Divine Power and Prestige Qualification

[Vaz]

Say you bought a few scrolls of Divine Power to even up your Base Attack Progression, and you use that increased level to get yourself up to a new Prestige Class.

What would happen if you eventually ran of scrolls, but had achieved a level where your BAB was capable of self propagating the class?

For example, you're BAB 4+ at level 5, you level up, and decide that now it's level 6, you want to take a 5+ Prerequisite Class. You fight on, admittedly potentially losing the benefits of the Prestige Class when your Scroll runs out, depending on your attitude to losing class features you no longer qualify for, but what happens when you reach 7th level, scroll up, and advance another level in the class, which takes you to BAB 5, and have now qualified for the class. What is your take on that?

[Cranthis]

Say you bought a few scrolls of Divine Power to even up your Base Attack Progression, and you use that increased level to get yourself up to a new Prestige Class.

What would happen if you eventually ran of scrolls, but had achieved a level where your BAB was capable of self propagating the class?

For example, you're BAB 4+ at level 5, you level up, and decide that now it's level 6, you want to take a 5+ Prerequisite Class. You fight on, admittedly potentially losing the benefits of the Prestige Class when your Scroll runs out, depending on your attitude to losing class features you no longer qualify for, but what happens when you reach 7th level, scroll up, and advance another level in the class, which takes you to BAB 5, and have now qualified for the class. What is your take on that?

I believe that if you no longer would have qualified at the level you took the class, you lose all the benefits and class abilities etc etc.

[TuggyNE]

Say you bought a few scrolls of Divine Power to even up your Base Attack Progression, and you use that increased level to get yourself up to a new Prestige Class.

What would happen if you eventually ran of scrolls, but had achieved a level where your BAB was capable of self propagating the class?

I tend to take a fairly lax standpoint on PrC qualifications, though qualifying based on a temporary buff (not even a persisted or hours/level, but rounds/level) seems rather dubious. However, if you can qualify off something temporarily, you can surely patch in qualifications later; it's not like PHB2 retraining rules, which care about your qualifications at the original time.

That's probably not strictly RAW, however.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

PHB page 58:
Advancing a Level: When your character’s XP total reaches at
least the minimum XP needed for a new character level (see Table
3–2), he or she “goes up a level.” ... Going up a level
provides the character with several immediate benefits (see below).

It says nothing about being able to wait to level up. As soon as your XP total reaches at least the minimum for a new character level, you go up a level and immediately get the benefits of it, which includes picking what class to gain your next level in.

This places control entirely in your DM's hands. He can say it's time for XP, and so you cast that buff, then he can just say your XP pours in gradually and you only get enough for the next level once all of your temporary buffs have worn off. There are no set rules on when you get XP, it's entirely up to your DM. There is a rule, cited above, stating you immediately pick your next class level as soon as you've got the XP to reach that level.

[Vaz]

I believe that if you no longer would have qualified at the level you took the class, you lose all the benefits and class abilities etc etc.

Might be worth having a look at the Dragon Disciple :).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Might be worth having a look at the Dragon Disciple :).

Dragon Disciple is an exception. The general rule is that if you no longer meet a prestige class's prerequisites, then you lose all the class features of that prestige class (CW p16, Meeting Class Requirements).

[Flickerdart]

I believe that if you no longer would have qualified at the level you took the class, you lose all the benefits and class abilities etc etc.
Wrong. You lose class features. You retain, explicitly, the hit dice, saves, and base attack bonus. So a Cleric with persisted Divine Power could indeed ride the BAB Train until his natural BAB overtook the entry point. However, since you can't actually decide when you gain a level, nothing short of Persist will work, so that you can make sure that when you ding, your BAB is boosted.

[Lord_Gareth]

Wrong. You lose class features. You retain, explicitly, the hit dice, saves, and base attack bonus. So a Cleric with persisted Divine Power could indeed ride the BAB Train until his natural BAB overtook the entry point. However, since you can't actually decide when you gain a level, nothing short of Persist will work, so that you can make sure that when you ding, your BAB is boosted.

And IIRC the practice of doing this in various ways (spells, items, etc, etc) is known as Bootstrapping.

[Cranthis]

Wrong. You lose class features. You retain, explicitly, the hit dice, saves, and base attack bonus. So a Cleric with persisted Divine Power could indeed ride the BAB Train until his natural BAB overtook the entry point. However, since you can't actually decide when you gain a level, nothing short of Persist will work, so that you can make sure that when you ding, your BAB is boosted.

I must have been thinking of retraining.