I realize this is old news.  But I'm posting because you're clever people and figure you can help me out.  I'm starting a new 3.5 campaign and am designing some new prestige classes.  Got me thinking about this again...

Maybe more than any other base class, there seems to be very little mechanical reason for a cleric or sorcerer to stick with it.  I realize there are plenty of patches or fixes and, well, Pathfinder, but what have you done in your 3.5 games about this issue, if anything?

Quote from: winkingbishop;366920Maybe more than any other base class, there seems to be very little mechanical reason for a cleric or sorcerer to stick with it.  I realize there are plenty of patches or fixes and, well, Pathfinder, but what have you done in your 3.5 games about this issue, if anything?

Well, nothing, probably because I don't see it as an issue.

The main thing to do with PrCs is to provide ground-rules as the campaign begins. Namely, that prestige classes are not just mechanical boosts, or alternate professions for the PCs. They must have ties with the campaign world itself, and represent progression in some group or faction within it. A prestige class represents the way in which the PC gradually becomes part of the world surrounding him or her.

From there, what you've got to think of before the campaign begins is groups, organizations, factions in which the sorcerer and clerics, for instance, can become active members, which in turn will serve the campaign by providing new contacts, allies, enemies, opportunities as it unfolds. The PCs will encounter members of these groups/org/factions as they play the game, and may make friends or foes out of them. They then grow mechanically as they grow within the campaign world.

To come up with groups/factions, you might start from this or that PrC from this or that sourcebook you'd like to include in your campaign and design a group around it. Or just translate some group with PrCs you like into your setting. Or create a group and plug PrCs you like from it base on theme, goals, etc. You might also take the players' suggestions in terms of what they'd like to play, flavor-wise or mechanically, and work it into the campaign by making up PrCs and/or groups for them.

Do you see what I mean?

Quote from: Benoist;366927Do you see what I mean?

I do, and I agree with you.  For my new campaign, I'll almost certainly be saving myself some time by adapting some PrC from the Complete series in addition to making a few of my own.  I've never let a player take on a PrC lightly.

However, you can't un-ring the mechanics bell.  My players know the books and their options.  In the case of most base classes, there are usually a couple of good reasons to stick to your base.  For clerics and sorcerers, though, they basically always get better with a PrC.  I guess its just a pet peeve.  Wondered if anyone else thought so too and did a fix to it.

Well, take your pick: boost the base, or tone down the prestige. And even then, some prestige classes are decidedly more equal than others. What then?

So, in my opinion, your best bet is to weaken some (...okay, many) prestige classes. Never mind what I think about some of the base classes as well...

Or, have higher entry and leveling requirements for more powerful prestige classes, such as the alignment and action restriction of the Paladin.