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So, for the first time ever, I found myself needing a Prestige Class for a Pathfinder character. I have a totally kick butt fighter and needed to tweak out a few final levels.
And to my dismay, there are no prestige classes for fighters. None. I have to multiclass to take ANY prestige class.
Someone, please tell me, there WILL be prestige classes available for every class right?
Someone, please tell me, there WILL be prestige classes available for every class right?
I'm curious about this too. I know that Pathfinder is working very hard to make it worthwhile to stick with a single class, but options never hurt.
And to my dismay, there are no prestige classes for fighters. None. I have to multiclass to take ANY prestige class.
Low Templar (PCCS p. 226) is a fighter prestige class.
To qualify to become a low templar, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Feats: Mounted Combat
Skills: Bluff 4 ranks, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 4 ranks, Ride 4 ranks
Proficiency: Must be proficient with the lance and with heavy armor.
It might not be what you was looking for, but it's a fighter PrC.
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So, for the first time ever, I found myself needing a Prestige Class for a Pathfinder character. I have a totally kick butt fighter and needed to tweak out a few final levels.
And to my dismay, there are no prestige classes for fighters. None. I have to multiclass to take ANY prestige class.
Someone, please tell me, there WILL be prestige classes available for every class right?
Do you count having to take a few ranks in cross class skills as needing to multiclass?
EDIT: What would you be looking for in a prestige class for a fighter? There are a few out there, but most of the ones I can think of are quite specialised, or more geared towards NPCs than PCs. Blackguard, Duelist and Dwarven Defender come to mind. I think there's also a few fighter based prestige classes in the Planar Handbook and the Manual of the Planes.
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And to my dismay, there are no prestige classes for fighters. None. I have to multiclass to take ANY prestige class.Low Templar (PCCS p. 226) is a fighter prestige class.
It might not be what you was looking for, but it's a fighter PrC.
Ahh I completely forgot that there were a few in the CS. Not exactly what I wanted, but at least there is SOMETHING!
Do you count having to take a few ranks in cross class skills as needing to multiclass?
I seriously frown upon needing cross class skills to qualify for a prestige class designed for a class. If it's a fighter class, I expect it to require fighter skills. I would go along with one cross class skill, but two would make it a useless PrC to me. That is based upon 3.5, however.
Under Pathfinder, I don't mind cross class skill requirements so much at all.
The Assassin is right out as any useful PrC since it requires an evil alignment.
The Duelist while it doesn't require any special abilities a Fighter doesn't have, and only two cross class skills are required, 3 of its abilities require light or no armor- which pretty much rules out most fighter types. Yes, my Fighter can take the class, but it is designed for Rogues and Bards. Tanks need not apply. That said, it is a SWEET PrC! I can build a Fighter for that PrC though- and just might for the fun of it.
Likewise, I can qualify for a Pathfinder Chronicler, but it is designed for a Bard, and is not a good fit at all for a Fighter.
The Shadowdancer is also designed for Rogues, but COULD be taken by a Fighter. In fact, that PrC is EXACTLY what I was looking for for another character concept. In fact you can move into Shadowdancer as early as level 3!
Mmmm after looking I see you can move into Assassin, Dragon Disciple, Pathfinder Chronicler, and Shadowdancer at level 3. THAT is interesting. I like it. Truthfully, I think they should just make these base classes :)
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So, for the first time ever, I found myself needing a Prestige Class for a Pathfinder character. I have a totally kick butt fighter and needed to tweak out a few final levels.
And to my dismay, there are no prestige classes for fighters. None. I have to multiclass to take ANY prestige class.
Someone, please tell me, there WILL be prestige classes available for every class right?
Do you count having to take a few ranks in cross class skills as needing to multiclass?
EDIT: What would you be looking for in a prestige class for a fighter? There are a few out there, but most of the ones I can think of are quite specialised, or more geared towards NPCs than PCs. Blackguard, Duelist and Dwarven Defender come to mind. I think there's also a few fighter based prestige classes in the Planar Handbook and the Manual of the Planes.
Oh yes of course, if we go back to 3.5 and WOTC books there are LOTS of Fighter PrC available. However, I'd prefer a Pathfinder PrC. I am more interested in the PrCs that will be in the final version of the Pathfinder RPG. They obviously LOVE the Bard, Rogue and Sorcerer. lol :)
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Fair enough, I misunderstood the question somewhat - to my mind there are not yey ANY PFRPG prestige classes out, as the final version hasn't been released. To be honest I didn't look too closely at the prestige classes in the Beta.
But anyway, my question stands; what would YOU be looking for in a fighter based prestige class? What sort of theme, what sort of abilities? I'm assuming to be worthwhile it would need something that you couldn't achieve either through customisation of a "standard" fighter or by multiclassing into another base class.
I'm not a fan of PrC.
There's enough scope within the classes to do what we want, and if it ISN'T then isn't that the reason we Multiclass?
I'm also partially bitter as the Assassin is evil only - where's the Neutral/Good equivalent? Yet to see a Rog PrC that doesn't blow chunks.
Kits from 2nd Ed were better...
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Krome, we cross posted as I was editing - I realised that my original post wasn't really very helpful.
LOL no prob!
What I would like for a PrC, is something to tank with. That is, to have a strong defensive value and control the battle field (usually with abilities to restrict the opponent's movement or provoke attacks).
The idea of a Fighter in D&D is to be a tank, to protect the squishy casters from being hurt while they rain down the massive amounts of damage from the rear.
Unfortunately the Fighter has precious few abilities (Feats) to accomplish that. The primary method of provoking the attack is to do a LOT of damage and be a major threat. However, the casters are usually the bigger threat in the long run. It makes no sense for an enemy Fighter to stop and melee with me. He'll take the attack of opportunity and head straight for the caster. Meanwhile the enemy casters ignore me because in Heavy Armor I move too slowly to get to them quickly (terrain is great for preventing a Charge) so they rain down their attacks on my casters as well.
The Fighter is the least equipped class to perform his role. And I find no Prestige Classes in Pathfinder to fix that.
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I'm not a fan of PrC.
There's enough scope within the classes to do what we want, and if it ISN'T then isn't that the reason we Multiclass?
I'm also partially bitter as the Assassin is evil only - where's the Neutral/Good equivalent? Yet to see a Rog PrC that doesn't blow chunks.
Kits from 2nd Ed were better...
Yes, multiclassing sort of works. But there are no other classes that control the battlefield either. In video game terms, D&D is all about DPS (Damage Per Second- or in this case it would be DPR- Damage Per Round!). There are no real class abilities or feats that make a good defensive battlefield commander.
Yes, I can create a Fighter that does massive amounts of damage. But I can't build one that is defensive and protects the other party members.
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I'm not a fan of PrC.
There's enough scope within the classes to do what we want, and if it ISN'T then isn't that the reason we Multiclass?
I'm also partially bitter as the Assassin is evil only - where's the Neutral/Good equivalent? Yet to see a Rog PrC that doesn't blow chunks.
Kits from 2nd Ed were better...
Personally, I have been developing a Classless D&D system. No BAB, No Saving Throw scores. No Class abilities. One "class."
It allows the ultimate in adaptability for d20 gaming.
You wanna attack with your longsword AND cast a magic missile in the bad guy's gut in the same round? Sure, we can do that. You wanna cast a fireball and heal that fallen comrade in the same round? Sure, can do that too. Wanna chop that sucker into tiny little pieces with your waraxe? Oh yeah, we can do that.
:)
Still not done, and I am sure it will never ever see the light of day. But a few more additions and I could even cause the enemy running through my (expanded) threatened squares to stop and fight me, and also call out that BBEG to come face me one on one.
something to tank with. That is, to have a strong defensive value and control the battle field (usually with abilities to restrict the opponent's movement or provoke attacks).
...to be a tank, to protect the squishy casters from being hurt while they rain down the massive amounts of damage from the rear.
... Meanwhile the enemy casters ignore me because in Heavy Armor I move too slowly to get to them quickly (terrain is great for preventing a Charge) so they rain down their attacks on my casters as well.
The Fighter is the least equipped class to perform his role. And I find no Prestige Classes in Pathfinder to fix that.
Since half the point of Pathfinder was to be backward compatible while increasing the power of the base classes to be more comparable to the latter 3.5 releases, I think you should consider looking into options beyond Pathfinder to find something that fits your notion of an "Tank" more closely.
One such class is the Knight appearing in the 3.5 PHB2, which has d12 HD, heavy armor and martial weapons training with a full BAB. It controls the battlefield with challenging shouts that send the rabble scurrying and provoke worthy foes into attacking you preferentially. It allows you to designate all squares you threaten as difficult terrain for your enemies, meaning anyone who starts their turn in your reach is going to have a hard time getting around you. It gains scaling increases to AC when using a shield. It gives you the ability to interpose your shield or your own body to defend adjacent allies. It grants you the ability to ignore the movement speed penalties in first medium, then heavy armor. At 19th level, you can even spend uses of your knight's challenge to stay alive for another round when you should be dead (disintegrated, turned to stone, etc.) as your force of will/innate fortitude/destiny/higher purpose holds back the inevitable so that you can keep tanking just a few seconds longer...
Other than the oddity of a fighter class with a good will save and a poor fortitude progression, and the knight's code's minor mechanical restrictions (which are still less annoying than the Paladin's code, and don't prevent you from multiclassing), it seems to be a much better match for the playstyle you are looking for. Indeed, most of the people who dislike the Knight claim that the similarity between it and an MMO Tank, who can compel enemies to attack him with shouts and blocks is their primary reason for not using it. If you want something close to an MMO tank however, Knight is definitely worth considering.
-C. Robert Brown
He'll take the attack of opportunity and head straight for the caster. Meanwhile the enemy casters ignore me because in Heavy Armor I move too slowly to get to them quickly (terrain is great for preventing a Charge) so they rain down their attacks on my casters as well.
So whats stopping you doing to teh baddies what you reckon is happening to you?
If his caster can outrun you as a tank, surely the reverse applies?
Also, I think I'd label any GM who ran his mobs like a dumb as paint mmo mob as a nitwit. Where's the honour and test of manhood? where's challenging the enemy warrior to a one on one, mano e mano battle?
Yes, I can create a Fighter that does massive amounts of damage. But I can't build one that is defensive and protects the other party members.
I can't offer any prestige classes to help you, but I can point you towards a few feats and weapons.
I hear if enemies have to stop when you land an AoO they tend to stick around. Shall Not Pass is right up your alley.
After that you'll just have to make your threatening range as large as possible. Reach weapons (especially spiked chain, or urumi if you want to use a shield) and/or enlarge person can help with this.