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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 286593" data-attributes="member: 172">Yup. I can see how FFG's approach improves the situation, but I really think that the prestige class and feat chain mechanics are there for a REASON, and all these katas and external styles strike me as reinventing the wheel. I really appreciate the style prestige classes of Swashbuckling Adventures (and before that, Vrylakos' and Killer Shrike's efforts here on the boards.)Mongoose's Elementalism book is a bit like this... it uses a chain of "circles" that have prerequisites and an XP cost. But it immediately betrays the weakness of this approach: in places where skill levels are a requirement, it is HEAVILY dependant upon the skills of the base class, making elementalism much more wizard-centric than was apparently intended. If it were a prestige class, you could still continue using the spellcasting aspects of your own class but could more fine-hone the skills you have, which to me seems a perfectly appropriate thing to do for someone whose abilities are caught up in this special training.While the FFG styles may be an improvement, I still strongly feel that prestige classes and feat chains are well conceived and "the way to go."</blockquote>