Am I overlooking any good prestige classes?

[amills1]

I've looked of the prestige classes available in game and for most of them I just seem to be underwhelmed.

Arcane Trickster does seem a good idea for a wizard or sorcerer as sneak attack damage gets around their relatively weak cantrip damage. But you need to take a level in some class that has sneak attack damage to qualify (possibly multiple if you don't take a feat to increase sneak attack damage).

Assassin requires an evil alignment which isn't one I normally play. They do get poison abilities - but I find a fair number of enemies seem to be immune to poison.

Stalwart defender is all about getting bonuses from standing still. That seems to have limited use in most fights from my experience and getting fatigued afterwards seems to be a big problem to me.

Eldritch knight seems an odd mix. It's basically an arcane fighter/mage combo. Aside from hitting with touch spells a bit more reliably, what is the point of this class?

Dragon disciple seems focused around sorcerers and other charisma type casters, but doesn't give a bonus to charisma? They have some interesting abilities, but lose out on some spell caster levels - and what is an arcane spell caster doing on the front lines in the first place?

Hellknight actually seems pretty good. Odd that you could be a lawful good hellknight though.

Mystic theurge seems good on paper, but it takes at least 3 levels each of an arcane and a divine casting class and this is in a game where there a lot of spell resistant enemies.

Duelist seems like it would be a good fit for a rogue, except they don't get sneak attack damage and precise strike doesn't work with dual wielding. For a fighter type is seems like a bad class since it is focused around light or no armour.

Aldori swordlord gets some nice bonuses - but it's entirely focused around a single weapon.

Student of war seems like a decent choice as they can score critical hits against enemies normally immune as well as gaining bonuses against a specific enemy.

Hellknight signifier looks like a decent choice for a cleric. Odd that you can qualify by being an arcane caster since you get heavy armour proficiency which no arcane caster should ever wear.

Loremaster looks like a good choice for either divine or arcane casters provided the secrets you learn compensate for any class features you miss out on.

Winter witch appears to be overly focused on cold spells and even gets a penalty to saving throws for casting fire spells. But cold spell can have distinct limitation (especially with regards to friendly fire) that certain fire spells can overcome. They do get the ability to ignore half of any cold type resistance or immunity. But there is a mythic ability which does that for for all of the damage from a chosen element.

Is there something I'm overlooking with most of these? I just can't see myself taking levels in most of them.

[Hailspork]

4 levels Dragon Disciple makes a good addition to a melee sorcerer build. I see a lot of builds with 1 level of Loremaster, but part of that is to cheat in Trickster feats (which may have been fixed in the 1.1 patch). The Str and Nat AC while giving spellcasting progression and decent BAB (3 each for those 4 levels) are the nice thing here.
I did Aldori Swordlord in Kingmaker, and it turned out nice, but not a lot of dueling swords in Wrath.

[ajohnemus]

Mystic theurge is more for people who like to play with 5 or less party members, they can cover a lot of things in one class which is more valuable the lower amount of companions you have. Also so long as you get the right feats and choose elf spell resistance isn’t an issue.

Dragon disciple is really good for bloodrager but basically only a 4 level dip for the strength bite and armor.

Hell knight seems awful, especially in a campaign of demons where paladins are a choice.

All of the prestige classes seem to have their niche and some just seem amazing dips for magic or martial(DD being one)... again except for hellknight.

[Conquista]

arcane trickster are good for ray casters, dragon disciple and eldritich knight for arcane melee characters, loremaster is good to grab some usually difficult to grab feats

stalwart defender is okay to add some ac, mystic theurge is good for a late game supporter

everything else is alot more niche or flat out bad

[Black Lotus]

Hellknight can be any lawful.

https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Hellknight

[dwarner]

Originally posted by amills1:

I've looked of the prestige classes available in game and for most of them I just seem to be underwhelmed.

Arcane Trickster does seem a good idea for a wizard or sorcerer as sneak attack damage gets around their relatively weak cantrip damage. But you need to take a level in some class that has sneak attack damage to qualify (possibly multiple if you don't take a feat to increase sneak attack damage).

Assassin requires an evil alignment which isn't one I normally play. They do get poison abilities - but I find a fair number of enemies seem to be immune to poison.

Stalwart defender is all about getting bonuses from standing still. That seems to have limited use in most fights from my experience and getting fatigued afterwards seems to be a big problem to me.

Eldritch knight seems an odd mix. It's basically an arcane fighter/mage combo. Aside from hitting with touch spells a bit more reliably, what is the point of this class?

Dragon disciple seems focused around sorcerers and other charisma type casters, but doesn't give a bonus to charisma? They have some interesting abilities, but lose out on some spell caster levels - and what is an arcane spell caster doing on the front lines in the first place?

Hellknight actually seems pretty good. Odd that you could be a lawful good hellknight though.

Mystic theurge seems good on paper, but it takes at least 3 levels each of an arcane and a divine casting class and this is in a game where there a lot of spell resistant enemies.

Duelist seems like it would be a good fit for a rogue, except they don't get sneak attack damage and precise strike doesn't work with dual wielding. For a fighter type is seems like a bad class since it is focused around light or no armour.

Aldori swordlord gets some nice bonuses - but it's entirely focused around a single weapon.

Student of war seems like a decent choice as they can score critical hits against enemies normally immune as well as gaining bonuses against a specific enemy.

Hellknight signifier looks like a decent choice for a cleric. Odd that you can qualify by being an arcane caster since you get heavy armour proficiency which no arcane caster should ever wear.

Loremaster looks like a good choice for either divine or arcane casters provided the secrets you learn compensate for any class features you miss out on.

Winter witch appears to be overly focused on cold spells and even gets a penalty to saving throws for casting fire spells. But cold spell can have distinct limitation (especially with regards to friendly fire) that certain fire spells can overcome. They do get the ability to ignore half of any cold type resistance or immunity. But there is a mythic ability which does that for for all of the damage from a chosen element.

Is there something I'm overlooking with most of these? I just can't see myself taking levels in most of them.

The strength of Prestige classes is that they often allow you to progress some aspect of your base class while also picking up some extra abilities which are better than they look.

Swordlord is focused on a single weapon but it's a good one and many classes focus on one weapon. Shatter Confidence is especially good against things like Barb bosses who can't be flanked since it turns off their Lethal Stance. Adaptive Tactics, Crit Resistance, removing the AoO from standing up (as when you're healed from unconciousness), lessening the malus from Combat Expertise and Fighting Defensively. The list is long.

Regill's HK is much better than it looks since that AoE AC bonus is Morale so stacks with everything and Fearsomeness + Dazzling Display turns him into a Vavakia Vanguard (it's a skill check for him so there's no save or resistance agaisnt it).

Duelist Parry is likewise a unique effect available nowhere else that can prevent Nat 20's from hitting.

Dragon Disciple is best on a martial class since it lets you Dragonform without otherwise being able to cast it. The Dragon Bite is an additional PRIMARY attack.

[ayrtep]

Many classes run a little out of seam on later levels Prestige classes add some unique feats that work with the base classes. Some thoughts on some that I have tried.

Duellist: Works well with a fighter class or sword saint. It adds a lot of unique feats that are defensive in nature. Parries can take an attack from the enemy and give it to you. There is a buff to crane style. Plus it can double down on the swords saints int bonus to AC. I quite like the class. But it gives nothing to sneak attacks so I don't know why you would ever want to use it with a rouge. It assumes a light armoured high dex fighter but that's no problem.

Eldritch Knight: It uses full AB progression, so any half AB progression spell-caster that uses attack rolls to hit will be interested in this class. For example if you use rays for damage or focus on disabling your enemies before skewering them on your rapier.

Loremaster: You only want 1,3 or 5 levels. It allows you to select feats without prerequisites. So one level to get a feat that you can't otherwise get makes great sense. It uses half AB and requires a skill focus feat which I guess is a tax for such a comprehensive feat choice. Just try taking a level and look at the feat selection on offer.

Winter witch: I like the idea, but really needs one or two more cold spells. Fire has scorched ray and hellfire ray that you can build a character around. Something like that would be great for cold.

[provokastoras]

I think as trickster or demon you can qualify for arcane trickster without clash splashing, they grant sneak attacks. And yest arcane trickster is a good class, especially when you impromptu sneak attack with a firebal.... snake attacking on everything.
both eldrich knight and loremaster are good choices, well loremaster maybe a better one. for most wizards after level 9. Wizards do not get class feartures after level 9 if you can progress their spellcasting somehow its a boon, they are not that good on classes with features like witch or sorcerers.
The best way to use aldori anything is to get their regional background to use the weapon as magus. other than that its not a class. straight fighters are better.
Dragon disciple is great for fighter builds to get a 4 level splash and get a +4 str. combine that with a mutation archetype fighter for some ridiculous herculian str.
winter witch is very valid in this game as after level 6 you can choose an elemnt to ascent and ignore all damage reduction. I don't care if you are a deity with a winter which ascended element frost she ll get you. The main problem is that it only allows spell progression of witches or shamans who are no the best dps classes and you need to splash on a second class to qualify for it cause stigmatised witches get no patron and you need a patron. so a splash on crossblooded sorcerer is necessary. the good thing is though that your curses progress as well so not bad.
Mystic theurge rocked on kingmaker most my characters wher mystic theurge, 2 on one you get all the buffs in one char.... but its not so good here, cause most mythic paths already give you a second spellbook. either arcane or divine so..... meh. and if you go legend you are better off going stg like wizard 20 hellknight signifier 10 eldrich knight 10... to get your caster level to 40 and forget there is spell resistance in the game. a 1 level student of war splash in a wizard will problaby work the same way as 1 level monk splash works for sorcerer.
I go duelist on tank builds like sword saint 10 duelist 10, maybe now sword saint 9 student of war 1 duelist 10 to add my inteligence modifier to my ac 3 times. It used to stuck in kingmaker not tested it here.

[toon77]

the eldrich knight has a good lvl 10 skill, i'm actually playing a sword saint, with the lvl 10 skill from the eld knight the character will be able to deliver an additional spellstrike attack in 1 round (at least i hope it will xD )

[revan1229]

Arcane Trickster is amazing in this game. Cantrips are not the selling point of the class......that's a nice side bonus. They are brutal ray casters (targeting touch AC) with things like Empowered Scorching Ray + Ring of Pyromania + the belt that gives 2D6 unholy damage when using a fire spell. Their capstone lets you sneak attack on any spell that does damage, which is huge-this works on many Mythic spells/abilities. Taking 1 level of Vivisectionist (which brings nice bonuses) is all you need. Godlike skill monkey (if Wizard) is another benefit.

MC Arcane Tricksters also get Ambrosial Attire of Arcane Anhilation: +4 to attack for rays, +1 damage dice for elemental and force spells, and +4 to spell penetration. There are several other items that give bonuses for sneak attacks and touch attacks.

[Lex]

I'm a big fan of the Arcane Trickster myself. I mean, sneak attacking with Fireball is hilarious

[Super Xavior]

Arcane tricksters require meta gaming but its actually very powerful, need time to come online though
4 level of Dragon Disciple is perfect for any kind of gist (melee with casting)
1 Level of Loremaster is really good as well
Stalward defender can be good for tank dip
Aldori swordlord can be a good dip for certain build if you don't have to play the first 5 levels as a useless character
Winter witch look interesting tbh but i never really try it
Hellknight isn't that bad cause you know, smite chaos stack with smite evil, for whatever reason
The rest suck imo, especially that Assassin class, i always lol when i saw it

[Darkblazerith]

Originally posted by amills1:

Hellknight signifier looks like a decent choice for a cleric. Odd that you can qualify by being an arcane caster since you get heavy armour proficiency which no arcane caster should ever wear.

This lets arcane casters use heavy armor with little to no arcane spell falure. My Lich was 17 sorc/3 signifier and with buffs and miythril armor I went for maybe an off tank to Main Tank even though I had my Skelly be the Main Tank.