Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 1397149" data-attributes="member: 3051">Well, I'd be careful with this, because it really depends on how you do PrCs in general.  There's several distinct issues, here, IMO:1> Many PrCs are more powerful than the core classes, as compensation for the cost of the prerequisites.  Prime example: all those "+1 to spellcasting class" ones.  So, if the campaign allows PrCs, everyone begins to expect to take one simply to keep up with their friends.2> Taking a PrC or tweaking a core class allows the player to mitigate the drawbacks of his concept, or avoid "useless" class abilities, while adding abilities he knows to be useful.  For example, at high levels, a Monk gets a mishmash of exotic abilities, many of which will be nearly useless to specific types of players; allowing Monk PrCs that dump abilities like Tongue of the Sun and Moon and Etherealness in favor of more combat-related abilities can increase power for a combat-heavy campaign, even if the class as a whole is still balanced overall.3> Allowing the player more customization, primarily through PrCs, can often make the game more "fun".  If I want to be an Assassin, it's nice to have a class that says "Assassin" with abilities that make sense for that archtype, as opposed to being a Fighter/Rogue that simply calls himself an Assassin but isn't actually different than any of the other Ftr/Rog's out there.4> PrCs allow the addition of high-end class abilities to the game without adjusting the core classes.  One of the things I hate about the Epic rules is how most classes are simply reduced to "pick a bonus feat from this list:" menus; if you wanted to add these abilities into the core classes you'd have to end up doing the same thing (sort of like the Rogue's high-level abilities), and that really just doesn't appeal to me.#1 and 2 are faults in PrC design, while 3 and 4 are its primary advantages.  If you just allow most PrCs as written out of a splatbook, you'll have balance headaches like you wouldn't believe.  There are only a few PrCs I'd allow as written; the Horizon Walker, for example, is very well balanced, but is very distinct from the core classes.  No amount of multiclassing would give you its abilities.So, if you disallow PrCs and class tweaking entirely, then sure, you'll fix the drawbacks, but things will slowly get more boring.  You'll keep running into the same basic types of opponents, and many classes (the Fighters, Rogues, etc) won't get any new "neat" abilities as they level.Anyway, IMC each person sits down with the DM and designs a PrC to match his character concept, 5 or so levels in advance (often using splatbook PrCs as inspiration).  The DM's job is to make sure the PrC is balanced with the core classes, integrate it into the campaign world, and make sure the player doesn't just put off the prerequisites until the last moment.  It may not be realistic to have the Artificer Guild pop up out of nowhere just because a player wants to go that route, but it keeps things interesting without blowing game balance away.</blockquote>

Verification