DMs: PrCs more effort than worth?

[JoeGKushner]

Well, one of my players has been trying to hunt down a guide to the Underdark to battle some drow for a few levels now. I decide what the heck, I'll make a Sword Dancer PrC from the old Faiths & Pantheons book. It's one of those PrCs that's kinda a fighter-cleric deal with it's BAB+5, Diplomacy 5 ranks, Performance 5 ranks, Dodge, Combat Expertise, Skill Focus (Performance), Weapon Focus and ability to cast 2nd level divine spells.

Well, I make my NPCs along the same veins and I have the player's make their characters, a 32 point build. Because it's a drow, lots of modifications to the stats. One thing I forget is that Combat Expertise requires a 13 INT, so back and change some of those. THen of course, I forget that to be able to cast 2nd level divine spells, that you have to be 3rd level cleric, and so just add another level of cleric. The Performance skill is of course on neither fighter nor cleric's abilities, so that takes a full 7 levels to get and because both clerics and fighters have 2 skills points plus int bonus, in this case, 1, there aren't a lot of other skills out there.

Well, about an hour latter, I'm done. Akordia, the Battle Dancer with the drow and elf domains, with Lighting Reflexes, Point Blank Shot for free, with Skill Fouc,s Dodge, Combat Expertise, Exotic Weapon Proficiency Bastard Sword, Weapon Focus Bastard Sowrd, Improved Disarm and Weapon Specialization Bastard Sword, and the spellcasting abilities of a 5th level Priest, is finally finished. Highest skill rank at 10th level? 6 ranks in Diplomacy, Heal, and Cocentration, 5 in climb, 5 in perform, 2 in ride, 4 in spellcraft, and 3 in swim. Ah, it's not easy with these PrCs.

I figure I could've just made her a 10th level character, 5 fighter, 5 cleric and come up with something similiar, and perhaps more equal to the players. See, this particular PrC loses many of it's special abilities if it wears anything heavier than light armor and I'm loathe to give out protective magic items as the party may decide to simply attack and overwhelm the drow instead of using her as a guide.

Other opinions on PrCs as viable DM tools?

 

[Keith]

I know this runs terribly against the grain of the current playing style, but I take the old approach that the character class system is for the handful of PCs; everyone else does what I say they can do, as DM. I do use the character classes to build on now, actually. Having an NPC with a prestige class does indeed seem to me to be more work than it is worth, however. Decide some things you want them to do, have them do those, and ignore all the fussy stuff; that is all there so that PCs are balanced relative to each other, so players get a fair shake. NPCs don't need the fair shake, and don't have to be balanced relative to PCs.
That's my view on the topic, which as I said is doubtless a minority one here.

 

[demiurge1138]

Personally, I like using PrCs for NPCs. It gives them a built-in backstory, and some nifty abilities. Granted, it does take some time to create them, but not too much more than a PrC-free character.

Demiurge out.

 

[Emirikol]

Yes. PRC's are more trouble than they are worth. The main problem is that for all these PRC's presented in Dungeon, supplements, etc., 99% of the time there is no sample NPC. Christ, if those creative butts would give us a sample, PRC's would give us time-crunched DM's a chance to play on instead of having to learn an entirely new set of rules and then draw up a character..only then finding out if it's worth your time...

jh

 

[ManicFuel]

If a PrC seems more trouble than it's worth, it probably is. At least for that character. I haven't found building NPCs with a PrC to be much more hassle than building a core-classed character with as many levels. I think the weaknesses that appear in these NPCs (like the lower skill ranks you mentioned) are less prominent on the NPCs, so not as big a deal as for the PCs.

 

[Tonguez]

I hate PrCs! - they are badly designed, badly implemented and badly used

so yes they are more hassle than they are worth (well except for the two I designed for my homebrew)

 

[TheMighty]

Just my 2 cents but I am of the opinion that PrC's hurt a lot more than they help. I think they lead to rampant munchkinism and remove some level of flavor from the game rather than adding to it. Which of us do not have people in a gaming group than plan out a PC six or seven levels in advance figuring out how soon they will be able to get into a PrC? Here is a serious question as well, how many of us have DM's that are not so time crunched that they actually take time to play out some kind of story that provides some game element of why a Ranger became a Tempest or a Thief (Rogue my butt) became a Thief Acrobat?

 

[Crothian]

PrCl are great for the DM, but I don't find the need to create a full character sheet for NPCs. I use the prcl to help me define the role of the NPC and give it some neat abilities the PCs might want to persue.

What do you mean time crunched to not allow character to become something else? IMC there is lots of character growth and change. PrCls serve a good part of allowing the characters to fullfill roles that they want to goto. I've found that people who want to use classes correctly do. And people who favor munchkinism will do so no matter what's going on. Don't hate the game, hate the player.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

My philosophy is that I only use PrC's or multi-classing if there's a clear reason to. 90% of my NPC's are fairly by-the-book Core classes. As you point out, it's a lot of work, for not necessarily all that much gain. I save that for the really special NPC's or guys I want to have seem particularly cool.

 

[hong]

Prestige classes : D&D :: GURPS vehicles : GURPS. Considerations like personalisation and embedding characters into settings aside, they're a gearhead toy. If you're not a gearhead, don't use them.