3rd Party Prestige Classes: Best and Worst?

[Ghostwind]

We have two threads going that address Wotc prestige classes, so it's only fair we talk about third party ones. But first, a couple of ground rules:

Keep it civil folks. I am genuinely interested in hearing about the different classes that people enjoy/despise the most without degenerating into a snipefest.
Nothing constructive to say about third party material? Don't post. This is for an honest discussion of the good and bad of third party products and the one line derogatory comments about non-Wotc publishers are not needed.

Now, onto format:
1. Name the best, who it's from, and why you like it.
2. Name the worst, who it's from, why you dislike it, and what would fix it.

My current choices for today:
Best: Slayer - Mercenaries (AEG). It fits the style campaign I run and makes one of my epic characters downright deadly with the class ability that increases the damage die type of the chosen weapon by one (d10 to d12).

Worst: Time Touched - Encyclopedia of Prestige Classes (Fast Forward). The Fated class ability literally allows the character to avoid death with a Will save of DC 25 or less. To fix it, increase the Will save on the Fated ability for starters.

Next?

 

[der_kluge]

I can honestly say that I don't think anyone in my group has ever played a non-Wotc PrC.

In actuality, of everyone in my group, I'm really the only one that has access to lots of non-WoTC PrCs, since I've got 10x more d20 books than anyone else (and that's not saying a whole lot).

 

[JPL]

Just about every prestige class in Swashbuckling Adventures looks terrific in terms of flavor...and suspicious in terms of mechanics.

 

[Crothian]

Best prestige class is the Bard from Slaine. It really captures the Celtic bard and does a great job with it mechanically.

The worst we found was in Green Ronin's Drow book. THere's prestige class in there that gives extra levels in Spellcasting, but I can't recall what it's called. Wizards are very powerful and allowing them even more at the cost of a few skill points and hit points just wasn't enough.

 

[Psion]

The worst we found was in Green Ronin's Drow book. THere's prestige class in there that gives extra levels in Spellcasting, but I can't recall what it's called. Wizards are very powerful and allowing them even more at the cost of a few skill points and hit points just wasn't enough.

Spellcasting addict.

It didn't just cost a few skill points and hit points. It gained a tacked-on burden of having spells that don't go off right and cause damage; all of its class abilities after that were attempts to shore this up. That said, I still wasn't too fond of it.

Mine:

Hmmm. Tough call. I've seen a lot on either side of the fence. I tend to forget the bad ones because I don't dwell on them after I have decided I am not going to implement them in my game. Some I wouldn't use but that doesn't mean I am down on them; they just are a titch powerful or out of whack for my game.

General ones that appeal to me:

Jewel Mage (Spells & Magic): Giving up spellcasting levels can be a pain; but if you don't, the class is overpowered. Jewel mage gives you full levels, but its class abilities are essentially specialized item creation feats, giving it a distinct ability without having to go through the annoyance of losing a spellcasting level.

Masters of Arms - the whole book. The book shares a united approach. All classes essentially gets specialized bonus feats with the weapon or technique they specialize in. A lot more flavorful than the generic "weapons master." If I gotta narrow it down, I'd say I dig the dual swords master, spiked chain master, and immovable rod master.

Dragon Mage (Spells & Magic): This one was almost too wierd for me to swallow. But its such a nifty idea I can't help but like it. The idea is that dragon magic is based on valued things; mages who build up hordes like a dragon. So its another one of those "full spell progression with an alternate cost", namely, you can't use your horde while it is powering your magic. The specific abilities you get vary depending on what is in your horde.

Astral Zealot (Mindscapes): Possibly one of the most creative spins I have seen on a "astral construct" specialized prestige class. The class is based around a new power introduced in later in the book, throw ectoform, which is essentially similar to mirror image in that it creates near-insubstantial duplicates of the character. However, as the character advances, in addition to some benefits with astral constructs, the character can do interesting things with these duplicates, such as layering them on for defense, or giving the duplicates statistics of astral constructs.

Bad ones: I'm sure if I dug through my reviews or books I could find some, but none are standing out in my mind right now. Prestige classes I consider bad usually fall into one of two patterns:
- Spellcasting prestige classes that don't pay for an additional potent selection of powers, or
- Prestige classes that get a lot of compensation for drawbacks that really don't impact their utility or playability.

 

[Pants]

Best:
Shadow Tiger
Brother of the Cloak
Both from FFG's Path of the Sword. I don't really like ANY of the other PrC's in that book, but those two are really cool, both flavor and mechanics wise. I plan on reworking both to 3.5 and just for general mechanics changes sometime soon to fit my campaign world.

Worst:
Vigilante - This class gives up NOTHING and you get everything. However, with the switch to 3.5, it is probably less broken, but I'd still be wary of it

 

[Nightfall]

With 3.5 it's less broken. Not much less for some but certainly powerful.

Penumbral lord, weak, weak WEAK class.

Best for me: Blood Sea Pirate tied with Sniper from Pale Designs.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Being that I have only adopted about 10 Prestige Classes from other sources other than myself, I'm going to toot the horn for The Practical Ones (Librum Equitus). It was recommended to me as a suitable non-magic-wielding assassin type, and was the first non-personally written Prestige Class I ever used. Remains to this day a personal favorite.

 

[Ghostwind]

*bump*

 

[johnsemlak]

I really liked The Knight of the Black Forge from Green Ronin's Hammer and Helm. My DM was able to convert it into a Forgotten Realms campaign. Sort of a dwarven take on an Undead Slayer, with some cool powers and an interesting story on how the class started.