A year ago, I posted my ideas for a witch class in an old-school fantasy game. Since then, I’ve contemplated another class left out of most such systems: the archer.

Many people play a ranger as an archer and don’t care much about the druidic magic that eventually becomes available to them. I think the thing to do is make ranger and perhaps even paladin a member of a faction and not a class of itself. (The paladin would be a lawful-good knight-cleric.)

An archer would, of course, be defined by his or her use of a short bow or longbow. The crossbow is profoundly unsuited to adventuring and was only really useful as a defensive weapon in armies that didn’t have the wherewithal to train real archers.

Archers would be limited to medium armor, like chainmail and maybe brigandine.

Archery Features

The class would need a few bow-specific features to gain as the character advances, like….

• Fletching: With fletcher’s tools, you can make your own arrows and even cast arrow heads, including silver arrows.
• Extra shot: Right from 1st level, archers would automatically be able to shoot two arrows per round, something others who use the bow would have to spend a skill on.
• Flaming arrow: At 2nd level, you learn the trick to creating flaming arrows that do extra 1d3 fire damage and can catch things on fire. A natural 1, however, results in nasty burns to yourself.
• Precision shot: At 3rd level, do an additional 1d3 precision damage for accuracy. Oozes, undead, and similar creatures are immune to precision damage because they don’t have vital organs to target.
• Strongbow: At 5th level, gain your strength bonus as a bonus to damage when using a bow fit for your strength. (Real bows have different pull weights for this reason.)
• Volley: At 7th level, shoot three arrows at up to three different targets in place of one. All shots are at disadvantage OR half damage. At higher levels, one, then two, then all three are normal shots.

Additionally, archers might have exclusive access to special kinds of arrows, like a grappling hook arrow to help the character climb. Similarly, there should be plenty of magic items aimed at bowmen, like enchanted bows and magical arrows that have not just a bonus but special magical effect.

Non-archery Features

But any class should be more than a bundle of combat features. Traditionally, English and Welsh longbowmen were rural yeomen who would have known a lot about woodlands, animals, and whatnot. They should have most of the nature features that AD&D rangers always had.

• Animal handling/empathy: right from 1st level, archers should be able to handle livestock and other domesticated animals. As they advance, they should have a chance at befriending woodland animals and other beasts.
• Tracking & hunting: Archers should have a tracking, hunting, and fishing skill, like any good country boy.
• Nature lore: Country folk know a lot about trees and plants. This might include a small bit of natural healing.
• Second weapon: Any archer will need a second weapon to defend himself or herself in close fighting. While not as good as a regular warrior, this ability should be better than non-martial characters.
• Thrown weapon: If you’re good with a bow, you might well be good with thrown daggers and such, so this should be an option, at least.

We might allow for some archers to be city folk, trained to defend towns and cities. These would forego the nature-oriented features for more city-oriented ones…

• Contacts: You can make a check to see if you know someone local. (On a natural 1, it’s an unfriendly rival.) You’re also good at finding people who have information and are generally “street smart”.
• City lore: You know your home city like the back of your hand and have strong knowledge of how cities work in general.

Differences from AD&D Rangers

While it wouldn’t be too odd to merely relabel rangers as archers, I would want there to be a difference. Rangers are often played as wielding two weapons. This I would give instead to warriors and maybe even rogues as an optional feature. They also eventually get druidic magic, something that requires them to be of good alignment. Rangers also traditionally get a favored enemy, which would not be a part of an archer’s feature set.

Instead, I would suggest making “rangers” a faction that fighters, archers, and such could join to get these favored enemy and druidic magic (and maybe eventually a fantasy mount) in exchange for an oath of loyalty and a code of conduct, sort of like paladins are fighters with a similar brotherhood.

Archer as Sub-Class of Warrior

It’s not unreasonable to make archer an option of the normal warrior class. Warriors might be required to select a fighting style at 1st level, which could be archery, two-weapon fighting, shield-bearer, or spear. Later on, a warrior might pick up a second fighting style, if they so choose. Maybe two-weapon fighting should only be available 3rd level or so.