, the White Steppe warder no longer provokes attacks of opportunity when firing or reloading his favored weapon while threatened in melee combat. This replaces the Improved Defensive Focus class feature.
Guardian of the Steppes (Ex): At 15th level, the Archer Lord's ability to guard his wards from harm has reached a preternatural edge. When an adjacent ally would be reduced to 0 hit points or fewer by a natural attack, melee weapon, or ranged weapon, the Archer Lord can interpose himself, taking the damage from the attack in their place.
Master of Arrows (Ex): At 20th level, the archer lord's skill reaches perfection, his arrows true and deadly. When using a weapon from an associated Solar Wind weapon group, his critical threat range is doubled and critical damage multiplier is increased by one. This replaces deathless defenses.
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Just want to repeat again how awesome it is that you're willing to work with player playtesters like this E-X =) Keep up the good work!
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Reasons for my proposed changes-
I think the Archer Lord should get the buckler bonus. I could see spreading that out, but don't think it's necessary, especially considering that I'm presenting a class that is going to be drawing attacks to itself via multiple abilities and doesn't get access to heavy armors or shields.
I think that one of the big things with the Archer Lord is that his ranged damage capabilities shift his damage dynamics and the way he interacts with things. As a result of this, I think his abilities should be more focused into abilities that protect other class members as opposed to abilities that prevent attacks against himself.
The crafting abilities of the old Archer Lord, while neat, actually detracted from the game because of their unnecessary complicatedness (I don't care if I made that word up) and because their theminess, to me, felt a little out of place. Some of the earlier restrictions in the archetype, like those stating that the Archer Lord could only use bows or arrows crafted himself, were just unecessary. If the Archer Lord did an excellent job protecting his chief, he can't use the tribe's ancient bow, handed down from leader to leader and now passed to him for his heroics? He can't accept the Giant Bane Arrow the tribe's Shaman crafted specifically to give him an edge against the marauding stone giant terrorizing the outlying villages? It's just silly, and that should be left more to player or GM preference.
This class archetype has potential to be an incredible defensive boost for the team, so focusing his abilities into those channels is really where I'd like to see the class. Also, I'm a big fan of any class that is at its best when working as part of a team instead of being individually potent, and archer's really are quite potent based on weapon choice and feat build alone, so tweaking class features to make them more team players is key.
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I just realized that Empyreans lost their Ward feature. Sad times. I'd love to see that return. I like it better than the offensive buffs the Sect gets.
Edit: To be more specific I'd be happy to lose Grace of Blades and Empyrean Training to get Guardianship back.
Also, you use Empyrean and Empyreal interchangeably as adjectives. I think you should pick one and stick with it. Or maybe you don't. I guess I can see where the noun "Empyrean" could be used in Empyrean Training. Like Knight Training. That assumes that they were called Empyreans, though, and in the document you seem to refer to them as "guardians."
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Side note:
How the devil do you get a flying horse? I thought there were horseshoes but I can't find them now. The only option I can find is giving it Wings of Flying and they are prohibitively expensive.
It's actually pretty hard to get a flying horse mount as an Animal Companion. There's Horseshoes of a Zephyr, which allow you to run like 4 feet above the ground... There's a half-orc racial feat in the Advanced Race Guide that lets a character with the mount class feature trade their mount for a pteranodon...
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So, hey, first, an introduction - I'm Mr. Ripley (please, call me Knives) and I'm the other designer that got brought on board recently to help with the Codes of Conduct for Warder and some of the mechanical concerns. I, ah...have a complicated history with Pathfinder that we don't need to get into right now, but I'm super, super excited to be working on this project with my old friend and I hope we can provide the best material we can for ya.
With that in mind:
And Complete books weren't exactly known for balance though, and in any event, it's a bit silly to rely on another game's feats as balancing counterpoints when you're writing for Pathfinder and that's where the Paizo devs placed the power at :)
I find myself disagreeing with you. This is why:
One thing Pathfinder has in common with 3.5 is that the designers (I refuse to call them devs; Paizo does not maintain a 'development' team, just a design team) are not consistent. Ever. Ever ever ever ever ever. They've never been consistent by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not the only one that remembers the Flurry debacle, right? I'm not?
3.5 and Pathfinder are very, very similar. They have a lot of traits in common, and these traits are good to reference when it comes to design. If a feat was weak in 3.5, it'll be weak or weaker in Pathfinder - and probably vice-versa. Very little of the fundamental mathematics changed, which was a sad thing for martial concepts but a convenient one for design principles. Learning from the successes and failures of our forebears is how we improve upon our design in general.
On this specific topic, at the end of the day a buckler is fairly innocent. It provides a small AC bonus (up to +6 if you invest spells or gold) and holds shield enhancements for you. This isn't really what I'd call a Big Deal. Armor class is easy to circumvent and hard to make meaningful, and a magic buckler on an archer won't change that whatsoever. I don't really see a reason to ignore the fundamental truths of the system just because the designers at Paizo like to pretend that they don't exist.
@Ssalarn:
I like it; I'm going to make a few adjustments and a couple of additions to it as it inspired me. Mind if I use it?
-X
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I'm in agreement with the fellow with the knives. Paizo needs more mathematicians if they think this is nearly a capstone ability. I wouldn't want to see it as a feat again because the last thing I want is to make high tier classes like the magus and cleric bigger badasses but as a class feature for a martial character, traditional or maneuver based, it's not going to break the game.
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I'm not noticing any changes with Piercing Lance maneuvers. Were there any changes done there?
I will note that Sidestep Canter is a silly name. Canter is a forward speed. Lateral movement of a horse without moving forward is called a side pass. This is probably only going to bother equestrians and word nerds like me.
I'd also like to commend you for moving the Defender's Mount to 1st level. It's always better when a character that's meant to be mounted starts that way rather than having a horse suddenly show up in a dungeon because you hit level 5.
No, I was busy working the sects and the warder itself, I didn't really touch disciplines yet.
-X
Indeed, no class should be so ill-prepared to face things with commoner levels as the CW samurai had been.
I...I don't know you, but I think I love you already.
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Indeed, no class should be so ill-prepared to face things with commoner levels as the CW samurai had been.I...I don't know you, but I think I love you already.
It had actually been so long since anyone even mentioned that terrible class that I'd manage to more or less banish it from memory.
....
That was a really bad class. Proficiency with a katana and a smattering of non-complimentary abilities does not equal a 20 level class.
I don't ever actually remember looking at the class. I think I blocked it out if I did.
I have CW. I've read it many times. But I recall nothing about the Samurai class except the art.
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@Ssalarn:
I like it; I'm going to make a few adjustments and a couple of additions to it as it inspired me. Mind if I use it?
-X
Chris, I don't know if you're still watching the thread or evaluating the Archer Lord, but an aside conversation I was having with Cheapy reminded me of an even better example of why I think the buckler abillity I recommended is fine as is for first level. See a good friend of mine right out of the CRB, "Improved Shield Bash". There is a first level feat that anyone with Shield Proficiency can take that allows them to attack with a shield while keeping its bonus to AC, and that one doesn't have any of the baggage associated with my other example, Thunder and Fang.
Now granted, my ability does do something that Improved Shield Bash does not do, namely allowing a character the benefits of shielded combat with ranged combat, but the Archer Lord is a character in medium armor with a ranged weapon whose class abilities literally beg people to attack him. This was actually exemplified in our Rise of The Runelords campaign when my Archer Lord had a higher level melee combatant come after him and use the opportunity attacks I was granting trying to make ranged attacks in melee to disarm me of my bow, my dagger, and an arrow I tried to throw at him as an improvised weapon all in rapid order (I'd activated some ranged boosts I didn't want to waste without at least trying my damnedest), which led to me quickly changing my opinion about choosing Primal Fury over Broken Blade as a secondary combat style. Without a little buckler boost to my AC, I would have been eviscerated. As it was, I was only somewhat maimed.
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That doesn't apply to bucklers, though, since you can't shield bash with them. But I think there are a bucketload of good arguments for their buckler ability and only poorly designed class archetypes that argue against it.
I wasn't saying it applies to bucklers, my point was that it was a first level ability that allows you to use a shield both offensively and defensively (functionally similar to what we're doing with the buckler ability). I just don't see any reason to weight the ability as a level 10+ power gain, and I'm a big fan of characters being able to do the basics of whatever they're goind to do from creation.
As an example of one of the stupidest things I've ever seen happen, we had a character who wanted to be an Elven Rogue Duelist. Because of the high feat cost, requirements for a high DEX and INT both, and things like that, this character played as a ranged rogue sneak attacking with a longbow until 8th level when he suddenly leaped onto the battlefield as a master of one-handed melee combat.
....
Most characters start able to do one thing kind of okay, and then have the option/ability to be a master of it as they level. Archer Lords should be using the buckler and bow right out of the gate, and frankly I think that trading away Defensive Focus is worth more than just negating the penalty. Firearms can already be wielded without penalty while a character wears a buckler right from first level, and the Archer Lord needs the AC boost, small as it is, to help balance his shift down from heavier armors.
***EDIT*** As YuenglingDragon pointed out, bucklers can already be worn in conjunction with all non-thrown ranged weapons without inflicting a penalty anyways, so negating that penalty is of dubious value for a class called "The Archer Lord", since most characters won't be getting any benefit at all unless we allow them to keep the AC bonus.
Also YD, the keeping the buckler AC bonus thing is all me bro, that wasn't part of the original Archer Lord.
But is the buckler itself important, Ssalarn? I haven't really done much looking into the Archer Lords as a concept yet (though I have some ideas...) but from my end of things the intersection between 'archer' and 'tank' should be the focus.
The thing about AC boosts is that they're bad for tanks. I know, it sounds insane, but bear with me. The thing about 3.PF is that it has no aggro system and nothing even remotely resembling one. As a result, you need to give your enemies a reason to care that you exist. Admittedly, Solar Wind strikes and boosts are a helluva reason to care - but where the normal Warder can cover their allies with their Mark and whenever they recover maneuvers, the Archer Lord engages from the rear. How does that work out?
I've got some ideas on how that can work, but a shield/buckler focus hurts those ideas because it de-incentivizes attacking the Warder; it makes it more valuable or at least less costly to attack his allies instead. Which, I think we can agree, results in the Warder Not Doing His Job.
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But is the buckler itself important, Ssalarn? I haven't really done much looking into the Archer Lords as a concept yet (though I have some ideas...) but from my end of things the intersection between 'archer' and 'tank' should be the focus.
The thing about AC boosts is that they're bad for tanks. I know, it sounds insane, but bear with me. The thing about 3.PF is that it has no aggro system and nothing even remotely resembling one.***
Except for the fact that Chris created one with Armiger's Mark. And believe me, when I say he could use the buckler, it's because I've been playtesting these mechanics pretty extensively. An archer in medium armor Marking angry monsters and making it harder for them to take out those annoying casters is going to start looking like a real attractive target. Because of the fact that he's not rolling in heavy armor and carrying a real shield, he's going to get pummeled and strapping that buckler on, while only a small boost, can make the difference between a live Archer Lord and a dead one.
Trust me on this, when your Archer Lord is effectively giving enemies a -11 to hit against his allies (Aegis and Mark at high levels), those enemies are going to be gunning for him. Especially if they figure out that the guy in medium armor is not only handing out those bonuses and penalties, but isn't benefitting from them himself.The Warder incentives people to hit him in a big way, even if it isn't a true aggro system. For the Archer Lord, this is doubly true because he's tanking and battlefield controlling but is not the most heavily armored guy on the field, possibly having a base AC that's less than the party cleric's at many levels.
Aegis (Ex): At 1st level, the warder's defensive prowess extends to those who choose to stay near to him.. Allies who are within 10ft of the warder's position gain a +1 morale bonus to Armor Class and CMD, and to Will saves under the warder’s defensive aegis, his presence bolstering and shepherding the defenses of his allies. This bonus improves to +2 at 5th level (+3 at 9th level, +4 at 13th level, and +5 at 17th level). The warder does not receive this bonus, but may receive the benefits of this ability from another warder. If the ally cannot see or hear the warder, than the ally does not gain the benefits of this ability (such as if the warder is concealed or invisible).At 6th level, his aegis' ranged increases its effective area, growing to a 20ft radius. At 12th level, this increases again to 30ft.
I quote this to note the very small area of Aegis. Mark and strikes are currently the Archer Lord's only aggro options, a fact that I'm keenly aware of and attempting to solve on the conceptual level.