What Makes a Good Theurge PrC?

[asnys]

Thinking about homebrewing a theurge class for psions and martial initiators. I've never done anything with theurges before, either making or playing, but clearly some theurge PrCs get a lot more love (Jade Phoenix Mage) than others (Yathrinshee). So, I thought I'd consult the collective wisdom of the forum: what makes a good theurge PrC?

[Gildedragon]

Few to no lost levels in the progression of the entry classes and class features that make the entry classes work together

[Cosi]

1. Not losing too many caster levels. The best theurge PrCs are ones where you can get in with a one or two level dip out of your primary class.
2. Interesting class features. The Mystic Theurge is incredibly boring. You get casting and also... more casting. Classes like the Ultimate Magus, Anima Mage, or Jade Phoenix Mage (incidentally, Firefox's spell-checker thinks "Phoenix" is a word but "Mage" is not) give you something interesting for your levels.
3. Some kind of synergy between the two halves of your character. Ultimate Magus lets you burn spells to augment other spells. Anima Mage lets you sacrifice vestige power for metamagic. These things are cool, because they help your character feel less like two partial characters stapled together.

[Gildedragon]

Psionic-ing the JPM is bound to be pretty easy
Azure Dragon Esper(?) Psychic(?)
Use the Spell to Power erudite's table to convert spell slots into power points (mystic phoenix stance equivalent would be DR equal to number or powerpoints spent +1)

[Troacctid]

Personally, I find I'm usually content just smashing two classes together. Hence the link in my sig.

[Inevitability]

Anima Mage is infamous because you can qualify for the soul binding requirements with two feats, and never actually have to take binder levels to gain all the benefits. Yes, that includes soul binding advancement.

I actually had to loop up Yathrinshee and wow, it is awful, even with early entry. The only interesting point is the technically limitless undead legions you can have with Curse of the Revenancer.

[asnys]

Psionic-ing the JPM is bound to be pretty easy
Azure Dragon Esper(?) Psychic(?)
Use the Spell to Power erudite's table to convert spell slots into power points (mystic phoenix stance equivalent would be DR equal to number or powerpoints spent +1)

I want to do something more interesting than just psionicizing JPM. Not sure what yet, but something.



I actually had to loop up Yathrinshee and wow, it is awful, even with early entry. The only interesting point is the technically limitless undead legions you can have with Curse of the Revenancer.

I think you could also do something with the Necromancer ability and the Practiced Spellcaster feat to get Absurdly High caster levels for your necromancer spells, but I dunno if it would be worth it.

[Telonius]

I'm about to play my first theurge-y class in an upcoming campaign: an Eldritch Disciple. Cloistered Cleric of Olidammara/Warlock entry; then Eldritch Disciple, and some Sacred Exorcist to finish it out (if the campaign lasts that long). It'll lose two levels of Cleric casting, but it looks like it's going to be a bunch of fun. The main draw for me is that the features work really nicely together. Warlock has a bunch of all-day buffs, and things that a Cleric of a Trickster god just ought to have.