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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greg K" data-source="post: 6313109" data-attributes="member: 5038">I disagree that they they did not delineate what they were for. The 3.0 DMG and several Dragon articles (which are considered 100% official) were very explicit that they were optional rules under DM purview and designed to help define the campaign setting."Allowing PCs access to prestige classes is purely optional and always under the purview of the DM. Even though a few examples can be found below, prestige classes are idiosyncratic  to each campaign and DMs may choose to not allow them or to use them only for NPCs. Dungeon Masters should use Prestige classes as a tool for world building as well as a reward for achieving high level. They set characters in the milieu and put them in the context of the world" (3.0 Dungeon Masters Guide p.27) "Use prestige classes to establish and develop the following themes in your campaign" <ul style="margin-left: 20px"> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Racial Distinctions</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cultural Distinctions</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Religious Orders</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Guild or Group Membership</li> </ul> (3.0 Dungeon Masters Guide p.27) From Class Acts: Creating your Own Prestige Classes (Dragon 274):"Prestige Classes allow DMs to create campaign-specific, exclusive role and positions as classes" (P.46). "Prestige classes are purely optional and always under the purview of the DM" (p.46) "Why Create a Prestige Class?  There are four basic reasons why you should create prestige classes for your campaign." <ol style="margin-left: 20px"> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Give'em  What they Want" (p.46): The character sacrifices some aspects for improved abilities</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Define Your Organizations"  (p.46)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Describe your Cultures" "Like organizations, races and cultures can benefit from having specific rules to showcase their abilities" (p.47) "While its fine to say things like 'elves operate in the woods' or 'gnomes are tricky', such statements are always more powerful if there are rules to back them up." (p.47) "Cultures can benefit from prestige classes most of all. There are no D&D game rules for how the people from the Southern Kingdom in your campaign differ from the folkof  the Direwood Forest. With prestige classes, you can define how the southern spear-dancers hae a completely different fighting style from that of  the hardy no-nonsense Direwood rangers." (p.47) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Make Lame Options Exciting" (p.47)</li> </ol> "Use prestige classes as a tools to individualize and invigorate your campaign" (p.48).  "Campaigning with Class: Customizing your Campaign with Prestige Classes (Dragon 293) is a great article for DMs about choosing PrCs appropriate for their campaign(for those inclined to use PrCs). It looks at arcane casters, combat specialists, divine casters and skill specialists. Also included are eight campaign themes with suggested PrCs for each and a checklist to help DMs determine if a PrC is campaign appropriate or should be rejected.  Some quotes from the article:"If you want to make your campaign more unique, try creating a custom list of prestige classes in your game (p.66) "Remember that your're not simply checking whether or not a character in your world would like to have the powers of the prestige class; you're evaluating whether or not the idea is something you want to incorporate into your world (p.67) "Inform Your PlayersWhen you've finished your list, share it with your players. Not only does this help them plan their character's careers, but it gives them a greater understanding of the various classes' places in your world and a better understanding of the world as a whole" (p.69). However, it also advises to keep secret those PrCs that players should not be aware. Suggested reasons include a villain unique PrC, PrCs from lands unfamiliar to the players, and secret organizations EDIT: Now, personally, I didn't care for  PrCs as implemented.   In most instances, I think that the racial, cultural and organizational influences of PrCs should have been reflected in characters from the start. I think that instead of PrCs, splat books should have been focused on tailoring starting class lists by race and/or culture as well as expanding upon class variants (customizing a character 3.0 PHB/p. 94 and 3.5 PHB/p.110),  tailored spell lists (DMG variant), and skill swapping (Cityscape web enhancement) to reflect those influences on the starting character's background and training influences. PrCs could still have a place for certain secret societies and prestige societies in a culture or higher level memberships in an organization, but they are in my opinion, a poor way to reflect the influence of race, culture, and organizational training by having a character wait several levels to show this differentiation.</blockquote>

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