Prestige Classes - which are broken?

[hong]

That the problem is not needfully inherent to th class, but is the result of one specific ability which needs especial attention.

You know, most people have no problem reading "X is broken" as a shorthand way of saying "a specific feature of X, that is unique to X, is broken".

IOW, Wizards aren't broken because spells like disintegrate exist; if anything in your example is broken, it'd be the instakill spells (which, as a matter of opinion, I do not agree with).

I have noticed that you have a habit of putting random words in boldface. Is there a reason for this?


Hong "personally I think font size and color tweaks are far more interesting" Ooi

 

[Pax]

You know, most people have no problem reading "X is broken" as a shorthand way of saying "a specific feature of X, that is unique to X, is broken".

Perhaps I've known too many people who see a potentially broken single aspect of a class, spell, etc ... so they chuck the whole thing. Baby with the bath water, and so on. Thus, it bears mentioning, occasionally, that some classes only need to have one or two rough edges knocked off in order to keep them balanced.

I have noticed that you have a habit of putting random words in boldface. Is there a reason for this?

You know, I like you less and less with every post of yours that I have the apparent misfortune to read.

My use of boldface is not random -- not even close. Bolder text looks emphasised, right? Try reading my posts aloud, with slight-to-moderate emphasis on bold or italic text (and not-so-slight on text that's both). I've gotten rather good at conveying tone and meter in my writing; iow, I can write something as I would speak it. Online, that's exactly what I try to do, in fact.

 

[Mistwell]

iow, I can write something as I would speak it. Online, that's exactly what I try to do, in fact.

Do you often speak using "iow" as shorthand?

If you write something as you would speak it, you would use less shorthand.

You could even try using "ie" which means the same thing as "iow", but is shorter and is actually in the dictionary as opposed to merely internet speak.

 

[hong]

Perhaps I've known too many people who see a potentially broken single aspect of a class, spell, etc ... so they chuck the whole thing. Baby with the bath water, and so on. Thus, it bears mentioning, occasionally, that some classes only need to have one or two rough edges knocked off in order to keep them balanced.

One might ask, if a class has its most notorious ability removed, whether it's really the same class anymore. I mean, yes, there's a saying about giving your left nut to get something, but it's just a _saying_, man.

You know, I like you less and less with every post of yours that I have the apparent misfortune to read.

OH NO, PAX DOESN'T LIKE ME. I MUST NOW GO AND KILL MYSELF, OR MAYBE NOT.

But I would at least feel a little bit upset, because I wouldn't want him to feel he'd aired his grievance for nothing. But only a little bit, because I wouldn't want to miss the upcoming release of _The Return of the King_ this Christmas season. Sorry, d00d! After all, there's a limit to how generous even I can be on webboards.

My use of boldface is not random -- not even close. Bolder text looks emphasised, right? Try reading my posts aloud, with slight-to-moderate emphasis on bold or italic text (and not-so-slight on text that's both). I've gotten rather good at conveying tone and meter in my writing; iow, I can write something as I would speak it. Online, that's exactly what I try to do, in fact.

Whatever, d00d.


Hong "or should that be whatever, d00d ?" Ooi

 

[ForceUser]

First off, ignore hong unless he's actually talking rules. He's got good rules sense but he gets off on putting people down. Second, I have no problems with broken prestige classes. If I don't like 'em, I don't allow 'em, simple as that. Anyone who wants to play a PrC can ask me if its available and we can go from there. Sometimes I also introduce NPCs as examples of PrCs that are allowed.

 

[hong]

he gets off on putting people down.

I am "getting off on putting people down" RIGHT NOW, IYKWIM AITYD.

 

[James McMurray]

You know, I like you less and less with every post of yours that I have the apparent misfortune to read.

If you go to his profile you can set him to ignore. I've recently done it and it has saved me quite a bit of annoyance, given that his posts rearely make sense, and even when they do they are too rude for my tastes.

 

[James McMurray]

Back to the topic at hand: Many previously broken prestige classes will be fixed if given the 3.5 conversion treatment. Change Spell Power (and similar effects) to only add to caster level. Make spell-like abilities function like their 3.5 counterparts, etc.

Additionally, many prestige classes are not broken at all until combined with other classes. For instance, the Weapon Master can be quite a nice character to play. However, combine him with the Crab Samurai PrC from OA and some other class or spell that ups threat ranges and suddenly you've got a guy that crits on 6+.

The new Mystic Theurge is another example of this that has recently come under the banner of a possible broken class. Although it may not be broken on its own (I don't think it is), if you add it to another future release class that also allows dual spell progression, it probably will become broken.

For my money, given the recent change to Spell Power, I don't know that there truly are any broken classes out right now.

• Runecaster, because of the ability to freely maximise runes, might be.
• Deepwood sniper, because of the x5 crit multiplier might be

Also, under the 3.5 conversion, the Divine Oracle from DotF is almost definitely broken, since it now has no prerequisites and could be entered at 1st level.

 

[Derren]

Imo the Frenzied Berserker is a candidate for the broken award, mainly because of Deathless Frenzy. Its just ugly when this damage dealing machine can't be killed for 3+con rounds.

 

[Tellerve]

wow, hong has closing in on 8 thousand posts. That's a lot of time staring at this board.

Anyways, James, are you of the opinion that PrCs are supposed to be better or just add flavor to a campaign to represent a certain racial/cultural or whatever class. The reason I ask, is that many PrCs are made to be in my opinion superior to straight core classes. I don't necessarily think that is bad, as long as you can't get it till higher then I feel it should be warranted to have some extras.

Tellerve