Core Prestige Classes

[Achan hiArusa]

If you had no space limits on the DMG which prestige classes (not core classes and no prestige classes that enhance a noncore class) would you have in it from any source. I just need a list and a reference (a name is no good if I don't know where to find it). I just want to know.

 

[blargney the second]

Just tossing out categories to start things off:
1) Hybrid multiclassing PrCs - at least enough that most cases are covered.
2) Non-race-specific specialization PrCs: archer, defender, summoner, shapechanger, etc
3) Something that makes monks not suck (does that exist?)

 

[Kristian Serrano]

...(a name is no good if I don't know where to find it).

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lists/prc
Now you just need a name.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

I had forgotten about that, but I wanted to include 3rd party prestige classes also.

 

[Jack Simth]

... I'd be inclined to either drop, or patch, all the full-progression caster PrC's (at least, those that don't require lost caster levels to enter).

I've come to like a variation on the Archmage's drawback - lost spell slots. Something like the first level of a Full Progression PrC (or partial progression PrC's that start out full progression) loses you one spell slot of your highest level (migrating when your "highest level" changes later on), the second level of a Full Progression PrC loses you one spell slot of your next highest level (again, migrating), and so on.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just tossing out categories to start things off:
1) Hybrid multiclassing PrCs - at least enough that most cases are covered.
2) Non-race-specific specialization PrCs: archer, defender, summoner, shapechanger, etc
3) Something that makes monks not suck (does that exist?)

I'd say there are some nice PrCls out there for Monks that would definitely improve them. Unfortunately, many of them are good for only a couple of levels.

At first level, the Shiba Protector gives a Wis bonus to Att & Damage- very nice for a class that is going to have a high Wis already. The Shou Disciple in Unapproachable East is a 5 level PrCl that eventually gives the ability to FoB with any weapon, and trust me, polearm-using Monks are nasty with FoB & Combat Reflexes...

The quality of the Kensai is well known.

Bruce Kordell's Lucid Cenobite is one of the better psionic Monk PrCls, even though its published by Malhavoc, rather than in his revised XPH. Another nice one- and flexible to boot- is the Atavist.

Check out this thread- all of the page references for those PrCls are listed: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=221182&page=1&pp=15

 

[Kristian Serrano]

I was thinking about this thread some more, and it seems to me that it would almost be impossible to create an exhaustive list, especially if including third-party products.

Additionally, it would be easier to list "non-core" PrCs that are not designed for core classes. Honestly, the list of such non-core PrCs has to be pretty minimal such that worrying about core vs. non-core is almost moot.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Dannyalcatraz's posts is a lot of what I would like to see in this thread. I would like to see what prestige classes or prestige class features from any source would help core classes rather than overpower them. In a way I was wondering if there was any way to create talent trees much like the paragon paths in 4e. I would probably want them sooner than 11th level since 30 is the new 20 when it comes to 4e, but its just an idea I was kicking.

And alternatively, I would like to see what is good about prestige classes and not the bad.

 

[blargney the second]

Hybrids: Ultimate Magus, Arcane Hierophant, Fochluchan Lyrist, Rage Mage, Abjurant Champion

Specialists: Exotic Weapon Master, Order of the Bow Initiate, Master of Many Forms, Malconvoker, Tempest, Warchanter, Beastmaster, Exemplar

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I, too, have taken some more time to think about this.

It may be counter to the predominant opinion on the matter, but I wouldn't include ANY of the hybrid PrCls, at least not those like the various Thaumaturges and so forth. I simply don't like them on a meta level.

OTOH, those that require you to multiclass as a prereq and then enhance the classes in a nonstandard way- like the Geomancer- would be included.