Produktbeschreibung
Watching this take place has been a fascinating experience. Archetypal character types have been realised in different ways by different writers, in ways reminiscent of multiple artists working on a single model. (There are a great many ‘knights’ and ‘swashbucklers’ out there!) Completely new (and in some cases bizarre) character concepts have emerged, such as the infamous Bloated One.
In this book, we have kept to the same chapter designations as used before, with a couple of extra chapters included to accommodate character classes who we felt deserved a whole section to themselves. Way of the Warrior is the section for those classes whose main interest is in using a weapon, without much concern for matters spiritual or magical. This is where military-type, armour-wearing, battle-waging characters can be found. Open Hand and Closed Fist is a new development, a chapter devoted to those characters who prefer to fight unarmed. Here you will find many character classes drawn from the Wuxia genre, whose cinematic style and martial arts skills add a dimension of the exotic to any game. Secrets of the Arcane is the chapter for the magician, featuring variants on the wizard and sorcerer classes, from the cerebral student of astrology to the outrageously tattooed magician and the fire-blooded embermage. The Power of Faith is the chapter dealing with religion and those who work in its name; clerics, druids and most especially paladins will find prestige classes aplenty here. By Wits and Skill is for those characters who get by on technical knowledge, manual dexterity or sheer showmanship. This chapter is particularly rich in classes that rely on deception in order to ply their trade. Mind Over Matter is for those who work with psionics, presenting a selection of classes that capitalise on the rare and potent powers available to psions and psychic warriors. Crusaders of Light and Darkness is another new addition and details those rare characters whose motivation is found at one end of the moral spectrum or the other. Here you will find exemplars of all that is good and generous, matched against some of the darkest, most twisted minds imaginable. Finally, Monstrous Paths reminds us that it is not only humanoid characters who can specialise. Instances are given of monster prestige classes that will not only give players a nasty shock when they think they are dealing with nothing more than a typical specimen of the race; they will also help the Games Master flesh out these monster races, giving some insight into their way of life. In addition, we have included a section on crafting prestige classes in which we look a little deeper into the mechanics of their construction, as well as suggesting several sources of ideas for new prestige classes.
Ultimate Prestige Classes, Volume II is our second serving of prestige classes, compiled from quality sources and carefully selected for detail, rules consistency, playability and originality. These sourcebooks are designed to be slotted seamlessly into any fantasy-based d20 games system and offer the best of the best that have appeared in terms of rules and options for fantasy d20 games, as well as new material that can both be easily included into any campaign. Players and Games Masters will find a wealth of options to enrich their characters and antagonists.
The purpose of this sourcebook is to provide players with an even broader selection of prestige classes from which to select in developing their characters and to equip Games Masters with the necessary information to make non-player characters and monsters as well rounded as possible. The classes included here are either selected from Mongoose Publishing’s own publications over the past year, compiled from Open Game Content produced by respected sources or created specially for this volume and unavailable elsewhere. These classes are arranged into broad categories for ease of reference but the reader should remember that the very nature of prestige classes means that they bridge established conventions of classification.
Ideas often stimulate other ideas. The Games Master may well find many of the prestige classes presented here set the creative juices flowing, even if a given class is not introduced right away or used exactly as given here. We have deliberately tried to make our choice as varied as possible, providing suggestions for adventure hooks and campaign episodes. |
