The Whirling Blades of a Tempest

Continuing with our recent theme of prestige class discussions, I wanted to highlight a short, simple prestige class, the Tempest. I found this prestige class in Complete Adventurer, and it’s one of my favorites because it’s a simple, elegant and natural progression for a two-weapon fighter.

Here’s What I Like About It

Two-weapon fighting doesn’t happen by accident. If you’ve taken the effort to develop your fighter into a two-weapon fighter, you have put some thought into what weapons you wield. These weapons are your signature, they’re part of your character.

The Tempest prestige class doesn’t require a specific combination of weapons; you can use whatever two weapons you want. So this prestige class works as well for my elven thinblade/short sword combination as it would for an axe/dagger combination or a double-weapon. I like that I don’t have to fit a stereotype to follow this prestige class; it’s adaptable to my character.

Here’s What I Love About It

The Tempest prestige class finally recognizes that your fighter is intelligent. The class features credit your character with the ability to become a more efficient fighter as you grow into proficiency with your two weapons. You gain AC bonuses, you reduce your two-weapon fighting penalties. And, my personal favorite, you gain the effects of certain feats for your secondary weapons; for example, if you have Weapon Focus for one of your weapons, you gain its abilities for your other weapon.

These class features (there are more, so read up if you’re interested) demonstrate that your character is growing as a fighter throughout this process. I love that it’s a natural progression of skills we might expect a two-weapon fighter to develop.

The Moral of Today’s Story

Whether or not you ever take this prestige class, there is something important I want you to take from this discussion. Your prestige class should be a natural complement to your character, and any sacrifices (pre-req’s) should be easily outweighed by the class benefits. Do your research and enjoy!