What's the point of the Eldritch Knight PrC?

[Thanee]

Nice thread, guys. Thanks for the different takes on the class. I thought I had once read that pretige classes were meant to add flavor and interest to a character but I must have been dreaming (again).

The general concept might be meant for that... but there are some obvious exceptions.

Most notable, the PrC (like Eldritch Knight), which are purely a mechanical solution for the spellcaster multiclassing problems in 3E.

It's just like Practiced Spellcaster on that behalf.

Bye
Thanee

 

[vox]

I was recently looking at this PrC. In my case, I was looking for something for a Bard-archer stlye. My assessment was that this PrC was not worth it for a bard.

If you are still thinking of a multi-class bard/archer you may want to check out last months dragon. They had an article on chaotic feats and there was one similar to practiced caster for bardic music. You can add +4 to your level (up to your total HD) for the purposes of what bardic music you can use and how what your effective "caster level" with the music is. Didn't affect spells.

A fighter 4/bard x with that feat and point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shot, weapon spec & weapon focus would make a pretty mean archer and still would have full bard song abilities.

 

[drnuncheon]

Nice thread, guys. Thanks for the different takes on the class. I thought I had once read that pretige classes were meant to add flavor and interest to a character but I must have been dreaming (again).

DMG 197, the section on designing prestige classes, tells about what PrCs are.

"Ideally, a prestige class you design yourself is tied to an organization or culture in the campaign world...There are other roles a prestige class can fill. A prestige class can play off of a race's strengths...or even transform a character into a new race...They can strengthen a character's role within the party...or his utility in an unusual situation...A prestige class can demonstrate narrowly focused expertise...or an unusual combination of abilities (such as the eldritch knight). And some prestige classes simply define iconic roles..."

J

 

[JoeGKushner]

One thing I was thinking about for my PC, is taking some racial paragon levels of human. d8 hit dice, two levels of spellcasting ability, +2 ability score boost, and skill adaptability (debating between Spot or Listen...). Coup that with other wizard levels...

One thing I was messing with, was a NPC from one region where your regional feat gives you all martial weapon skill. Easy way to circumvent the fighter level...

 

[Geron Raveneye]

I have to admit, I more and more tend to think of new base classes as a solution to the multiclass dilemma, at least when multiclassing is used to fulfill a character concept that is widely liked.
Like the spell-wielding fighting man, for example. Or, for Basic D&D afficionados, the elf .

Simply make it a 20 level base class. Give it medium BAB (max at +15), a good Fort and Will save, d8 Hit Dice, 4+Int skill points, add Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arcana), Concentration and Alchemy to the Fighter Class Skill list, and instead of giving that class it's own spell progression, give it caster levels in a primary caster class at intervals, with all the limits of that class. It starts as "apprentice" at 1st level, giving it 0(2) and 1st(0) level spells, a virtual casting level of 1, and continue from 2nd class level on with 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, etc. That will give this class a caster level of 14 in whatever magic class you take the caster levels out of, and a decent BAB. Give it all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor and shields, distribute a few fighter bonus feats over the 20 levels, maybe add the "Casting in Armor" class feature from the Spellsword somewhere, and you got your spell-wielding fighter. Decide what tradition he follows, caster-level wise, and he's good to go.

And if you want to branch out into that spelluser class fully, the caster levels add up easily.

What do you say? Kinda off the cuff, but does it make sense?

 

[drnuncheon]

One thing I was thinking about for my PC, is taking some racial paragon levels of human. d8 hit dice, two levels of spellcasting ability, +2 ability score boost, and skill adaptability (debating between Spot or Listen...). Coup that with other wizard levels...

The spellsword in my Freeport game is doing exactly that, although I believe he is taking Diplomacy as his Skill Adaptability skill, now that he's inherited a noble title.

J