Most broken prestige classes?

[hong]

Looking at the rainbow servant, I see that you need to be at least 5th level to get in, and it grants +6 caster levels over 10 class levels. So at 15th character level, you'd be casting wiz and cleric spells as an 11th caster, effectively 2 spell levels behind. If you then took mystic theurge all the way to 20th level, you'd be 16th caster level for wiz and cleric at the end.

I still don't see how it's broken.

 

[Quartz]

Only abusable if you are too free with a trick or two
Divine crusader (if you allow multiple domains)

I disagree: the Divine Crusader's not a good class as is - the precept is all wrong anyway. Turn it to someone who crusades for a deity, not the cause, and gradually allow them to get domains belonging to the deity. I'd suggest L4 and L7. Give them one domain with which to start, but also a bonus domain of Glory if good and Domination if evil; neutrals get neither. This also helps keep the chararacter in the class.

IMHO, of course. A lot of the above are only really abusable in combination. For example taking mystic theurge with either Divine Crusader, Ur-priest or else is a good way to break those classes wide open.

The Divine Crusader isn't so much of a problem due to the entry requirement of BAB +7. Even at best you're looking at something like Wiz 3 / Ftr 4 / DC 2 before you start on MT levels Add on MT 10 and while you're looking at 9th level divine spells, your arcane spells are only 7th level. And even then you only get one of each. This is the same as following the clasic Wiz 3 / Cl 3 / MT 10 / Heirophant 4 route.

Where the Divine Crusader becomes problematic is if you allow it as a one-level dip, simply to get the spell progression then jumping to other prestige classes which add domains.

 

[Kurashu]

Looking at the rainbow servant, I see that you need to be at least 5th level to get in, and it grants +6 caster levels over 10 class levels. So at 15th character level, you'd be casting wiz and cleric spells as an 11th caster, effectively 2 spell levels behind. If you then took mystic theurge all the way to 20th level, you'd be 16th caster level for wiz and cleric at the end.

I still don't see how it's broken.

Except you don't need MT. You, as an arcane caster, are handed the entire cleric spell list and told "Have fun!" So at 15th level you are casting as an 11th spellcaster, meaning you never 9th level spells unless you go to 21st level. But who cares? You have two huge spell lists. Plus, three domains, the ability to grow wings for 10 minutes/day, and some SLAs.

 

[hong]

Except you don't need MT. You, as an arcane caster, are handed the entire cleric spell list and told "Have fun!" So at 15th level you are casting as an 11th spellcaster, meaning you never 9th level spells unless you go to 21st level. But who cares? You have two huge spell lists. Plus, three domains, the ability to grow wings for 10 minutes/day, and some SLAs.

Okay, so you get handed the entire cleric spell list at 15th level. Why is this so incredibly powerful? The MT has had the spell list since 6th level, and has a higher caster level into the bargain, but people don't seem to consider it broken. Basically, I thought it had been established that multiple-casting-progression PrCs weren't necessarily all that hot, when their drawbacks were taken into account.

The ability to grow wings is pretty cool, but by itself doesn't seem that broken.

 

[Quez The Lame]

Okay, so you get handed the entire cleric spell list at 15th level. Why is this so incredibly powerful?

Warmages can qualify for Rainbow Servant.

 

[hong]

Warmages can qualify for Rainbow Servant.

... I don't get it.

 

[Quez The Lame]

Warmages are spontaneous casters who treat their spell list as spells known, i.e. they would have spontaneous access to all cleric spells.

 

[gnfnrf]

Looking at the rainbow servant, I see that you need to be at least 5th level to get in, and it grants +6 caster levels over 10 class levels. So at 15th character level, you'd be casting wiz and cleric spells as an 11th caster, effectively 2 spell levels behind. If you then took mystic theurge all the way to 20th level, you'd be 16th caster level for wiz and cleric at the end.

I still don't see how it's broken.

Note that the +1 caster level in the text says at each level, not at certain levels. According to errata policies, when the text and the table disagree, follow the text. That makes the rainbow servant pretty broken.

On the other hand, the way the rainbow servant implies the extra spells on their spell list works contradicts the way the front of the book says extra spells work for sorcerers, and which one you do there makes a big difference.

--
gnfnrf

 

[hong]

Warmages are spontaneous casters who treat their spell list as spells known, i.e. they would have spontaneous access to all cleric spells.

Okay, that is indeed pretty powerful. I wouldn't say that it really makes the entire PrC broken, though, just because there's an unintended interaction with one splatbook class. Besides, you only get this benefit at 16th level, by which time you've taken a big hit to your caster level and hit points. Maybe if you were making 16th level characters from scratch it might be worth considering, but slogging through those 10 levels sounds a lot like work.

 

[hong]

Note that the +1 caster level in the text says at each level, not at certain levels. According to errata policies, when the text and the table disagree, follow the text. That makes the rainbow servant pretty broken.

D'oh!

On the other hand, the way the rainbow servant implies the extra spells on their spell list works contradicts the way the front of the book says extra spells work for sorcerers, and which one you do there makes a big difference.

Which bit is this?