diff --git a/evennia/prototypes/prototypes.py b/evennia/prototypes/prototypes.py
index a03cbc519f..550f1b2e7b 100644
--- a/evennia/prototypes/prototypes.py
+++ b/evennia/prototypes/prototypes.py
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ def homogenize_prototype(prototype, custom_keys=None):
         homogenized["prototype_key"] = "prototype-{}".format(
             hashlib.md5(str(time.time())).hexdigest()[:7])
 
-    if "typeclass" not in prototype:
+    if "typeclass" not in prototype and "prototype_parent" not in prototype:
         homogenized["typeclass"] = settings.BASE_OBJECT_TYPECLASS
 
     return homogenized
diff --git a/evennia/prototypes/tests.py b/evennia/prototypes/tests.py
index 1ad1d9ac47..3cf2e38c7b 100644
--- a/evennia/prototypes/tests.py
+++ b/evennia/prototypes/tests.py
@@ -384,8 +384,9 @@ class TestPrototypeStorage(EvenniaTest):
         prot3 = protlib.create_prototype(**self.prot3)
 
         # partial match
-        self.assertEqual(list(protlib.search_prototype("prot")), [prot1b, prot2, prot3])
-        self.assertEqual(list(protlib.search_prototype(tags="foo1")), [prot1b, prot2, prot3])
+        with mock.patch("evennia.prototypes.prototypes._MODULE_PROTOTYPES", {}):
+            self.assertEqual(list(protlib.search_prototype("prot")), [prot1b, prot2, prot3])
+            self.assertEqual(list(protlib.search_prototype(tags="foo1")), [prot1b, prot2, prot3])
 
         self.assertTrue(str(unicode(protlib.list_prototypes(self.char1))))