Marshal with prestige...?

[Felon]

The Marshal from the Miniatures Handbook seems to be pretty popular. I've been building mine towards the Tactical Soldier PrC (also from the MiHB). I was wondering what sort of PrC's might mesh well with the class. Please share your thoughts and experiences.

 

[Psion]

Hmmm... it's been a while since I looks at it, but how do you think it would fare with the Warmaster PrC from Sword & Fist.

Or sith lord. Oh, wait...

 

[gamecat]

Personally, I'd stay out of any PrCs... You want to keep bolstering the bonuses you give as a marshal. The only thing that would lure me out of a straight marshal progression is the thought of a class that gives fighter BAB so that I might top out at 4 attacks a round.

 

[MadMaxim]

No prestige class really meshes well with the marshal's primary ability, his auras. Okay, you don't need that many levels to get some decent minor auras as they're dependent on your Charisma bonus, but the major auras seriously lack some punch if you multiclass as their bonuses are set. With that in mind I wouldn't do more than perhaps take 4 fighter levels to get 4 attacks and Weapon Specialization. Otherwise, your major auras will become too weak to be effective.

When that is said, tactical soldier isn't the worst prestige class for a marshal if you're bent on getting your hands dirty in close combat. It has some nice abilities, a good BAB and a good hit die, but I see it more as a fighter prestige class than a marshal prestige class. Even a fighter can get 2 ranks of Sense Motive in a hurry

But I agree that the marshal is a pretty cool class. I see him very much as a variant bard in the way that he boosts the party, but he can easily go into melee combat due to a decent hit die and and good weapon and armor proficiencies. I'm currently playing a warforged marshal in a PBP game here on EN World. I think he's shaping up nicely.

Just my two cents on the matter...

 

[MadMaxim]

Damn... gamecat beat me to the punch...

 

[Felon]

Personally, I'd stay out of any PrCs... You want to keep bolstering the bonuses you give as a marshal. The only thing that would lure me out of a straight marshal progression is the thought of a class that gives fighter BAB so that I might top out at 4 attacks a round.

Well, generally you give up something by entering a PrC. I think if the PrC offers decent features, it can be a worthy trade-off. Especially considering that at most levels, the marshal simply gets access to more auras, which is a matter of diminishing returns due to the fact that only one minor and one major can be active at once. You get overloaded with auras just like a lot of fighter builds get more feats than they know what to do with around mid-level. At 7th, the major aura gets boosted to +2, and at 8th you get another use of Grant Move Action. After that, it's a long dry spell so I'd consider multi-classing at 9th or 10th.

Tactical Solider is a support class, so it meshes nicely with the right build. A Marshal can get the required feats easily enough, since the MHB didn't offer any feats that specifically enhance that class's abilities, and there's been zero support for it in other products (what a friggin' shame that is). The Master of Tactics aura compliments the TS Flanker ability beautifully. This is a tank/support build where you wrap the character in full plate, give him a tower shield, and maybe the Goad feat as well.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Legendary Tactician from the Dragonlance Campaign Setting.