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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mhacdebhandia" data-source="post: 2049001" data-attributes="member: 18832">My general philosophy is to allow any prestige class which fits into the context of the setting. However, as there are prestige classes written for different purposes, there are different ways to qualify for prestige classes.Some, such as the Elemental Savant, I consider the sort of path that anyone sufficiently devoted to mastering spells of one particular element could follow independently. The same goes for most "multiclass facilitators" such as the Eldritch Knight or the Mystic Theurge; I consider those prestige classes pretty much freely-accessible to anyone who "works hard enough" at mastering the disparate skillsets of the classes in question, where "works hard enough" is code for "fulfils the prerequisites".In a way, I consider that type of prestige class to be a patch for the lack of a base class which adequately represents the fighter-mage (or whatever) archetype in a fashion which makes it mechanically competitive with other classes. From one perspective, I consider it a shame that very few such base classes exist - though, for instance, Monte Cook's mageblade from Arcana Unearthed/Evolved is very well-designed, it relies for balance on a hierarchy of spell power within spell levels which D&D lacks, so it's difficult to adapt without simply resorting to unsatisfying measures such as "secondary" spellcasting a la the ranger, paladin, and so on.From another perspective, though, I tend to view both base and prestige classes as simply tools for the mechanical realisation of a character concept - less the rules embodiments of archetypes and more a set of firmly-defined but not entirely immutable ability packages. In that sense . . . it doesn't matter that you need a prestige class to make a fighter-mage "work", because it's all just manipulation of numbers anyway.Anyway!The second category of prestige classes in the worlds I invent tend to be the sort of thing which require a master-student relationship, but not necessarily anything more formal than that. For instance, the Drunken Master prestige class could be achieved by an interested character simply by encountering (or seeking out) an existing master of the form and accepting (or persuading her to offer) training. There is a roleplaying requirement that one find a teacher to set you on the path, but nothing like a formal group to which the master belongs.The third category are those tied very strongly to in-game factions - religious institutions, governments, and other organisations (such as thieves' guilds and orders of assassins) who divulge their secret skills and techniques only to their trusted initiates.When you look at what prestige classes are like, I think it's clear that (whether you consider it good or ill) many of them simply aren't designed to support organisations. There's nothing about the Tempest as written, for example, that makes it seem particularly tied to any actual group. You can, of course, make it the exclusive fighting style of an order of highland warriors on the bleak moors of the North, or the signature of a famous gladiatorial school in the heart of the Empire, but in and of the class itself there's no need for any such association.The reason why I permit anything which fits in my world is fairly simple - given that I treat base classes, prestige classes, feats, et cetera as tools, I don't hesitate to use whatever tools I have at my disposal. I don't see the point of sticking to socket wrenches when I could also get good use out of a set of screwdrivers - and we can all think of many uses for screwdrivers that socket wrenches just can't fulfil. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />As to what "fits in my world", I usually begin with a relatively conservative list of things I'm interested in representing in my world - which is dominated by "multiclass patches" like the Arcane Trickster and "schtick monkeys" like the Tempest - and remain open to any prestige class a player brings me. What I disallow outright are things with the wrong flavour - no Cavaliers in a world without a tradition of heavily armoured noble knights, for instance.</blockquote>

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