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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 2837089" data-attributes="member: 22424">Regarding Prestige ClassesI'm not a fan of a lot of the existing D&D prestige classes. A lot of them exist purely to provide a "Class X with a bit more Class Feature Y" (such as the Shifter), or to plug mechanical holes that would be better just being fixed (such as the Mystic Theurge etc), and there are far too many arcane and divine spellcaster PrCs that have "+1 caster level" at every level and some very desirable class features - such classes are almost universally overpowered.However, I have been won over by the concept of Prestige Classes - they are a great way to add detail to a campaign world, and to model advanced characters with special capabilities that are not easy done with feats. Roles like the Dwarven Defender, the Elven Bladesinger, the Champion of Gruumsh, and so on, are ideal candidates for Prestige Classes. (The thing that really won me over was the range of PrCs in the Star Wars d20 game. With the exception of the Jedi classes, these universally impressed me greatly.)I would prefer that they adjust the requirements a bit. At present, the PrCs all have an optimal path (or paths) that lead to the class. Effectively, these requirements prevent a character from entering the class until a given character level (a BAB requirement of +5 means you need at least 5 character levels before entering the class, for example). The classes are then balanced assuming that a character enters the class at that lowest possible level, meaning that if you're aiming for the class with an 'odd' progression, you're taking a (possibly big) hit in effectiveness. Additionally, it makes most characters entering a given PrC extremely similar, since most of them will have used near-optimal progressions. (Finally, it means you can't play your character and then choose to head for a PrC without a big mechanical hit, since it's almost always best to plan your PrC from 1st level.)The basic upshot of all of this is that I would like to see the requirements generally reduced (slightly), but with an additional "Minimum Character Level" requirement. (So, instead of having BAB +5, the class might have BAB +3 and Minimum Character Level 5.) The trick here is to maintain the flavour of the classes, while retaining balance, and allowing a bit more flexibility.I can, of course, see the other argument - that near-optimal characters will be the only ones who will generally enter a PrC precisely because those are the ones likely to aim themselves in that direction/be accepted. But, on balance, I think I (marginally) prefer the more varied characters. (Oh, and I'm aware I can do the work to 'fix' the issue to my own taste - it's not exactly hard <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )</blockquote>

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