Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Paths of Prestige

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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Paths of Prestige
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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)

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-451-1

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Everyman Product Reviews: Paths of Prestige

4/5

Final Score & Thoughts:
Crunch: 4/5 Stars
Flavor: 5/5 Stars
Texture: 4/5 Stars
Final Score: 13/15 Stars, or 4/5 Stars

Paths of Prestige is an awesome Paizo Product; it’s one of the very best by a long shot. That said, it isn’t without it’s flaws. Paizo hadn’t perfected the spellcaster prestige class by this point and honestly, maybe they never will; almost all spellcasting classes are dreadfully ill-designed for multiclassing because of the lack of a character-wide statistic like base attack bonus. Prestige Class flavor is awesome in this book, but don’t expect to be learning anything new about the organizations that they represent. That’s one of the curious things about these classes, as a matter of fact. The prestige classes that tend to be the most mechanically powerful are the ones that have campaign-neutral themes that are attached to specific organizations: for example, Bellflower Tiller is essentially “Harriet Tubman the Prestige Class,” Knight of Ozen is essentially “Undead-Slaying Knight,” and “Mammoth Rider” is less of an organization and more of a hobby-turned prestige class. This is coming from someone who is obviously biased on the topic, but I think Paths of Prestige proves that while prestige classes might be conceptually easier to design if they’re assigned to an organization, mechanically they’re more interesting and viable options if their themes are extend beyond that specific organization.

Read the full review at the Everyman Gaming blog.


5/5

I've reviewed this book over on RPGGeek.com.


Solid guidebook

4/5

Pathfinder is better known for it’s complete and ‘go for 20 level’ base classes than it’s Prestige Classes. After all, the Archetypes make many PrC’s obsolete.

But here we have another thirty prestige classes for your use and reading pleasure. One I thought was great but might be a better base class is Noble Scion, which is Aristocrat done at a playable (but not power gamed) level.

Fun classes include the Mammoth Rider!

I have two quibbles- at least three of the PrC’s depend upon non-Core material, such as a feat found only in a sourcebook. The writers should have repeated the feat here. True, Core rulebook stuff doesn’t need to be, but this does. A more minor quibble is that some of these classes here are very region dependant.

A extra bonus is the table of where to find another three dozen Prestige classes, including some very basic info on each. Nice!


Many paths to choose from...

5/5

This slim 64 page addition for the Pathfinder Campaign Setting adds 30 new prestige classes to your favorite Fantasy role-playing game.

Section One, "Arcana", has 8 new mage prestige classes, including the Arclord of Nex, the Blackfire Adept, the Magaambyan Arcanist, the Razmiran Priest, the Riftwarden, the Tattooed Mystic, the Veiled Illusionist, and the Winter Witch.

Section Two, "Brawn", has 9 new fighter prestige classes, including the Aldori Swordlord, the Brother of the Seal, the Golden Legionnaire, the Knight of Ozem, the Lantern Bearer, the Mammoth Rider, the Pit Fighter, the Shieldmarshal, and the Skyseeker.

Section Three, "Guile", has 6 new rogue prestige classes, including the Aspis Agent, the Bellflower Tiller, the Daggermark Poisoner, the Gray Gardener, the Noble Scion, and the Sleepless Detective.

Section Four, "Piety", has 7 new clerical prestige classes, including the Champion of Irori, the Dawnflower Dissident, the Green Faith Acolyte, the Hellknight Signifier, the Prophet of Kalistrade, the Storm Kindler, and the Umbral Court Agent.

There's also a chart showing where to find 36 other prestige classes. The classes in the book are presented in alphabetical order. A canny GM would look to see if any of these classes would be more appropriate for NPC's. There are two pages for each class, and the necessary chart, as well as a sample picture of what a generic member of that class would look like. All new prestige classes in this volume, and references to the prestige classes in other Pathfinder products, make this just about a must-have for GM's. Highly recommended.


Good and useful book

4/5

Read my full review on my blog.

If this book had come out during the time of 3.5, I probably would have groaned and ignored it. Over the years, I have had very few players ever take a prestige class (I’m pretty sure I could count the total number on one hand), and so this just would have been more bloat that would probably never get used. However, with recent emphasis being away from prestige classes, my reaction to this was one of interest. The scattered prestige classes that have appeared in other Golarion sources have all been very flavourful, so there was every reason to believe Paizo could keep it up with a book full of them. To be honest, most of the classes in this book will still likely never see use in any of my games; however, I would consider it very likely that some will get used, if only for NPCs. With only a couple of exceptions (that seem strangely generic), all the classes are extremely flavourful and help to add more options and life to the world of Golarion.


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Shadow Lodge

Well, one thing I pointed out in my first sentence was that this bit of errata is actually pretty much ready to insert. That's the real issue I'm having with it...they went to the trouble to create a PDF of the two-page Winter Witch entry that incorporates the errata, so why not just go ahead and update the full product's PDF?


Kthulhu wrote:
Well, one thing I pointed out in my first sentence was that this bit of errata is actually pretty much ready to insert. That's the real issue I'm having with it...they went to the trouble to create a PDF of the two-page Winter Witch entry that incorporates the errata, so why not just go ahead and update the full product's PDF?

*nods* It does look somewhat odd from a consumer's standpoint, I'll give you that.


First off, I've read about a quarter of the book and it's been great so far.

Maybe this isn't the proper place, but it seems odd to me a prestige class would have skill rank prerequisites, yet not have those same skills as class skills.

For example, the Golden Legionnaire has a requirement of 5 ranks in both Diplomacy and Intimidate, yet neither is a class skill for the prestige class. (The Hellknight prestige class from the Inner Sea World Guide suffers the same thing -- Knowledge (planes) is required, yet it is not a class skill for the prestige class.)

I think it's silly that a PC must be trained in a skill to get into the prestige class, yet does not necessarily get the benefit of that skill being a class skill. I need to be good at Diplomacy, but once I get in I don't care about it any more? Instead, you're going to let me get better at Survival...because why? In some ways, I feel it shorts the PC because they've been required to take ranks in a skill that they will not get the full benefit (+3 for class skill); they're already missing out on the favored class benefit because they're choosing a prestige class.

Anyway, I'm curious as to the reasoning or design philosophy behind not making a required skill a class skill for a prestige class because it doesn't make sense to me.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Not that it matters Jeff. If you have levels in a class skill, it doesn't stop being a class skill just because you multi-class into another PrC. You don't lose that +3 bonus.

The 5 ranks of diplomacy may reflect a minimum amount of competency in bootlicking or somesuch in order to gain entrance into the order itself. But most Hellknights don't seem overly diplomatic, so I could see it not being a class skill for them. After all it's 5 ranks, so it still takes you just as long to acquire them whether it's a class skill or not.

Developer

Jeffrey Stop wrote:
Maybe this isn't the proper place, but it seems odd to me a prestige class would have skill rank prerequisites, yet not have those same skills as class skills.

Typically, the array of skills in which prestige classes require ranks is meant to encourage characters to take their first levels in a certain class or classes. For instance, since the Golden Legionnaire requires ranks in Diplomacy and Intimidate, it encourages fighters, paladins, and fighter/paladins (among other classes and class combinations) to become Golden Legionnaires (since fighters have Intimidate as a class skill and paladins have Diplomacy as a class skill).

Prestige classes usually don't grant as many class skills since your base class likely provided the bulk of those, and as LazarX pointed out, you don't lose the +3 trained class skill bonus just because you started taking levels in a new class. While it does make sense for the Golden Legionnaire to grant Diplomacy and Intimidate as class skills, if you're taking levels in Golden Legionnaire then you likely already have one or both of those as class skills. Of course, characters of different classes (for whom Intimidate and Diplomacy are not class skills, for example) can just as easily become Golden Legionnaires, but their checks with those skills won't be as strong. This kind of represents their foregoing of that area of training on their path toward becoming a Golden Legionnaire.


Thanks for the responses, LazarX and Patrick. I think there were some things I was unclear of in my first post.

LazarX wrote:
Not that it matters Jeff. If you have levels in a class skill, it doesn't stop being a class skill just because you multi-class into another PrC. You don't lose that +3 bonus.

I understand that. My point was that if ranks in a skill is a requirement, that skill is important to the prestige class. If the skill is important to the prestige class, it should be a class skill. If it's not a class skill for the prestige class, characters who take a route that doesn't include a class with that skill as a class skill (I feel) get dinged by losing -- or more accurately, not gaining -- the class skill bonus.

Patrick Renie wrote:
Typically, the array of skills in which prestige classes require ranks is meant to encourage characters to take their first levels in a certain class or classes. For instance, since the Golden Legionnaire requires ranks in Diplomacy and Intimidate, it encourages fighters, paladins, and fighter/paladins (among other classes and class combinations) to become Golden Legionnaires (since fighters have Intimidate as a class skill and paladins have Diplomacy as a class skill).

I get that and it makes sense. I call these the "primary candidate" classes -- those base/core classes whose set of abilities most closely tie in with the prestige class requirements. And I get that even the primary candidate classes might not have as a class skill something that's required for the prestige class. I actually like that about the prestige classes -- giving a reason for diversity.

Patrick Renie wrote:
While it does make sense for the Golden Legionnaire to grant Diplomacy and Intimidate as class skills, if you're taking levels in Golden Legionnaire then you likely already have one or both of those as class skills. Of course, characters of different classes (for whom Intimidate and Diplomacy are not class skills, for example) can just as easily become Golden Legionnaires, but their checks with those skills won't be as strong. This kind of represents their foregoing of that area of training on their path toward becoming a Golden Legionnaire.

When I look at prestige classes, I try to see where they're coming from both mechanically and logically. Take the Golden Legionnaire (GL), for example. These folks are protectors of Andoran and its people, so logically speaking I see in them a sort of warden or sheriff. It stands to reason that the two skills (Diplomacy and Intimidate) would be required. Diplomacy can be used to calm a tense situation and also to gather information about a problem the populace is facing. (And being likeable never hurts. :-)) Intimidate is good for any lawperson ("Respect my authori-tie!") to cow criminals, scare off potential threats, and as a last resort to get otherwise law-abiding citizens to stand straight and fly right.

I think most GLs would want to continue honing those skills. By not making them class skills, in my mind you're saying that for the typical GL, Diplomacy and Intimidate are not as important as these other skills. And maybe that's how I should look at it: To become a GL, you need a certain level of Diplomacy and Intimidate, but once you're in you should concentrate on other skills as, now that you're a GL, you've got a different set of responsibilities.

And the same with Hellknights: To get in, you need a basic level of Knowledge (planes) to perform your duties. But you don't really need that much skill, so don't worry about continuing down that path -- you've got all the knowledge you need to get by with a rank or two.

My goal with my original post was to make sense of what I couldn't understand and I think I'm there. It just required a different way of looking at things. Thanks again!

Developer

Jeffrey Stop wrote:
My goal with my original post was to make sense of what I couldn't understand and I think I'm there. It just required a different way of looking at things. Thanks again!

One final thing to keep in mind is that we are always working within a set amount of space for words. Since we only had two pages for each prestige class, every line had to be used in the most efficient way possible. So rather than give a PrC class skills that characters taking it likely already have (which would easily eat up a line or two), we chose to use that space for more interesting things, like cool special abilities and flavor text that establishes the PrC in the campaign setting. :]

Shadow Lodge

i started a thread about this in the rules forum but got no response so i'll try here...

this is about the prestige class Mammoth Rider

the text of the ability Colossus Hunter:

Spoiler:

Quote:


Colossus Hunter (Ex): At 2nd level, a mammoth rider gains a +1 bonus on weapon attacks and damage rolls against Large and Huge creatures, and a +2 bonus on weapon attacks and damage rolls against Gargantuan and Colossal creatures.

on the table for the Mammoth Rider it shows "colossus hunter +1" at 2nd lvl, and "Colossus hunter +2" at 8th lvl

there is no mention of ability advancement in the text...does this mean you get the +1 bonus vs. large and huge creatures at 2nd lvl and the +2 vs. gargantuan and colossal creatures at 8th lvl?...or is this a typo or edit mishap?

Developer

nohar wrote:
i started a thread about this in the rules forum but got no response so i'll try here...

Yep; in general, a question regarding a specific rule in a specific book is much more likely to be seen by Paizo staff when it's asked in the Product Discussion thread for the book in question.

Quote:

this is about the prestige class Mammoth Rider

the text of the ability Colossus Hunter:
** spoiler omitted **

on the table for the Mammoth Rider it shows "colossus hunter +1" at 2nd lvl, and "Colossus hunter +2" at 8th lvl

there is no mention of ability advancement in the text...does this mean you get the +1 bonus vs. large and huge creatures at 2nd lvl and the +2 vs. gargantuan and colossal creatures at 8th lvl?...or is this a typo or edit mishap?

Whoops! Looks like that's an error that slipped through dev/edit. The correct version of this ability should look like this:

Colossus Hunter (Ex): At 2nd level, a mammoth rider gains a +1 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against Large and Huge creatures. At 8th level, the mammoth rider gains a +2 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against Gargantuan and Colossal creatures.


Although, I think it's important to note that if it's in the core rule line, the design team prefers to have the posts be in the rules questions forum, so they can be FAQ'd.

Posts in the product discussion threads for non-Core Line products are totally more likely to be seen than ones elsewhere.

Shadow Lodge

Patrick Renie wrote:
nohar wrote:
i started a thread about this in the rules forum but got no response so i'll try here...
Yep; in general, a question regarding a specific rule in a specific book is much more likely to be seen by Paizo staff when it's asked in the Product Discussion thread for the book in question.

thanks...i'll keep that in mind...also thanks for the clarification...

Dark Archive

Question about the Hellknight Signifer:
Quote:
Discern Lies (Sp): At 6th level, a Hellknight signifer can use discern lies as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to 3 plus his Charisma modifier. These rounds need not be consecutive. His caster level is equal to his total character level.

Should it be times per day or rounds per day?

Developer

Chris Ballard wrote:
** spoiler omitted **

The text is correct.

Spoiler:

For example, a cleric 7/Hellknight signifer 6 with Charisma 14 could use this ability 5 times per day, each time up to 13 rounds.

Shadow Lodge

a couple more questions about the mammoth rider...

1) on the colossus hunter ability does the initial +1 apply to creatures bigger than huge or do you get no bonus at all to gargantuan+ until the +2 at 8th lvl?

2) the valiant devotion ability at 5th lvl grants a +4 morale bonus to charm, compulsion, and fear effects...a prerequisite for the mammoth rider is animal companion effective druid lvl 6...this includes the devotion ability which already grants a +4 morale bonus to enchantment effects, which covers all charm and compulsion effects...were these meant to stack or is this ability just an unnecessarily-worded +4 vs fear effects?

Developer

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nohar wrote:

a couple more questions about the mammoth rider...

1) on the colossus hunter ability does the initial +1 apply to creatures bigger than huge or do you get no bonus at all to gargantuan+ until the +2 at 8th lvl?

2) the valiant devotion ability at 5th lvl grants a +4 morale bonus to charm, compulsion, and fear effects...a prerequisite for the mammoth rider is animal companion effective druid lvl 6...this includes the devotion ability which already grants a +4 morale bonus to enchantment effects, which covers all charm and compulsion effects...were these meant to stack or is this ability just an unnecessarily-worded +4 vs fear effects?

1) The +1 bonus applies only against Large and Huge creatures. You have to wait until 8th level to get a bonus against Gargantuan and Colossal creatures.

2) This bonus does not stack with devotion, so for most mammoth riders, it will just grant the animal companion a +4 morale bonus on saves against fear effects. That said, if your animal companion has an archetype applied to it (such as from those in Pathfinder Player Companion: Animal Archive) that grants your animal companion a different ability in place of devotion, then the valiant devotion ability of the mammoth rider prestige class would grant your animal companion the benefits of devotion as well as a +4 morale bonus on saves against fear.

Shadow Lodge

Patrick Renie wrote:


2) This bonus does not stack with devotion, so for most mammoth riders, it will just grant the animal companion a +4 morale bonus on saves against fear effects. That said, if your animal companion has an archetype applied to it (such as from those in Pathfinder Player Companion: Animal Archive) that grants your animal companion a different ability in place of devotion, then the valiant devotion ability of the mammoth rider prestige class would grant your animal companion the benefits of devotion as well as a +4 morale bonus on saves against fear.

ah okay i forgot about the companion archetypes...which is sad cause i was just looking at them...thanks again for answering my questions

Liberty's Edge

Who is the artist that did the Blackfire Adept, the Shieldmarshal and the Winter Witch?

Marketing & Media Manager

This product is now available in Print on Demand.

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