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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5234857" data-attributes="member: 2067">To elaborate a bit on a few points upthrad:A class is an archetype, not just a collection of skills.When I pick to be a Druid, I'm not just picking to be &quot;some sort of nature mage.&quot; I'm picking to be a very specific kind of nature mage, one who embodies the natural world through shape-shifting and who commands the natural world through divine magic and who belongs to a sect of nature-worshipers who use curved blades and who seeks some empathy with the wild beasts.When I pick the Assassin PrC, I'm not just picking to be &quot;the sneaky killer.&quot; I'm picking to be a very specific kind of sneaky killer, one who values mortal life by the coin, who executes without empathy, who murders as a career rather than as an unfortunate part of living in a dangerous world.Now, that's just the default assumption. 3e makes it clear that alignment requirements are not balancing mechanisms, they are there for flavor alone. So the Assassin is evil by default because their flavor is evil -- they kill explicitly only for money. But the abilities the Assassin gets aren't necessarily evil, so a DM can certainly expand the Assassin beyond its initial purpose, if a player is interested in those abilities.This is part of 3e's philosophy that PrC's be tools that the DM uses to add depth to their world, rather than player-based resources.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5234857, member: 2067"] To elaborate a bit on a few points upthrad: [B]A class is an archetype, not just a collection of skills[/B]. When I pick to be a Druid, I'm not just picking to be "some sort of nature mage." I'm picking to be a very specific kind of nature mage, one who embodies the natural world through shape-shifting and who commands the natural world through divine magic and who belongs to a sect of nature-worshipers who use curved blades and who seeks some empathy with the wild beasts. When I pick the Assassin PrC, I'm not just picking to be "the sneaky killer." I'm picking to be a very specific kind of sneaky killer, one who values mortal life by the coin, who executes without empathy, who murders as a career rather than as an unfortunate part of living in a dangerous world. Now, that's just the default assumption. 3e makes it clear that alignment requirements are not balancing mechanisms, they are there for flavor alone. So the Assassin is evil by default because their flavor is evil -- they kill explicitly only for money. But the abilities the Assassin gets aren't necessarily evil, so a DM can certainly expand the Assassin beyond its initial purpose, if a player is interested in those abilities. This is part of 3e's philosophy that PrC's be tools that the DM uses to add depth to their world, rather than player-based resources. [/QUOTE]

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