5 Level Prestige Classes - Love or Hate?

[Nifft]

Not as much as I like 4-level Prestige Classes and 7-level Prestige Classes. But 5-level classes are okay.

-- N

 

[Hjorimir]

I really, really like the shorter PrCs. It just seems less invasive to me somehow.

 

[Morrow]

Love. Get to the point and get out.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I prefer 3 or 6 myself. That 5th level is kind of lame for save progression and BAB for non fighter progression classes.

Short is good though. Too many of them feel like they are padding out the levels until you get your nifty capstone ability.

 

[Deset Gled]

Love them when they're done right, hate them when they're done poorly. A 5 level prestige class is great to give a character a bit of a "profession". It opens up a lot of options without taking over an entire character concept. However, I have seen a lot of 5 level PrCs that are just trying to be 10 level PrCs with less cost. Those are horrible (Mongoose, I'm looking at you).

Also, as Niles points out, you have to be very aware of what levels give BAB and saves and which don't. I hate how there is a preconceived idea of what rate those numbers have to be given out at (ditto for spellcasting levels). When I write my PrCs, I have no issue with putting a +1 to all levels but the first, or to just throw things around so the class is even across more levels. Trying to make every 5 level PrC follow the same pattern dooms many of them to failure.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I find most 10 level classes have a lot of padding and reeeeeeally seem to stretch. Several of the PrCs in the otherwise excellent Complete Mage have no good reason for a character to go all the way to the end in them, which makes me wonder why the developer didn't lop off the last one or two levels and be done with it.

So, yeah, I love 3 level PrCs, 5 level PrCs, any number. I think a PrC should go as many levels as it needs to and no further, much like a novel.

 

[Shade]

I don't really have a preference. I'd prefer the classes to be just as long as they need to be to get the point across. I dislike levels just being there for padding. I wouldn't mind a 1-level prestige class if it did what it needed to do in that one level.

The only downside to the 5-level classes is that they cannot (by the RAW) be extrapolated into epic levels. That's more a flaw of the epic rules than the prestige classes, though.

 

[blargney the second]

I really dig shorter PrCs in general, although each one has to evaluated on its own merits.

 

[ivocaliban]

Personally, I think that prestige classes shouldn't be bound by the idea of 5 or 10 levels. True there are quite a few 3 level prestige classes and a handful using other numbers, but my point is that prestige classes shouldn't necessarily be so uniform in the number of levels. My favorite prestige classes are those that tend to be thematically inspired and don't have filler levels ("empty" levels simply there to push the class to level 10, for instance).

I think prestige classes should be designed not to a specific level, but simply to the level necessary to both capture the feeling of what's being presented and offer the abilities that make it come to life. If that means 3, 5, or 10 levels so be it, but there should be just as many prestige classes that fall somewhere in between.

Of course, I'm a storyteller, not a number cruncher. I'm sure there are systemic reasons for the uniform approach to prestige class levels, I just don't see the necessity.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I like them. I like 10-level ones, too. It all depends on the concept.