Player's Guide to Fighters and Barbarians: Prestige Classes

[Nightfall]

This is from the S&SS boards, detailing the Prestige classes that will be seen in this book.

SSS_Druid - 04/21/2003 04:45:41

Fighters and Barbarians is off! What can you expect, prestige class-wise from this little lovely? Read on.

Archer of the Steppes: The finest of barbarian horse archers, the archer of the steppes develops not only a unique form of barbarian rage, but also a bond with her mount, allowing the beast to go berserk when she does.

Chain Legionnaire: The slaver-centurions of the Legion of Chain no longer serve any single government. Instead, they put their mastery of the spiked chain and the binding mysteries of their practice up for the highest bidder.

Dancer of Steel: The order of Venirian sword-dancers who eventually became the Legion of Steel, the dancers of steel excel at the use of acrobatics and swordplay.

Knight of the Coventacle: The ancient military arm of the Ledean Coventacle of the Ancients, the knights of the Coventacle are an outcast and hunted order. Nonetheless, they still remember the ancient secrets that allow them the blessings of their titanic patrons.

Knight of the Oak: The elite knights of Vera-tre are spear-wielding wood elves clad in living oaken armor who defend their people and homes from outsiders. What the Jordeh are to druids, the knights of the Oak are to warriors.

Lodge-warrior: The Lodge-warrior is a wood elf who has dedicated his life to defending his peoples' reincarnational monarchy and way of life. To this end, he perfects a fighting style in emulation of one of the Four Eldest Beasts.

Master of the Iron Wind: Exemplaries of the aristocratic Iron Wind Brotherhood, the Master of the Iron Wind can wield the rare and exotic iron war fans of his training with deadly grace and agility. At higher levels of understanding, he even comes to master the strange secrets of the Iron Wind itself.

Mercenaries of the Hawk: Sellsword falconers, the Mercenary of the Hawk strongly bonds with his raptor, making him the perfect scout. It is said that these rare few mercenaries are able to actually see through the eyes of their birds.

Nine Stings Master: A graduate of the arts of the Nine Stings War College, the Nine Stings Master wields a pair of shortswords with grace and precision.

Ragewitch: A barbarian sorceress, the ragewitch is an inheritor of two barbarian legacies - that of innate magical use and overwhelming fury. The ragewitch learns to combine these two ancient talents, becoming a maelstrom of magical rage, smiting the enemies of her people.

Totem Warrior: A savage warrior that learns to channel not just one totem, but comes to serve a multitude of them. The totem warrior gains blessings from each of his patrons, gaining minor shapeshifting talents and the ability to channel totems (via the Totem Feats introduced in this book) for longer.

Warrior of White Fire: A master of the arts of the ancient Legion of White Fire, the Warrior of White Fire is a quarter-staff wielding war-arcanist, skilled in spellcasting in armor as well as channeling his spells through his whirling quarterstaff.

Whitefur: Barbarians from the High Snows of Albadia, whitefurs learn to channel their totem, the huror in ways never before seen by the weak warriors of more civilized areas. The whitefur becomes more immune to the cold as he advances in level, and learns to summon the blizzards of the huror around him in order to vanquish his enemies.

All I have to say is WOW.

 

[Nightfall]

Okay thoughts, impressions? Come on people! I'd like some comment.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah but, but, the ability to summon HURORS! Or the fact you can see through a hawk's eyes! That's pretty unique don't you agree?

(I like Malhavoc stuff too but THIS is premium stuff IMHO.)

 

[Oni]

Sounds fun.

I like the idea of S&SS putting out splat books specific to thier setting. So many PrC's come across as generic because they try to make them usuable everywhere, but these while I'm sure they could be adapted to most campaigns go toward fleshing out the setting and I think that makes them immensely more interesting.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah definately. Course I wish they had given you one Oni to work with, but hey you still rock as a necromancer of no small power.

 

[Knight Otu]

These sound quite nice.

As for Monte Cook's AU... let's say that I disagree, nothing more.

 

[Ruined]

Well of course I'll be buying it. I like it even better with the PrCs you've listed. Had to show Master of the Iron Wind to a friend, as we were big fans of the tessen from Legend of the Five Rings. Not sure if any will be pursued in my chronicle, but I'll let the player of Gerad take a look.

Thanks Nightfall and SSS-Druid!

 

[Nightfall]

Ruined,

Glad I could help. And yeah, even though I'm getting it cause it's Scarred Lands, nice to see HOW good this stuff is.

Otu,

Yeah I definately like the sounds of a LOT of these.

 

[Carnifex]

If I was more interested in the Scarred Lands I'd probably pick it up - I think it's a nice idea making setting specific splatbooks like that.

 

[Outlaw]

Prestige Classes

I've certainly become saturated on prestige classes and class splat books.

Yeah but, but, the ability to summon HURORS! Or the fact you can see through a hawk's eyes! That's pretty unique don't you agree?

Actually, seeing through a hawk's eyes does sound cool and I think I once modified familiars to allow for that at higher levels. My problem with it is that I have yet to see companies publish that material properly (or at least what's proper in my opinion). It's one of many really cool powers that make the class in and of itself a power sink. If you allowed all the PrCs that even one company created, then there is little, if any, reason to remain with a base class.

When PrCs first came out they were a way to specialize. You were really good at doing X, but maybe at the cost of Y. Now they seem to have taken on the guise of I want to be good at both X and Y but they seem to limit one another, so we'll just provide a prestige class.

I saw some really cool cover art (or a slogan, I don't remember which) and picked up a book the other day. Then I saw it was a class book for monks, fighters and barbarians and I put it back down. It just all seems so "been there done that" any more.

I'd like to see something that sparks my imagination like PrCs did when they first came out (which I've found that many companies have designed prestige classes very similar to my home brews, so it's another means in how things don't seem fresh).

I honestly don't know what it would be though. What else is left? You've done the world, the races, the cities, the merchandise, the magic items, the classes. Worlds have been defined ad nauseum. What's left but to play?