Multiclassing/Prestige Class question(s)

[MightyTim]

I suppose my original foray into D&D was privileged, in that I was first introduced into 4e, and had access to the character builder so that I didn't have to worry about any of the behind-the-scenes work when it came to leveling up. But my friend recently convinced us into playing a 3.5 campaign, and despite being a lot less user-friendly, I'm starting to like the customization options.

I've read most of the PHB 1 and 2, and DMG but can't really find the answer to this. Hopefully a fellow playgrounder can shed some light on the subject.

If I'm playing an arcane class (say, a 15th level sorcerer), and want to take a level in the Archmage prestige class, I gain new spells per day and spells known as if I were a 16th level sorcerer, which in this case would result in the learning of an 8th level spell. Is there any point in taking more levels in sorcerer once I do this? The next level of sorcerer would just make the character a Sorc16/Archmage1, and wouldn't really get anything, because the Archmage level granted pretty much all the benefit of a 16 level sorcerer anyway. Is there something I'm missing here?

I suppose sorcerer might not be the best example, since they don't really get any bonus benefits from leveling up. So instead of a sorcerer, what about a 14th level wizard that prestiges to archmage. If he takes a level of wizard again later, does he get the "lost" bonus feat back, retroactively, or is it gone?

[Noneoyabizzness]

Sorcs get familar progression.


And no reason to take sorc untill you finish archmage

[begooler]

Here's an example with a wizard. Say you are wizard 9, and then you take a PRC. Let's say it's one that advances spellcasting, but not other class features, at each level. After taking that PrC for 6 levels, you decide to go back and take a level of wizard.

Wizard 9 /PRC 6: You have the spellcasting of a 15th level wizard.

After leveling:
Wizard 10/ PRC 6: You have the spellcasting of a 16th level wizard. Since you are currently taking the tenth level of wizard, you get the class features a tenth level wizard gets, which is a bonus feat. The class features that you didn't earn because you were taking a PRC don't retroactively catch up. You have the class features of a 10th level wizard, the spell casting of a 16th level wizard, and the class features from the 6 levels of your PRC.

What would be the point in doing this? Well, you get the bonus feat, and since you are level 16, instead of level 10, you might be able to qualify for a better feat than if you had taken the level 10 in wizard before you took your PRC.

One trick some people use with Beguilers is to take levels in a PRC that advances spellcasting just before they take a level of Beguiler that gives the Advanced Learning class feature. That way, when they permanently learn a new spell, it is a higher level spell than what they would have gotten otherwise.

[Veyr]

In your example, the Sorcerer 16/Archmage 1 would have 17th level spellcasting (as opposed to the Sorcerer 15/Archmage 1's 16th level spellcasting); the PrC gives you a permanent boost equal to its class level, so if you take more levels in your original class you continue to have that bonus.

Of course, since Sorcerer has no class features aside from familiar and spellcasting progression, there almost no reason to not take as many PrCs as possible, provided that every PrC level gives "+1 level of existing (arcane) spellcasting class". Losing a spellcasting level is a very bad idea, though; it really hurts you ridiculously bad. (of course, Sorcerers are also very powerful if you choose spells carefully, which of course means that you can afford to lose spellcasting levels if your team mates aren't classes that are as powerful as the Sorcerer - it may hurt you very badly, but you have a lot of room to lose before you're as weak as a Fighter, and even more buffer between you and a Monk)

One thing to consider, though: PrCs often require feats or particular spells. A Sorcerer is very limited on both. While Sorcerer 20 may have basically nothing in terms of class features, burning three feats and seven spells known to get into a class (e.g. Loremaster) may make Sorcerer 10/PrC 10 worse than Sorcerer 20 just because of what you lose getting into the PrC. The Loremaster is an excellent example of this.

[MightyTim]

Thanks guys. That clears a lot up.

I'm not horribly worried about being an optimized spellcaster. Our party consists of myself, a cleric (the player of whom is basically an anti-munchkin), a paladin, and a samurai, and a DMPC fighter until our DM decides to kill him off. I'm not even sure the DM knows his way around the material well enough to make meaningful encounters for an optimized caster that won't blow up the melee guys in one hit anyway, so I'd be more than happy to play an un-optimized caster rather than have an assortment of "I win" buttons to press when I get bored of letting the samurai poking the enemy with his swords.