PrCs

[Wolv0rine]

I'm sure this has been addressed somewhere and all, but amongst all the other info bits and Pro-4E and anti-4E bitching, I've completely missed it.

Has 4E eliminated the concept of the PrC? Has it morphed into the Paragon Paths or something? If so it'd be a terrible shame, because the idea of the PrC was a great concept, allowing many additional classes to be created with tight, specific focuses without cluttering up the relatively clean foundation of the Core Classes.

 

[Dunamin]

If so it'd be a terrible shame, because the idea of the PrC was a great concept, allowing many additional classes to be created with tight, specific focuses without cluttering up the relatively clean foundation of the Core Classes.

But isn't that what Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies are supposed to do?

 

[Steely Dan]

But isn't that what Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies are supposed to do?

Yep, they have replaced PrC.

 

[Belorin]

Paragon Paths will be the Wed. excerpt over on the Wizards site.

Bel

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I'm sure this has been addressed somewhere and all, but amongst all the other info bits and Pro-4E and anti-4E bitching, I've completely missed it.

Has 4E eliminated the concept of the PrC? Has it morphed into the Paragon Paths or something? If so it'd be a terrible shame, because the idea of the PrC was a great concept, allowing many additional classes to be created with tight, specific focuses without cluttering up the relatively clean foundation of the Core Classes.

As noted by Dunamin, that's exactly what Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies are designed to do.

And if you're worried by a lack of choice in this area - remember how few Prestige Classes were in the first 3e DMG. I'm guessing we'll see a lot more PP & ED in each new book.

 

[Khaalis]

The point I am most curious about is if you are shoehorned into 1 choice of path as you level. One of the nice things about PrCs (although also high abused) was the fact that you could have multiple PrCs to focus the PC into exactly what you wanted (or even none at all). It sounds like this will not be the case with Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies. It seems that everyone will Have to take PP an ED and you only get 1 of each. Having only 1 ED makes sense, but I'm not so sure on the single PP. What if you change focus? Will you be able to change your PP?

 

[OakwoodDM]

What if you change focus? Will you be able to change your PP?

I reckon there's a good chance you will. After all, there's the retraining rules in the DMG, which allow picking new feats to replace old ones, and it's distinctly possible that that's not limited to just feats, so PP could be something you can re-choose.
Just speculation, mind.

 

[Engilbrand]

I would hazard a guess that they wouldn't take up near as much space as PrCs, either. They don't need to fill space with crap you already know. Just give some flavor information, list the couple of abilities that you get and whatever for powers, and then be done. I'm willing to bet that what we see is tiny compared to what we've all been use to.

 

[DandD]

The good thing is, the game designers made the level progression so that they actually expect every PC to have some kind of paragon path/epic destiny, so everything's balanced out roughly, I hope. 3.X was dumb in that regard. It was absolutely clear that anybody with a prestige class was better than a Joe-Shmoe who only had basic PC classes. Especially spellcasters, who took prestige classes who still advanced their spell progression normally, but also added new abilities. Also, prestige classes forced you to plan your character from the ground-beginning.

 

[med stud]

EDIT: I had some speculation but I took it away since we will get to know about this tomorrow