What is the lamest prestige class concept (to you)

[Sartharina]

If I want my character to be something else, fluff-wise, but use the same mechanics, default fluff is utterly irrelevant.

'Fluff' is rules text. If you don't want to play by the rules, find your own rules to play by. "Crunch" is merely interpretation of the game rules to translate to dice, tabletops, and numbers for ease of play.

Plus, my human character (using his racial feat to attain a sorcerer bloodline based on illusion) is WAY MORE magical than your gnome. But he still can't take shadowcraft mage.

That feat did not exist when the Shadowcraft mage was written. At the time of creation of the Shadowcraft mage, only Gnomes had inherent magic.

None of which prevents my human from being even better at being a shadowcraft mage than your gnome, or my transmuter warforged from being a better chameleon than your human.

They have to do it without the class, because they lack the innate power to unlock the potential of those classes.

Mechanics- OR fluff-wise.

Fluff is mechanics.

Au contraire. You need to open your eyes to the possibilities beyond default fluff. Otherwise, you're stuck seeing the fighter as the "best fighting class" (which it isn't), the monk as "the ultimate martial artist" (which it isn't), and gnomes as "the best shadowcraft mages" (which they aren't).

Gnomes are the best shadowcraft mages because they're the only shadowcraft mages. Fighters were the best at 'fighting' until the Warblade replaced it, but its problem was Fighting was worthless (But nobody else can attain the same mastery over a weapon a fighter can). The monk is the best Martial Artist outside of ToB. But martial arts are actually useless to an adventurer.

If there's no legitimate mechanical reason for a restriction to be in place, it shouldn't be there. A writer telling me what kinds of characters I'm allowed to play when he's not involved at my table is just ridiculous.

Then stop playing systems you don't homebrew yourself.

Yes. Because my human can be a better illusionist than a 3.0 gnome, if I use my feat to do so. Pointless restrictions are pointless.

A better illusionist, yes, but not the same.

But a human/elf/dwarf/halfling can take levels in wizard or sorcerer (!) or psion or cleric or druid just as easily as a gnome. "Being very slightly more magical in a very tiny way" doesn't mean you're barred from being magical. If shadowcraft mage actually specifically worked to improve the gnome's racial abilities, I could see your point. But it doesn't, and so I don't.

The gnome's racial abilities are manifestations of deeper inherent power within a gnome that's required for Shadowcraft mages.

Then why is the elf's favored class wizard, if gnomes are so much more magical? Why does a human with wizard as his class have wizard as his favored class, if gnomes are so much more magical? Why do gnomes have bard as their favored class, if gnomes are so much more magical?

Elves love magic. Gnomes are magic. Elves favor a class that doesn't require any actual inherent magic ability, just patience, time, and insufferability. Gnomes don't favor a full-caster class because their culture takes magic for granted (Who needs to learn to study spells when I can cast them as I wish?). Gnomes are gifted dilettantes. Elves are tryhards.

And?

Just because it can be used offensively doesn't mean it has to be. There's nothing about the spell that makes it inherently Evil; otherwise, we couldn't come up with useful, non-Evil ways of using it. And in this case, doing so is very, very easy. So easy, in fact, that the idea of it having the [Evil] tag (even apart from it not using Evil energy) is actually kinda stupid. Kind of like Deathwatch having the [Evil] tag. There's nothing actually Evil about it.

No matter what end the spell is used for, Mindrape is indescribably torturous and traumatizing (That the spell can make you forget the torture and trauma doesn't go away).[/quote]You mean nothing about the spell that makes it inherently evil other than the fact that it rapes the victims mind? - The spell's actual effect is so perverse and twisted that only the kinkiest minds can give informed consent (Of course, others certainly can be convinced into giving uninformed consent. Which they regret almost as soon as the spell's cast. Then mostly forget after it's cast, except for the part of their consciousness that's stuck in a state of "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream").

And yet a human/elven/dwarven/halfling illusionist is just as capable of taking and using shadowcraft mage as a gnome is, apart from the misplaced and useless racial prereq.

No he's not. He lack the inherent type of magic within gnomes that is required to shadowcraft to the same extent as a Gnome can. Training and nurture can only take you so far - you also need the genetics and nature to enable you.