Prestige Class Rules should be for players only

[Mordane76]

I don't stat out EVERY little thing -- most people don't require statistics whatsoever, like the common folk, who if the players decided to kill would have have a massive 3-8 HP and a whopping several hundred battered copper between them.

I stat out or have stats available for pretty much everyone else, even if that means using the statistics from the DMG for a random fighter or whatnot just to have numbers -- those tables come in handy for mooks!

 

[Buttercup]

Just out of interest, how would you use core classes to replicate something like the dragon desciple or the alienist or even the dualist?

I can't honestly say, because I can't imagine any of them fitting into my campaign. If a player had a character concept that really, really required a prestige class, I suppose I would do my best to find them one. But it hasn't come up. We've been playing for almost two years, and this is our second campaign. The base classes have been more than adequate for everything any of us has wanted to do. Maybe we're just strange.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Yeah, I got a full time job, my final year at college, a wife, and a child...

The difference is, I LIKE statting out NPCs. I do it for fun and relaxation.

Well, that's not ALL I do for fun, but I really do enjoy getting into the nitty-gritty of the rules of the game. I take a kind of ridiculous pride in the fact that all of my NPCs/monsters are 100% legal by the rules.

Not that the players would ever notice if they weren't.

 

[bekkilyn_rpg]

As a player, I expect the monsters and NPC's to follow the same rules that I am expected to follow. I can't stand it when monsters "cheat" without reasonable justification from the game rules by which we have all agreed to abide. Now I don't mind if a DM will fudge something every so often for the good of the game, but certainly not because the DM's creations are exempt from the rules as a standard procedure.

 

[Lela]

As I think about this a statement from George Lucus comes to mind. In a Mythology of Star Wars special, he mentioned that his universe has rules that are different from our own. These rules must remain in place or he risks offending his audience. He used "Sound in Space" as an example (laser fire, explosions, ship engines).

I think that's the case here. I need to keep the rules the same or risk offending my players. While, in a time of need, I will fudge (both in my favor or their's) to promote a story arch, my players (and I) know I won't be unfair.

Changing the system on them is just plain wrong in our eyes. And that's exactly how some of us would view skirting the rules for convienience.