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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Estlor" data-source="post: 2081147" data-attributes="member: 7261">With a prestige class that seems to be an uninspired "grab bag," you have to wonder what the purpose of the class is.  One of the original design ideas behind a prestige class was to make it so anyone from any class could get into it*, there were just some roads that got there quicker.  (*Keeping in mind that "any class" could be "any spellcasting class" for a deliberately spellcasting-oriented prestige class).  Most prestige classes, when you pick them apart, are keyed into one base class more than another.  Because that class is attempting to be a more refined version of the base class, certain aspects carry over.  For example, a class that grants you sneak attack bonus is probably trying to be viable for a rogue without hamstringing their sneak attack because it is applicable to the concept.  On the other hand, if sneak attack is absent, they make the player choose between the concept or the mechanics... is sneak attack so important to you that you simply don't fit the concept any longer? The Darkwood Stalker is a sneaky ranger/rogue multiclass that gets a few additional abilities not found on the roster of the ranger and the rogue.  Because those "few additional abilities" aren't the entire crux of the class, they allow the ranger/rogue to continue to advance some of their class abilities that are useful to the new prestige class concept, making it more attractive to a player that wants the death attack but doesn't want to be evil, lose its benefits against specific creature types, or fall way behind in sneak attack (because, to be honest, those both make perfect sense to a Darkwood Stalker type).  Likewise, if you come from the fighter class, they don't want you to lack the favored enemy or sneak attack bonuses that are important to being an effective Darkwood Stalker. So perhaps your problem isn't with the prestige classes, which do what they're intended to do perfectly, but with the design concept of multiclass prestige classes that lean heavily on abilities learned before entering the class.</blockquote>

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