Prestige Class? Master of Science.

[Eolin]

Less than a month ago, I defended for the title of Master of Science in Logic and Computation.

Less than two weeks after that, all of my post-defense revisions were done.

Shortly after that, I was certified a Master of Science.

Congratulations to me, it is fantastic to be finished and to have a masters degree. Hooray.

I visited home, and told my gamer friends that I'd achieved first level (probably in expert). My friends disagreed: Apparently Master of Science is a prestige class. And I have the extraordinary ability to give +2 to science checks when present. One of the guys is a History PhD: He gives +2 to history checks.

Maybe I've been paying too much attention to E6, but I'm torn: Is Master of Science a prestige class, or just a demonstration of standard working knowledge in a field that anyone in the field should have?

And yes, I'm quite aware that real people don't have real classes. That's not the point. Which should it be modeled as, prestige class or a level or two in something like expert, or just the Skill Focus feat?

 

[kenobi65]

LOL. Welcome to our PrC!

(MS in Market Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1989)

 

[Eolin]

Other than Bragging Rights, what class benefits do we get?

Edit: Thanks for the acceptance into the class.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd say the PrCl concept could be applied to modern concepts like:

1) Any organization that has strict membership requirements (beyond merely paying exorbitant membership fees) & corresponding benefits. That would be things like being a Mason or a member of Mensa.

2) Any profession that has a high educational prerequisite- law, medicine, engineering, etc.

3) Any physical activity that requires an analogously long period of specialized training- pro/olympic athlete, Cirque du Soleil acrobats.

So yes, its a PrCl.

 

[Stormborn]

I think it all depends on the type of degree and the field.
In some instances a certification from a vocational school would be sufficient for 1 level of Expert. In others it going to take a 4 year degree at least. Generally, however, in most cases I think a Master's degree would represent a PrC, or in d20 Mondern terms and Advanced Class with Doctoral work being a PrC.

I think its reasonable to say 1 level per year (academic year, for some people it might take longer to go up a level) of post High School education, a Master's or Doctoral degree represents a PrC, and then 1 level for every 2 years working in that vocation after school.

So I would have be: Expert (religion) 7 (4 from education, 3 from 6 years in the proffession post education), Master of Divinity 3, Missionary 1 (I took a level in a related PrC)

Advanced degrees offer at least some of the following benifits:

Circumstance bonus to interaction modifiers, doubled within your field
Resume modifier (or would that just be a bonus to Proffession checks?)
Skill Focus in a numer of related skills
Encyclopedic Knowledge (depends on your field, but the ability to use certain Knowledge skills untrained)
Contacts
Proffesion Based Power (could be certifications enabling unique powers, could be bonuses to certain skills, or the ability to grant bonuses to others)
Depending on how you paid for it you might also have the Debt Flaw

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Congratulations. I have at least another 15 months before I will meet all the prerequisites to achieve this PrC.

My understanding of the PrC is that the benefits can vary, but one that commonly occurs is a small positive modifier to the wealth by level guidelines.

 

[Stormborn]

Congratulations. I have at least another 15 months before I will meet all the prerequisites to achieve this PrC.

My understanding of the PrC is that the benefits can vary, but one that commonly occurs is a small positive modifier to the wealth by level guidelines.

Ha! Again it depends on the field. Given the years I spent in school its certainly not true for me.

 

[Eolin]

The Debt Flaw.

I certainly have the debt flaw. Sometime soon, those loans will start to come due.

I also seem to have mastered caffeine. I'm no longer addicted, but last I had caffeine I met a new girl who claimed I was acting like David Tennant's Doctor Who.

This is probably the result of writing a thesis while drinking huge quantities of caffeine.

There should also be a difference in benefits if it is a thesis program or not. Which is to say, thesis work is harder and should have more benefits.

 

[Stormborn]

There should also be a difference in benefits if it is a thesis program or not. Which is to say, thesis work is harder and should have more benefits.

That, I think, is debateable depending on the program. I have friends who got a masters in 1 (32 semester hours) year with a thesis while I had a 3 year program ( 96 hours) and still wound up turning in about 400 pages worth of papers during that year. Not saying that yours wasn't harder, just that it depends on the program.

 

[Eolin]

I was in a 2-year program.

Theoretically, we're done in may of the 2nd year. Most people take at least the summer, and usually into the next semester.

Part of the problem is the Powers That Be don't really know what the want the program to be, so it serves many purposes.

That being said, I did work that I presented at an academic conference.

Not bad for the first couple of years in grad school.

While an X of mine did a one-calender year masters program that, while not academic, was exceptionally hard. I believe she was working 70+ hour weeks, and didn't have many breaks.

So, more or less point being that just the number of years can be misleading...