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<blockquote data-quote="evil homer" data-source="post: 6540115" data-attributes="member: 6786958">The original thinking on prestige classes, that they would be used as both a character development tool (by joining an organization within the campaign world, pledging loyalty etc) as well as an advancement tool is still somewhat valid in my opinion.&nbsp; Granting players a mechanical reward for engaging in character development isn't necessarily a bad thing.&nbsp; The question becomes how, without turning the whole thing into single level dips for abilities.&nbsp; I'm thinking about ways to translate the feeling of prestige classes into 5th without the horrible consequences they engendered in the 3.x games.&nbsp; I'm not looking to transfer the mechanical advantages on a 1:1 basis, more looking for a way to capture the feel of a given prestige class.I've got a couple of thoughts on the issue:(1) treat them as Archetypes- this has a number of advantages, including built in core archtypes to balance them against, but its primary limitation in my opinion is that is makes the prestige class mono-class in that only a single class would have access which may push people to multi-classing as a way to gain entry.(2) treat them as seperate classes though of more limited scope and force players to multi-class into them.&nbsp; This is a more traditional treatment of the prestige class concept.&nbsp; I think I'd structure them as 10 level classes.&nbsp; You would have to balance any new prestige class well enough that a single dip wouldn't be worth doing.(3) translate the prestige concept into a Feat.&nbsp; Given the greater scope of feats in 5th I think this is a viable option.&nbsp; I'm not sure how to go about this as you may not want characters pledging to multiple organizations.&nbsp; I suppose you could always write into it that X feat can't be taken if Y feat has already been taken as the two organizations are hated enemies or some such.Thoughts?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="evil homer, post: 6540115, member: 6786958"] The original thinking on prestige classes, that they would be used as both a character development tool (by joining an organization within the campaign world, pledging loyalty etc) as well as an advancement tool is still somewhat valid in my opinion. Granting players a mechanical reward for engaging in character development isn't necessarily a bad thing. The question becomes how, without turning the whole thing into single level dips for abilities. I'm thinking about ways to translate the feeling of prestige classes into 5th without the horrible consequences they engendered in the 3.x games. I'm not looking to transfer the mechanical advantages on a 1:1 basis, more looking for a way to capture the feel of a given prestige class. I've got a couple of thoughts on the issue: (1) treat them as Archetypes- this has a number of advantages, including built in core archtypes to balance them against, but its primary limitation in my opinion is that is makes the prestige class mono-class in that only a single class would have access which may push people to multi-classing as a way to gain entry. (2) treat them as seperate classes though of more limited scope and force players to multi-class into them. This is a more traditional treatment of the prestige class concept. I think I'd structure them as 10 level classes. You would have to balance any new prestige class well enough that a single dip wouldn't be worth doing. (3) translate the prestige concept into a Feat. Given the greater scope of feats in 5th I think this is a viable option. I'm not sure how to go about this as you may not want characters pledging to multiple organizations. I suppose you could always write into it that X feat can't be taken if Y feat has already been taken as the two organizations are hated enemies or some such. Thoughts? [/QUOTE]

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