Kits and prestige classes
Filed under Soapbox on July 7, 2004
Keywords: Dungeons and Dragons, prestige classes
A recent post on Elaine Cunningham’s thread over at Candlekeep asked why there weren’t any barbers in FR novels. Elaine’s response, to paraphrase, was that fantasy fiction tends to focus on heroes, while mundane occupations are relegated to support roles. The poster answered that the barber was an official 2nd Edition Kit for rogues, and that they did more than just cut hair.
It took a lot of effort on my part not to post a scathing and sarcastic remark.
Kits were perhaps the biggest reason why I didn’t like 2nd Edition AD&D. They were a poor attempt to add variety to the classes. They were incredibly unbalanced, for the most part, adding numerous abilities to the base classes at low levels; a munchkin’s dream-come-true. I never used them or allowed them in games I ran.
Kits came back in 3rd Edition as prestige classes. Fortunately, prestige classes aren’t available until at least 5th level for most characters. However, I’m not a fan of them being used by PCs. They were originally meant for use by DMs to add depth to their worlds by creating unique NPCs. I’ve created a couple for use in my Chronicles of Arunda campaign. I suppose it was inevitable that they became co-opted by players.
Now, there are PrCs for everything. Every new book that comes out has a handful of them. They’re running the risk of crossing the same line that kits did.
Related Posts
- Prestigious paragon paths
- A new PrC paradigm
- Birthday and homebrews
- Sneak peeks at 4E
- Paths of Adventure
