Prestige Classes

The primary classes and secondary classes are open to any player character in the game. When you level up, the Universal System offers you the choice to continue in a class you have already chosen or to multiclass into a new one.

However, at levels 6, 11, and 16 -- the start of the Adventurer, Hero, and Legendary Tiers -- the System may also offer you the choice of a prestige class if you have qualified to take it. These rare classes allow you to specialize in a particular area of expertise, to the exclusion of others.

A prestige class is a commitment. When you take one, you must continue in it for five full levels, a complete tier, called the prestige tier. After five levels, you have the choice to take other classes, but if you choose to continue, you must again stick with it for another five full levels, called the master tier. If you take a prestige class for more than five levels, you are a Master of the class, for example, a Master Shadowdancer or a Master Loremaster. If you take a prestige class from levels 6 through 10, you may resume it at levels 16 through 20.

It is not easy to gain a prestige class. Among NPCs, fewer than one in a hundred people have one. For player characters, you must show your aptitude by fulfilling requirements that are different for each prestige class, and which mostly revolve around the actions you take in character during play. You should speak with your game master well before it is time to take your first level in a prestige class, so that together you can work to make sure that your character has the opportunities needed in game to qualify.

Note that because prestige class requirements are mostly roleplay based, if you are starting a character at a level higher than 5th, you cannot start with a prestige class. You must start with other classes, and then take the prestige class you prefer at level 11 or 16, after meeting the requirements through actual play.

When you are ready to commit to a prestige class, consider the requirements for that class and rate yourself on a scale from 1 to 10, where you fully meet the requirements on a 10. Roll a d10. If you roll higher than the rating you gave yourself, you cannot take the prestige class yet, and you cannot take any other prestige class this tier; you can try again next tier. If you roll equal to or lower than your rating, the Universal System offers you the prestige class and you must take it.

Over the course of your career, you may take only one prestige class. The Universal System will not offer you others once you have taken one.

There is no experience point penalty for uneven multiclassing if the uneven class is the prestige class.

Note that the availability of any individual prestige class, or all of them in total, is determined by the game master. These are optional classes. Ask your game master about availability before you spend considerable roleplay effort to obtain one.

Eight Prestige Classes

Here are the prestige character classes available in the Labyrinths & Liontaurs Core Rules:

Chronicler: Following oral and written traditions, you are a witness, diplomat, recorder, and poet. You are humble, looking to tell the story of others, even when your own story is remarkable. You know the power of words, spoken and written.

Defender: You are steadfast and sturdy, sometimes taking a stand to protect that which you hold dear, other times standing firm against an implacable foe. Your friends depend on you, and you do not disappoint them.

Fixer: You use cleverness and common sense, stealth and savvy, deception and determination, and a certain resolute ruthless insight to solve problems that defy easy solution.

Honorblade: With sharp eyes, sharp wit, and sharp blade, you are a devoted to combat, camaraderie, and a certain proud chivalry.

Loremaster: You have studied the ways of power, the forbidden knowledge that drives lesser men mad. Using this magical lore, wisely or otherwise, you grapple with danger and might.

Sagittary: You are quick on your feet and quick to shoot. As a hunter, scout, or soldier, you are formidable, mobile, and deadly.

Shadowdancer: You embrace light, dark, and the shadows in between. You move gracefully, hiding in shadows, traveling through shadows, and using shadows to bend reality. You amaze others with your performances.

Walker: You move from place to place, both for the wanderlust and the joy of discovery. You become a master of the natural terrains in which you travel.

Prestige Class Casting and Spell Aquisition

Prestige classes do not add a fractional increase to caster level each time you advance. Instead, at some levels you add a full caster level, and at other levels you add none. A few add a caster level with every level advance, such as the chronicler.

For some prestige classes, you gain +0.5 caster level at prestige class level 10. If this final level 10 gain advances you to a whole number increase in caster level, choose two spells known from those available to you from other class(es) you have.

When you gain a full caster level from your prestige class, the two spells you add to your known spells list are pre-selected for you (exception: loremaster). If you already have one or both of these spells from other classes, replace them with spells of the same spell level as gained from the original class.

The spell level of these preselected spells is the same as your caster level when you gain them. This means that the spell level of prestige class spells varies from one person with the class to another. Here are two examples:

• A cleric 5 takes the shadowdancer PrC. At level character level 6 (shadowdancer level 1), the character's CL increases from 5 to 6 and she adds Shadow Conjuration and Disguise Self to her known spells list. The spell level of these two spells is 6 for this character, because she gained them at CL6. For the rest of her career, these will be spell level 6 spells for her.
• Now consider a fighter 5 / shadowdancer 1. From fighter, the character has a caster level of 1.25, rounded down to 1. From shadowdancer, a +1 caster level brings that CL1 to CL2. Like the cleric, the fighter adds Shadow Conjuration and Disguise Self to his known spells list, but the spell level of these spells is 2 for him.

Adding spells to your known spells list after advancing in a prestige class. When you choose a prestige class, you commit to taking 5 or 10 levels in it. After that, you will take levels in other class(es), per the normal rules for leveling up. Each prestige class is affiliated with a particular type of spell: arcane, divine, inherent, or natural. For the purpose of adding spells to your known spells list after taking your prestige class, add up all the caster levels from classes that have the same type as the prestige class. For example:

• You are a wizard 5 who takes the Shadowdancer prestige class for character levels 6 through 10. At level 11, you take a new wizard level. Now your caster level as a wizard is 6; as a shadowdancer, 4. Both classes cast arcane spells, so you can add your 4 shadowdancer caster levels to your 6 from wizard, and choose arcane spells from the 10th level spells list.
• You take 5 levels as an aristocrat, and then ten as an honorblade (both inherent). At character level 15, you gain a +0.5 caster level as a class level 10 honorblade. Your character level is now 2.5 as an aristocrat, plus 2.5 as an honorblade, and you can add two level 5 inherent spells to your known list. After taking 10 levels as an honorblade, you continue as an aristocrat. At character level 17, aristocrat level 7 and honorblade level 10, your total caster level is 3.5 + 2.5 = 6, so you can add two new spells of inherent level 6 (or less) to your known list.
• You are a fighter 5 (inherent) and sagittary 5 (natural). At character level 11 you take a level as a cleric (divine), and you add two spells to your known list. You can choose two level 1 divine spells, or two level 1 or 2 inherent spells, or one of each. Your sagittary caster level does not matter. (You also take an xp penalty in the future for uneven multiclassing unless you have cleric or fighter as a favored class.)
• You are a druid 1 (natural) / ranger 2 (natural) / rogue 2 (inherent) / walker 5 (natural). At character level 11 you take a new druid level. You can select two spells, from the inherent 1 list and/or the natural 5 list.