Since Josh wanted a consolidated list of all the PrC reviews people have done here, I figured I might as well. I also included stuff on alternate base classes where available. My list is a little disorganized, btw.
In going through the various related threads, I've noticed a couple things: Josh's review style for the Complete Arcane is both the most practical and easy to locate. Plus it has his nifty "This class is X levels long" thing at the end of each. K's reviews of stuff seem to never actually cover anything specific about PrCs, so I've got nothing of his here.
If I missed anything, feel free to add it.
Josh Kablack:
Complete Arcane
Chapter1: Classes.
Warlock: d6 HD, good will, 2+ Int Skills per level. You get spell-like abilities usable at will in place of spells, and they waste about a page of the book needlessly splitting hairs about how these are spell like abilities and therefore you can't use Spell Focus or Metamagic feats with them, but have to take the MM Ability Focus and Meta-Ability Feats instead and then turn right around to kick the player in the balls by specifying that these (Sp) abilities *ARE* like spells in that that they do suffer from Arcane Spell Failure, but then they turn around to apologize by giving the warlock the bardic armor exemption. For the life of me, I can't begin to figure out what balance gain here is worth the hassle and confusion of creating exceptions to exceptions to rules. I can already see the boards arguments about what these (Sp) abilities do and don't count as for PrC requiements going on forever.
Then we get to the interesting parts of the class. At 4th, the warlock gets the ability to always take 10 on UMD tjecks, which combined with being a Cha caster, makes him the item guy. Additionally he gets to have Fast Healing for one 2-minute period a day, as apparently just letting him cast cure spells or lay on hands was too similar to existing mechanics.
Then we get into the actual invocations, which fall into 2 categories: They are either untyped damage blasts (doing a paltry 1d6 + 1d6 every 2 levels after 1st), which you get for free and can blow invocation slots on to add status ailments and such or tend to mimic spells. A number mimic spells which have significant durations, which makes the ability to use them at will either worthless (personal-only buffs for 24 hours, summon swarm with a concentration duration) or totally punk rock (evard's black tentacles with additional continous cold damage or insect plague with increased distraction DCs)
Next up, The Warmage. You're a sorcerer with d6 HD, no familiar, light armor and light shields, eventually getting medium armor. You get to spontaneusly cast anything on your spell list, which is almost entirely evocations plus true strike, phantasmal killer, cloudkill, tenser's transformation and similar evocation-like effects, needless to see, this makes your spontaneous casting almost worthless, since your only real choice per level is "What kind of damage do I do to them?". However you also get to add 4 wizard spells of your choosing to your list. I recommend you find one that deals both HP damage and Ability or Vile damage, because then you can actually maybe get some use out of the poorly-worded Warmage Edge ability which lets you add your Int bonus to the damage dealt by a HP-damage dealing spell, but only once (in the case of Magic Missile) aside from the examples about how Fireball deals this damage to all targets and Melf's Acid Arrow deals it again on successive rounds.
The Warmage Class also inexplicably contains an adventure map of the Tarth Moorda academy, in case you want to run through a dungeoncrawl during chargen.
Wu Jen: At first glance, unchanged from the OA version aside from your initiative bonus changing into a reroll, elemental mastery changes to bonus to your chosen element at 6th (instead of requiring you to learn all spells of that element) level and minor tweaks to the spell list. (these might prove to be more than minor later)
Chapter 2: Prestige Classes.
This chapter opens with the worst drawing of Mialee yet. I feel this is foreshadowing.
Then we get some half-assed division of PrCs into 5 types: Alternate Spellcasting, Full Spellcasting, Noncaster, Transformational and Unique Capability.
This is the point where I break to rant about how Noncaster PrCs do not belong in this supplement, Transformational PrCs have to exceed Shapechange by character level 17 and what they tend to call "Unique Capability" usually already exists on the PHB spell list. Hence we're only at 40% before I've even read one of the PrCs in this book. I'll keep score as I go along to see how accurate this prediction is:
Acolyte of the Skin:
d8 HD, medium BAB, 2 good saves.
Over 10 levels you get 5 caster levels, +2 natural armor, +2 inherent to Dex, +2 inherent to con, darkvision 120', Poison once/day, fire resistance 10, cold resistance 10, a glare that works roughly like Power-Word: Stun 1/day, a pair of 8d6 Eyebeams 1/day, the ability to summon a Babu or Chain Devil for 1/hour a day, a type change to outsider and DR 10/good.
In effect, you give up 1 third 1 fourth 2 fifth 3 sixth 2 seventh and 1 eighth level spells in exchange for a better Fort Save, 20 more average HP, +2 inherent to 2 stats, a type change, DR 10/good and effects you could get with Resist Energy (2nd level), Darkvision (2nd level), Poison (3rd/4th level), Eyebeams which are better than Scorching Ray but worse than Lightning Bolt (3rd level), Planar Binding (6th level), Power Word: Stun (8th level).
And if you'll take that deal, I have a bridge to sell you.
0/10 useful levels.
Alienist Full casting progression. Familiar Progression, plus some more minor stuff at the cost of taking Augment Summon and 8 ranks in knowledge planes and losing 2 points of wis at level 2. I need to talk Malik into taking this class for Jamica Phats. On the downside, you lose a small amount of Summoning versatility.
10/10 useful levels (10/20 cumulative)
Argent Savant: The picture says "This is the 'I Dream of Jeanie' prestige class." but that's fortunately misleading.
If your 9th+ level wizard is willing to give up a caster level, she can get +2 to attack with the Bigby's Groping Hands spells, +2 more AC out of Shield and Mage Armor free Extend Spell on her force effects, a higher caster level tjeck needed to dispel her force effects, Force Resisance equal to her class level (and the class is only 5 levels long), and the ability to make force effects go kablooey.
Not particularily strong, but not unplayble. The ability to make you own Mage Armor explode and turn Tenser's Floating Disks into low-yield land mines is pretty neat - there's probably actually a worthwhile trick in there too.
5/5 useful levels (15/25 cumulative)
Blood Magus:
No longer the Butt Magus. At least not until level 5, which lets you make a Homunculus, but doesn't grant a caster level increase. Note that another 5 levels in wizard would always get you an item creation feat, which could be Craft Construct, which would let you make a Homunculus plus many other constructs, as well as 5 caster levels.
4/10 useful levels (19/35 cumulative)
Effigy Master:
Remember what I just said about how something that lets you do less than Craft Construct is not worth a caster level loss? For the Effigy Master, you take the caster level hit at level 1, thereby insuring that nobody will ever take this class.
0/5 useful levels (19/40 cumulative)
Elemental Savant:
For the first four levels, you get full caster progression, energy resistance, immunity to sleep and +2 to overcome SR with your damage spells at the cost of only being able to sling one type of elemental damage. If you're not a elf and if you're smart enough to use save-or-dies or conjurations to get around elemental immunities, this is a pretty good deal. At 5th level you get a +1 to your Fireball (or Iceball, or Acidball) save DCs, but no caster level. And then at 6th level, you get Darkvision to add insult to injury for staying in the class this long
4/10 useful levels (23/50 cumulative)
Enlightened Fist:
This is for all those people who think Monk/Sorcerer is an awesome character class. You can qualify for it at level 5, as a Monk1/Wiz3+, or as a straight wizard 16 (or earlier with cheese). Since it increases monk ability progression whether or not you had them previously, it's almost tempting to take 3 levels of this instead of wiz 18,19 and 20 - but only almost, because then you remember that Monk AC is based off of wisdom, not Int. You get flaming fists of fury, even though your BAB is guaranteed to suck, you can sack unused spells to heal 1 hp per spell level (which is so inferior to False Life and Vampiric Touch that it makes me want to scream), and at 7th level, you get the awesome ability to cast a ray spell as a touch spell instead - for those people who find ranged attacks too complicated to use.
0/10 useful levels. (23/60 cumulative)
Fatespinner
If your wizard sank 10 ranks into Profession (Gambler), then she wants to take the first 4 levels of this class. The 5th level does not grant any caster level progression and instead grants the once/day ability to impose a +10 or a -10 modifier to the saving throw of someone within 30' and line of sight and of HD <= the fatespinner's HD. This is where I point out that you are at most two caster levels away from getting Limited Wish before you take this level, and that allows for a -7 to someone's save without any crazy range, LoS or HD restrictions as well as a boatload more versatility
4/5 useful levels (27/65 cumulative)
Geometer
For the cost of some ranks in Search, Decipher Script and Disable Device, losing out on wizard bonus feats and familiar advancement, you get Glyph of Warding and Greater Glyph of Warding added to your spellbook, the ability to Scribe Scrolls of Silent Spell, a massive cost reduction in scribing spells into your spellbook, the ability to find magic traps as a rogue, the ability to Scibe Scrolls of +1 caster level, and the ability to surpress Glyphs of Warding.
5/5 useful levels (32/70 cumulative)
Green Star Adept
If you take this class as a wizard you're nuts and you should just have learned Iron Body instead. However, if you take it as a multiclass who only took 1 level of wizard, you're only sub-optimal, doing notably better than you would be by alternating wizard and non wizard base class levels, but not as good as you'd do with an intelligent class progression. Additionally, The 10th level ability continues to propagate the fallacy that Cure spells don't work on Constructs - which has never been true and makes me want to slap designers who think it is..
0/10 useful levels (32/80 cumulative)
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil
If you picked up Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus in Abjuration and sunk 12 ranks into knowledge: (Nature), this class is awesome. Although I would like to point out that there are a grand total of 10 PHB Arcane Aburations which grant non-harmless saves, and only 2 of them are less than 5th level. Still the feats are a relatively minor price to pay for the 7 levels of full caster progression, adding your class level to the difficulty of dispel tjecks against your abjurations and being able to pick and choose which parts of a Prismatic Wall you want to put between you and your enemies - eventually as an immediate action. At the top level you get a 1/day targeted dispel which lets you turn each dispelled effect on an enemy into the pain of passing through one layer of a prismatic wall - this is pretty good for debuffing, but probably better for a combo finishing move after you have cast a few harmful spells (Acid Arrow, Slow, Enervation, etc) on the poor sap
7/7 Useful levels (38/87 Cumulative)
Mage of the Arcane Order.
Compared to straight wizard, this is a straight powerup. The downside is that you had to sink a feat into cooperative spell and lose familiar advancement and your wizard bonus feats. Additionally, this class costs you 750 gp to get into and 30 gp per month to put that into perspective, that's roughly 10% of what Enalias spends on wine. In exchange, you get Speak Language as a class skill, 2 bonus languages (whatever, you know Tongues already), 2 bonus metamagic feats (which make up for the lost wizard feats), access to 2 additional spells to scribe into your spellbook (which could be meaningless or make up for the initiation fees depending on your game) and a really wacky limited spontaneus casting ability. On the not-quite so up side, the 10th level special which comes with your caster level is a mere +2 to Cha based tjecks when dealing with lower level members of the same prestige class, which should make you think about maybe finding a level in another class.
9/10 useful levels (47/97 cumulative)
Master Transmogrifist
Stop the pain. This is a class based around Polymorph, except it adds additional confusion and gets abilities inferior to the abilities you could get by getting a full caster level progression instead of falling 4 levels behind. There is some serious cheese potential lurking here, but it's all been done before and better elsewhere - like by the core Druid or Magic Jar, and I'm really not going to bother searching for the new Shapechange abuse which Infinite Variety makes possible - since you need to be Epic Level to pull whatever it is anyways. I rate this one "fire the designer for incompetence".
0/10 useful levels (47/107 cumulative)
Mindbender
You can qualify for this as a 5th level wizard, although it takes a lot of cross-class skills to do so.
Level 1 gives you a caster level and telepathy. Level 2 gives you no caster level, but Suggestion 1/day and +1 to Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate. Going back to take another level of wizard instead would have given you at least one 4th level spell 1/day, which you could take as Suggestion or something better and +1 to all your caster level tjecks, spell penetration, level based damage and so on. Is there anything in the later levels worth the sacrifice? Well level 3 gives you another caster level and Detect Thoughts 2/day. Level 4 gives you no caster level, but another +1 to those skills and an (Sp) ability that is just like Charm Monster 1/day, except that the duration changed to permenant and the stipulation that you can only have one monster charmed at any given time with this ability. Obviously, this is worse than just being able to cast a 4th level spell, which could be Charm Monster 1/day, and at this point, you've given up at least a 4th and a 5th level spell per day to get here. Joy. Level 5 gives you a caster level and another use of Suggestion per day. At 6th level, we get no caster level, but we do get Enchantment Spell Power +2, so now our enchantments are only 1 level behind those of a SC wizard, pretty good for the enchantment specialist PrC, natch? We also get another +1 to those skills, and another use of our Charm Monster ability per day (and now we can have 2 such pets). At 7th level, we get a caster level, 2 more uses of Detect Thoughts per day and Dominate monster 1/day - which should make us rejoice, since it's been 6 levels since we could do anything at all that the wizard wasn't doing better, on the downside, the duration is fixed at 24 hours and does not scale. At 8th level, we get no caster level, but to add insult to injury, we get another use of Charm Monster with another pet and another use of Suggestion. Remember that the wizard is getting 7th level spells now, not 4th level spells. At 9th level we get a caster level and no special, which is odd, the way it was going I thought we'd get to detect thoughts 1 more time per day or maybe even Comprehend Languages. At 10th level, we get shafted on the caster level again, but again get the Enchantment Spell Power to stay 1 level behind the wizard and then we get the big deal ability - Thrall. Unfortunately it's not the Epic/PsiHB ultra-dominate ability, since that would make the mindbender not suck. Oh no, it's the unbeleivably sucktastic ability to make our Dominate ability permenant on a single target. This is where I point out that in one more level, the straight wizard gets a 1/day Dominate Monster ability with a duration of 17 days - effectively allowing her to have up to 17 critters permenantly dominated.
1/10 useful levels (48/117 cumulative)
Seeker of the Song
As the Firesign Theater observeed, "There is a Seeker born every minute". I do not doubt that the designer had that quote in mind when he wrote this steaming pile of advanced bard suckage - although I'm also willing to consider that he may have been inspired by the Champions 4th edition iconic and unconscious martial artist of the same name.
This is a PrC for Bards who spent 13 ranks on Knowledge (Arcana). It gets fewer skill points than the Bard, a crappier skill list, no bardic knowledge and no spell progression. Instead you get +2 (insight) to Saves and AC, DR 2/- and Freesom of Movement whenever you use bardic music. That's right this whole class is designed around underwater singing. Additionally, you get some bardic music powerups, which include granting allies elemental resistances, Burning Hands, a 10d6 ice line, a ray-based verion of Chain Lightning, the ability to force spellcasters to succeed at concentration tjecks opposed by your perform tjeck, dispel magic, 10d6 acid ray that lasts 2 rounds, an ultra-short range dimension door, a 15d6 sonic ray, and at 20th character level, you can use bardic music as Dimissal. You also get the ability to use two bardic music effects at once and activate the second one as a swift action. If you were sticking with Bard, it might be worth taking the first level to get the AC boost and cone of fire at the cost of 2 skill points, reduced bardic knowledge and no caster increase, and I'll even be extremely generous and assume that there's some undiscovered cheese somewhere that makes taking the 2nd level Combine Songs ability worthwhile despite the amount of suck you have to take compared to a single-classed bard.
2/10 useful levels (50/127 cumulative)
Sublime Chord
This time, you are a Bard who not only sunk 13 ranks into Knoweldge (Arcana), but also took 6 ranks of Profession (Astrologer). Again, you get fewer skill points and a worse skill list. But this time you get bardic knowledge, 1/2 the usual bardic music progression and a pumped-up spell progrssion that eventually lets you cast up to 9th level spells. If that's not good enough, you get some new Bardic music abilities: rasie the caster level of the next spell you cast (dependant on a Perfrom tjeck result - you will get at least +2 caster level when you have this ability, and you can get up to +4), at 6th level you get to use bardic music to put people in an extremely short-term Temporal Stasis, and at 10th level, you get to blow 2 uses of bardic music fireball that does damage equal to your Perform tjeck result (which should be about 40 points normally, or roughly 125 points if you prepare for it with a little cheese). That's still not terribly impressive taken the effort to get you there, however the tradeoff of 5 uses/day of bardic music, the Bardic Music abilties: song of freedom, inspire courage +3, Inspire Heroics and Mass Suggestion and 10 skill points in return for 9th level spells and some alternate musical effects is a pretty gosh darn good one. Addtionally, starting the PrC spell progression at 5th level makes this class a consideration for monstrous advancement, and the phrasing they meant to let you continue increasing caster level lets you do a weird and abusive caster level reset. The only real downsides, are that your art sucks, and they put this right after the Seeker.
10/10 useful levels (60/137 cumulative)
Suel Arcanamach
I must begin by insisting that the correct pronunciation of this tongue-twister is "Fnord". Then I scratch my head a bit before concluding that this class is a poor match for the Bard 8 that seems to qualify for it, and is probably better entered as a monk2/sor1/paladin 5 or a rog2/wiz1/ranger 5 or via use of the Cosmopolition feat or somesuch. Anyways, once you get into the class, you get d8 hit dice, 4 Skill points per level, 2 good saves, medium BAB and a new CHA-based spell progression that goes up to 5th level sorc/wiz spells, but is limited to abjuration, divination, illiusion, transmutation. You also get to reduce arcane spell failure chance (but not in a way that would stack with the Bard light armor casting), your arcanamech spells are 6 points harder to dispel than normal (remember that your caster level would be 8 higher if you had stayed in bard). You get to add a targeted Greater Dispelling on to one of your melee attacks 1,2, or 3 times per day. At 3rd level, all your personal buffs are auto-extended in a way that might be stackably good, but only applies to your Suel Arcanamech spells. For the life of me, all I can figure is that Frank was misreading tenacious spells to apply to all of an Arcanomech's spells when he took a level of this PrC in his contest build. This class is largely like taking the first 10 levels of Druid, except that you have to fulfill prequisites, have worse armor, don't get cantrips, cast spontaneusly, have a more limited spell list and spell selection and get tenacious spells, dispelling strike and auto-extend in place of animal companion, nature sense, wild empaty, woodland stride, trackless step, resist nature's lure, wild shape and venom immunity. If it didn't have prerequisites at all, that would be close enough for me to call it playable, but it does, so it is a complete waste of space.
0/10 useful levels (60/147 cumulative)
Wayfarer Guide:
If you already qualified as a loremaster, there is no reason not to take the first level of this class and improve your teleportation range and capacity. And unless you can get it before you would otherwise be able to cast 5th level spells, there is no reason to ever take the second level.
1/3 useful levels. (61/150 cumulative)
Wild Mage
At last. This is my kind of class, by which I mean that it's biggest trick is punching itself in the face for added power. Really. But first the basics: To qualify, you have to take some cross-class skill ranks and a feat from I don't know which book - Magical Aptitude is non-core and not in this one and there is no pointer to whichever book it is in. You get full progression, but all your spells are now cast at your caster level +1d6-3. You get a neat, but limited ranged deflection ability, the wild mage classic of getting to roll twice on the bag of tricks or wand of wonder charts, immunity to confusion, continous nondetection, the ability to dump 1st+ level spell slots to get wand of wonder effects (rolling on the chart twice), and at 10th level you get to punch yourself in the face - which is to say that the smartest thing you can do with Wildstrike is to hit yourself with it to turn your cantrips or gnomish racial abilities into wand of wonder charges 50% of the time (rolling on the chart twice).
10/10 usable levels. (71/160)
And a final score of 44.375 % for usuable PrC levels - and that means that I have to give WotC props for their improvement in that department.
Dbb:
Lost Empires of Faerun:
Cultist of the Shattered Peak: This class is supposed to be all about preventing wizards from uncovering the lore of ancient Netheril. If you can figure out how +1 to hit and damage against arcane spellcasters and Smite Mage once per day is supposed to do anything against anyone powerful enough to be messing around with Netherese lore, by all means fill me in. You get Death Attack while being able to have any alignment, and you get 2 dice in Sneak Attack and some useless arcane spellcasting to make you feel like you haven't completely wasted your time. You still have, though.
Glorious Servitor: You can trade your entire spellcasting progression for the ability to Wild Shape into your deity's totem animal while getting a cleric BAB and wizard saves. For those of you watching at home: that means you suck. Hilariously, this class grants three separate +1 inherent bonuses to Strength.
Magelord: Dear God, it's a class based around spell mastery. In exchange for a bunch of feats and having Evasion as a class or racial feature, you get full spellcasting progression, slow sneak attack progression, bonus spell masteries, and eventually you get to spontaneously convert any spell you cast to any spell you have mastered, including metamagic, on the fly. Assuming you can get the requirements without flushing more than one spellcasting level, this class is a giant steel-toed boot to the unmentionables of the Sorcerer.
Olin Gisir: The obligatory elf-only class. Its main benefit is getting to cast Dispel Evil and Holy Word as arcane spells. Read that sentence again -- its main benefit is getting access to two fvcking cleric spells. Not that Holy Word isn't a good spell, but if you want to cast it so bad, why don't you just play a fvcking cleric and be better than a wizard in every other measurable way? This class makes me so angry I can hardly see straight, right down to the insistence that the plural is "Olin Gisae" because it's, like, elvish, you know? Totally.
Sunmaster: It's Yet Another Sun Priest PrC. Despite the fact that you are required to have the Sun domain and worship the sun god, you don't advance your turning ability, which seems puzzling. You get to prepare Sun and Law domain spells in ordinary spell slots, which is almost meaningless for Law and pretty good for Sun, and you get the Planning domain as a bonus at level 7, which is handy, especially if you're not building an organic character and don't really care about not having Extend Spell until level 12. You also get some fire resistance and the ability to cast Searing Light and eventually get to turn into a weird version of Gaseous Form. None of this is all that earth-shaking, but it's better than what you would have gotten for staying a cleric, so you might as well.
Sir Neil:
Heroes of Battle:
Combat Medic PrC: Poor BAB, full caster progression. At level five you can spontaneously cast heal.
Dread Commando: With a full BAB you sneak attack and ignore Armor check penalties.
Legendary Leader: You can enter at level 7, and cast Greater Command 1/day as a 8th level character; at 10th, you automatically succeed at one saving throw per day; at 11th, all your followers are fearless.
War Weaver: Trade 1 spellcasting level for the capstone ability to cast 4 fifth-level buffs on your whole party as a move-equivalent action.
Frank:
Lords of Madness:
Chapter 3: The Beholder Mage
Sure, like all the chapters it has some pre-packaged adventures that appear to be reprints from Dungeon Magazine, but the only thing we really care about is the Beholder Mage.
The Beholder Mage has no meaningful entry requirements at all, so absolutely anyone can qualify with a casting of Polymorph Any Object. Anyone. Now, here's what happens:
• You learn spells just like a Wizard. Except that you get a new spell level every level.
• Your caster level is double your level. Since +1 spellcaster level classes are defined as "as if you had gained a level in blah blah blah", this means that your caster level is doubled even if you jump out of Beholder Mage to a PrC. You want to do this, because there are no more meaningful class features in this class.
• You can cast spells on the fly as a Sorcerer from your entire wizard spell-list. This is separately defined from the discussion of spellstalks (see below).
• You lose the use of one of your eye stalks every time you gain access to a new spell level, and your eyestalk becomes a spellstalk at that time. It does not say what happens when you gain a new spell level and don't have an eyestalk to sacrifice (as will eventually happen to every normal Beholder Mage, since they can take Epic feats before they complete the class). Seemingly nothing.
• Spellstalk casting is the most broken thing ver, where all your spells cast in this manner are used as a free action, allowing you to cast 10 spells a round (or more if you cheese out and take Epic Feats and Eyestalk Implants from the Fiend Folio).
• You don't need material components, but a ruined central eye is an arcane focus for all spells on your list.
So what does that mean? It means that you become a Beholder Mage, turn back into a human, and then can cast spells like a Sorcerer out of your wizard spell-book. And your caster level is doubled, and it takes only one level to get a new spell level. You have to carry a discarded beholder central eye with you at all times to cast spells at all. You don't get to multi-cast unles you also take iend Folio grafts at some point to have actual spellstalks implanted.
The sacrifice of an eyestalk is made when you gain the new spell level, and is a one-time deal. If you don't have an eyetsalk to sac, nothing happens. So the longer you wait to have the stalks implanted, the more powerful the crazy is going to be when you bust out the multi-casting. In the meantime, you'll have to settle for "just" being a wizard who progresses at double speed and casts spontaneously off his full list.
Also interesting: Gyth can use "skilled telekinetic", which in turn allows them to use wands around corners at will. You need line of effect from yourself to the magic item, and you need line of effect from the item to the target, but you don't need line of effect from yourself to the target.
Metaray is, of course, horribly broken. What did you expect?
Complete Adventurer:
Animal Lord: Suck! You get more Wild Empathy by staying Ranger/Druid.
Beast Master: Suck! It's not even a net bonus to your animal army over being a straight Druid.
Blood Hound: [b[Suck! It's a class that is entirely based around tracking down favored enemies that you know about before hand, and you get bigger bonuses just being a Ranger. It's casual disregard of the normal initiative rules is charming, but not enough to save the class.
Daggerspell Mage: Suck! It's a class that requires arcane spellcasting and sneak attack, and doesn't advance both at full value. The Arcane Trickster is bad, these fools are worse. The ability to hold two charges is open to everyone without giving up 2+ levels of spellcasting. Just take Spell Flower from SS if you really care. But you don't, because Spellflower is crappy even if you are a Marilith.
Daggerspell Shaper: Abusable! It's a class that is explicitly for adding equipment to druidic wildshape. It opens many cheese doors and closes many others. It doesn't quite have full Wildshape progression, but in some ways has a better one. It makes you lose one spellcaster level. All in all, this is a class noone will take. But it will generate many cheese builds that are different from the normal kind because it has a separate inheritence structure all to its own. I like the fact that the second level ability allows you to transform into a hawk and penetrate DR/Epic.
Dread Pirate: Suck! You get Skill Focus: Intimidate. As a class feature. By level 3 you also have Skill Focus: Profession: Sailor. I'm not kidding.
Dungeon Delver: Suck! I you were a Deep Halfling Rogue, you'd just take more levels of Rogue. Getting Improved Evasion and Skill Mastery by level 11 is not worth giving up 4 levels of Sneak Attack. The higher level abilities aren't even worth considering.
Exemplar: Suck! It grants named bonuses to skills. They don't even stack with having a Bard around. You have to be 11th level to even take the class. Arrgh!
Fochluchan Lyricist: Suck! Like all Mystic Theurges, this one is also somewhat abusable (in addition to being total ass). In this case, by being a Druid who took a level of Sublime Chord. But it's too much work and doesn't get you enough to be worth it.
Ghost Faced Killer: Suck! Like being a Rogue, only you trade your ass-whupping for one round of using a Ring of Blink.
Highland Stalker: Suck! in 10 levels you get no abiliities. Your stupid Skirmish ability continues to advance, now that you have a BAB of +6 or more and don't care.
Maester: SUCK! Sure, as a Wizard, I'll happily spend a caster level for a bonus Item Creation Feat after I already used one of my bonus feats to get one. Not!
Master of Many Forms: Suck! It's the Shifter... only without the payoff of eventually getting to have a cut-rate shapeshift two levels early. You get special qualities at level 7 (which is in fact, level 12), but so what? This spell is 10 pounds of suck in a five pound bag.
Nightsong Enforcer: Suck! You get some abilities that are inferior to special Rogue Abilities, and your Sneak Attack grows slow. You can excuse exactly 4 levels in a Rogue build as this keeps your Sneak Attack rougly constant and gives you a total of +1 BAB. But in all, it's not worth the hassle of explaining what it does.
Nightsong Infiltrator: Suck! Instead of Sneak Attack, you get the ability to count as if you had 5 ranks in Balance. At character level 9.
Ollam: Suck! It's almost as good as multiclassing into Bard from Cleric at level 8.
Shadowbane Inquisitor: Suck! It's almost as good as continuing to multiclass your Paladin/Rogue as a Paladin/Rogue.
Shadowbane Stalker: Suck! It's like a MyTh for Cleric/Rogues. Only it isn't even that good because you don't get full progression in either. There's nothing you can do to make this good. Even some really excellent art can't save this class.
Shadowmind: Suck! I don't psionics. But even I can tell that there is no way in hell that you'd be willing to take time off from gaining Manifester Levels to pick up Sneak Attack. Since there really isn't any other point to this class, I can see that it is the suck.
Spymaster: Suck! You don't even gain sneak attack. Or good abilities. It is pretty hilarious that they mixed up Udectable Aura and Magic Aura, (they apparently hide all their magical gear from detection by pretending to have way more magical gear) but that's not enough to save the class from bad art, a terrible burden of lame (your protection from divination is not extensible to your party-mates), and an all-around bad execution.
Streetfighter: Suck! 1.: Damage is bigger than save DCs, so Stand Tough doesn't even work. If it was every damage source it would at least be interesting, but it's not. 2.: Improved Initiative is a +4 unnamed bonus. How they think anyone is going to jump for a chance to get a +3 named bonus in only five class levels is beyond comprehension.
Tempest: Suck! You know? It's everything the old Tempest was in 10 levels, in 5 levels. But that's still bullshit. They should just be ashamed of themselves. Anyone who actually wanted to fight with two weapons would instead just take 5 levels of any class that provided damage bonuses of any kind.
Thief-Acrobat: Suck! Five levels of Rogue that give no levels of Sneak Attack. Dumb.
Vigilante: Suck! It was suck in Lute and Loot, and is still suck.
Virtuoso:Suck! In Lute and Loot, it was kindof OK. It could be used to cheese out some caster builds. Now it can't. Indeed, it can't be used for anything.
Wild Plains Outrider: Actually, this one isn't bad. Paladins should take this. Note that Paladins aren't very good, so slightly improving them isn't a big deal, but as far as abilities for level 7 to 9, this is pretty good.
Complete Warrior:
The Core Classes are just puzzling. The Hexblade in particular is just asstastic. It's time for people to get a grip: putting the word "arcane" on something doesn't give it a license to suck. An arcane spell is just like a Divine Spell except that it has Armor Spell Failure - which means that getting "arcane" spells is a disadvantage - not a powerup by any means. The Hexblade just gets kicked in the crotch over and over again - being just like a Paladin except that you get less abilities in exchange for it being more trouble to use your spells once you get them. The Samurai and Swashbuckler seem to be "balanced" against the Fighter but more spread out. That means that they are about 9 levels of abilities short of a 20 level class and start that inferiority at first level. You might take the Swashbuckler for one level if you were taking Weapon Finesse anyway - but maybe not. You certainly wouldn't take the next level (gives the same bonus to Reflex Save that level as you would have gotten if you were in a Reflex Good class, but still didn't give the +2 you missed out on last level).
Bear Warrior: This class shows the correct way to do Wildshape - as a series of stat bonuses rather than as a stat replacement system. Unfortunately this class seriously gives exactly three abilities in 10 levels. They are decent enough abilities - but who are they fooling?
Bladesinger: It's one level long. You get +1 BAB and a Spellcaster Level for the first level. And you get a +1 Dodge Bonus. The next level allows you to take 10 on Combat Casting rolls - even though the class requires the Combat Casting feat so you'd never fail those checks even on a 1 - especially if your level was so far outstripping your highest spell level that you were willing to give up a caster level for this "ability".
Cavalier: The Class is sort of better now, in that it is easier to qualify for and levels in it stack with your Paladin levels for purposes of Special Mount. However, they've nerfed Full Mounted Attack so the class really doesn't build up to anything special. Still, as a signle level it genuinely rocks.
Dark Hunter: You start as a Ranger/Rogue Dwarf. You pretty much stay a Ranger/Rogue Dwarf. It's got five levels, but only 4 of them are worth taking. In those levels you get +4 BAB, add 60 feet to your Darkvision, get a sneak attack die, get +10 to your hide checks and get to hide anywhere you are near earth or stone (notkidding) and double your stonecunning ability. If you are a Dwarf or Tunnel Hobbit, and you are a Ranger/Rogue - this class is really good without being broken.
Darkwood Stalker: I's like the Dark Hunter except that it is for Elven Ranger/Rogues - so it's spread out over 10 levels and most of the good abilities have been replaced with favored enemy bonuses against Orcs. Dumb.
Dervish: You dance, you stab people, you only take 3 levels of it and you get the ability to move your speed while making full attacks in a horribly over-complicated write up! Not for everybody - but it's not bad for being so short (officially, it's 10 levels - but who are they fooling? 4th level is just the cleave feat with restrictions - it doesn't even stack with cleave - 6th level is just half of Improved Initiative. As soon as a class starts giving out half feats - I'm otta there)
Drunken Master: You get the BAB of a Cleric and don't get sneak attack or spells. Next!
Exotic Weapon Master: They seem to have forgotten something here. Like, maybe, a skill list? There are only 3 skills on the skill list here - one of them is Profession. I don't understand. The class is literally three levels long, and each lets you pick a bonus feat from a special list that only they get. Some of these feats are half as good as normal feats - some are twice as good (one, for example, gives you +2 on Trip checks when fighting with certain weapons, another one gives you flurry of blows with Spiked Chains) - choose wisely.
Eye of Gruumsh: Mediocre. While it is silly, it isn't bad. It's essentially villain only - so its massive failings and stupid ability names don't really matter.
Frenzied Berserker: Crazy stupid powerful. After 10 levels you can charge around on a horse and do 12 points of bonus damage for every point you power attack for. There's a feat in the Book of Exalted Deeds that negates this class' only weakness. Ugh.
Gnome Giant Slayer: It hates Giants. Alot. I approve, but it really isn't good enough at this to make up for the degree to which it isn't any good at absolutely anything else.
Halfling Outrider: Appears to be written by someone really stupid. For example: one of their 10th level abilities (character level 15 minimum) requires a Ride Check with a DC of 25 - and goes into detail about what happens if you fail. The class gives a +10 competence bonus - so the character is looking at a Ride bonus of +30 at this point before Dex modifiers (the character is definitionally a halfling...) That kind of non-thinking permeates the class through and through.
Hulking Hurler: You are a giant, you throw rocks. That's about it. It's short and still a waste of space.
Hunter of the Dead: This class still sucks. It's better than it was - but a Cleric is still better than this class at the only thing it does and can still raise the frickin dead.
Invisible Blade Dumb class, but marginally effective for all that. In 5 levels you get +3d6 sneak attack (only usable with daggers) and +5 BAB. You also get some dumb abilities and miss out on a wad of skills. For people who think of Rogues as an alternate way of dealing damage and haven't figured out about Lucern Hammers.
Justicar: You tie people up. A good class for two levels or so - and a nice flavor. The thing where it pretends that the ability to use manacles as an improvised club without penalty is an ability at 10th level is weird - but after two levels you actually do what you are supposed to so giving up the class isn't a problem. Also comes with cool art.
Kensai: Gives the BAB of a Cleric. Check. Sneak Attack? No. Spells? No. Suck? Definately.
Knight of the Chalice: These guys have been nerfed since their original write-up where they weren't any good. Bizzare.
Knight Protector: These guys have been nerfed too. They aren't very good any more. And the class is harder to qualify for. Instead of showing up in most powergaming builds for Fighters - this class will show up in none of them.
Master Thrower: Like the Exotic Weapon Master, this "class" is actually a short list of feats that are exclusive to itself. Some are good, some are the suck. I like the one where you get to negate people's dex against your thrown weapon attacks pretty much all the time.
Master of the Unseen Hand: It's a class for Githyanki to kill people with Telekinetic Kung Fu. Really weird, and hard to evaluate - but not really all that good.
Mindspy: A class for Doppelgangers to anticipate your technique and beat you with it. It doesn't really do anything until 4th level, at which point you retroactively get +4 to attacks and AC and some other minor benefits. Makes for a cool monster, actually.
Nature's Warrior: One of the abilities you get is Tumble: 3 times a day. I'm not kidding. This class blows - although the special effects budget for its powers are intense.
Occult Slayer: Five levels in and you still can't kill wizards worth a crap. I don't understand why anyone thought writing this class was a good idea.
Order of the Bow Initiate: This class has been severely nerfed - especially in the later levels. But it still gives Close Combat Shot at 2nd level, so who cares?
Purple Dragon Knight: This class becomes better in direct proportion to how many friends you have. Actually, it still never gets all that great - but it's not all the bad in a regular 4 person party either. Like any other Fighter - but you yell more.
Rage Mage: At first it sounds like a contradiction... but then you realize that you are getting half spellcasting progression and a cleric BAB for a character who is already multiclassed Barbarian/Sorcerer - and you realize that it actually is a contradiction.
Ravager: These guys still suck.
Reaping Mauler: If for some reason you wanted to be an unarmed grappler and didn't have Improved Grapple by 5th or 6th level, this one level PrC steps right in and fixes that. Bizzare.
Ronin: This class only gives you abilities for the first two levels. The first level also comes with a disadvantage (nobels don't trust you) - but in 2 levels you pick up +2 BAB and the ability to trade AC for Attack Bonus at 1 for 1 when charging. Great for Power Attack/Spirited Charge builds.
Spellsword:The first level gives +1 BAB and a Spellcaster level and a minor ability. The second level gives +1 BAB and a bonus feat. The third level gives +1 BAB and Spellcaster Level and a bonus feat. The fourth level.... you don't take the fourth level.
Stonelord: Every Level you get to benefit from one obscure Clerical Spell that you could actually just know and prepare if you had been a Cleric instead. This class is sucktastic.
Tattooed Monk: 5 blank levels and down 3 BAB in a ten level class. Suck!
Thayan Knight: Good for three or four levels or so. The Thayan Knights seem like a fairly decent order actually.
War Chanter: Just like a Bard. Complete with empty levels and puffy pants. But you don't even get spells.
War Shaper: This class has potential. It's a lot better than the Shifter, because it always adds to whatever shapechanging you already had. But it's still a combat-only class that gives 3 BAB in 5 levels, and is thus not good.
Random Stuff:
The Dragon Disciple:
This is not a good class. You have two methods to not be very good with it:
1. Come at it from a "Fighting" build.
2. Come at it from a "Caster" build.
If you come at it from a Fighting perspective, the spellcasting you get is virtually meaningless. And by Virtually meaningless, I mean completely worthless - what exactly are you intending to do with the 7 extra bardic cantrips you'll pick up at a caster level of about 1? What you are really looking at is trading BAB (you need to drop at least one to get the Arcane Spellcasting requirement without really sucking as a Hex Mage, and then you drop three more on your way through the class).
That's not stellar - but what do you get? You get some natural armor, some ability bonuses, and a breath weapon. Well, the Breath Weapon is so small that I wouldn't cross the street to pick it up - and none of the other bonuses stack with Polymorph Any Object. Which is to say, you could have bigger attribute bonuses, bigger natural armor, nastier claw attacks, and the same type benefit - all by simply getting a 15th level wizard to cast PAO on you. And since you terminate the class at 15th level - that's not unreasonable. Wings at character level 14? Why is that happening?
So really, all of the bonuses of the class can be gained by having the party wizard bless you once, and you've set fire to four points of BAB and 10 levels of stackable fighting class features.
Or you could go the caster route. In that case, you are talking about picking up 2 extra BAB instead of 5 levels of spells. Again, all of the bonuses to your stats and claws would be bigger if you just frickin polymorphed - but now you are also giving up the prospect of casting Fireballs which are simply larger than the breath weapon you gained.
So, your choices are: Stay a Fighter. If you do this, you are better than the DD because you can benefit from Polymorph and have 4 extra points of BAB and 10 levels of Class Features on top. Or, Stay a Caster. If you do this, you are better than a Dragon Disciple because you can transform yourself and cast evocations which are larger than the breath weapons you would be getting.
The only real advantage here is the d12 hit die. That is nice, in that with the ability boost - a caster character is going to be picking up 5 extra hit points per level on average. Of course, the actual caster could transform into a Troll and get 6 extra hit points per level....
Duelist: It's been compared to ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag. I can't really fault that comparison, actually.
There's two ways to look at it: either as a sequential list of levels, or as a full ten level package.
Sequential list of levels: This is where you start sucking. At the very least you are looking at a 7th level entry point because of the +6 BAB requirement, and most likely you are looking at an even higher requirement. For your first level, you get: Dodge as a bonus feat.
What? You get dodge? That's right. You get a single +1 Dodge bonus to AC which does not stack with armor or shields. One of the worst feats ever and it isn't quite as good as that.
For your second level you get Dodge and Lightning Reflexes. But it doesn't actually count as taking Lightning Reflexes for purposes of prereqs. Next level you get Dodge and Mobility, but you already had Mobility, and you have Tumble, so you don't provoke attacks for moving anyway. Very mysterious all around.
So that's no good. What if we consider it as a gigantic package. At the end it gets pretty good, right? Well, your Int Bonus to AC is capped at +10, so it's no longer capped by the end. More importantly, you get the astounding ability of "Elaborate Parry" - where you gain +13 AC every time you fight defensively instead of only +3 like a normal person. You only get this benefit when fighting with a pick, but you're basically doing that anyways.
So as a 17th level fricking character you get the pleasure of being a Monk 4/ Ranger 3/ Duelist 10. You now:
* Add your Wisdom bonus to your AC.
* Add your Intelligence bonus to your AC.
* Add 13 more points of AC when you are taking a -4 penalty on your attacks (which means it only applies during rounds after you have declared an Attack of some kind).
* Gain up to a +8 bonus to AC from Bracers of Armor.
That's a big chunk of AC. Here's what you are missing out on:
* A +13 bonus to AC from using light armor.
* A +9 bonus to AC from using a Tower Shield (possibly a floating one).
So you are 14 points in the hole, which you can get back from your stat bonuses. Then you get to essentially use "Combat Expertise" for +/- 4 and then pocket an additional 9 points of AC.
So for only 14 levels of class features, and 18s across the board in all of your stats, you get three points ahead in Armor Class when fighting defensively. Of course, you'll be six points behind the rest of the time.
Are you puzzled? You should be.
Let's talk about investing 5 levels in Knight of the Middle Circle and getting a +4 bonus to AC. That's bigger than the AC bonus of investing 14 levels in being naked. And while we could run a higher stat campaign and assume that everyone has 20s across the board (actually possible if you are using the Efreet loop from your party wizard) - that's still a bit behind someone putting 10 whole levels into Knight of the Middle Circle and getting an AC bonus of +6.
And you can do better. You can take 5 levels of Knight of the Middle Circle to get a +4 Combat Sense and 3 levels of Devoted defender to get a +2 AC bonus for a +6 bonus out of 8 levels.
The Int + Wis + Dex + Bracers of Armor combo make look impressive, but remember that in addition to the rather large costs of multiple stat dependencies, it is setting you back twenty two points of armor class simply from the nakedness requirement. And the level investment cost to get to that point is huge. You need to get 14 points of armor out of your class features before you even break even with what the regular high level Fighter is getting without any investment of class features at all. It's difficult for me to imagine a game which has stats so high as to allow that to happen - and you still haven't caught up to the fact that the Defensive Fighter is, rather than standing there drooling, actually taking an equal number of levels to add defensive class features on top of his formiddable lead from being able to wear armor and use shields in the first place.
Unearthed Arcana:
Alternate Classes
Like all alternate core classes, most of these are completely ass. All of the Totems let you trade your Fast Movement for Skill Focus. WTF?
Good ones: Horse Totem Barbarians trade Uncanny Dodge (which is good) and Trap Sense (which is not) for some bonus feats of Run, Skill Focus, and Endurance. Those are crap bonus feats, but if you are intending to go into a PrC which requires them it saves you time. Lion Totem Barbarians get more power at first level and less power later - so if you intend to take a level for the Fast Movement, the Rage, and the hit die and then bug out to a PrC - you may as well get the Run Feat for free on top of that. Wolf Totem is two levels long and gives you Improved Trip as a bonus feat.
The Bardic Sage is crap.
The Divine Bard is a straight power-up of the Bard. You staple the word "Divine" on your spells and it becomes better because it doesn't have ACP or require rest to get spell slots back. It's still a Bard - so it's still on the weak side.
The Savage Bard is really weak.
The Cloistered Cleric trades the Cleric's Martial Ability for having all of the relevent abilties of a Bard - and thus easily and contemptuously blows the Bard out of the Water. In the long run, the Cloistered Cleric can still cast Divine Power and will be just as Martial as the normal Cleric and have a lot more skills and abilities.
The Druidic Avenger is horrendously over powered. You are just like a Druid except that you have all of the Barbarian abilities for free and you get to use them in Animal Form. Whoever thought this was a good idea should be shot.
The Thug appears to be an NPC class, as it is weaker than the fighter of all people.
Fighting Styles are a straight power-up of the Monk. The Monk pays nothing and gets some minor abilities. They are still Monks, so they still SUCK.
The Variant Paladins are inane, but not actually broken.
The Planar Ranger is better than the Ranger. Whooptedo.
The Urban Ranger gains the special ability to use Gather Information to do what the Gather Information skill normally does instead of getting Tracking. If you are as confused by that as I am - I am not terribly surpised.
The Wilderness Rogue is in no way different from the normal Rogue.
The Battle Sorcerer is still a Sorcerer and still sucks. In fact, the Battle Sorcerer is even worse than a normal Sorcerer. Since Wizards are already better, the Battle Sorcerer is a jest.
The Domain Wizard is very much like a specialist wizard who doesn't have to give up any schools and learns an extra spell every other level.
Grey Muse:
Complete Adventurer:
The ninja gets sudden strike and acrobatics abilities, as well as ki powers. The ki powers (1/2 ninja level + wis mod uses per day) let you do things like gain concealment, go invis or ethereal for 1 round, or strike ethereal creatures, and all are swift actions. At a glance, it's roughly on par with a rogue.
The scout is a kind of ranger/rogue with rogue BAB. They get d8 HD and skirmish. They get some movement abilities and blindsense at higher levels, meaning they're able to move, sneak around, and spot things. They also get an initiative bonus. It's definitely not as strong as a caster, but I really like the feel of the class.
The spellthief is... interesting. Reduced SA progression, and you can lose a die of SA to steal a spell from your target. The maximum level of spell you can steal is that of a sorcerer of your spellthief level (so a 6th level spellthief can steal 3rd level spells.) As you progress in levels you gain the ability to steal spell effects, spell-like abilities, and energy resistance, and can absorb spells cast on them.These guys get their own spell list, too.
The spellthief can also take spells from a willing target with a standard action, and can either cast them on himself or use the spell levels stolen to power his spells. This means no loading him up with fireballs from the sorcerer, but is useful for things like Shapechange. The write-up takes a full 5 pages, of which about 3.5 is mechanics. It's a bit complex, but a neat idea. I'd have to play one to see how they worked.
Lago:
Various sources:
Archmage- The prerequisites are nerfed and they removed one of the few reasons to take this class.
Hierophant- Now with 50% more crying than before! Only useful in epic levels.
Red Wizard- I don't remember how Circle Magic was like in 3.0E, but in this edition it's straight-up retarded nuts. All of the save DCs they 'lost' in 3.5E are back with a vengeance and now they can kill minor and intermediate deities with a UMD check.
Frenzied Berserker- This is actually subjective. While it gives a reason for fighters to exist at higher levels, the real original purpose was to give two-weapon fighting a fighting chance against two-handed weapons. This PrC just reminds me how much TWF blows now.
Incantatrix- This PrC was one of the most complained about on the boards of all times, so the solution was to make it even MORE powerful? Wha?
Tattoo Monk- The game designers just really hate monks. I don't know why they bother keeping the class in this edition if they have such a lack of understanding for this class.
Drunken Master- For a brief instance before Complete Warrior came out but after 3.5E came out, this PrC was actually really good if you could somehow meet the prerequisites. I liked the ability where you got to charge but it didn't have to be in a straight line. Now it blows and no longer stacks with magic weapons. What. The hell?
Sacred Fist- This is one of the few changes that actually really pisses me off. The original one, despite being goofy and unbalanced, had a specific flavor and was actually rather fun. Now its a huge wad of boring ass that doesn't do anything.
Church Inquisitor- Clerics can easily qualify for it by level 3 now, ending empty levels and adding a phat bonus to skill checks.
Blood Magus- Um, yay? WTF? It's still not worth taking to the end, but I can actually see someone taking it now.
Exotic Weapon Master- Has marginally more flavor than before and doesn't force you to stick to empty levels. Good.
Tainted Spellcaster (Maho Tsukai)- Still astoundingly broken, since it comboes off of power leech like no one's business. But it isn't quite as broken as before.
Spellsword- If you have a certain feat from those stoopid Faerun Sourcebooks, an arcane spellcaster can qualify for it for no reason. It beats before, when it lost to core rules characters.
Cavalier- While it no longer has full-mounted attack, it seriously doesn't matter. Polymorphing is so crack-ass in this edition that both you and your mount can have pounce for free. Easier prerequisites, an enhancement to mounts and an awesome charge multiplier make this the win.
Knight Protector- They took away the attack bonus and replaced it with a tiny ass defense bonus! Look at this shit! They hate fighters so much. And the prereqs are worse, too.
Swashbuckler- Completely nerfed in every way except for the thing that made them even remotely objectionable. Congratulations, you horrible people!
Dragon Disciple- I didn't think that they'd be able to make it worse, but they did. I bet when you get to hell, Satan will make all of you douches take a level of this PrC.
Contemplative- Wizards nor really anyone can qualify for it. But they have the arcane disciple feat in the same book, so who knows? I wouldn't really call this wizard hate.
Divine Oracle- This I would call wizard hate. Why did they gotta do that? This PrC wasn't even remotely overpowered for a diviner to take.
Sacred Exorcist- Worse in every way than before, from the reduction in featness to the loss of the prestige domain. But this edition has divine metamagic, so who gives a rat's ass?
Bear Warrior- Exactly the same as before, except that the massive polymorph improvement got moved up a level. Barbarians don't need a stick in their eye, so it is objectively worse.
Bladesinger- The 3.0E one was a confusing bag of ass, but a lot of people wanted to play it (see Sacred Fist). It's almost, ALMOST as good as a rogue in combat with the right crap but lacks in the skills department.
Maho Buijin/Tainted Warrior- Nerfed to the point of unplayability. And that's all she wrote.
Knight of the Chalice- This has also been nerfed and for the life of me I cannot fathom the reason. They were a metric ton of refined, flawless ass back in 3.0E, and now they're worse.
Order of the Bow Initiate- Remember way back when when we tried our damned hardest to make decent non-cleric archers? This, along with the Peerless Archer, was the vital link in that cliched combo. Now it's completely nerfed, and completely suck. Why do the game designers hate freedom?
Hospitaler- OMFG CLERIKZ GOT FOUR EXTRA BONUS FEATZ IN EXCHANGE FOR HAVING 2 TAKE 2 CRAPPY ONES BETTER NERF IT LOL WHOOPS 2 MUCH OH WELL AT LEAST THE GAME IS BALANCED TIME TO PLAYTEST D&D ED'Z DRUID IS SO COOLOL
And for the Pissed in the Bowl of PrC Cornflakes Award:
Consecrated Harrier- I think this PrC got nerfed more than any other PrC in the history of 3.5E. If you became a mad cultist like Death Rattle or David Koresh and redefined your enemies on the spot, this PrC was actually really good. This was probably the only fighter PrC ever published that could take on druids. Now look at it! Just LOOK at it! I feel like the time I watched Mae West, age 70+, was portrayed as a hot sex startlet in that awful movie Sexette. SHUT YOUR MOUTH I NEVER SAW THAT MOVIE I JUST READ THE REVIEW ON JABOOTU.
Wrenfield:
Duelist 3.0 was cute. You could use it with a baseline Monk/Shou Disciple and use your freakin' Siangham. A Spiked Shield combatant with the Shield Bash feat could also take it. Or a tricked-out Spiked Chain user with the Monkey Grip feat. You could even be goofy and pull out your Hand Crossbow to get benefits from it.
Now ... the 3.5 Duelist is total crap-ass. The incremented INT-to-AC bonuses are stupid, the class benefits were shuffled around, watered down, and stomped on. And instead of that +3d6 Sneak Attack Wannabee "Precise Streak" .. you get +2d6. And that last +1d6 is your "keystone award" at 10th level.
Heh - imagine a Ftr4 / Rog3 / Duelist9 getting rewarded at 16th level with a class ability of .... DEFLECT ARROWS. Meanwhile a Wizard5 / Incantatrix10 (one level behind you) is breaking the game 6 ways to Sunday.
Gaming Den Complied PrC reviews
Moderator: Moderators