[4E] Prestige Paths

[mikeejimbo]

I rather miss the Prestige Classes, which I realize have been more or less replaced with Paragon Paths. There are a number of old Prestige Classes that I feel don't fit quite into Paragon Paths, such as the Ur-Priest and Blackguard. The reason being that with these classes, you lost something of your old class, but gained something comparable in power (at least that was the idea, we know how some of them could be), while with Paragon Paths, you retain all of your old power. That is the best way I can describe my problem with Paragon Paths and their relation to certain old Prestige Classes, anyway.

That is why I have come up with what I think could be a balanced and workable system: Prestige Paths. Bear with me here.

Here is the basic idea: There are already classes that can only be multiclassed into: The Bravo, the Poisoner, maybe a few more. Prestige Classes will be classes that can only be multiclassed into, but they will have their own array of powers, allowing you to use the various power swap feats to get them. You would also then be able to Paragon Multiclass into them.

I am imagining that the Prestige Classes will have more strict requirements than current multiclass feats.

Workable? Overpowered? Underpowered?

[vasharanpaladin]

...I would say "workable," with the caveat that the classes you gave as examples can already be represented within the game. An "ur-priest" is any Primal caster with an evil alignment. A "blackguard" is an evil-aligned paladin.

However, I'd still like to see your take on them, hmm~?

[Gralamin]

So your prestige path would work like Spellscars? Sounds workable. Can Bards take more then one?

[mikeejimbo]

...I would say "workable," with the caveat that the classes you gave as examples can already be represented within the game. An "ur-priest" is any Primal caster with an evil alignment. A "blackguard" is an evil-aligned paladin.

However, I'd still like to see your take on them, hmm~?

Yes, that's true. Maybe those two weren't the best examples, since they are more or less easily represented. You could even make an Ur-Priest as some evil Divine class if you wanted, I suppose.

As it is, I don't really have any extremely good ideas for an Ur-Priest, so I think I'd work on the Blackguard first.

So your prestige path would work like Spellscars? Sounds workable. Can Bards take more then one?

I imagine Bards would be able to, given how they're just a multiclass into a class that can't be taken as base.