How do I unlock prestige classes?

[Cavius]

I'm rather new to this game yet have played Baldur's Gate 2 heavily. How do I unlock prestige classes? Do I unlock them doing the game at a certain level? If so, how do I unlock them at the beginning of the game during character generation? An extensive detailed response will be much appreciated. I'm aiming to recieve as much insight as possible. Thanks ahead of time for your response.

[Tricky]

The game isn't anything like that. The class system and many other things about this game are leagues apart from Baldur's Gate. The prestige classes are build on top of the base classes. There are requirements to these though, which can racial, bound to certain amounts of specific skills, caster levels in a devine or arcane caster class, a minimum Base Attack Bonus or specific Feats.

For example, the Weapon Master requires:
-Base Attack Bonus of 5+
-A Weapon Focus in a melee weapon
-Other Feats including Dodge, Mobility, Combat Expertise, Spring Attack and Whirlwind Attack

Note: The feats above require both Dexterity and Intelligence to be at 13 to become available to the player

The result of this class system is either a logistical nightmare or the most fun thing metagaming will buy you, depending on what kind of gamer you are. Refer to the manual or the class descriptions on this site (which does not include the classes made available beyond the Mask of the Betrayer expansion) for more details regarding the other prestige classes.

[Scottg]

Alternatively said:


1. Is the class actually available in your game?

At character creation look to see what classes you have. Official expansions MOTB (Mask of the Betrayer) and SOZ (Storm of Zehir) offer additional classes (and feats, etc..).


2. You must have at least one *base* class.

These classes have no *prerequisites* and can incur multi-class penalties.


3. You can have *up* to 4 classes *total*.

In any combination of *base* and *prestige*. EX #1 - 1 base class, 3 prestige classes. EX. #2 - 2 base classes, 2 prestige classes. EX. #3 - 3 base classes, 1 prestige class. You do not have to have more than one class however.


4. Only *prestige* classes have prerequisites and have no multi-class penalties.

You must meet the conditions of those prerequisites before that class can be taken.


5. Prerequisites for prestige classes often have their own prerequisites.

Prerequisites that include feats often require their own prerequisites. EX. a Frenzied Berserker's feat prerequisites include: Cleave, Great Cleave, and Power Attack. To be able to select Power Attack however your character must have a 13+ non-enhanced Strength. To be able to select Cleave you must first have Power Attack. To be able to select Great Cleave you must first have Cleave.

On rare occasions certain prerequisites are not met when they would appear to be. EX. The Arcane Trickster's requirement of 2d6 of Sneak Attack damage is NOT met by 2d6 of an Assassins Death Attack. This leads to this suggestion:


6. Any build you envision should first be tested in a "leveler" program so that you progress in the actual game in the manner you intended.

Vordan's Hero Creator is a good "leveler" program:

Vordan's Hero Creator -- Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault

Note the Installation Instructions:

"INSTALLATION:
(1) Move the file "Vordan's Hero Creator.mod" into your My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/modules folder.
(2) Move the file "vhc.hak" into your My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/hak folder."




Links:

Classes:

Classes - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

Base Classes:

Base Class - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

Multi-Class (base class) Penalty:

Multiclass penalty - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

Racial Favored Classes:

Favored class - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

Prestige Classes:

Prestige class - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

BAB:

Base attack bonus - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

Note that a BAB prerequisite is NOT your modified attack number. On your character sheet you'll see it BELOW your attack numbers. Note that mult-classing can alter your BAB progression.