Prestige Class Recommendations

[BardicDuelist]

I am currently starting a campaign (for a new group) where the following base classes are allowed: All core, except monk; warlock, factotum, archivist, beguiler, duskblade, knight, marshal, healer, scout, spellthief, and swashbuckler.

I plan to give my players a list of prestige classes that I will allow. I would like at least one that works well for each class, to a maximum of three, and I was wondering which PrCs everyone here like.

So far, I have: Lyric Thaumaturge (CMage) and Sublime Chord (CArcane) for Bard. Chameleon (RoDestiny) for Factotum.

Considering: Frostrager (Frostburn) for Barbarian.

What do you recommend for everything else? (I am looking for good classes that aren't horribly cheesy). All book are allowed, but please say what book the classes are from.

[Dhavaer]

Ultimate Magus for Wizard and Sorcerer. Maybe also Loremaster for Wizard.

[cupkeyk]

Prc'ing and multiclassing is generally frowned upon for knights and marshals outside of dips, unless you are dipping in them as well.

[BardicDuelist]

Prc'ing and multiclassing is generally frowned upon for knights and marshals outside of dips, unless you are dipping in them as well.

Yeah, I know, and I figure that I won't get them for every class, but I would like one for every class.

[Hario]

Legendary Leader(hero's of battle) for Marshall, if anyone actually chose healer I'd laugh. Divine radiant servant of Pelor (or any god specific PrC for cleric, they have quite a few) and divine oracle for cleric (complete divine) Divine oracle and loremaster for archivist (I already have a archivist 5/divineoracle2/loremaster1 and it's sweet) Abjurant champion for duskblade or sorcerer or wizard gish builds. Arcane trickster for rogue/wizards or beguilers. Duelist for bards, fighters or swashbucklers. Seeker of the Song for bards. Master of many forms for druids. Bearwarrior for barbarians or druids
And that's all I can think of. I assume you banned monk because they are horrible or they don't fit the setting right? Please don't tell me you think they are overpowered or something especially since you allowed almost all of the most powerful classes in the game only excluding artificer.

[BardicDuelist]

I banned all asian classes except ninja (but they aren't on the list because they are an NPC only class which I use as low level assassins, etc). They just don't fit my setting.

[dr.cello]

Thief-Acrobat (CAdv) for rogues, uh. Grey Guard (CScoundrel) for paladin.

[Temp]

I'm a fan of the Bear Warrior (CW) for Barbarians and Master Specialist (CArc) for Wizards.

So the problem should probably be finding three aspects of each class and a PrC that develops them.

--For Barbarians, probably three Rage Variant classes--Frostrager, Bear Warrior and maybe Frenzied Berzerker? Wild Runner (RotW)? Champeon of Gwynhorf? (BoED)?

--For Bard, Sublime Chord for Spells, Seeker of the Song (CA) for Bardic Music and Lyric Thaumaturge (CM) for general Bardishness?

--For Clerics, I'm having a hard time-Sacred Exorcist (CD) advances Turning, Church Inquisitor (CD) gives some Lawful abilities. Divine Oracle (CD) has a powerful capstone ability, but it's not likely to break the game.

--For Druids I'm having a hard time keeping it balanced, but Nature's Warrior, Arcane Heirophant (RotW) and Fochlucan Lyrist are pretty balanced Druid-restricted classes.

--For Paladins, Cavalier (CW) to advance the Mount, and Pious Templar (CD) for Smiting/Being-all-around-better-than-Pally-levels and Shadowbane Inquisitor (CD) for a the Rogue approach to Paladin-hood.

--For Rangers, Beastmaster (CAd) for the animal companions, Dervish (CW) for Two Weapon Fighting and maybe Bloodhound (CA)? Highland Stalker?

--For Rogues, Assassin is standard, Shadowbane Stalker (CD) is neat and Thief Acrobat (CAd) is okay. Rogues usually won't PrC much anyway.

--For Wizards, Loremaster's good, not great... just nice. Master Specialist's a good 'un (CM). That leaves one more... maybe Archmage. Archmage is classic.

--For Warlocks I can only think of three classes:Eldritch Theurge (CM), Eldritch Disciple (CM) and Enlightened Spirit (CM). There's also Hellfire Warlock, but it's so short, I don't know whether it's worth listing.

I plan to give my players a list of prestige classes that I will allow. I would like at least one that works well for each class, to a maximum of three, and I was wondering which PrCs everyone here like.

So do you mean that each of your PrCs will require levels in a specific base class for entry?

In that case Chameleon doesn't really fit.

If that isn't the case, add Swiftblade (WotC web site) to my list. I love that class. It's for Bard/Sorc/Wiz/Beguiler.

I'd like to also add Unseen Seer (CM) because it's an *okay* class for full casters, but not especially great. It is, however, very worthwhile for casters who chose to lose spellcasting levels. It just strikes me as well-designed.

Abjurant Champion (CM) is great because it makes gishes plausible without doing much to help single-class casters.

Actually, any PrC that requires multiple levels in multiple classes will generally be pretty well balanced and will sometimes be neccessary to make multiclass characters viable.

Grey Guard (CScoundrel) for paladin

Grey Guard?
Ewwww...

[BardicDuelist]

What I meant was that I wanted at least one PrC that works well for the base classes (which Chameleon works really well for a Factotum).

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Stam]

Exemplar (CAdv) for Rogue. It's, like, the ultimate skillmonkey PrC.

[Temp]

Exemplar (CAdv) for Rogue. It's, like, the ultimate skillmonkey PrC.

...AND it's the only class that lets you cook so well that you become an extraplanar being.

[Swooper]

Why make a list? Why not simply say to your players "If you want to take a Prestige Class, ask me first if it's OK"? There are far too many good PrCs out there to restrict it to such a list, imho.

[Eldritch_Ent]

Actually, Hellfire Warlock is great if you can take a 1 level dip in Binder from Tome of Magic. There's a level 1 vestige that lets you shrug ability damage off easy, but I digress...

I'm a fan of Frenzied Berzerker myself. But the #1 rule of spellcasting prestiges from a full caster is to avoid PRCS that deny you your caster progression. 1-3 levels is iffy, if it's 4 or more avoid it. Losing 9th level spells is quite possibly never worth it.

[TheLogman]

Witch Hunter from Tome of Magic makes a good Prestige Class for Pally's, you get the ability to disturb spells and stuff, and near the end, get a pseudo-antimagic field.

[BardicDuelist]

The list is a compromise. We usually ban most PrCs, and so my players want to know what they can and cannot play. Also, we all prefer that there be organizations or extraordinary individuals who are of this PrC so that it doesn't seem like a random class choice and fits better within our world.

This I (the most experienced and DM) just cannot do for any given PrC, although I wanted to get perspectives from people who have tried the PrCs (which most of them havn't, including myself, since we normally don't allow them).