Drow Shootist (Pathfinder 2nd Edition Archetype)
(art by Ranjeet Verma on Artstation)
Ah, the hand crossbow, commonly associated with the drow since they are often depicted using them to stealthily deliver their signature sleeping poison at range.
They’re also the source of some controversy with some fans who remark on the fact that they were never real and wouldn’t have that much penetrative power, which is fair, but while the pistol-sized and gripped crossbow we often seen in art never existed, there certainly were smaller crossbows which could be held and fired in one hand.
And even then, these are fantasy games, where spells and fast-acting poisons are a thing, so who really cares?
In any case, we are focusing on the drow shootist archetype today, representing characters who have picked up the hand crossbow and it’s variants, either having learned to use the weapons from the drow themselves, or figured them out on their own or with a different trainer.
These shootists have an almost gunslinger-like mastery of these weapons, making them deft assassins with these small, concealable ranged weapons.
As the base dedication, these deft snipers become more and more skilled at using hand crossbows, and have mastered the art of drawing and fireing, or firing and concealing their weapons.
Some also master repeating crossbows as well, using them in the same way, with the potential to quickly load magazines of them on the fly.
They are often just as fast reloading and firing their crossbows as they are drawing them. They can even do this with a repeating crossbow, though doing so jams the magazine after firing, requiring quick field maintenance to set right.
Those that delve more into drow secrets also master the formula for various proprietary drow poisons, adding sleep and stupor-inducing venoms to their arsenal.
Further, they also learn how to quickly apply poison to their weapons, and even craft a supply of minor poisons as well.
Reloading on the fly is an important skill for any crossbow user, and even with their smaller size, the wielder learns to do the same.
They can also learn to move and strike on the run as well, becoming mobile death-dealers.
Obviously, this archetype works best with martial and sneaky classes that focus on fighting at range, such are ranged fighters, rogues, rangers, and the like, though really any character that prefers to stick to the shadows, use poison, and attack swiftly with a signature weapon could make use of it.
It’s a pity that drow aren’t in 2nd edition as a playable ancestry yet, because this archetype would certainly suit them as characters. As it stands, the implication of this archetype is that they learned these secrets and techniques without drow society approving or knowing, but maybe your drow are not so xenophobic or villainous?
Local legend speaks of fox spirits that put those who wander too far into the forest to sleep and leave them at the edge. The truth is actually pretty close, as the kitsune enclaves hidden within the forest keep intruders at bay with concealed crossbows and sleep-inducing toxins, carrying them back to nearby houses on the border, the occupants being friends of the foxfolk, to tend to them. Being allowed further into the forest requires gaining their trust.
Recently, a pact between a clandestine group and their myceloid allies has broken down, the myceloids no longer providing their spores to the group for their mind-altering poisons they use to make key figures susceptible to suggestion and control. Wary of being enslaved by the myceloids, the group contracts the party under false pretenses to clear out and harvest the spores, not only for their use, but to set up a myceloid farm they can directly control.
Struck by bolts in the dark while pursuing a group of drow infiltrators, the party awakens to discover they have been captured not by more drow, but by a group of counter-infiltrators, seeking to undermine such efforts by turning their tactics against them. However, as the party gains this group’s trust, they begin to realize their true agenda.
