Stupid question about prestige classes

[TheWhiteRaven]

I feel really dumb for asking this, but my brain is completely stroking out here. when a prestige class lists a requirement of say 6 ranks in Knowledge (geography) if i would be getting my 6th rank when i took that level, can i take it as the prestige class? or do i need to already have 6 ranks in the skill and after having that i can then take my next level as the prestige? I know it's a dumb question but i really can't remember how the ruling works >.<

[Kylarra]

You need to have 6 ranks first.

[Koury]

Also, no need to feel bad for forgetting stuff. My father, sitting at the computer at work the other day, asked me how to spell "kick." :smalltongue:

[TheWhiteRaven]

That's what I thought was the answer, but for some reason I was remember a situation where I was getting a requirement for the prestige alongside the level that I was taking the prestige, but I think it was an extenuating circumstances kind of thing.

Thanks for clarifying my moment of dumb ^_^

And just fyi, the character is a rogue 2 ranger 3, next lvl is also going to be ranger, then he's going horizon walker. He's going to be the 4th party member in a seafaring campaign I'm running. Horizon Walker gets MEAN when the primary terrain is his first favored one XDD

[Thrice Dead Cat]

It's a fairly common question, but that doesn't mean you need to be 3rd level to enter, as odd as that may sound. By RAW, all you need is that 6th rank, but there are ways to sort of bypass the usual rules on getting that 6th rank other than the obvious one of having it as a class skill and having at least 3 HD.

One of the less cheeser ways is to have the feats Favored and Primary Contact, which give a free floating rank in a skill, allowing you to bypass the usual limit of 3+HD for class skills. Another is to have a Bard use Inspire Greatness on you and then have someone else use psychic reformation on you. Since you have more than your usual HD (usually by 2, for a bog standard bard), you can reshuffle your skill points around with the reformation and get more skill ranks in some skills 2 levels sooner.

[TheWhiteRaven]

right, that was also part of it. Fulfilling requirements for feats. If it says i need a BaB of +11 and the level that I would get that is also the level that I get a feat, can I take the feat? I believe yes but I'm not 100%

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Feats I'm less sure of. I can't remember if you gain your feats or your "level" first. That is to say, I don't remember if you grab your feat or your level in a class first, so I'm not sure. I want to say you can choose your level in a class and thus skill points before your feats, but I honestly don't know.

[Darth Stabber]

Feats I'm less sure of. I can't remember if you gain your feats or your "level" first. That is to say, I don't remember if you grab your feat or your level in a class first, so I'm not sure. I want to say you can choose your level in a class and thus skill points before your feats, but I honestly don't know.

You gain your level and class abilities, then feats. You can take a feat that requires bab 6 at level 6. Strangely, I bonus feats happen after you gain other class abilities, but before you gain feats based on hit dice, leading to some interesting requirements shuffle for some 6th level fighters.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

You gain your level and class abilities, then feats. You can take a feat that requires bab 6 at level 6. Strangely, I bonus feats happen after you gain other class abilities, but before you gain feats based on hit dice, leading to some interesting requirements shuffle for some 6th level fighters.

That's kind of cute, actually, as it does allow a fighter to grab two feats that require +6 BAB at 6th level. EDIT: Although, that does mean those types of feats may need some slight changes when ported over to Pathfinder due to the lack of feats gained on levels divisible by 3.:smallyuk:

[TheWhiteRaven]

Okies, that's about what I was figuring. Thanks for helping guys!

:smallbiggrin: