GiTP Prestige Class Voting Thread XLVII: Rebirth

[Techwarrior]

Alright folks, it's time to have a final stand to see who's going to come out on top in this version of the GiTP PrC Contest.

The rules are simple: Vote once, ranking your top 3 favorites. 1st place gets 3pts, 2nd place gets 2pts, and 3rd place gets 1pt. Whoever has the most points wins. When you vote, bold your entries please, and tell us why you voted for those classes. Voting is open til next Monday, October 20th. Get voting!

And the entries are...


Prestige Class
Author
1st
2nd
3rd
Total


Reborn
ezkaji

2
1
5


Phoenixborne (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18138059&postcount=4)
Just to Browse
1
1
1
6


Binder of the Inner Circle (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18142812&postcount=6)
Milo v3


1
1


Karmic Accelerator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18145483&postcount=7)
Glimbur
1
1
1
6


Practitioner of the Way of the Butterfly (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18195298&postcount=9)
dragonjek
2


6




Apologies to those disqualified, but let's get voting!

-Techwarrior

[dragonjek]

1st: Phoenixborne
This class is perhaps the most well put-together of the bunch (and I also like phoenices, and had intended to make a PrC like this before I saw it had already been done).

2nd: Reborn
I love the concept behind this, and what was done with the different type-rebirth-thing was inspired.

3rd: Karmic Accelerator
To be honest, the Binder of the Inner Circle would have been my choice for 3rd (despite the interesting mechanics and purpose of the Accelerator), but the Sealed Boons ability was never completed and I don't feel like I should vote for it for that.

[Extra Anchovies]

Before I begin, what do you mean by voting being "open til next Saturday, September 6th"? That might be a typo.

Regardless:
1st: Karmic Accelerator. I have a soft spot for 10-level PrCs that can't be entered before 10th level (e.g. Contemplative, Eternal Blade). This is also just a generally well-designed prestige class, advancing some features of various base classes without requiring those features for entry. The Cosmic Knowledge ability prevents the class from being pigeonholed, and fits with the flavor of the class. And speaking of flavor, that quote at the beginning made me smile.

2nd: Phoenixborne. Someone had to do a phoenix-themed PrC, and this one did the creature justice. Also, it's a class that provides its own set of abilities that don't synergize heavily with existing class features, but makes them good enough for the class to be worth taking. Also, phoenixes are cool.

3rd: Reborn. The idea of spending a 5-level prestige class growing gradually weaker and weaker, only to hit 5th level and undergo a sudden, significant power increase, is just really cool. If they can manage to suffer through those four levels, they end up with a new creature type, ability scores that are probably higher than when they started, and a pile of awesome class features (evasion, pounce, skill mastery, etc), and that's enough of a gain for it to be worth those four levels of slow decline.

[Glimbur]

1st: Practitioner of the Way of the Butterfly. The theme fits together, I could see myself playing it, and the power balance is pretty good.

2nd: Reborn This is a very unusual idea, which I like. You spend four levels getting worse overall but gaining defensive abilities, and the fifth you (probably) become better at everything. I'm not sure I would play it, and it gets weird when you start a game at high enough level just to get the good stuff, or the campaign won't go high enough level to hit the capstone. Still, it's something different which is cool.

3rd: Phoenixborne Again, it picks the theme and sticks with it. I'm a little puzzled as to what kind of character would want to enter it, but it does end up being incredibly durable. Which, again, fits the theme. Maybe a touch too powerful, but you can't be immune to the fatigue/exhaustion you get from rebirth so it's not trivial to become immortal with this class.

Binder of the Inner Circle also had some interesting ideas, and you got to choose a lot of class features which is nice, but it didn't quite feel complete.

[Just to Browse]

1st: Practitioner of the Way of the Butterfly. Fantastic theme I hadn't even considered, provides strong and flexible class features that make monk players less obsolete at level 6. My main complaints are that 2+ class features per level at every level puts up a significant barrier to entry, and the fact that it's Pathfinder with no 3e port. But still, great work dragonjek.

2nd: Karmic Accelerator. Very very weak for a class that you're supposed to enter at level 11, but if the prereqs got dropped to BAB +5 or 8r in K(religion), I could see myself considering this class. The biggest problem I have with this class is that there is so much text dedicated to Rebirth Strike that isn't actually usable unless you're fishing for resurrection forms with a helm of opposite alignment. Why does the evil creature need to roll on a table for resurrection? Why do we need to determine the distance away it is? And why do I want to bring someone back from the dead without 100% assurance they won't try to kill me again?

3rd: Binder of the Inner Circle. Parts were very incomplete, abuse cases are fairly obvious (picking high-Con outsiders for huge HP boosts, construct immunities for a 1-level dip with fullcasting), and there are big problems with being forced to use intelligent armor that cannot be removed. But the concept was interesting and I could enjoy playing a character like that if my DM didn't hit me over the head for picking up the HP of a Balor.

The reborn doesn't get my vote because of the way it messes with stats. You can have your best stat get reduced below the level of the average commoner, and dump stats turn into an enormous, glaring weakness. HP, saves, to-hit, DCs, bonus spells... almost everything gets ruined until you finally hit level 5 and get anywhere between 4 and 16 points back into each stat. This is bad for new players because you need some serious optimization to compensate for losing all your attributes, and it's bad for old players because the capstone messes with your build path and turns you into a glass cannon.

[Techwarrior]

3 way tie for 1st place. Keep the votes coming.

Also, vote thread end date has been fixed. Curse you copy/paste

[Just to Browse]

The end date hath passed. Unless we're going to extend the end date, I think a tiebreaker vote would be in order.

[Glimbur]

I'd be ok with a three way tie; I would finally be in first place*!

Or a tiebreaker somehow, though I don't know how we would do that.

[dragonjek]

I'd be ok with a three way tie; I would finally be in first place*!

Or a tiebreaker somehow, though I don't know how we would do that.


The tiebreaker part is pretty easy--Techwarrior hasn't voted yet, and that vote could be used to break up the tie.

[Just to Browse]

In the base class contests, Temotei would break ties. So I figure that's what should happen here as well.