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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6014802" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Dragon Issue 292: February 2002</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>part 5/10</p><p></p><p></p><p>Stone, road, and tusk: The initial crop of prestige classes were all 10 level ones. But people soon realised that there were some concepts that simply didn't justify spending half your career on them. Here's some more interesting ideas that are designed for you to dip into, to customise your character rather than define them. All are specific to a particular demihuman race, while not being completely obvious, and all are roughly nature themed, making them a bit niche, but still appropriate for the issue. </p><p></p><p>Cave Stalkers are dwarves who get to know the ecology of the places they're mining instead of converting it all into neatly organised stripped and shored up tunnels. This lets them meld into stone to hide, and get even better darkvision than regular dwarves, plus a bit of sneak attack to take advantage of that stealth and awareness in combat. With moderate spellcasting progression as well, they seem like a good option for quite a few different class builds, if you want a competent generalist. </p><p></p><p>Fiend Binders are orcs who can create fiendish animals and keep them as pets or unleash them upon the wilderness to cause havoc. While a bit underpowered, compared to full spellcaster, they're a good diversion for orc spellcasters who don't have the primary stats to cast high level spells anyway, and want to gradually build up a menagerie of trouble for the players to face. </p><p></p><p>Prairie Runners are halflings that overcompensate for their normally low speed so they can deliver the news and make great hunters. Since they also get to share it with their buds, and haste themselves in combat, they seem like a good addition to a team that doesn't have a buffing specialist. Definitely a case where going against stereotype makes sense. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Class acts: Straight after, we have a 4th prestige class, the Darkwood Stalker. They're certainly trying to build up our selection to overtake kits this month. They're elven rangery sorts who specialise in kicking orc butt. Even more than most specialists,. this means they may well find their unique talents not being used to their full potential, especially at higher level. After all, demons and dragons both have tons of variants that scale to epic levels nicely. Orcs, not so much. While they might gain some class levels, they just don't make world-threatening forces on their own, and this skillset doesn't even extend to goblins or ogres. So it's another one I can't see many people taking, unless it's largely for flavour reasons. Sure you may hate orcs, but most adventurers have bigger fish to fry. And by the time you've got to the levels where you can take prestige classes, it's already too late really. If only they's broken out of their formula and made one you could get too by level 2-3 for a change. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Cities of the ages: A japanese city? Even if it is the obvious choice, Tokyo. (or at least Edo, which would later be renamed Tokyo) This column is stepping outside it's comfort zone a bit. And a good thing too, because the city goes against modern japanese stereotypes a fair bit. Instead of being polite and tradition-bound, it's a rowdy port city that grew up really rapidly, and was a real hassle for the samurai to keep under control. It's always the way once the merchant class starts getting out of control, surpassing the aristocracy in wealth because people are more willing to trade for amenities than they are to give up a big chunk of their crops in taxes for "protection" and be drafted into the army. Young folks lose all sense of respect, cats and dogs start living together, people start eating corn products rather than rice dishes like momma used to cook. Goes to show, what we think of as immutable ancient traditions are often less than a lifetime old, and other countries change just as rapidly, and have just as many internal variations as your own. Which is all the better for adventuring in. Given their regular problems with fires and earthquakes, you have plenty of leeway to cause massive amounts of damage, which is then industriously rebuilt in surprisingly little time, and allows you to change the layout when you feel like it. As usual, there's both fun to be had here, and lots of ideas to steal, mix and match for your own fantasy cities. The world is a huge, varied place, and you ought to make your own campaign worlds big and varied (within a theme) as well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 6014802, member: 27780"] [B][U]Dragon Issue 292: February 2002[/U][/B] part 5/10 Stone, road, and tusk: The initial crop of prestige classes were all 10 level ones. But people soon realised that there were some concepts that simply didn't justify spending half your career on them. Here's some more interesting ideas that are designed for you to dip into, to customise your character rather than define them. All are specific to a particular demihuman race, while not being completely obvious, and all are roughly nature themed, making them a bit niche, but still appropriate for the issue. Cave Stalkers are dwarves who get to know the ecology of the places they're mining instead of converting it all into neatly organised stripped and shored up tunnels. This lets them meld into stone to hide, and get even better darkvision than regular dwarves, plus a bit of sneak attack to take advantage of that stealth and awareness in combat. With moderate spellcasting progression as well, they seem like a good option for quite a few different class builds, if you want a competent generalist. Fiend Binders are orcs who can create fiendish animals and keep them as pets or unleash them upon the wilderness to cause havoc. While a bit underpowered, compared to full spellcaster, they're a good diversion for orc spellcasters who don't have the primary stats to cast high level spells anyway, and want to gradually build up a menagerie of trouble for the players to face. Prairie Runners are halflings that overcompensate for their normally low speed so they can deliver the news and make great hunters. Since they also get to share it with their buds, and haste themselves in combat, they seem like a good addition to a team that doesn't have a buffing specialist. Definitely a case where going against stereotype makes sense. Class acts: Straight after, we have a 4th prestige class, the Darkwood Stalker. They're certainly trying to build up our selection to overtake kits this month. They're elven rangery sorts who specialise in kicking orc butt. Even more than most specialists,. this means they may well find their unique talents not being used to their full potential, especially at higher level. After all, demons and dragons both have tons of variants that scale to epic levels nicely. Orcs, not so much. While they might gain some class levels, they just don't make world-threatening forces on their own, and this skillset doesn't even extend to goblins or ogres. So it's another one I can't see many people taking, unless it's largely for flavour reasons. Sure you may hate orcs, but most adventurers have bigger fish to fry. And by the time you've got to the levels where you can take prestige classes, it's already too late really. If only they's broken out of their formula and made one you could get too by level 2-3 for a change. Cities of the ages: A japanese city? Even if it is the obvious choice, Tokyo. (or at least Edo, which would later be renamed Tokyo) This column is stepping outside it's comfort zone a bit. And a good thing too, because the city goes against modern japanese stereotypes a fair bit. Instead of being polite and tradition-bound, it's a rowdy port city that grew up really rapidly, and was a real hassle for the samurai to keep under control. It's always the way once the merchant class starts getting out of control, surpassing the aristocracy in wealth because people are more willing to trade for amenities than they are to give up a big chunk of their crops in taxes for "protection" and be drafted into the army. Young folks lose all sense of respect, cats and dogs start living together, people start eating corn products rather than rice dishes like momma used to cook. Goes to show, what we think of as immutable ancient traditions are often less than a lifetime old, and other countries change just as rapidly, and have just as many internal variations as your own. Which is all the better for adventuring in. Given their regular problems with fires and earthquakes, you have plenty of leeway to cause massive amounts of damage, which is then industriously rebuilt in surprisingly little time, and allows you to change the layout when you feel like it. As usual, there's both fun to be had here, and lots of ideas to steal, mix and match for your own fantasy cities. The world is a huge, varied place, and you ought to make your own campaign worlds big and varied (within a theme) as well. [/QUOTE]
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