Quick question for ya'll:

Is it just me, or do PRC's that emphasize full blown casting (and by this, I mean classes that really have no purpose other than being a hardcore caster. Not like the PRC Paladin, which is really a melee class with some spellcasting) that dont give full spellcasting progression rub you the wrong way? I mean, ok, lose one level of casting for all these cool little tricks? thats acceptable. But to give up 2 or 3 out of 10 levels? I see that as a huge drawback! Its delaying my power significantly, and as long is it is only like 2 or 3, I'll still get 9th level spells. But what the hell?

Am I making a mountain out of a molehill, or do other people feel this same way? Do the benifits of the PRC normally make up for having to wait 1 or 2 levels for the next tier of spells? Or am I just being my powerbuilding self and rageing.

I'm also not a fan of losing spell casting levels for little tricks....but in some cases, it's a great trade off.  Most of the classes that lose more than 1 level are "gish" classes, or hybrids.  So lose 2 levels of casting for ToB powers?  That's pretty rad...

Yea, if you are getting another mechanic, like Mistyc Theurge, or Arcane Heirophant, I can understand losing a couple levels (which technically with those you lose them before getting the PRC, but w/e). What gets me is when an augment single mechanic prc (like Elemental Savant, which I was lookin at) makes you lose 2 levels of casting for +2dc saves and +4 Spell Pen (other stuff, but not as combat based). 

Tome and Blood Elemental Savant was cooler

If I ever play one in a campaign, I may try to convince the DM to only let me lose 1

Try getting into the Magic of Incarnum PrC's.  THOSE will REALLY piss you off LOL.

I knew there was a reason I didnt like incarnum before I even looked at it...

Another thing to consider...not all classes are created equal.  This is true wioth the 60-70 base classes, and even more so with the 1000+ PrC's.  Some just plain suck lol.

Yea. Its a shame a lot of the cool RP or Theme classes dont stand up to some of the raw power classes.

So with the tier system, if a PRC actually decreases the power of the base class enough, we -CAN- set its tier mod to -1 or -2 (or even -3).  Elemental Savant is rated as a tier neutral, but if you have a compelling reason why it should be less, we can look into that.  Sadly, unless it's a tier -2, you won't be able to do anything with a wizard entry anyway.

Oh, thats not the point of this. This is just my rant about D&D not being fair. I guess I would just like to know their reasoning for cutting spell casting levels out of so many caster PRC's. I guess it is an attempt at balancing out the classes, so that some people will play just strait wizards intsead of PRC'in the shit out of their builds.

Out of curosity, where do you go to see if a PRC is neutral or +-? I'm interested in seeing what the Recaster from Races of Ebberon is...

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5198.0

Recaster is a T + 1 class