Finding Prestige Classes?

[Blockader7]

Personally I'm not big of a fan of multi classing and will onlye do if I feel it's needed, such as we really need a Rogue or other class.

I like prestige classes, but somehow it bothers me that they're just as easy to multiclass go if the conditions are right. Therefore I've come up with the idea of having the player make Gather Information rolls in order to find them, at least on the more group oriented prestige classes such as the Shadow Dancers as opposed to the Blackguard.

The rarer the prestige class, the harder it is to find them and the more time it will take to find them.

However, I haven't exactly ironed out the full mechanics to it yet and am wondering if you'd have any thoughts in the matter.

 

[HellHound]

We don't use concrete mechanics for ours...

Some Prestige Classes represnt specialties and focuses... these classes people can just multiclass into when they have the prerequisites. These classes are a distinct minority in my games. In fact, most such classes that have been published I revise slightly (changing a power here or there) to make them organization-specific. What this means is there may be 4 or 5 variations of the same prestige class between the different organizations that train people in said class.

Most prestige classes are a result of membership in a group, training in a particular fighting style, and so on. To become a member, a character must first find out about the organization and then join it, or find someone from the organization to train them. For example, in my current campaign, one PLAYER really wants his character to become a ShadowDancer. Since this game is about the players having fun, he will get the chance. But for the sake of continuity, first I have to introduce a guild of shadowdancers or something equivalent for him to meet and find out about the powers of the class and organization that way.

Some few prestige classes are the result of special circumstances. These obviously do not occur without said circumstance occuring in game. These are classes like the 'Thrall of...' classes which only people who have become members of a cult of X gain access to. Ditto for that spider-class in Song & Silence.