D&D 5E How do Prestige Classes work?

[ro]

I am new to D&D and my only experience is 5e. I have read a number of mentions of Prestige Classes, but I don't understand what they are and how they work and interact with your other classes.

Can someone explain what Prestige Classes are all about?

Related questions:
What's the difference between them and multiclassing?
Why would you want to start at 1st level again after getting so far in the game?

 

[pukunui]

Aside from one experimental option in Unearthed Arcana, prestige classes don't exist in 5e. They are a concept that comes from 3e. They were specialized classes for which characters had to qualify. There was usually a minimum level, plus plus other prereqs: like a certain number of ranks in related skills, the ability to cast particular kinds of spells, and so on. Sometimes there were RP requirements as well.

The 3e rules refer to prestige classes as "a new form of multiclassing". Taking a level in one was no different to multiclassing except that often the prestige class would build on your base class - so, for instance, a wizard who took levels in archmage would continue to improve on their ability to cast wizard spells.

A number of 3e's prestige classes have been reimagined as subclasses in 5e: arcane archer, arcane trickster, assassin, horizon walker, eldritch knight, and so on.

 

[Leatherhead]

Prestige Classes were a thing back in the days of 3.x.

Here is the gist of them:
You start out as a normal class, like Fighter or Wizard.
Then you jump through some character building hoops. Which normally included selecting specific races, skills, feats, multi-class combinations, spells, and even sometimes some RP based requirements (like being a virgin, yes seriously that was a requirement for some of them).
After satisfying the requirements, you can then level up as the PrC.

PrCs tended to come in three main flavors.
The Super-Specialist, which took one defining feature or ability and ran it to it's logical conclusion. Like the Frenzied Berserker, who can rage harder than any other Barbarian.
The Mutation, where a character fundamentally changes in an incredible way. Dragon Disciples gave people dragon scales, fire breath, and claws (well before the Dragonborn existed)
The Multi-Classer. Back in the day, multi-classing was largely regarded as a trap option. The Mystic Theurge allowed someone to level up their cleric and wizard spellcasting at the same time. Because if you did it the "normal" way, you would end up with a character who couldn't breach their enemies resistances reliably.

Anyway, you don't start over at level one. It basically works the same way normal Multi-classing does. If you were a level 7 Wizard who decided to become a Rune Scribe for your next level up, you would still be a level 8 character. You would just have all the class features and abilities of a level 7 Wizard and a level 1 Rune Scribe.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Like others have said, it's a basically class you could multi-class into, but could not start out at level 1 as.

 

[Blue]

Prestige classes were additional classes that you could multiclass into back in D&D 3.0 and 3.5, but they had requirements to get into that required you to be at least 5th level (if not higher), and usually you needed to very carefully plan your character to take the right classes and feats in order to meet those requirements.

While the goal was specialists and branches off the primary classes, they generally were a lot more powerful and any character not going into one or more would be left behind. Yet the requirements usually made it so that you would need to plan out your character ahead of time. In 3.x, not only did the prestige classes have requirements, but all of those requirements had requirements. For example, you might need feat X, but feat X has a requirement of "Base Attack Bonus +5" which means that depending on your class(es) previous you couldn't take it at levle 3 (when you got yoru first feat) and you might not be able to take ti at level 6 - but the prestige class might also have a skill rank requirement (proficiency in a skill was in +1 chunks called ranks, there was no proficiency bonus), adn the classes that could get you a high enough BAB wouldn't give you the max skill ranks (which was halved if it wasn't a class skill ever), but if you took a dip in another PrC for one level it would give you teh BAB and the right skill ...

It really ended up being something that people willing to invest a lot of time could make characters well above the curve, and others would not, and also took out all spontaneously and blocked in a lot of what you needed to take at every level, planned out in advance.

If you can't tell from my negativity, I'm glad they don't exist anymore.

 

[Arilyn]

Prestige classes were additional classes that you could multiclass into back in D&D 3.0 and 3.5, but they had requirements to get into that required you to be at least 5th level (if not higher), and usually you needed to very carefully plan your character to take the right classes and feats in order to meet those requirements.

While the goal was specialists and branches off the primary classes, they generally were a lot more powerful and any character not going into one or more would be left behind. Yet the requirements usually made it so that you would need to plan out your character ahead of time. In 3.x, not only did the prestige classes have requirements, but all of those requirements had requirements. For example, you might need feat X, but feat X has a requirement of "Base Attack Bonus +5" which means that depending on your class(es) previous you couldn't take it at levle 3 (when you got yoru first feat) and you might not be able to take ti at level 6 - but the prestige class might also have a skill rank requirement (proficiency in a skill was in +1 chunks called ranks, there was no proficiency bonus), adn the classes that could get you a high enough BAB wouldn't give you the max skill ranks (which was halved if it wasn't a class skill ever), but if you took a dip in another PrC for one level it would give you teh BAB and the right skill ...

It really ended up being something that people willing to invest a lot of time could make characters well above the curve, and others would not, and also took out all spontaneously and blocked in a lot of what you needed to take at every level, planned out in advance.

If you can't tell from my negativity, I'm glad they don't exist anymore.

Yeah, they didn't work. You needed super specific requirements, but designers at one point, advised that you shouldn't plan for a prestige class, you should flow into it naturally. That was a laugh. Then there were all those prestige classes in the splat books that were actually weaker than normal classes. It was just a mess.