Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Saeviomagy" data-source="post: 1848987" data-attributes="member: 5890">I like prestige classes. I think that at their core, they're a good mechanic for basically one thing - extra specialisation.They're a way of packaging up positives and negatives so they're (more or less) balanced.However, I think they need some changes:I hate the "you must have x ranks in y skill and 5 useless feats to qualify for this prc"Why? Because they require oddball metagame knowledge to function.For instance - why should a PrC require skill RANKS as opposed to total skill mod? How on earth does that have an in-game effect on the PC? He personally has almost no way of finding out whether his ability with a skill is based on a good attribute, his skill focus feat, or the number of ranks, and which of those it comes from has absolutely no impact on the character whatsoever.Or classes which require toughness. Take 3rd level characters PC A and PC B. PC A has a con of 13 and the toughness feat. PC B has a con of 14.Assuming the same hit dice rolls, they've both got the exact same amount of hitpoints. But PC B wouldn't qualify for dwarven defender (for instance).Or endurance. Or skill focus. Or whatever.In short - in my next campaign, I'm going to let people qualify for PrC's in a much more organic manner.As an example. Dwarven defender requires dodge, endurance and toughness, a base attack of +7, you must be a dwarf, and you must be lawful.I don't see why only dwarves can get into the PrC. So I'll scrap that right off the bat.I don't see why only lawful characters can get in - from now on if your character has a stubborn streak, he qualifies.I don't see why those particular 3 feats are necessary to the class, so I'll replace that requirement with "you must have one agility-focussed feat and two toughness-focussed feats".I don't see why it should have to be a particular base attack bonus. From now on you qualify if you've got a melee attack bonus of 10 or more before magical augmentation.So someone with combat expertise, great fortitude and self sufficient could qualify.Finally of course, I'll stick to the rule that a PrC requires GM approval before you enter it. If your PC seems, to me, to fit, you're in. If not - forget about it.</blockquote>

Verification