The Worst

[Romnipotent]

It was 3.0, but the Royal Explorer from Song and Silence was weeeeeaaaak.

I was going to play that in Living Greyhawk till they nurfed it, then the griffons, then the other things... I mean I was a BARD! And they kept making it worse and worse for me... bad RPGA!

As for the WORST CLASS for 3.5?
Marshall: A single level for a charisma based anything meant you added cha again;
that Cleric Turn MOnkey, BIGGER; That diplomacy BArd, BIGGER; The rogue with bluff and stuff, BIGGER! but thats not the point of this exercise
WORST Pretige class? well that depends on game style...
right now The Initiate of Pistis Sophia holds the most DUMBESTERISM class out there. In order to qualify for the class you need an ability only given to you by the class itself! I dont know if they even errata'd that

Lone Soldier the Book of Vile Darkness is 3.0 not 3.5... because then we could all agree on Royal Explorer.

 

[Anders]

It was 3.0, but the Royal Explorer from Song and Silence was weeeeeaaaak.

Well, from a power gaming point of view, this class might be considered weak. But I must say, from a role playing point of view, I really liked this class. Sort of Indiana Jones-like.

 

[Particle_Man]

Oh, if we are going for "disappointed hopes" I would go for Slayer of Domei. They are like the "Good" assassins that people are always clamoring for, but they get that "death touch" ability (a la cleric with death domain) that is based on their Prestige Class level, so it almost never works, and doesn't do anything when it fails (no save for half). Death Attack might have saved this class, and it is not like Death Attack is "assassin only" anymore.

 

[Turanil]

How about the Heirophant?

I too think that hierophant is crap. I also do find the "Arcane Trickster" name lame. Horizon Walker also looks lame to me. And also many classes from BoED and BoVD. Well, it would be much easier to vote for the most terrific / great prestige class than the lamest. Besides, I don't have any complete serie so cannot say for these books.

 

[Insight]

For lameness, look no further than the EXEMPLAR from Complete Adventurer. The absolutely weakest reasoning behind a Prestige Class EVER!

Let's see... my goal in life is to show people that I'm better than them. What kind of crap is that? Here's a direct quote from the class description:

An exemplar is someone who believes that most individuals and creatures possess a wellspring of untapped talent and capability, and that the multiverse would be a better place if only they would all try to live up to their potential. To her mind, the best way to encourage this behavior in others is to exemplify it herself.

So basically, the Exemplar is a self-help guru who shows everyone that they can do better by being a showoff. I don't see any potential in this for PCs. Maybe you could run into an annoying NPC with this class, and then just want to kill them. That might be fun.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Anyone consider the PrCs from the Expanded Psionics Handbook, besides the metamind, to qualify?

 

[VirgilCaine]

As for the WORST CLASS for 3.5?
Marshall: A single level for a charisma based anything meant you added cha again;
that Cleric Turn MOnkey, BIGGER; That diplomacy BArd, BIGGER; The rogue with bluff and stuff, BIGGER! but thats not the point of this exercise

Say what?

 

[Felon]

Another one: Duelist. Many of whose abilities don't work in armor (not even light armor). Who needs an intelligence of 30 to make up for this, and even so, only at high levels. Riiiiiiiiight. Also in the DMG. I mean, this one was so bad, that Wotc made up a new core class in complete warrior (swashbuckler) that actually isn't that great but absolutely *shines* compared to the Duelist, so people don't notice as much.

Damn, forgot about this loser. It certainly fills my aforementioned criteria for a not merely lame but truly most sincerely lame PrC. The first four levels at least are pretty worthless. Precise Strike and Elbaroate Parry are nice, but they come way too late. This could easily be a 5-level PrC.

The really sad thing here? The 3.0 version (Complete Warrior) was better!

Yeah, Duelist takes the cake.

Edit: altered one word so that the profanity filter would catch it. --Dinkeldog

 

[Crothian]

Exotic Weapon Master....one class can not cover the speciazation of so many very differetn weapons. Terrible design, terrible fluff, just bad all around.

 

[Felon]

Say what?

I think what he's referring to (in that garbled mess) is the Marshal's motivate charisma minor aura. The Marshal can add his Charisma--which is presumably very good--to all Charisma-based skills and checks. Taking one level of marshal can give any skill-based character can get a nice boost.

But again, this thread isn't about the Marshal, as it is not a PrC.