Poll: What base classes would you prefer to see as prestige classes instead?

[Valesin]

In general I am fine with the new base classes filling a niche previously handled by PrCs (duskblade, beguiler, etc).

That being said, the first time I ever read the Spellthief I thought it was one of the coolest PrC ideas I had ever seen, but I just couldn't see it as a base class.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Well, threw in my options.

Gave everyone except fighter, rogue, and wizard the vote (yes, I included cleric. Don't see why a wizard shouldn't be able to have arcane variants of divine spells. Or even have the divine/arcane split in the first place. I'm such a cad ).

Then again, I'm more in favor of having something more akin to the generic classes from UA: 3 base concepts, highly malleable, using PrCs to capture certain very specific flavors/styles. Heck, I'd also say provide optional rules for Gestalt classes for those who really want to start off with a 1st-level multiclass (like how beguiler and dread necromancer sorta are, for example).

 

[orsal]

Sorceror

Sorceror. I don't like the coexistence of sorceror and wizard. I think it cheapens the flavour of the wizard to have another class that can cast any of the same spells, at approximately the same levels, without having to be the least bit studious. My preferred solution is not to have the sorceror as a base class. However, spontaneous casting could be the basis of a fine Wizard PrC -- an arcanist who has mastered many of his spells so thoroughly that he does not need to prepare them daily. Such casting would be Int-based, but would otherwise carry enough of the sorceror flavour that the class could reasonably be considered a PrC version of the sorceror.

 

[Mercule]

Hexblade is a cool concept, but too specific for a base class, and too limited.

Knight and marshall are in a similar boat. Ninja really isn't even that cool of a concept, and there is no reason to have it as a base class.

Paladin has been the poster-child for base-class-that-should-have-been-prestige since the day 3.0 rolled off the presses. And not the 15-level PrC from UA. The concept really only needs 10 levels.

I don't want to see the Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, and Warmage be prestige, but I would like to see some way to squish them together with the sorcerer to make one base class that did spontaneous, themed casting well.

 

[Shade]

None. In fact, I think some prestige classes would work better as additional base classes.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Voted for: Cleric/Favored Soul/Paladin: All of 'em have a certain oomph to it. I've got no problem seeing 'em as 15-level PrCs, but the entire divine thing cries for prerequisites, all splitting off from a base "Priest", who either goes towards Cleric (Warpriest), Favored Soul (Divine Avatar) or Paladin (Holy Warrior), where only the "Priest" has full-powered spellcasting, but being less martial than the Cleric.

Knight: This just screams PrC. A fighter is a fighter. A fighter with a title (i.e. Sir) is a Knight. Either handle it as in-game title, or tie it to a PrC, just like the Archmage or similar stuff.

 

[CrimsonWineGlass]

I chose bard mostly recalling how rewarding it was to become a bard in AD&D. They could cast, stealth and wear armor. They were the most versatile class, but they were hard as hell to become.

 

[the Jester]

I voted for several of the classes listed, but honestly, I'd like to see a lot of them just go away entirely.

 

[gamecat]

I like the plethora of classes. None.

 

[drothgery]

Well, what I'd like to see is the 'ten base class' model I've tossed out before. Whip up a new mana point based magic system, then have a fairly flexible base class for each of the basic four D&D roles, like so...

divine caster => priest
arcane caster => wizard
warrior => fighter
skill monkey => rogue

and for each two-role combo, so...

divine/arcane => theurge
divine/warrior => cleric
dvine/skill => archivist

arcane/warrior => duskblade
arcane/skill => beguiler

warrior/skill => swashbuckler

Everything else would be a PrC or go away. If you introduce psionics that work differently than magic, then psion is a new role, so you get another set of

pure psionics => psion

psion/divine => ardent
psion/arcane => erudite
psion/warrior => psiWar
psion/skill => lurk

And if you want to introduce 'weird stuff' like warlocks or dragon shamans or monks, they're off on their own, but not in core.