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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 1993750" data-attributes="member: 1465">I think requirements are a very important part of a prestige class, and should be done with care when writing the prestige class. Requirements + 1st level features are the only things which EVERY member of that prestige class will have in common, after all, and as auch they idenitify ALL duelists, mages of the arcane order or radiant servants of pelor in the world.What is not nice is that quite too often the requirements are used by designers more as a balance tool than to support the PrCl concept. It works like "hey look what cool powers I'm offering you, but you have to pay me 3 feats and 15 skill points first...". If the PrCl features are instead balanced with core classes in the first place, there is no need for an "entry price".But the requirements are a good tool to help you develop the concept of the PrCl. For instance, to become an Order of the Bow Initiate, you have to be a good archer beforehand. That assures the fact that every OotBI in the world will be a good archer.What I would like to see (but books have few of them) is PrCls with flexible requirements. Clearly, in some cases you HAVE TO have fixed requirements, such as a PrCl which focuses on empowering the Rage ability, you need Rage beforehand. But in most cases there is no true need for fixed requirements. I try to give an example...Order of the Bow Initiate:IIRC requires Weapon Focus (any bow), Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, plus BAB +7 and other things.The PrCl does not directly improve those IIRC, for those are merely bonuses and not new abilities (except Rapid Shot).You have to force an argument to justify how the Order identifies those bonuses in the candidate: one could say they let the archer shoot 100 times, and notice it hits 5% more frequently with one type of bow (because of WF), but the truth is that it is almost metagaming. An archer with BAB +20 but without Weapon Focus would be a far better candidate in-character, but technically it doesn't qualify.IMO it is perfectly fine to dynamically adjust PrCl requirements if a character has the chance to take the class. For example, it would make sense to require any 4 archer-oriented feats instead of those 4 exactly. The concept is maintained, the class works the same, but there is less to bother about.Just to mention, the OotBI is not that bad, but other PrCl are outright off. Why should a deity accept a Blackguard only if the subject can Sunder and Cleave? That is, simply, ridiculous.In some cases, why not also have (slightly) flexible features? If the OotBI normally grants a Greater Weapon Focus in a bow, which clearly assumes the PC had Weapon Focus, I have absolutely no problem in giving Weapon Focus at that point to a PC who I allowed to qualify with a different feat.Obviously all this jazz requires some work from the DM, but as long as you have to bother only about a few PC in your game, I don't think it's a significant effort.</blockquote>

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