What is your favorite prestige class? (Added results so far)

[haiiro]

I was thinking about this the other day, and realized that my old favorite is still my favorite overall: the gatecrasher, from the Manual of the Planes. I love this class -- it's got a great concept, great artwork, interesting abilities, and it fills my head with ideas (that's the best part).

With almost 3 years of d20 material to draw from, what is your favorite prestige class? (Favorite to play, favorite concept -- however you choose to define "favorite.")

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Results (so far)

I decided to see how many "votes" each of the prestige classes mentioned so far received. These numbers aren't weighted -- if someone mentioned six PrCs as all being favorites, I treated that as one vote for each of them. The results:

Favorite Prestige Classes

13 votes
shadowdancer (DMG)

8 votes
alienist (T&B)

7 votes
duelist (S&F, also Dragon #275)
elemental savant (T&B)

4 votes
iaijutsu master (OA)
oozemaster (MotW)
shifter (MotW)

3 votes
arcane archer (DMG)
assassin (DMG)
blade dancer (OA)
drunken master (S&F)
gatecrasher (MotP)
holy liberator (DotF)
soul knife (PsiHB)
techsmith (F&P)

2 votes
animal lord (MotW)
archmage (FRCS)
blood magus (T&B)
eldritch master (Dragon #280)
frenzied berserker (MotW)
ghostwalker (S&F)
hunter of the dead (DotF, and Dragon #276)
lasher (S&F)
Order of the Bow initiate (S&F)
templar (DotF)
verdant lord (MotW)
vermin lord (BoVD)

1 vote
acolyte of the skin (T&B)
arcane trickster (T&B)
bear warrior (OA)
blackguard (DMG)
bladesinger (RoF)
blessed of Mesos (upcoming S&SS Player's Guide)
blind master (Quint Monk)
blood mage (Spells & Magic)
bondblade (homebrewed, by Ray Silver)
devoted defender (S&F)
diamond warrior (Mind's Eye, WotC's online column)
Die Kreutzritter Phantom Guardsmen (Swashbuckling Adventures)
disciple of Baalzebub (BoVD)
dread pirate (S&S)
fatespinner (T&B)
field runner (homebrewed, by Crothian)
forsaker (MotW)
geomancer (MotW)
giant-killer (Silver Marches, although there are others out there)
gnome artificer (MoF)
guild leader (Traps & Treachery)
hospitaler (DotF)
illithid savant (SS)
king/queen of the wild (MotW)
knight commander (homebrewed, by hong)
Leegstra Berserker (Swashbuckling Adventures)
legend (Quint Fighter)
lightbearer (Dragon #285)
loremaster (DMG)
mage of the arcane order (T&B)
master of flies (SS)
master of intuitive archery (homebrewed, by hong)
metal warden (Second World Sourcebook)
mirror master (Book of Eldritch Might 1)
monster hunter (Monsternomicon)
mystic theurge (preview version from the 3.5e DMG)
mystic wanderer (MoF)
outlaw of the crimson road (S&S)
pale master (T&B)
paragon (Heroes of High Favor: Dwarves)
planeshifter (MotP)
practical ones (Libram Equitus)
pyrokineticist (PsiHB)
red wizard (MoF)
runecaster (MoF)
sacred exorcist (DotF)
sacred fist (DotF)
shadow adept (FRCS)
shadow scout (OA)
shadowthorne (homebrewed, by Buddha the DM)
slayer (PsiHB)
spellsword (T&B)
spymaster (S&S)
tamer of beasts (MotW)
tempest (MotW)
thief-acrobat (MotW)
true necromancer (T&B)
ur-priest (BoVD)
Vestenmanavenjar Bearsarker (Swashbuckling Adventures)
warpriest (DotF)
weapon master (S&F)
Zepeda Whip Master (Swashbuckling Adventures)

(This list is updated as new "votes" are cast. It's currently up to date through theRuinedOne's post.)

 

[hammymchamham]

Elemental Savant

 

[Yeoman]

Of all the classes out there, it's the shadowdancer for me. That whole concept has always been one of my favorites, and the synergy to my style with the abilities is pretty nifty. A close second is the blind master from Quintessential Monk.

 

[Robbert Raets]

It's a very close tie between Duelist and Arcane Archer. These are classic archetypes of heroic fantasy. The Duelist is someone who stepped out of a swashbuckling movie, and the Arcane Archer has Tolkien written all over him/her.

 

[S'mon]

The Legend, from Quintessential Fighter.

Great for designing Samson-like NPCs...

 

[Gospog]

The Alienist, from Tome & Blood. Gotta love sprinkling a little Cthullhu in your D&D.

If you include Legendary Classes, I really like the Spirit-Bear-Lord guy (sorry, can't remember the name, but it appeared in Polyhedron a while back).

 

[Nightfall]

Think I'm going to really enjoy Blessed of Mesos in the first Player's Guide. I mean come on. UBER-sorcerer! Who wouldn't like that?

 

[hong]

I'd say the ones listed next to my name in this post.

 

[nharwell]

The one that's balanced, interesting, and playable. There's got to be at least one somewhere....

Don't take me TOO seriously. I know there's usually one or two that's actually ok in any given WOTC product. I particularly liked the Eldritch Master -- it's a difficult class to play, as you need to be fairly clever too make it workable. It's somewhat weak compared to most spellcasting PrCs. Unfortunately, the Mystic Theurge really out-classes the EM, making it sort of pointless.

 

[Crothian]

Oozemaster and the Field Runner