Has Paizo ever put out any kind of bible, blog post, series of stray comments, anything, on how to design a prestige class? Is there maybe anything interesting in the introduction to Paths of Prestige on the subject, or in any other book?
I believe the Advanced Class Guide is going to have a chapter on how to design classes. It wouldn't surprise me if some time is spent on the topic of prestige classes, and even the regular content might be applicable to such classes as well.
I don't think something like that already exists.
The down and dirty on it is this:
Choose a hit die-- usually the same as the class you expect to enter it, halfway between the two if its a hybrid prestige class, or one larger if the higher die is meant to be the perk of the class.
Choose base saves-- again, usually one or two good, but similar to the classes you expect to enter. Almost all caster PRCs have only good will, rogue-ly ones get good Reflex, Martial ones good Fort-- rarely more than one good save.
Choose attack progression-- good for the most martial of classes, average/cleric progression for most, poor for primary casters without a warrior hybrid theme.
Choose spell progression-- none for martials, a 4 level progression for classes similar to ranger/paladin with their own specific list, all levels for primary casters with not too powerful abilities, a few levels left out if they have more powerful abilities (but once you give up more than 2-3 no one will take it), or the Mythic Theurge style + to two if that's the classes theme.
Special abilities-- the cool part. Most prestige classes will have between 6-10 abilities. Some of these can be abilities of the entering class at a usually slightly less progression (sneak attack, combat feats, ect), some can be "levels of this stack with" like Animal Companion or Bardic abilities, at least one or two should be unique.
"capstone" ability-- usually at 10th level as the "this is the most awesome reason to choose this class".
Set requirements-- +5 or +10 BaB to choke the class to certain levels, a level of spellcasting (I would always advise against able to cast X level spells because that gets cheated in PF by Aasimars), or skill points (in PF basically sets the exact level you can get in), or 1-3 skills or a combination thereof.
Listing a specific class ability greatly reduces the available pool of candidates-- which is sometimes desirable but isn't as fun. If you make a class that Fighter, Ranger, Druid and Cleric and Rogue all might want why not let them all get in at an appropriate level?
Just some of my ideas on the subject. *throws in two coppers. . .
Once upon a time, it seemed like they wanted the floor for Prestige Classes to be at least a certain level, but that seems to have gone out the window with recent rulings on SLAs.
Once upon a time, it seemed like they wanted the floor for Prestige Classes to be at least a certain level, but that seems to have gone out the window with recent rulings on SLAs.
From the old days most PRCs started at 5th, 7th, or 11th levels.
They should be balanced that ones that start earlier are weaker or start there for a particular reason--
I made a Ranger PRC with a completely separate spell list, so I set it up to be taken as your 4th level so you never started with normal ranger spells.
The old "Master Specialist" in 3.5 could be taken at 4th level, but it was an exception.. .
I HATE the ruling that lets a racial SLA count to get into PRCs-- it goes against the purpose of having requirements at all . . .
But Paizo doesn't really like PRCs anyways, so they probably aren't worried about monkeying with them like that.
The Duelist is rather remarkable in that it takes a while to get there, but if it were the first 10 levels of a base class, it would not be out of balance.
Okay, so in general, would you say 5th/7th/11th levels are good guidelines?
It seems to me that a lot of PrCs in the old days were pretty specialized, but by the time you could qualify, the game was already moving into high level magic and heavy magic item use. Things like the Vigilante and the Dread Pirate never seemed to have the right abilities at the right levels.
I guess they were mostly balanced to be taken after 5/7/10--
BaB +5 or 3rd level spells meant you could take it as your 6th level, ect. . .
Those are the most common, but I don't know if that actually means its the RIGHT way to do it. . . I've experimented with some racial ones similar to what was in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed that could be taken later or at 1st level . . .