In my game...(What specifics would you like to play under?)

[TwilightWhisper]

I think my players would call me names if I tried this but...

Prestige Classes need to be researched and someone needed to teach the prestige class to the character in question.

 

[Greylock]

How old school!

I agree, though. But for that matter, cherry-picking classes rubs me the wrong way. Way back when, my DM expected a char wanting to multi-class to broadcast his/her intent long in advance, then hole up somewhere for weeks to study and learn.

Of course, in the 3.5 world I am in I am running a straight fighter with no real quirks, Neutral alignment, and a scattering of skills and feats from Ride/Mounted Combat to the PA tree.

(If anyone knows of a PRC that fits that, let me know ;p)

 

[TwilightWhisper]

The Purple Dragon Knights in FRCS are a good start. Then the Cavalier in Complete Warrior may as well.

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

I don't see why that would bother anyone.

It wouldn't bug our group, since prestige classes all have to be GM-approved anyway. There are just too many PrCs, varying too widely in power and niftiness, for any of our usual GMs to be comfortable allowing one into the game without looking it over first. There are more than a few that have failed to make the cut.

Assuming that at least part of the "research and training" angle is founded on an out-of-character agreement between the player and the GM that the PrC will in fact be available to them, it shouldn't be too big a deal. The player says "Hey, I want to go into this PrC," and the GM says "Cool, have your character look for information about them, and I'll have some answers ready for him." A little in-character searching and training, and everyone's happy.

It's only if you decide to do a bait-and-switch ("go ahead and try to look for information about that PrC...but wait, I'm not going to let you actually find any information!") that name-calling would seem justified.

--
our group doesn't make a big deal out of multiclassing into core classes, just prestige
ryan

 

[Horoku]

I'd say that you should make them research it. As it is, I'm rather against a fighter leveling up and going "OMG now I can cast spells! +mage!", but I go with it because it's part of the system in 3rd Edition. However, when it comes to prestige classes, I'd definitely require research/training for the character in most cases. D20 Modern, maybe not for the standard Advanced Classes (unless you have more than one of 'em), but definitely for things like Mage or Battlemind. However, in a normal DnD campaign, I'd definitely require training for a PrC.

 

[Angcuru]

I'd rule that any change in character class or any new combat technique, spell style, etc. must be trained and learned in-game.