Points for Style - what are the "coolest" Base and Prestige Classes?

[Particle_Man]

This would be independent from their power level, tier or niche.

Personally, I think the Warlock should be up there for style, from the art to the idea of "a deal with the Wrong Crowd" background.

For prestige classes I gotta hand it to Magic of Incarnum's Sapphire Hierarch. This is a Lawful (with a capital L) religious group based out in the middle of nowhere where they worship a giant blue rock that can (through calculations) predict the future. Again, I like the art, and the work they put into the description of this cult in just a few pages.

Soulknife might work here too. Powerful? Probably not. But when I read that I was thinking "Jedi with Lightsabre" and I bet I wasn't the only one.

What else out there just "sounds cool" even if it is not that powerful (or even if it is).

[Vedhin]

Truenamers. You basically get to boss the universe around. Wizards have to use spells, you just tell the universe what to do, and it does it.

[Komatik]

Druid
Binder
Sorcerer
The whole damn Tome of Battle

[Urpriest]

Truenamers. You basically get to boss the universe around. Wizards have to use spells, you just tell the universe what to do, and it does it.

What do you think verbal spell components are, then?

Sorry, pet peeve of mine.

Most of the "blight and disease" focused Druids tend to be pretty cool. Blighters, Talontar Blightlords, Cancer Mages...

[Komatik]

What do you think verbal spell components are, then?

Sorry, pet peeve of mine.

Most of the "blight and disease" focused Druids tend to be pretty cool. Blighters, Talontar Blightlords, Cancer Mages...

Speaking of which, I really want a Golgari caster class for D&D ;__;

[IAmTehDave]

Speaking of which, I really want a Golgari caster class for D&D ;__;

Druid Necromancer of some sort?

On topic: Dragonfire Adept. Dripping with Dragon flavor, just without the huge size and insane full attack round... or the sorcerer casting progression...
(Though gestalt one with a sorcerer and Metabreath Spells...)

Also, I think Alchemist [PF] is a really cool-sounding base class. Either Jekyll+Hyde it up, or become a mad bomber, or both! (sort of) As an additional bonus, you get more utility out of alchemy items, which are some of my favorite things low level...

PrC: Soulbow. I can shoot arrows at you with my MIND! (And, strangely enough, apply Manyshot, etc. to the attack)

[Vedhin]

What do you think verbal spell components are, then?

Verbal components, like other spell components, are part of the ritual used to produce a magic effect. Truenaming is literally just saying what you want to happen.

[Komatik]

Druid Necromancer of some sort?

Yeah. A nice blend of plant-focused magic and necromancy.

[The Trickster]

Clearly, Frost Mage is the coolest.

I always loved Shadowcraft mage (you never know if what they are casting is illusion, real, or both) and Master of Masks.

[limejuicepowder]

Avenging Executioner is one my favorites - and it might just be because of the quote from the sample build: Scream. Scream like you made me scream.

Kensai are pretty boss as well. I like the idea of a principled, devoted warrior who draws strength from his ideals. Very samurai.

[Spore]

Barbarians. Because they KNOW how much they suck and they want to prove otherwise or perish. What a sight to behold!

[Piggy Knowles]

Base class: Shadowcaster. (Tome of Magic)

You draw actual magical strength and power from the shadows, shaping them into weapons or obscuring yourself with them.
You can create pockets of the shadow plane here on earth.
As an actual mechanical ability, your shadow moves independently of you. Come on, tell me that's not cool.
You have a mystery that can see your enemy's greatest loves and fears.
You have a mystery that automatically dominates any animal that comes within range of you and gives it the dark template. Yes, you can be Peter Piper with an army of creepy shadow-rats. (There's also a mystery that animates objects in a similar fashion.)
You have a mystery that turns the world into a baffling labyrinth, where movement is confused and nothing works right.


Every time I decide on the coolest prestige class, I start writing something down and then think of one that's cooler, so I'll just leave it at the base class. Because, shadowcasters!

[Kuulvheysoon]

PrC: Soulbow. I can shoot arrows at you with my MIND! (And, strangely enough, apply Manyshot, etc. to the attack)

While we're on the topic, vanilla soulknife. Awesome concept.

Truenamers have a ridiculous amount of flavor as well.

I'm also a fan of pyrokineticist. I mean, come on. How is it not awesome?

[Urpriest]

Verbal components, like other spell components, are part of the ritual used to produce a magic effect. Truenaming is literally just saying what you want to happen.

How do you think the rituals work then?

Seriously, every magic system I've ever encountered with "magic words" is either "the magic words tell the spirits what to do" or "the magic words are the language of the universe, saying them makes things happen". D&D magic isn't the former, the default assumption is that it's the latter.

[Zonugal]

I think the Gunslinger from Pathfinder might on the top of such a list.

One of its class features can be refilled by being cool.

[Craft (Cheese)]

Archivists can be pretty awesome depending on how you play them: My preferred interpretation is that they're magical anthropologists, trying to understand as many different ideas about how to see the world as possible and drawing strength from all of them, even the ideas they personally reject. Especially the ideas they reject, in the case of a Good-aligned archivist who reads forbidden tomes of evil.

Also, seconding Shadowcraft Mage for coolest PrC.

[Razanir]

Commoner

(In all honesty, though, Chicken Infested IS pretty nifty)

[Prime32]

Body Leech (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040925a).

[JBarca]

Clearly, Frost Mage is the coolest.

Thank you.

I've always found the Mystic Theurge and its ilk to be some of the most interesting. Having mastery of all types of magic? Alrighty then.
I've also been on a huge Archivist kick lately. I love the idea of devoting a life to acquisition of knowledge and, therefore, power.

[FrznTear]

Disciple of Thrym from Frostburn.

>Wall of Ice
>Meld into ice
>Chill out

Bonus points if you sneak into an enemy lair and do this, buff self up and emerge swinging your greataxe to chop some wood.

[georgie_leech]

How do you think the rituals work then?

Seriously, every magic system I've ever encountered with "magic words" is either "the magic words tell the spirits what to do" or "the magic words are the language of the universe, saying them makes things happen". D&D magic isn't the former, the default assumption is that it's the latter.

I've always interpreted verbal/material components as "cheat codes" of a sort. The difference between Magic and Truenaming is like the difference between putting in the Konami Code in Contra, and mucking around with the game's code to change stuff. In favour of this analogy is that both Truenaming and reprogramming are likely to result in a buggy mess.

[nedz]

Bard because Rock-Star. Those other dudes are just drummers.

[Alex12]

Dread Necromancer- Has far more undead minions than anyone else is really comfortable with him having.
Truenamer- fluff-wise, it's great.

Tainted Scholar- Power borne of madness: the class!

[Waker]

One that I've been fond of for quite a while is the Ghostwalker. You're a fighter type who can fake his death, flit about and the shadows and you are literally stronger when people don't know who you are.

In response to all the talk about Truenaming vs Verbal Components, I believe Flickerdart said it best.

Originally Posted by Flickerdart
Arcanists cast magic through miniaturized rituals - chants, gestures, sacrificial components and totems - which produce a codified result. Truenamers skip that part, and dictate to the universe what they want to happen in a language that it can understand. It's the difference between electroplating metals with chemistry and holding some gold and tin together while saying "now kiss".

[Urpriest]

Body Leech (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040925a).

For that matter, most of the Minds' Eye PrCs are glorious. But yeah, this is something that really makes me regret not persuading my local DM to run an evil 3.5 game...

[Octopus Jack]

For coolest base class I'm torn between Factotum, Warblade and Paladin (of Tyranny) there's just something about each one of them that evokes style but having to pick one over the other I think I'd go with Factotum.

PrC's is a bit harder especially since I've been away from books for a while so might miss some off the top of my head. Near enough anything out of complete Adventurer or Scoundrel could qualify as pretty darn cool though a personal favourite of mine is Death Delver, at the capstone you become so hardcore you can just say 'no' to Death itself until after the 9th time where Death finally get's tired of you simply refusing to go with him.

[asnys]

I like paladins, illusionists, necromancers, spellthieves, and marshals - I really love the idea of the Leader-Of-Men character who adventures by crushing opposing realms with an army instead of crawling around somebody's basement. Too bad it doesn't really work.

[Telonius]

Knight of the Chalice always seemed like a really cool PrC, as far as fluff goes. You start off as a valiant knight (iconic and cool), and then all of a sudden it dials the awesome up to 11 as you discover the reason behind it.

[avr]

Binder. It's like a warlock except the dealing with dark or mad powers is something you do every day.

[zlefin]

dragon shaman sounds cool.

nothing else is really leaping out at me as a prime prospect.

[Khosan]

Spellthief.

Sounds badass and lets you cast Bigby's Offending Digit on anyone with a spell list whenever you want. Screw you, Wizzy Pointyhat, it's mine now.

[mythmonster2]

Knight of the Chalice always seemed like a really cool PrC, as far as fluff goes. You start off as a valiant knight (iconic and cool), and then all of a sudden it dials the awesome up to 11 as you discover the reason behind it.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this and am curious. Can you elaborate? The class just looks like a demon/devil-slayer to me.

[lsfreak]

How do you think the rituals work then?

Seriously, every magic system I've ever encountered with "magic words" is either "the magic words tell the spirits what to do" or "the magic words are the language of the universe, saying them makes things happen". D&D magic isn't the former, the default assumption is that it's the latter.

I've always thought about prepared Vancian magic as being like the Chinese Room thought experiment. [A person slips a piece of English text into room. A person in the room has all the tools to translate the text into Chinese, and the "machine" spits out a perfect translation of the text in Chinese. But the person in the room has no idea how to speak, read, or write Chinese - they simply have the detailed instructions to do it, despite every appearance to the person desiring the translation that translator has a perfect understanding of both English and Chinese]. Wizards are speaking nonsense, fluttering their arms about, whatever it takes to get the results - but they don't actually know what they're doing.

Put another way, the difference between miming out what you need because you don't know the local language and the locals answer you because they don't have a reason not to, and telling the locals what you need and having them answer because you demand their respect. (Sorcerers and such are a bit weirder, their fluff fits psionics crunch way better than Vancian).

Seconding shadowcaster. Also binder; the broad scope of "binding magic spirits for power" isn't overly eye-catching, but the mechanical execution and the details of "vestiges are those trapped in the void between death and afterlife, desperate for the contact of the living word" is amazing. I also really like the ideas invoked by hexblades, even though their actual fluff description isn't all that impressive.

[Angelalex242]

Paladin. Cause I grew up playing one too many video games where the idea was to slay evil things all over the place, rescue the princess, live happily ever after. 8 bit games couldn't really make a plot more complicated then that, but I've been rescuing princesses and living happily ever after ever since.

[Feint's End]

Yeah. A nice blend of plant-focused magic and necromancy.

You know I'd really like to see something like this happen. Mind homebrewing one?

As for OP:
Base Classes:
-all psionic classes (the PF versions)
-ToB classes (all for their own reasons)
-Paladin
-Monk
-Sorceror

[Karnith]

I really love both the True Necromancer and Yathrinshee PrCs, which is why it's a shame that they're both mechanically terrible outside of some very niche builds. Mixing arcane and divine forms of necromancy to become a master of life and death is a concept that I'm a huge fan of.

[LordBiscuit]

Ninja: Not so much for the name, but it's a subarchtype of monk that lets you be that assissin with super natural abilities from the get go. It sounds more appealing to be a trained killer in the dark, that can then roleplay as a theif as a cover, then a scrawning theif.

Just a pity it struggles to live up to the hype, since even the humble rogue can wear light armour and still be super sneaky. Apprently thats one step too far for the professional Ki-assissin who ends up being outpreformed by the swordsage in every precieveable way, aside from the absence of a sneak attack value.


Monk: Same reason as assissin. Though why this didn't just go ahead and be a devine caster, I really have no idea. Would have been better then trying to mimik a caster but much worse.


All TOB base classes: They can be what you want them to be. Each has strong basic fluff and all are relatively customisable. There really isn't much else to say. Anything from the crusiader to the epic champion that is badass through sheer training.


Theres probably others. But those are the only classes I've really had a good look at. I like Duskblades for being the sort of Arcane Paladin, though I think the fluff is largely pants.

[Amphetryon]

Blood Magus is regularly pointed to for "style" among the gamers I know.

[Sception]

Base Classes? Warlock, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Warblade, Swordsage, Binder. I'm far less likely to play a game of d20 D&D that doesn't allow at least one of the above.

Prestige Classes? I don't know, Shadowcraft Mage, Pale Master, Master of Shrouds... Most of the PrCs from Complete Mage are pretty neat. I'm not a big fan of the incarnate or incarnum in general, but the Necrocarnate is pretty cool. Bone Knight from Eberron is great on the more martial front, as is the... What was it called? The elf-race PrC in tome of battle? The one where you're basically Link from the Zelda games, with a little floating fairy guide? Well, I can't remember the name, but that one's pretty great too. Shame the prereqs push most of the cooler features above the level ranges where I normally get to play.