Prestige
Classes – House Rules
Why?
“Prestige
classes are purely optional and always under the purview of the DM. We encourage
you, as the DM, to tightly limit the prestige classes available in your
campaign. The example prestige classes are certainly not all encompassing or
definitive. They might not even be appropriate for your campaign. The best
prestige classes for your campaign are the ones you tailor make yourself.” DMGv3.5 p176
The implication of the above is that PrCs can and
will impact on game balance and that DMs should adjudicate them strictly. It
differs remarkably from the tack taken in player’s splat book “Complete
Warrior” which simply states:
“The
latest edition of the Dungeons & Dragons® game has been about options from
the very beginning.”
Complete Warrior p5
Well the marketing machine has certainly learned a
great deal since the days of when it was usually just the DM that bought
supplemental books to today where the new target market is the players – after
all there are 4 players to every 1 DM, right? What do the players want? To buff
their characters!
My comments above are not so much jaded and cynical,
as cynical and jaded. I do believe there
should be PrCs, there always has been, back in the mystical and sacred days of
the old editions we used to make up our own. But with the great Wizard churning
out what, about two supplements a month now? The number of “official” PrCs is
saturating, there are over 100 in 4 of the “complete” books alone, not to
mention the half a dozen or so that usually appear in each of the additional
supplements. With so many PrCs available
it seems that the DM must buy every splat book published in order to be able to
“tightly limit” their use; fuzzy financial logic I think – I tend to avoid
buying things that I’m not going to use – splat books, mobile phones that speak
my weight, DIY colonic irrigation kits, call me old-fashioned but I just don’t
have the impulse to own these things. But I appreciate that folks like to buy
these books and consider the options that they present. Trouble is, those
options become tempting and anyone who went to Sunday school knows that temptation
leads to sin, evil, debauchery, eternal damnation and EVEN… disruption of game
balance! Who’d of thunk it?
So I thought to myself, a good DM should get to know
all of the squillions of PrCs out there and list definitively which ones are
allowed. So I tried… I read a few… and a few more… then I started to drift… mmmm Christina Aguilera in those chaps…
… then I awoke abruptly with a stiff neck (yes that’s a stiff NECK) and a large
dribble patch on my left shoulder. At
this point I decided that life was too short and instead decided to ask myself
how I would like PrCs to be in my campaign.
Came up with a list, in no order of priority, just a list:
·
PrCs should be
part of the campaign world and help create the flavour of the world
·
They should be character developing and form part of
the character’s progression in role-play terms
·
They should not
give PCs ridiculous powers that disrupt the balance of the system
·
Yes they should
offer new abilities to make characters more powerful
·
No they should
not be a power-build of numbers and abilities designed to “optimise” (I believe
that is the positive politically correct word for min/max) offensive power
·
They should be Prestige not a pick-and-mix
·
The introduction
of a PrC should not make another PC redundant
I turned these into questions that a player might ask
oneself before choosing a PrC:
·
Is this PrC
going to enhance the game or is it
going to enhance my game?
·
Does this PrC
make sense for my character?
·
Does my
character have the opportunity to learn this PrC?
·
Am I taking this
PrC just because it has 1 or 2 cool powers that will make me buff and studly?
·
Is this PrC part
of a carefully plotted path through the cherry orchard of PrCs that will make
my character comfortably invincible, give the DM a headache and make one or
more other player characters ineffectual by comparison?
·
Will my nice,
reasonable DM allow this PrC?
·
Will I accept it
if my DM says no? If not why?
And please remember that your particular DM is not a
power-gamer, he is a story teller, he is not your adversary, he just presents
your adversaries. Your DM is your friend.
So, to my
house rules…
1.
Ask yourself the
above questions.
2.
Ask the DM,
“Does this PrC exist in your campaign world?”
If yes, “can I take it?” A yes answer to the first question does not
necessarily mean a yes answer to the second. If the answer is no, you may
appeal once, with a sensible argument. If the response is still no then just
move on – any further pursuit of the subject will be considered as whining and
will lead to your DM thinking about Christina Aguilera’s arse again – and
probably more dribbling. If the answer is yes then Congratulations! Woo! Hoo!
Yippedy-yay hurrah! You may take your chosen PrC! But before you clasp your DM
close in a loving bear-hug of appreciation and long overdue recognition that he
is really a truly nice guy after all… you are subject to the rest of the rules…
3.
You may never
have more than 2 PrCs.
4.
You should have
at least 5 levels in one PrC before you can take a second PrC, otherwise your
second PrC incurs a 10% xp penalty. This
rule may be waived if for legitimate
in-game reasons your character cannot or really does not want to continue along
that PrC path.
I love you all.
Corey