How do you treat Prestige Classes in your games?

[ImperatorK]

meh its all how you fluff it. also i don't agree that a god of trickery has to automatically approve of  all stealing.

Well, that's exactly the point, isn't it?  If I had a player that wanted the concept of a PHB cleric that stole his powers rather than gained them by worship, that sounds like a flavorful and fun concept to me. 

What if the player would PrC into Ur-Priest?

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

Prestige classes usually have Prerequisites.
If you meet them, then there is no reason to not be allowed to take however many levels in it that you want. If you qualify for another Prestige class, just the same. They do hold differences with Base Classes which you can go into and out of almost freely for the most part, but in the end they are block of statistics for your character to benefit from.
I don't think player's should be limited to what classes they take, as I don't think classes of characters should define characters and their roleplay. IMO, they are two separate things, and their should be no problem with a character calling himself a Paladin and taking Wizard and Wizard Prestige Classes, or the like. If there is conflicting flavor between classes, flavor can be changed and should be.

[SneeR]

Interestingly, there is nowhere RAW that states that PrCs don't count against your multiclass limit. I've checked all over in the DMG. Technically, each PrC is another class. Hope your main class is your favored class, or your DM doesn't use the stupid multiclassing penalties!

[ImperatorK]

"Taking a prestige class does not incur the experience point penalties normally associated with multiclassing."
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/prestigeClasses.htm

[SneeR]

"Taking a prestige class does not incur the experience point penalties normally associated with multiclassing."
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/prestigeClasses.htm

Where did they pull that from? Just checked the entire section in the DMG on PrCs, and it says nothing about Prestige Classes being any different than base classes besides requirements. What book supports what the SRD says?

EDIT: Could it be possible that the SRD transcribers just tacked that on? Because it copies what the DMG says verbatim... except that last sentence is added in...
Suspicious...

[ImperatorK]

It is in DMG 3.0 on page 27, but they forgot to include it in 3.5.

[veekie]

I'd personally give it some significance, in character, but not a fixed one. It doesn't take a lot of effort to modify a given PrC to better fit a concept.

I don't however, advocate making the significance specific. A given PrC can have many roles within a setting.

[RobbyPants]

i believe that classes are metagame constructs.

This.

So long as the class doesn't come with some sort of code of conduct*, I have no problem mixing and matching them as the prereqs allow. Also, I'd be fine with lightening a lot of the alignment-based prereqs on base classes and PrCs.



*Even this could get tailored to something suitable with the DM's permission.

[123456789blaaa]

What if the player would PrC into Ur-Priest?

i don't see the problem here. could you please explain?

also i wonder if the OP has heard of classes as metagame constructs. It will be interesting to hear his thoughts since the responses in this thread have been mostly one sided.

[ImperatorK]

What if the player would PrC into Ur-Priest?

i don't see the problem here. could you please explain?

A concept of a Cleric that steals power from the Gods.
The player wants to prestige class into Ur-Priest. Now he has to give up the power that he steals from Gods for... power that he steals from Gods.

[sirpercival]

Why does he want to multiclass into Ur-Priest?  Either he's using Ur-Priest in a fast-progression build in which case he wouldn't have started with cleric, or he's doing it just for flavor in which case the class is irrelevant because he already has that flavor.

Or, his character concept changed during play so that being Ur-Priest made more sense than being a cleric who steals power from the gods... and he goes on a rebuild quest to fix things so that he's not a cleric/ur-priest.

[123456789blaaa]

what serpercival said.

[Soundwave]

Fantastic discussion thus far everyone , to contribute myself I'll add my own experience. The playgroup I'm involved with treats prestige classes on a case by case basis.

Much as with the case given before of the duelist certain more specialized preregister classes might be harder to acquire training in our game while some can be readily acquired. However their is a caveat in that we are more or less allowed any class we can find so long as we  can justify the reason the character would like to go into it.

I suppose at the end of the day were somewhere in the middle as well.

[123456789blaaa]

if everyone in the group is having fun and none are feeling like thier being creatively stifled then all the power to you.

[ImperatorK]

Why does he want to multiclass into Ur-Priest?  Either he's using Ur-Priest in a fast-progression build in which case he wouldn't have started with cleric, or he's doing it just for flavor in which case the class is irrelevant because he already has that flavor.

Or, his character concept changed during play so that being Ur-Priest made more sense than being a cleric who steals power from the gods... and he goes on a rebuild quest to fix things so that he's not a cleric/ur-priest.

Nice way to evade the issue. But my question stands.
That there are better ways, or that you would do it differently is irrelevant. The situation is how it is. no going back, no retconing, no houseruling. What will you do?

[123456789blaaa]

Nice way to evade the issue. But my question stands.

just fluff it so that your still a cleric. say that as you got stronger your ability to steal power from the gods increased therefore explaining your increased spell progression.

[SneeR]

It is in DMG 3.0 on page 27, but they forgot to include it in 3.5.

Not RAW. RAW is unupdated 3.0, and the DMG has definitely been updated.
Doesn't matter, though, just a quirk of the system.

[ImperatorK]

Nice way to evade the issue. But my question stands.

just fluff it so that your still a cleric. say that as you got stronger your ability to steal power from the gods increased therefore explaining your increased spell progression.

Increased? You lost your spells.

[123456789blaaa]

i meant increased as in fast

[sirpercival]

What do you mean, evade the issue?  That IS the issue.  Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're asking, so I'll try again.

We have a player that wanted to play a cleric who stole spells from the gods instead of praying for them, so we refluffed the cleric so that was true from level 1.  Level 6 rolls around, and he wants to take levels in Ur-Priest.  Correct so far?

So, I would ask him why.  If he answered with any of the three reasons I talked about, I would proceed as I said above.  And if his answer was "I dunno, I just want to" then I would discuss his character's background, motivations, and personality until he understood enough about his character to be able to give a more coherent answer... and then I would proceed with one of the above methods.

You can't say "no houseruling" because that's what refluffing is, so if that's built into the premise then houseruling is acceptable.  And retconning is built directly into the RAW, via rebuild quests, as I said.