Prestige classes are another layer you’ll want to consider when you build your characters in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Some offer amazing opportunities for further growth. But, there are also drawbacks since you’ll need to choose a few specifications to unlock one. Here’s our Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous guide to help you unlock prestige classes.
Note: For more information, check out our Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous guides and features hub. Likewise, you can take a look at our character creation guide and class recommendations guide to help you get started.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous – How to unlock prestige classes
Prestige classes in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous can be selected as soon as your character hits level 5. However, you also need to take a look at the unlock requirements. A vast majority of these will, more often than not, imply that you need to multiclass (or cross-class). That means picking a starting class at level 1, then choosing a different class at level 2 onward just so you can obtain a feat or bonus. Sometimes, the investment might not be worth it.
Here are some caveats to consider:
- Base Attack Bonus (BAB) – Base attack bonus refers to how you’ll land damaging attacks against enemies. The gist is that you’ll want classes that have high BAB growth. You can see this if you select a default class and click on the “Details” button. For instance, pure frontline melee classes like the Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, and Slayer have high BAB growth. Meanwhile, ranged, hybrid, and support classes, such as the Alchemist, Kineticist, Magus, Cleric, Bard, and Skald have average growth. Lastly, pure caster classes have low BAB growth. If a prestige class requires you to increase your BAB to a certain value, then you’ll want to stick with a pure melee class for a few levels before swapping to something else that allow you to grab feats. You can see one particular example in the image below.
- Skills – Many prestige classes in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous also require you to reach a certain level in your skills first (i.e., Mobility 3, Trickery 4, or Knowledge: Arcana 5). Keep this in mind when you’re leveling your characters. Also, a character’s race can help you here especially if you gain more skill points per level.
- Feats – There are also some feats that are required. Examples include Dodge, Toughness, Dazzling Display, Skill Focus, Metamagic, and the like. Weapon/gear proficiencies are also included here, though some are available from the get-go upon choosing a default class. Again, races and default classes that can obtain feats more often are better suited when trying to unlock these requirements early.
- Ability to cast X-level spells – Simply put, you’ll want to increase a default class’ level until you can get higher-tier spells.
- Alignment – A few prestige classes in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous can’t be selected unless a character is of a particular alignment. As such, you really want to plan ahead. Sometimes, it’s better to start out being Lawful Good or Chaotic Evil just to meet this requirement as opposed to selecting multiple dialogue choices in the hopes that your alignment will be altered during the campaign.
Note: Don’t forget that you can retrain/respec your character and companions. Companions like Seelah, Camelia, Lann, Woljif, Ember, Nenio, and Daeran are easier to work with because they’ll join you at lower levels. Retraining them gives you those excess levels to tweak them accordingly. Conversely, peeps like Sosiel, Greybor, and Arueshalae come much later in the campaign, which means they’d probably remain at level 7+ when you reset them. Lastly, Regill starts out with a few levels in Armiger and one level in the Hellknight prestige class.
All right, since we’ve discussed the basics, let’s take a look at the unlock requirements for the prestige classes in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. You can view the table below:
| Prestige Class | Requirements | Notes |
| Aldori Swordlord | Skills: Mobility 3, Persuasion 5, Knowledge (World) 3, Perception 3 Feats: Dazzling Display, Weapon Finesse, Proficiencies: Dueling Sword, Weapon Focus: Dueling Sword | N/A |
| Arcane Trickster | Skills: Trickery 4, Mobility 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 2 Abilities: Sneak Attack 2 Spells: Can cast Arcane lv. 2 | You’ll need to get Sneak Attack from a variety of sources. Examples include the Rogue, Alchemist – Vivisectionist, Slayer, Shaman – Shadow Shaman, and Inquisitor – Sanctified Slayer. In most cases, you could stick with the Rogue – Eldritch Scoundrel (i.e., like Woljif) to also gain access to Arcane spells. |
| Assassin | Skills: Stealth 5 Alignment: Evil (any) | N/A |
| Dragon Disciple | Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 5 Cannot have: Empyreal Sorcerer, Sylvan Sorcerer, or Sage Sorcerer Archetype Cannot have: Bloodline class feature Spells: Can spontaneously cast Arcane lv. 1 | This is a great option for a prestige class. It’s actually what I did for my Paladin main. I had Paladin rank 4 and Bard rank 1 (for Inspire Ferocity and a couple of spells), which meant that this could be unlocked quickly. Just remember not to choose a Sorcerer or Bloodrager due to the restrictions. |
| Duelist | Skills: Mobility 2 Feats: Dodge, Weapon Finesse, Combat Mobility Base Attack Bonus: 6 | N/A |
| Eldritch Knight | Feats: Martial Weapon Proficiency Spells: Can cast Arcane lv. 3 | Martial Weapons Proficiency means you’d pick or double dip into a melee-heavy class before choosing caster spells. |
| Hellknight | Skills: Persuasion 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 2 Feats: Armor Proficiency (Heavy Armor) Alignment: Any Lawful Base Attack Bonus: 5 | Regill already starts as a rank 1 Hellknight when you recruit him. |
| Hellknight Signifer | Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (World) 5, Persuasion 2 Feats: Arcane Warrior Training or Warrior Priest Alignment: Any Lawful Spells: Can cast Arcane lv. 3 or Divine lv. 3 | This is a better variant of the Hellknight. For the feats: – Arcane Armor – If you selected a default Arcane Caster class. – Warrior Priest – If you selected a default Divine Caster class, or those with Domains/Mysteries (i.e., Clerics, Oracles, and Inquisitors). |
| Loremaster | Feats: Skill Focus, any Metamagic Spells: Can cast Arcane lv. 3 or Divine lv. 3 | A good pick if you’re already building a pure caster. |
| Mystic Theurge | Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 3, Lore (Religion) 3 Spells: Can cast both Arcane lv. 2 and Divine lv. 2 | Since this is a Divine and Arcane Caster, you’ll need to obtain both variants of spells. |
| Stalwart Defender | Feats: Dodge, Toughness Base Attack Bonus: 7 | This one is for pure tanking from the bonus armor class and not much else. |
| Student of War | Feats: Dodge, Combat Expertise, any from the following Skill Focus (Knowledge Arcana, Knowledge World, Lore Nature or Lore Religion) Base Attack Bonus: 5 | Know Your Enemy grants bonuses to stances at the cost of your movement action. Sadly, you’d waste a perfectly good feat selection by picking up a Skill Focus. |
| Winter Witch | Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 5 Feats: Frost or Winter Spells: Can cast Arcane lv. 3 or Divine lv. 3 | Probably the most common way of doing this is by selecting Witch – Elemental Witch so you can have the Winter elemental patron already. |
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is available via Steam.
Published: Sep 5, 2021 07:15 pm