PoW prestige classes, archetypes, and advanced study

[JMAP94]

Hey everyone, (and elricatovillia if you're reading this),

I was kind of confused on how preparing manuvers works with prestige classes, and wanted to know because I'm playing a teiasatsu/night terror vigilante and planning to level into Umbral blade after 7th.

My current understanding is that the prestige levels stack with your preexisting PoW levels in classes, and you just follow the progression of any other PoW class that you have levels in of your choice. And so, what I wanted to knowing this point is if I'm right in saying that id still follow the archetype manuver progression and not the "primary manuever" table in determinign max level for maneuvers? If that's the case, would it make sense to dip a level into a "primary" PoW class? (Im starting off at level 5, and if I did the math correctly, and I understand things right, it wouldn't pay off until like level 16 or something like that I don't have the paper in front of me).

Secondly, my archetype, like all Pow archetypes, specifically mentions that the table does not limit the max level manuvers gained through other means such as advanced study and prestige classes (which confused me a bit). But, the language of the advanced study feat specifically says that I need to meet the requirements to pick a manuver. So, with advanced study, which table do I use the standard initiator table, or the archetype one?

Thirdly, and why I'm kind of confused on all this, how do classes who took martial training feat use pow prestige classes? Like I understand how they calculate their initiator level, but if they have no class to "stack" with, which class are they preparing their manuvers ?

I know this is like the twohundreth question I've asked on the subject, and I appreciate everyone's help. I know this one's an eye full.

Thanks everyone

[exelsisxax]

When you gain maneuvers, all classes are independent of eachother and all other sources of maneuvers for all purposes except initiator level, not duplicating known maneuvers, and fulfilling N maneuvers known requirements. In all other respects, no other features, classes, or anything matter. You should pretend that they don't exist.

So if you just got UB level 2, you select one maneuver from your UB disciplines known(this depends on a previous class, but is hard-set at level 1 and is an UB feature, not part of the other class), based on your total initiator level and knowing what maneuvers your character known is total(because those two are the exceptions). You otherwise ignore everything about how many vigilante levels you have, because they don't matter. The archetype table doesn't apply, because UB doesn't have the archetype table. If you pick up more vigilante levels, you ignore everything about UB and advanced study and everything else(again, except IL and list of known maneuvers, because those are character-wide) and use the chart, because vigilantes must use the chart.

That's the rule of thumb: when you pick a maneuver, no class or feature other than the one giving you that maneuver has any effect on what you can choose.


For using maneuvers, things interact. Advanced study and prestige add to other class' known/readied counts.

[JMAP94]

That makes sense, for some reason I thought that the prestige classes manuvers went off of your other classes manuver progression, but that makes perfect sense the way you explained it.

Thanks.

[Andor13]

That makes sense, for some reason I thought that the prestige classes manuvers went off of your other classes manuver progression, but that makes perfect sense the way you explained it.

Thanks.

Well, they do relate to your previous classes maneuver progression, in that they still use the maneuver recovery method from that class.

[Manyasone]

To Be fair, you don't actually ignore all other classes. They still count as half initiator levels to add when selecting new maneuvers. Very important, don't forget

[exelsisxax]

That makes sense, for some reason I thought that the prestige classes manuvers went off of your other classes manuver progression, but that makes perfect sense the way you explained it.
Thanks.

They get attached to a progression once you've learned them. The thing they get attached to doesn't change the ones you can pick - they provide you a way to ready and recover.


To Be fair, you don't actually ignore all other classes. They still count as half initiator levels to add when selecting new maneuvers. Very important, don't forget

That's why I noted several times that IL and your list of known maneuvers are character-wide, and are always taken into account because of that.

[JMAP94]

To Be fair, you don't actually ignore all other classes. They still count as half initiator levels to add when selecting new maneuvers. Very important, don't forget

With prestige classes in particular though, they count as full levels