Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Paths of Prestige (based on
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While many legendary heroes of Golarion fit easily into the core classes of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game—the sword-swinging fighters, fireball-flinging wizards, backstabbing rogues, and others—there are some who specialize in unique styles and techniques, perfectly customizing themselves for their roles. For these characters, there are prestige classes. From the undead-hunting Knights of Ozem to the revolutionary Gray Gardeners of Galt, this book collects 30 of the most prominent faiths and factions from around the Inner Sea and transforms them into prestige classes designed to help you take advantage of the tricks and tactics of some of Golarion’s most famous (and infamous) groups, all while rooting your character firmly in the lore and societies of the Pathfinder campaign setting.
Within this 64-page book, you’ll find new prestige class options for every character class in the Pathfinder RPG, including:
The Aldori swordlord, world-renowned dueling master of the turbulent north.
The Hellknight signifer, an armored spellcaster who uses magic to pursue the perfect, iron-fisted law of Hell.
The gun-toting shieldmarshal, whose bright badge brings order to the chaos of the Mana Wastes.
The mammoth rider, savage megafauna cavalry expert.
The Sleepless detective, uniquely suited to solving mysteries both magical and mundane in haunted Ustalav.
The winter witch, whose ice magic keeps a whole nation in thrall.
...and 24 more!
Paths of Prestige is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.
By Benjamin Bruck, Jason Bulmahn, Matt Goodall, and Jason Nelson
September 13, 2012 The Winter Witch prestige class has been updated and is available for download. (1.2MB zip/PDF)
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I'm not nearly as fond as PrCs as I used to be since Pathfinder redid all the base classes. But coming from this company? They'll be great. I'll get it when it comes out.
Ummm. sounds really, really cool. but send me a few of the presige classes so we can test their brokeness... I'd hate to see the thread "OMG the Technomancer prestige class is so OP". Just telling you before it happens..
I've been wondering when a book like this would come out. I actually wanted it when the CRB was release, but it makes even more sense now, as we have a lot more base (8) and alternate classes. I wouldn't be surprised, if it sells well, that in 2-3 years we have an expanded, hard cover, generalized version in the core line.
Wishlist (which is probably already too late, **sigh**):
1. Update the prestige classes in the 3.5 products. Especially, the Brightness Seeker, and the Liberator.
2. Concentration on player classes, i.e., only a few Book of the Damned style evil prestige classes. (The Grey Gardener's don't bother me, we'll see how they are differentiated from "regular" necromancers.)
Random thought: I like the Aldori swordsman as a concept. (Actually, I like the original Aldori a lot, with so many epic mages, its nice to have an epic fighter.) I'm just not sure a prestige class is necessary after the archetype and feats. Hopefully they will name the Aldori Swordlord prestige class something different from the Aldori Swordlord archetype (from the Inner Sea Primer), and provide different features.
Still awaiting a chance to play some PFS; hopefully the vast majority of this book will be legal.
Some of the prestige classes in this book are SPECIFICALLY named after archetypes, becasue they might require taking that archetype in order to qualify for the prestige class. Not sure that's what the Aldori Duelst or whatever it ends up being called will do... but it's absolutely what's going on with the Winter Witch prestige class.
I love the books of paizo, I just hope that the prestige classes in this book will let you make a diferent character(and concepts) not just a more powerful one.
*sees the line about Arclords of Nex, and babbles incoheretly for 20 minutes* THAT'S what my life's been missing! Now, to talk the webmasters into setting up an option to just directly deposit my income tax refund with Paizo up front and eliminate the middleman...
D&D 3.5 had a real glut of PrCs, I think, to the point that a lot of people just didn't want to play base classes because of how much more powerful and interesting a lot of PrCs were.
I think Pathfinder has done a great job addressing this problem by putting a lot of work into beefing up the base classes and giving us lots of customizations options with archetypes, so the time is definitely ripe to fill in the relative lack of PrC options.
Tl;dr - this is coming out at the perfect time and I'm quite excited.
Paizo has put the Prestige back into PrC. I didn't like 3.5 PrC's that you could plop into almost any campaign. I like the original 3.0 blue DMG concept that these classes were intimately tied to the campaign world. You don't become a Winter Witch in Thuvia! Bravo!
1. My only claim to improving Golarion is starting a thread which helped result in changing "Skull and Bones" to the much improved "Skull and Shackles." Along the same lines I would suggest any of the following for a Winter Witch fed prestige class: White Witch (which is what the Inner Sea World Guide uses), Judwiga Witch, Whitethrone Witch (too specific, but nicely alliterative).
2. I don't like having duplicate game terms, even when one feeds into another. It just adds confusion, especially for new players.
3. Also, 7 level Witch (Winter Witch archetype)/ 7 level Winter Witch just doesn't have a. . . ring to it. Diviner/Loremaster works; even Fighter/Wizard/Arcane Archer works; Winter Witch/Winter Witch doesn't.
I'm assuming, true to the "Paizo style," that a 7 level Witch (Winter Witch archetype)/ 7 level Winter Witch is different from, but not generally, mechanically, better than a 14 level Witch (Winter Witch archetype). In other words, the prestige class is a choice, not a no-brainer like 3.5's Wizard into Archmage.
Minor, and hopefully constructive, criticism aside, "Paths of Prestige" is the Golarion book I'm most looking forward to in the next six months.
Just to spare people some pain, it's pretty clear that since this book is coming out in August, there is no time for playtesting or revisions to names of things or whatnot. This has likely already been sent off to the printers.
Just to spare people some pain, it's pretty clear that since this book is coming out in August, there is no time for playtesting or revisions to names of things or whatnot. This has likely already been sent off to the printers.
You may be right. From James's comment above: "Not sure that's what the Aldori Duelst or whatever it ends up being called will do... but it's absolutely what's going on with the Winter Witch prestige class." I have hope that they have time to make some minor changes; "winter" to "white", for example. It's reasonable (but maybe inaccurate) to assume they're past the copy editing but haven't reached the final proof reading.
Are there going to be any generic, combinational prestige classes that let you merge two classes? Things like the Mystic Theurge, Arcane Trickster, Battle Herald, or Rage Prophet?
Just to spare people some pain, it's pretty clear that since this book is coming out in August, there is no time for playtesting or revisions to names of things or whatnot. This has likely already been sent off to the printers.
It actually has NOT been sent to the printers. It's actually still being written.
But no... we will not be doing a public playtest of this book.
At this point, if we can't pull off a book of prestige classes that are flavorful and well balanced and fun without needing a hardcover's level of work and playtest and refinement and extra TLC... we might as well just print novels is my opinion.
Are there going to be any generic, combinational prestige classes that let you merge two classes? Things like the Mystic Theurge, Arcane Trickster, Battle Herald, or Rage Prophet?
Just one. The Paladin of Irori will, I hope, be a good paladin/monk combo. I also hope it'll have Paladin of Irori code stuff, and some more flavor stuff. Classes like those mentioned above exist primarily in a world-flavor-vacuum, and are mostly of interest purely on a mechanical level for multiclassing. That's not what these prestige classes in "Paths of Prestige" are doing, for the most part.
There's a reason this book is in the Campaign Setting line, folks... my philosophy is that prestige classes are MUCH BETTER when they are used to present world-specific stuff. Like Hellknights, harrowers, red mantis assassins, and low templars. ALL of the prestige classes in this book are built to support Golarion-specific organizations and options. Several of them will work not only as PC options, but as prestige classes you can put onto monsters (something Pathfinder is SORELY missing at this point). And they'll all bring with them some new flavor to 30 different organizations and philosophies and faiths and factions and whatevers that need more info, in many cases.
Will the prestige classes be usable outside of Golarion? Absolutely—just as you can use Hellknights and harrowers and Red Mantis Assassins and Low Templars in other settings. You might need to fiddle a bit with flavor here and there, but they'll work.
1. My only claim to improving Golarion is starting a thread which helped result in changing "Skull and Bones" to the much improved "Skull and Shackles." Along the same lines I would suggest any of the following for a Winter Witch fed prestige class: White Witch (which is what the Inner Sea World Guide uses), Judwiga Witch, Whitethrone Witch (too specific, but nicely alliterative).
2. I don't like having duplicate game terms, even when one feeds into another. It just adds confusion, especially for new players.
3. Also, 7 level Witch (Winter Witch archetype)/ 7 level Winter Witch just doesn't have a. . . ring to it. Diviner/Loremaster works; even Fighter/Wizard/Arcane Archer works; Winter Witch/Winter Witch doesn't.
I'm assuming, true to the "Paizo style," that a 7 level Witch (Winter Witch archetype)/ 7 level Winter Witch is different from, but not generally, mechanically, better than a 14 level Witch (Winter Witch archetype). In other words, the prestige class is a choice, not a no-brainer like 3.5's Wizard into Archmage.
Minor, and hopefully constructive, criticism aside, "Paths of Prestige" is the Golarion book I'm most looking forward to in the next six months.
My take: you're not a REAL Winter Witch unless you have levels in the prestige class. If you're a witch with the winter witch archetype... you're "in training."
Since the winter witch prestige class will require that archetype as a prereq, I suspect that we'd refer to statted up winter witches as:
Human female witch 7/winter witch 7 or whatever. And the character herself would regard herself first and formost as a "winter witch."
We'll see. As I said in a previous post, the book's still being written.
Just to spare people some pain, it's pretty clear that since this book is coming out in August, there is no time for playtesting or revisions to names of things or whatnot. This has likely already been sent off to the printers.
You may be right. From James's comment above: "Not sure that's what the Aldori Duelst or whatever it ends up being called will do... but it's absolutely what's going on with the Winter Witch prestige class." I have hope that they have time to make some minor changes; "winter" to "white", for example. It's reasonable (but maybe inaccurate) to assume they're past the copy editing but haven't reached the final proof reading.
The problem there is that a "Winter Witch" is not the same thing as a "White Witch."
Just to spare people some pain, it's pretty clear that since this book is coming out in August, there is no time for playtesting or revisions to names of things or whatnot. This has likely already been sent off to the printers.
It actually has NOT been sent to the printers. It's actually still being written.
But no... we will not be doing a public playtest of this book.
At this point, if we can't pull off a book of prestige classes that are flavorful and well balanced and fun without needing a hardcover's level of work and playtest and refinement and extra TLC... we might as well just print novels is my opinion.
I just hope many of them are better than the new Inner Sea Pirate PrC we just got (yuck).
Swordlords, Gray Gardeners, Mammoth Riders, Arclords, and Shield Marshals all sound awesome. The only thing that concerns me is the use of archetypes as prerequisites. One or two here and there would be fine, but if 5 or 10 of these new PrCs have archetype prereqs then I am going to be sorely disappointed. The fact that you can accidentally bar your entry into certain PrCs during character creation just seems ludicrous. I can just see it now: "Sorry Joe, no you can't take the Awesome Bandit Lord™ PrC because when we made characters six months ago you just made a Rogue with a bunch of banditry related skills and tendencies, but you didn't make a Bandit archetype Rogue. Too bad."
And on top of that, having archetype requirements are extremely limiting. How many different ways are there to go into the Dragon Disciple PrC? Probably a hundred. How many ways are there to get into the Winter Witch PrC? One.
Like I said, a few of these are fine. A Winter Witch PrC sounds pretty awesome, actually. But I will get more use and more mileage out of the more flexible PrCs.
Paizo Superscriber, Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber, Pathfinder Comics Deluxe Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
There's a reason this book is in the Campaign Setting line, folks... my philosophy is that prestige classes are MUCH BETTER when they are used to present world-specific stuff. Like Hellknights, harrowers, red mantis assassins, and low templars. ALL of the prestige classes in this book are built to support Golarion-specific organizations and options. Several of them will work not only as PC options, but as prestige classes you can put onto monsters (something Pathfinder is SORELY missing at this point). And they'll all bring with them some new flavor to 30 different organizations and philosophies and faiths and factions and whatevers that need more info, in many cases.
I have a significant amount of antipathy towards prestige classes, but this comment goes an enormous way towards nullifying that.
Vic Wertz
Chief Technical Officer
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bartgroks
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