Most Underrated PrCs

[Thealtruistorc]

Let's face it, there are a LOT of PrCs in 3.5, and whole lot of them end up getting swept under the rug. It's a darn shame, because many of them are fun, flavorful, and add a lot to the game. I'd like to have people share some of their personal favorites here.

Personally, one I rather like is the Frost Mage from Frostburn. I think that it's one of the least appreciated Wizard PrCs, as it has a lot going for it. It offers cold resistance, a lot of natural armor, some extra spells, and an additional metamagic feat in piercing cold (which can be very fun when combined with snowcasting and cold focus). I find it shocking that more wizard/sorcerer builds don't bring it up, as it is rather powerful in the 6-10 range. My best guess is because of the odd prerequisite, which, while hilarious, rules it out from a lot of campaigns.

[VoxRationis]

The problem with the Frost Mage is that it:
A) Is from a book where they're basically trying to shove as much cold-related material as they can down the player's throat, just as Dragon Magic does with dragon-related material, and thus only exists so they can have some sort of cold-related support for arcane casters;
B) Makes no sense at all. Why would a wizard specialize in cold magic if they're going to be running around an environment filled mostly with cold-resistant or cold-immune creatures?

[Thealtruistorc]

The problem with the Frost Mage is that it:
A) Is from a book where they're basically trying to shove as much cold-related material as they can down the player's throat, just as Dragon Magic does with dragon-related material, and thus only exists so they can have some sort of cold-related support for arcane casters;
B) Makes no sense at all. Why would a wizard specialize in cold magic if they're going to be running around an environment filled mostly with cold-resistant or cold-immune creatures?

The way I see it, the frost mage isn't trying to oppose cold-based creatures as much as it is drawing from the same power source. Besides, they have access to anti-cold abilities as well (piercing cold, for one).

[Mountain]

Picking a favorite would be tough, but I love Kensai from Complete Warrior.

[Grayson01]

Love the Assassin from the DMG adds a bit of spell casting to a rouge or Warlock build and I honestly love the flavor. By no means OMG Powerful but that is fine if your goal is fun.

[VoxRationis]

Why would anyone underrate the Assassin? It's not extraordinarily powerful, but I would consider it functional at what it's designed to do. Yes, it's not great for combat purposes, but that's not really what it's there for.

[nedz]

Take a look at the Iron Chef threads. There we have 50+ Underrated PrCs which have been given a lot of love.

[123456789blaaa]

Take a look at the Iron Chef threads. There we have 50+ Underrated PrCs which have been given a lot of love.

I'd say most of those deserve the reputation of terribleness they have. It's the skill of the chefs which makes the builds involving the SI's great, not the SI's themselves (with a few exceptions of course. Geomancer and assassin are pretty good off the top of my head).

[mabriss lethe]

I've been playing around with a build for a while that tries to take garbage base classes and PrCs into something tolerable. So far its Divine Mind (energy mantle)/Pyrokineticist(or alternate energy variant)/Storm Disciple with some sneak attack and Craven thrown in. (though to be fair, PK is a pretty good PrC for non-caster/manifesters.) The idea is that your fire lash also deals a bit of two other energy types so that you have a better chance of scoring a solid hit against resistant creatures, with the majority of the damage coming from Power Attack and Craven.

[Windstorm]

ashworm dragoon from sandstorm is pretty decent. it does require some setting support, however it also provides one of the few mounts that is good for both wilderness and dungeon adventures (there are a few ways around the burrowing through rock limitations)

[Vrock_Summoner]

Well, Dragon Disciple interacts hilariously with Assassin, for one thing.

I happen to be a huge fan of Consecrated Harrier. Not a bad little PrC at all. Also, there's a BoEF prestige class that allows one to take stat penalties of their choosing in place of metamagic costs; I remember that one being quite good, though I think it's only 3 levels long.

[HaikenEdge]

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Soul Eater. It's not a horrible class (in fact, it's rather good), but it's rarely mentioned in conversations. Good times.

[Gwendol]

I guess some of the caster PrC's that gives a caster level loss such as the ordained champion may qualify.

[ahenobarbi]

Wild Mage. It isn't greatest PrC ever but it can be decent (combine with Practiced Spellcaster feat to pump CL, turn extra spell slots to gold, buffs (permanent, stacking, type-agnostic reduce person anyone?) and fun (change color) at level 9). Not very powerful but upgrade to straight wizard and I've seen some very bad opinions about it.

[Zanos]

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Soul Eater. It's not a horrible class (in fact, it's rather good), but it's rarely mentioned in conversations. Good times.
I've only hear mention of it when it' used in builds that involve dishing out more negative levels than anything has Hit Dice in a single round. It's a class I hate because of extreme overspecialization; anything not immune to your gimmick dies instantly, and you suck against anything that's immune to it. Shapechanging into stuff you've killed with your energy drain is pretty neat, though.

[Vhaidara]

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Soul Eater. It's not a horrible class (in fact, it's rather good), but it's rarely mentioned in conversations. Good times.

I threw 1 level of Soul Eater onto a Graft-focused build I made a while back that had over 10 natural attacks. Can anyone else say free level drain everywhere?

I second Frost Mage. I'm using it and it is quite awesome. Although, to be fair, my DM let Easy Metamagic reduce Piercing Cold to a +0 Metamagic.

[ddude987]

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Soul Eater. It's not a horrible class (in fact, it's rather good), but it's rarely mentioned in conversations. Good times.

Ahh soul eater. This class brings back memories of a character I played a while back. The party described the character as such "you know those whirling buzz saws in super meat boy? That's you."

[Aliek]

I just love windwright captain, from the explorers handbook, not exactly powerful but its flavor is nice

[Ansem]

Has to be Walker in the Waste for me and the special necromancer in Drow of the Underdark, needing a female Drow and other obscure spellcasting stuff without full progression, still has potential.

[Chronos]

Loremaster, from the good old DMG, doesn't get enough love. Sure, it doesn't give you anything all that overwhelming, but there's some nice stuff in there: More skill points from a broader list, bardic knowledge, and so on. And of course it's full casting, which is all that really matters, and it's really easy to qualify for (a wizard 10 needs only a single feat to be almost guaranteed to qualify, and you're likely to qualify at 7).

[Divayth Fyr]

the special necromancer in Drow of the Underdark, needing a female Drow and other obscure spellcasting stuff without full progression, still has potential.
Yathrinshee? I guess it can have some potential with enough cheese, but otherwise it simply loses far too much for what you gain.

[XmonkTad]

Evangelist is my favorite. There is really only two things you can do with it (be good and turn people good or be evil and fear stack) but it gives super potent diplomacy power that unfortunately got overshadowed by the jumplomancer.
But yeah, it's a bard PrC that doesn't advance casting. I still love it because it can rewrite alignments.

[Snowbluff]

Swiftblade. The hype is real! *snorts some haste dust*

[dextercorvia]

I like Thayan Slaver (Unapproachable East). Wisdom damage with every intimidate check that wins by 10 or more. Should be pretty simple to do something like 8 Wisdom damage/round to multiple opponents.

[MadGreenSon]

I like Thayan Slaver (Unapproachable East). Wisdom damage with every intimidate check that wins by 10 or more. Should be pretty simple to do something like 8 Wisdom damage/round to multiple opponents.

Plus you just have to love a class that has "Ruthless Beating" as the name of a class feature.:smalltongue:

[Thealtruistorc]

I threw 1 level of Soul Eater onto a Graft-focused build I made a while back that had over 10 natural attacks. Can anyone else say free level drain everywhere?

I second Frost Mage. I'm using it and it is quite awesome. Although, to be fair, my DM let Easy Metamagic reduce Piercing Cold to a +0 Metamagic.

It also works great with arcan thesis (freezing fog).

[dextercorvia]

Plus you just have to love a class that has "Ruthless Beating" as the name of a class feature.:smalltongue:

Yep :smallamused: