DMs: Do you use PrC's and Templates?

[jgbrowning]

How much do you use PrC's and Templates as a Dungeon Master?

joe b.

edit: dammit it should be PRC, then template, then PrC, then template, etc... my mistake. ah well.

 

[Jeph]

PrCs: LOTS!
Templates: EVEN MORE!

I also like to switch around the appearances of beasts and advance their hit dice, sometimes give them unique abilities and stuff like that.

 

[Umbran]

I rarely use PrC. Usually they aren't necessary to get what I need done. But I don't rule it out. I follow the "world building" approach to PrC, rather than the "Buff my characters" approach.

Not use templates? Geeze, then I couldn't have a werewolf, a staple of fantasy literature! I don't use gratuitious templates much. I don't slap a template on just to make the beast tougher. I put a template on when it fits the story in which the NPC/monster plays a part.

 

[Jeph]

I've been using the Fiendish, Umbral, and Half-Fiend templates a lot lately to creatue unique demons and devils. I imagine my Celestial Order to have a LOT of power but not much diversity, and the depths of hell to be slightly less strong in pure power but much, much, MUCH more varied. Fiendish awakened dire tigers, 10 HD umbral Dretches, ghostly succubi with Bard levels, half fiend werebeasts...

 

[Crothian]

All the time. I love the quick templates in the back of the Monsternomicon. And prestige classes are a great way to define an NPC.

 

[Pants]

I use them all of the time. In all of my campaigns, I've made use of the Pale Master PrC from Tome and Blood at least once for the villains.

Templates I've used/plan on using:
Anarchic (MotP)
Bone Creature (BoVD)
Deathknight (MM2)
Demilich (plan on using it... maybe, ELH)
Dracolich (FRCS)
Fiendish
Ghost (nasty buggers they are)
Half Dragon
Half-Fiend
Lich
Lycanthropes
Skeleton (A Lich King HAS to have skeletons)
Spellstiched (MM2 - For a particularly nasty Ghoul/Rogue/Assassin )
Worm that Walks (too cool to pass up, ELH)
Zombie

PrC's I've used in my campaign:
Archmage (3.5 version)
Bladesingers
Divine Disciple
Duelists
Elemental Savants
Loremasters
Pale Master
Red Wizard of Thay
Shadowdancers
Spellsword

I'm probably forgetting some, but you get the idea, I dig 'em.

 

[Mercule]

Well, I said rarely to both, but I probably should have said often to templates like werewolf and the undead.

Sounds like I'm right there with Umbran, though. PrCs are more for "worldbuilding" and the like. If you can get it done with base classes, then do so. PrCs IMC are usually for unique knighthoods (or other orders) and the completion of some archetypes (eg. acrobat).

Some templates (lycanthrope, undeads) are fairly common because they represent a curse or something else that happens to or alters an existing creature in some way, but are fundamental archetypes to to sort of game I run (a touch of horror). Others, like the half-dragon are quite rare and reserved for truly unique individuals and areas and their appearance is always important to the plot -- although I may have to red herring one if my players start metagaming that fact.

 

[Nifft]

Lots of both ... could a moderator change the poll so it's got a couple more Template entries?

-- N

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I rarely use PrCs. I've found I've used the eldritch knight quite a bit recently (for NPCs), and I've seen the MT as a PC in a game I wasn't DMing - the multi-class assisting PrCs don't bother me as much as several bad apple PrCs I won't name in this post. I also created an aboleth mystic theurge, but haven't used it yet. It looked pretty weak, even with the 3.5 non-associated class system.

I use templates a lot. My current favorite is the arachnoid template from CotSQ. I modified it slightly for 3.5 use (eg no crazy save DC bonus for poison).

An arachnoid cauchemar nightmare is just amazing. I liked it so much I'll use it again until my players get sick of them

At only CR ~12 I can use a lot more than one next time (against my party of 7 15th to 16th-level characters). It probably should be CR +2 though.

 

[Mercule]

As a follow-up, this is the sort of thing I like to use templates for.