Bringing back the Prestige 6/26/2003 by Jackelope King
A Guide to Assimilating Prestige Classes.
Splatbooks, new settings, independent books, the online masses there are a lot of sources of information on 3E out there. And one thing they all like to include: new prestige classes. Everyone remembers peeking into the DMG for the first time and seeing these new classes. Shadowdancer dwarven defender blackguard these all seemed so neat. It must be so tough to track down the Shadowdancers and get them to let you join and learn their secrets.
So what happened? When did prestige classes stop looking like our characters' dreams and start looking like a standard part of progression? When did they stop being so prestigious?
This article is aimed at helping DMs find prestige classes that fit their settings and work them in to an existing campaign. We will look at how a DM can look at published classes and fit them into an existing campaign and make actually taking levels of this class prestigious. The following questions give an overview of how this is done:
Does the prestige class fit in my setting?
Do I want to include the prestige class in my setting?
Should this prestige class require training from a group of some kind or would it be sufficient for a character to just take the prerequisites?
What type of group should the prestige class be a part of?
How can I make this knowledge available to my players?
Now onto the process itself.
Does this prestige class fit in my setting?
The first step in looking at a prestige class is determining whether or not the concept even fits. For example, a cleric prestige class for clerics that allows them to defend the Weave is perfect for Forgotten Realms, but does it fit anywhere else? Not without some major retooling. If you feel that a certain prestige class does not fit your setting, you as the DM have the right to say that you do not want it included in your setting.
Do I want to include this prestige class in my setting?
If the concept fits, then it's time to decide whether you even want that prestige class in your setting. Maybe you just don't want a pirate prestige class in your game, or maybe oozemaster is just a little too weird for you. That is absolutely fine: your game, your rules. Maybe there are pirates out there, but they don't need the Dread Pirate prestige class, right? Alternatively, maybe you think a prestige class is too powerful. I wouldn't hold it against a DM who said Arcane Trickster is not allowed, or would only be allowed with some modifications. The key is not to allow prestige classes you do not want in your world, for whatever reason, so that the classes you do allow are so integrated into the world that they fit seamlessly. Players know when you just threw something in, and this disrupts the suspension of disbelief.
Should this prestige class require training from a group of some kind or would it be sufficient for a character to just take the prerequisites?
Now that you've picked out the classes you want to include, you need to decide how to fit them in. Does the prestige class require special training? 99% of the time, the answer should be "yes". There obviously are a few classes that you can say are a natural part of a character's development. Maybe a character can just become a Duelist by taking the necessary feats and then taking the appropriate levels of the prestige class. However, it is up to the DM. It makes for a more prestigious character when it is required to seek out and join an elite order than it does for a character to practice swinging a rapier a few times a day.
What type of group should the prestige class be a part of?
So how exactly do we fit classes in? There are three main ways to do this. The first (and easiest) is to create an order. Call it a guild, a club, a brotherhood, or whatever you want. All members of one or more prestige classes belong to this order. You want to be a Shadowdancer? Join the League of the Shade. How about archmages? The Brass Spire Academy is the only place that teaches the highest practices of the Art. You can also fit multiple prestige classes into one group. Maybe Duelists, Thief-Acrobats, Shadowdancers, and Arcane Tricksters are all members of the legendary Order of the Swift Blade. Groups like these have to be able to fit into the world, though, just as the prestige classes do. Maybe the different groups hold different deities in high regard or are the result of some cultural anomaly. For example, people who spend most of their lives on horseback would be the natural people to start a group that trained Cavaliers or other mounted combat specialists.
Another option is to have a prestige class under the control of the military directly. This works extremely well for very martial classes, like Deepwood Sniper of the Spellswords. Similar to the way non-military groups work, one or more prestige classes are taught by special military forces. The primary difference between the independent groups and the military ones is that a military group will exercise more control over its members. For example, the 8th Company of the Royal Army of Rokinstein is made up entirely of Dwarven Defenders. In return for the rather difficult training, the dwarves who join this company are required to spend two months each year on active duty. Military groups give the DM more control than independent groups do.
The final option is the quintessential wandering master approach. Maybe the only person left who knows the Way of the Bow is the legendary archer Jerich Flanigen. Nobody knows where he is, but to take levels in the Order of the Bow Initiate prestige class, an archer has to track down this elusive figure and gain his respect to receive this training. A more familiar example might be (at the risk of flames) Master Roshi from Dragonball. Goku had to find this old man and prove his strength to him before Roshi let the boy train with him. Nobody else in the world taught the style that Roshi did, and Goku's only option in learning this style was to train with the old man. If you cannot see a prestige class as fitting well into a group setting (Dragon Disciple or Acolyte of the Skin, for example), then maybe the best way to fit it in would be to add such a wandering master. The key to making it prestigious is to make the master difficult to track down and even harder to prove oneself to. Then a trainee can look back on gaining the prestige class and realize he put forth a lot of work in-game to get levels as a Master Samurai.
How can I make this knowledge available to my players?
Now you know how prestige classes fit in. The final step is to let your players know this information. The options you have here depend entirely on your playing style (or level of laziness). You could type all this information out and distribute it to your players, so they know to gain levels in X they have to join C. Alternatively, you can speak with players in advance and tell them how a particular class is handled. You also have the option of not telling the players anything out of character, and simply introducing all information in-character. A successful gather information check might reveal that the Bladedancers train deep in the Forest of the Five Pillars, or that the Blackguards' insidious order is located on a demiplane of darkness wedged between the plane of shadow and the abyss.
For a sample, let's look at the Loremaster. Now this class really doesn't seem to have any major issues with fitting into a generic game setting. And I don't see any balance problems with it. It looks like an okay class. Now I decide I think Loremasters need to be part of some kind of organization to receive their powers. They like information, so maybe it should revolve around a library. Hmm maybe the Loremasters founded a great library like the one that existed historically in Alexandria, and their guild hall is located deep within the Library of Kotep, encircled by magically protected bookshelves and impenetrable walls. That sounds neat, so I run with it. The Library of Kotep is located fifteen miles north of the capital of the Himier kingdom, named for the great king who founded it three hundred years ago. He was a powerful mage in his own right, and he wanted to preserve the knowledge of the world for all times, so he built the library which now bears his name, and he founded the Loremasters, who would be guardians of that sacred knowledge. Their arcane powers would allow them to protect the Library itself, while they would carry as much of the knowledge of the world as possible within them as insurance. They are forever writing books and treatises on obscure topics to add to the Library of Kotep and the knowledge of the world as a whole. To join this order, a mage must meet the prerequisites for the class in addition to being able to demonstrate knowledge of his specialty and the world in general. I decide I will give my players this information in-game, clarifying out of character if need be to players interested in taking this particular class.
So there you have it. Try to apply this formula to other prestige classes, and maybe you can make them prestigious again for your players, and not just another level they have to take. Good luck and all that jive.
Bringing back the Prestige 
Bringing back the Prestige 
