This article originally appeared in d20 Weekly
Ultimate Prestige Classes Volume I
Published by Mongoose Publishing
Compiled by Alejandro Melchor
256 pages hardcover book; $34.95
Ultimate Prestige Classes Volume I is a book wholly devoted to the topic of prestige classes. The book includes tips on making prestige classes, but the bulk of the book is the collection of prestige classes. The book claims to compile "some of the best prestige classes available." The book does tap a few other companies OGC, but the majority of the classes are collected from Mongoose books, primarily the "Quintessential" series of books. The prestige classes are not the only things that will seem familiar to Mongoose fans. Most of the artwork in the book is recycled from various Mongoose books as well.
The first major section, "Prestige Classes in Your Campaign," discusses the role of prestige classes in shaping campaigns and the major roles that prestige classes usually play as well as how to integrate them through the story into a campaign. This section is mostly food for thought for GMs.
The "Design Your Own Classes" section provides some guidelines on creating prestige classes, including such considerations as how many levels the class should have, picking requirements for the class, and which types of class characteristics the class should display. The content of this chapter is very basic; anyone who hopes to design prestige classes should understand the points of the chapter. However, if you have examined any sizable number of prestige classes, many . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: December 11, 2002
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