Help my wold design - Your favorite prestige classes?

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Alienists are fun, if the pseudonatural realms have a space in your cosmology.

I like the idea of the Occult Slayer - part of a loosely knit society who hunt spellcasters. IMO, something most magical settings should have? Mechanics aren't much to my taste, but meh.

In the way of proper organisations. I like the Pious Templar to represent the militant wings of 'no paladin' of some religious orders.

 

[smootrk]

I really like the Black Flame Zealot, which is something of a Clerical Assassin. A few tweaks and it could fit just about any death/justice/sneaky/fanatical God type.

 

[Psion]

Thought I'd branch off in a bit of a different direction, because I imagine the WotC prestige classes will be well and truly catered to.

That's really sort of the point. I want to have instant plug-in points for character choices the players are likely to select.

Also 'Hyperconscious', and the 'Book of Hallowed Might II' (Mal Press, again) - at least for most of them.

Hyperconscious is an old standby of mine and I am trying to craft one continent with a psionic emphasis.

But Hallowed Might II is not one I hear a lot of love for. I use the magic item rules from it... what PrCs from it did you dig? I'm honestly not recalling any from it. (Goes off to revisit the old book...)

 

[Aus_Snow]

That's really sort of the point. I want to have instant plug-in points for character choices the players are likely to select.

Oh. Sorry, didn't realise. I sorta had a feeling I was going OT there, though. Never mind.

 

[6pakofdwarves]

Bloodhound from Complete Adventurer make a good Bounty Hunter group.

Kensai, Exotic Weapon Masters, Duelists and any other group that specializes in a certain weapon/fighting style all make good groups. They could have rivalries or be allies. Or certain fighting styles could be more popular in certain cities.

The Church Inquisitor, Divine Crusader, Hospitaler, and other Cleric Classes could either all be in the same big church working against the smaller religions. Or you could assign one Prestige class to each religion.

 

[iwatt]

Many of my favorite's ahve already been mentioned, so I'll add some more. I'll bring up those PrC that add flavor, since there are a lot out there that I like but are really there to complete a mechanical concept.

Eyes of Gruumsh: Self mutilating orc fanatics. enough said.

Bear Warrior: very nice primitive society type class

War Chanter: I like me some Viking chanters!

Battlerager: foaming at the mouth dwarven warriors. What's not to like?

Orc Warlord: A horde needs a leader

 

[Nifft]

First, some suggestions on the map. It looks like it was done with a fractal terrain program. It's a great starting point, but you can make it so much better with a few changes.

1/ Make the big lakes and gulfs less circular.

2/ Add rivers and passes to the mountains.

3/ Deserts and jungles and such. It's hard to know if you want ice-bound barbarians from the fjord-spear of the frozen northlands, or horse-nomads from the northern upland steppes.


Second: the effects of the ocean's tidal flow on the tips of the continents, particularly the Mediterranean area which looks to be your campaign's focus. You could get some very strong currents, and thus some warping of the coast lines. Take a look at what's happened between Antarctica and South America, where all of the Pacific is forced to go through to get into the Atlantic.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Psion]

First, some suggestions on the map. It looks like it was done with a fractal terrain program. It's a great starting point, but you can make it so much better with a few changes.

1/ Make the big lakes and gulfs less circular.

2/ Add rivers and passes to the mountains.

3/ Deserts and jungles and such. It's hard to know if you want ice-bound barbarians from the fjord-spear of the frozen northlands, or horse-nomads from the northern upland steppes.

That's an (old) altitude map, It shows neither rivers (which I did add) nor vegetation. I'm working out climates by similar thumbrules that exist in our own world. For examples, there are dry areas around +/- 30 degrees latitude, and deserts along coastlinles at 20-30 degrees. For example, that means there would be a desert on the NW corner of the West continent. That's where I am putting MEG's Dragon Sands (and Bluffside is just north of it). Also, this will make the north edge of the middle content dry and probably desertified; this is where Hamunaptra will probably end up.

The south peninsula of the middle continent will, in contrast, be more tropical, and I will probably put my Sahasra (fantasy India) there, and that major island off to the south of it is Naranjan (from Green Ronin's Mindshadows). Freeport, incidentally, is an island off to the East that's not on that map.

So there's room enough there for a variety of climates. The major continents don't have much in the way of arctic terrain. The campaign that has started is on the big peninsula off to the Northwest, coming from the northern continent. (Necromancer Games material, such as Bards gate, etc., exist there). As alluded to in the post you are referencing, that continent is probably overrun by giants, but there could be human communities existing in the periphery.

I hadn't intended this to be a geography commentary, but if interested, I could throw up more maps that show a bit more of the world. Climates are something I'm working through right now. Fractal Terrains is a bit of a coarse tool. I intend to do things like gorges in Campaign Cartographer which handle that level of detail better (and I also don't intend to spend time handcrafting terrain over the whole world if I'm not currently focused in the area. )

 

[Psion]

Here's a more recent Hammer projection of the world, with some already selected areas shown, and showing some rivers (exaggerated at this scale) and more continents.

 

[Slife]

Well, this isn't so much a prestige class as an alternate base class, but I like the flavor and crunch enough to plug it anyway.

The Blue Mage

Background:

Nobody knows exactly what distinguishes those with inherent magical talent from those who lack it. Certainly the best magic users are smart or strong-willed, but just having those traits isn't enough. This question fascinated the Yuan-Ti, who attempted to solve this by artifically granting magical abilites to human test subjects.

The experiments at first seemed to be an overwhelming success. The subjects displayed the magical test characteristic (the ability to change their clothing's color, like genetic engineers do with glow in the dark stuff), and in addition had a small ability to cast spells.

There was only one problem - the magic given to the experimentees was formless, and they could not change it themselves to learn new spells. The dangers inherent in the experimental process, combined with the invasion of the Formians/Oni, lead to the research group's dissolution. The Yuan-Ti needed all their technomancers working on the magestorm and anti-outsider defenses.

It was only much later that it was discovered that the formless magic could be given form by external sources.

Group/Organizations
Similar to sorcerers, Blue Mages on the whole aren't very organized. There are loosely-net groups, and many people know a guy who knows a guy who can find someone who can cast a spell for (or on) you. Since blue magic is inherited, many blue mages learn at their parents' feet. Those that don't are often apprenticed or teach themselves. (Self-taught BMs are probably pretty rare, depending on plentiful magic items are)

Some clerics (Don't know which religions you're using) dislike them, claiming that their imitation of clerical magic usurps the powers rightfully only given to gods. [plot hook ahoy!] (note that a decent sorcerer disguise for a BM is only a spell-component pouch away.)

(Tie in - perhaps some of the magical races were the results of other experiments. Or at least owlbears were.)