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If I am a prestige class, does leveling up give me skills from both my prestige class and my core class?
i.e. If I am a rogue who wants to be a shadowdancer, does leveling up to level six give me rogue talent, shadow jump, and trap sense, or just a rogue talent and shadow jump.
Any time you multiclass, you gain nothing but the features of your new class. Your previous classes don't increase. This is the same regardless of which new class you enter.
Instead of gaining the abilities granted by the next level in your character’s current class, he can instead gain the 1st-level abilities of a new class, adding all of those abilities to his existing ones. This is known as “multiclassing.” For example, let’s say a 5th-level fighter decides to dabble in the arcane arts, and adds one level of wizard when he advances to 6th level. Such a character would have the powers and abilities of both a 5th-level fighter and a 1st-level wizard, but would still be considered a 6th-level character.
– Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, p. 30
Sadly, the Core Rulebook does nothing to explain how prestige classes work, just presenting them as extra classes that have prerequisites to enter, but the rules above still apply.
There are, occasionally, some classes that increase existing class features. These classes will tell you when and how it happens. Most commonly, spellcasting prestige classes will effectively increase your position on the spells table of a spellcasting class you possess (and not, for instance, bloodlines, or school powers and arcane bonds).
Most prestige classes give little or no progress toward your previous classes. As mentioned, your spellcasting ability might increase, but none of your class features will.
There is however at least 1 class that will increase all of your (spellcasting) class features as you level in the prestige class: Evangelist. You will effectively start gaining class features in your original class with the 2nd level of Evangelist. It appears to work with divine and arcane classes.
So a level 5 cleric who gets 5 levels of Evangelist would channel energy as a 9th level cleric as well as have all of the spells of a 9th level cleric.
Likewise, a level 5 sorcerer with 5 levels would gain their 9th level bloodline power and spell as well as all of the spells of a 9th level sorcerer.
