Prestige Classes for a Shugenja

[Tyriq]

Finally, after wanting to play this type of character forever, I discovered the Shugenja and was able to create a cloth-wearing healer who derives his powers from water, has an affinity with nature, and has minor illusion/enchantment abilities. Perfecto! Some of you might have seen him in his wonderful but now-defunct campaign.

Sigh.

So, I'm trying to make the character again, and since Shugenja don't get any new abilities after level 1, this time I'd like to aim for a Prestige Class. The trouble is that I don't like the Void Disciple, and that seems to be the only one that is really geared for Shugenja. Does anyone have any advice? Most likely this character is going to be a foreigner in a more traditional campaign, and I'd love to find a good Prestige Class to match his personality. Any thoughts? Contemplative looks appealing. Any others?

[GryffonDurime]

Contemplative DOES seem to be one of the few Divine PrCs that can mesh with the Shugenja's flavor as a foreigner...but there's always the Loremaster, which incorperates well if your character has a particular appreciation of ofudas and sutras. Though the requirements are pretty strict.

A homebrew option might also work, but beyond that? The Shugenja would be hard pressed to mesh well with the flavor of most of the PrCs it could enter.

[AmoDman]

A homebrew option might also work, but beyond that? The Shugenja would be hard pressed to mesh well with the flavor of most of the PrCs it could enter.

Why does it have to? You can say a PrC is whatever you want to say it is. It's all fluff anyways. If you find a PrC you like well enough crunch-wise, just wing the fluff.

[Skyserpent]

Why does it have to? You can say a PrC is whatever you want to say it is. It's all fluff anyways. If you find a PrC you like well enough crunch-wise, just wing the fluff.

It's true, I had a Monk take Drunken Master Prestige Class, swapped the "Alcohol" theme with "Mystic Water from the Phoenix Fountain" And thus, we had a total badass who could use a bamboo pole with sufficient increases in damage as opposed to an actual quarterstaff... Fluff is ephemeral.

[oriong]

Ultimately most prestige classes are about specialization, try and figure out what area you'd like your character to specialize in, there's almost certainly a prestige class out there that's suitable (you might even look to see if there are arcane classes that might be adapted, after all you do have access to some normally arcane abilities).

[TSGames]

The elemental savant Prc's might work well, depending. I believe, it's what I'm thinking of... Something like it's ten levels and you start gaining fire resistance(fire was the example given, but it can apply to every other element) and eventually I think you gain an outsider type. It could just as be your character becoming one with his element. I know it doesn't fit being a foreigner, but if it works for your character, it may be pretty cool.

[TheOOB]

Elemental Savant is a five level class in Complete Arcane. It's primarly geared twords offensive blaster casters, which a water shugenja definatly is not.

[oriong]

The elemental archon from Faiths and Pantheons might be more appropraite. it's 3.0, but it's also built for divine casters and might be more suitable so it can probably be updated. In fact it could be even left as is, it's hardly uber-powered.

if anything it may be too weak. Their abilities are primarily defensive, getting fair amounts of energy resistance as they level up, plus they eventually transform into an elemental which grants them a ton of immunities, etc. The only non-defensive ability they have is a Mephit familiar, the ability to add +1 caster level to spells of their element, and the elemental combat ability and SA of the elemental they transform into.

and for this they sacrifice 3 caster levels, so it should probably be brought up to full caster if it's actually going to be a good class.

[Darrin]

Most likely this character is going to be a foreigner in a more traditional campaign, and I'd love to find a good Prestige Class to match his personality. Any thoughts? Contemplative looks appealing. Any others?

Shujenga is hard to PrC/Multiclass, since it's essentially a Sorcerer variant with divine spells, and most suitable PrCs require something Sorcerer specific (most Cha-based spellcaster feats/PrCs explicitly require Sorcerer levels, arcane spells, or a familiar) or a cleric-only ability such as turn undead.

The best PrC that comes to mind is Mystic Wanderer from _Magic of Faerun_. 3.0 and FR-specific, but it fits your concept of "stranger in a strange land". Perks: Full caster progression, add Cha bonus to AC if unarmored, useful spell-like abilities, free familiar, and brew potions from the wiz/sor list. Klunks: horrible BAB, useless Iron Will requirement.

Normally this would sync well with monk levels, but unfortunately Ascetic Mage, which would allow you to use Cha instead of Wis for your monk AC bonus, requires arcane spellcasting. I guess adding Wis and Cha to AC isn't necessarily a bad thing, but increases MAD with a stat that doesn't do much else for you (Wis).

If you want to try the monk thing or are looking for a fighting-friendly PrC with decent BAB, then you might want to consider Sacred Fist. Perks: full BAB, decent caster level progression, a variety of interesting class abilities. Klunks: can't use weapons EVER, special multiclass restriction, lose 3 caster levels (unforgivable for some players).

Elemental Savant is probably the perfect PrC for a Shujenga. Class abilities are kind of a grab-bag, nothing really outstanding, and you lose 2 caster levels, but the 10th level ability is definitely worth it: become an elemental, and you're completely immune to criticals.

Unfortunately, most of the divine PrCs completely suck. Very, very few of them have full caster progression, full BAB, or reasonably useful feat requirements. The decent ones tend to be 3.0-only, FR-specific. For example, you might want to consider the Windwalker (from _Faiths & Pantheons_). Perks: full BAB, full caster progression, and at 10th a permanent fly speed of 100'. Klunks: useless feat requirements (Track for a flight-based PrC???).

[MrNexx]

Klunks: useless feat requirements (Track for a flight-based PrC???).

Correction: Track for a PrC devoted to Shaundakul, the deity of the winds, rangers, and tracking (IIRC).