Top 10 Reasons to Take 20 Levels in A Base Class

[LogicsFate]

Poor sorcerrers, no reason NOT to take a prestige class, Alittle candle caster anyone?

 

[Shade]

Paladin is the only class that I can see as being absolutely worth playing to 20th level from a mechanics standpoint. (There's plenty of reasons for roleplaying any class to 20th level).

Why paladin? Because nearly everything goes up with each level. Not only does he get another smite, but his lay on hands, smite, and other abilities based on his paladin all improve. His caster level goes up by 1. Even his mount's command ability is a factor of his paladin level. None of the paladin prestige class really strike me as worth giving all this up. One of the other players IMC took pious templar, and now greatly regrets doing so.

Most of the other classes have at least one prestige class I could see taking without sacrificing too much.

 

[Crothian]

I played a Bard in 3.0 from first to twentieth.

 

[The_Gneech]

Does anyone have more reasons that support playing a pure 20th level single-class progression? How about specific PrCs that more than make up for what you lose in these examples?

Saving throws that aren't all out of whack (multiclassing among the fighter variants will give you a HUGE Fort save and a Will save of +0).

Ditto BAB ... wiz/rog doesn't get any BAB until what, 5th level?

Ditto skill levels ... keeping track of "class" and "cross-class" skills gets to be a real pain with more than one or two classes.

Caster level! You want to maximize that fireball? It's an 8th level spell now ... are you a 15th level wizard? This is a bit better with all the "+1 spellcaster level" mechanic in most of the newer PrC's, but still...

-The Gneech

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Sadly, none of the extremely powerful Druid PrCs out there are as powerful as core Druid 20. None of their abilities make up for losing or delaying either spellcasting or wild shape even a single level.

Paladins and barbarians both get something for staying in-class, and the latter have few really excellent PrC options.

Fighters and sorcerers have the least incentive to avoid PrCs or multiclassing. And by "the least," I mean none.

 

[GlassJaw]

Yeah, druids are probably the best to take all the way to level 20. I like single-class rogues too. They get new abilities at a good clip and you always seem to have something to do in-game with a rogue.

 

[GuardianLurker]

You'll actually qualify for the Epic version of your base class.

 

[JoeBlank]

To the reasons listed, I would add:

Because you don't want anyone else to tell you what feats, skills, spells, etc. to take.

I'm currently playing a sorcerer at 13th level. Every couple of levels, I poke around and look at a few prestige classes, but nothing fits my concept for the character, and the ones that come close force me to take feats, skillls or spells that I don't really want. Instead, I'm just enjoying the freedom to make my own choices.

It's like going to college and taking only the courses that interest you, rather than being forced to take few subjects you hate just to meet the qualifications for your degree.

 

[ThirdWizard]

You'll actually qualify for the Epic version of your base class.

Ayup. 'Twas my first thought.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

You'll actually qualify for the Epic version of your base class.

Isn't the epic version of the paladin...just more of the same? I'm not too familiar with the epic rules.

While it's true that many paladin abilities increase with level, many of them are also unimpressive. By 20th-level an extra five or six points of lay on hands and another 1 point of smite damage are simply underwhelming.

I'd take a PrC with my current pally, but I haven't found any PrCs that are a good fit for the pally, mechanically or flavorwise.