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View Full Version : Qualifying for feats vs. prestige classes? [3.5]



gomipile
2010-08-17, 01:47 PM
One can gain the requirements for a feat at the same character level that one gets the feat, ie: taking Power Attack and Cleave at the same time on a level 1 Fighter.

Can one do the same with a prestige class? For example, if a hypothetical prestige class requires 8 ranks in a skill and that prestige class also has that same skill as a class skill, may a character attain level 1 in that prestige class at level 5? Or is it required to meet the requirements with another class up to and including level 5 and then enter the prestige class at level 6?

PId6
2010-08-17, 01:52 PM
No; you have to take a level of a class in order to gain skill ranks or feats. Since PrCs require that you satisfy its requirements before taking it, you cannot take a PrC on the same level that you qualify for it via skills or feats. This is quite different from Power Attack -> Cleave, since that is taken in order, while the PrC requires taking things out of order.

Keld Denar
2010-08-17, 01:54 PM
Its not in the SRD, but the PHB has a little write-up on the order that you do things when you level up. IIRC, choosing what class to gain that level in is the FIRST thing you do, and thus you must meet all prereqs prior to leveling up.

hamishspence
2010-08-17, 01:54 PM
I think not- you need the prerequisite first.

Feats I think are different because they are taken last, so, if you get the skill ranks needed to qualify for a feat at, say, level 5, and you can take a feat at level 5, you can take that feat which you're only just qualified for.

Classes and PRCs though, I think you need to have the prerequisites first- so a PRC that requires a BAB of +6, can be taken by a 6th level fighter- but you can't, as your 6th level, take the PRC instead of the fighter level- since you don't qualify yet.

EDIT: Swordsaged.

Altair_the_Vexed
2010-08-17, 01:56 PM
No; you have to take a level of a class in order to gain skill ranks or feats. Since PrCs require that you satisfy its requirements before taking it, you cannot take a PrC on the same level that you qualify for it via skills or feats. This is quite different from Power Attack -> Cleave, since that is take in order, while the PrC requires taking things out of order.
This ^

Just as you can't take a PrC that has full BAB advancement to get a +1 BAB so you qualify for that same PrC.
That'd just be a more geeky version of the Grandfather Paradox.

gomipile
2010-08-17, 02:06 PM
Its not in the SRD, but the PHB has a little write-up on the order that you do things when you level up. IIRC, choosing what class to gain that level in is the FIRST thing you do, and thus you must meet all prereqs prior to leveling up.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I'll have to look in my PHB for the writeup Keld Denar mentioned above. I never looked at it because I had friends help me make characters when I first started playing years ago, and I never really looked that closely at that part of the rules in all this time.

Douglas
2010-08-17, 03:19 PM
I'll have to look in my PHB for the writeup Keld Denar mentioned above. I never looked at it because I had friends help me make characters when I first started playing years ago, and I never really looked that closely at that part of the rules in all this time.
It's on page 58 or 59, as I recall.

gomipile
2010-08-17, 03:44 PM
Okay, I just looked up that writeup in the PHB.

So back to feats, I noticed that the level 1, 3, 6, etc. bonus feats are gained at step 7, and class features at step 9. This would then imply that a bonus feat gained from your class cannot be used as a prerequisite for a bonus feat gained due to character level at the same level, right?

Although, technically, that writeup says "make these changes," not "make these changes in the following order." The steps seem to be in a list because that makes it easier to read, but I don't think it says that the order of the list means anything in and of itself.

Also, if you do have to follow the steps in order, a class feature could never be used to qualify for a feat at the same level as that class feature is attained.