Hellfire Warlock question

[Cryov]

when you are done leveling as a hellfire warlock, can you retrain out of brimstone blast/hellrime blast for another invocation?
It says prereq to get into class, just not sure if they need to keep it once you are done with that prc.

[Raezeman]

well, i'm not sure if there is a specific rule about having to keep prereqs, so best is to ask your DM. (I know mine would let you change is, and as a DM myself i wouldn't allow it either, but that's just personal.)

[jedipilot24]

when you are done leveling as a hellfire warlock, can you retrain out of brimstone blast/hellrime blast for another invocation?
It says prereq to get into class, just not sure if they need to keep it once you are done with that prc.

No, prerequisites have to be kept the way they are. For an analogy, only a character with a Strength of at least 13 can take the Power Attack feat; but if that character's Strength score subsequently drops below 13--either due to ability damage or through retraining, they lose access to that feat until their Strength score increases again. Prestige Classes work the same way: if you ever fail to meet the prerequisites, you lose access to the class.
This is the reason why a little bad wording in the Dragon Disciple's capstone ability causes the "qualify-disqualify" loop that most DM's will just hand wave.

[Daer]

Isn't it often that if you stop meeting class requirements it only stops advancing in that class instead removing those levels completely? exception of paladin, but that kinda makes sense.

So i would ask how much dm sees those invocations are needed for the stuff hellfire warlock gives. Personally dont see any reason why hellrime would be necessary as it is ice stuff and nothing in class has anything to do with ice. brimstone again would be fire and many abilities are special fire stuff so it might be necessary to be able to do.

and then if all else fails the rule of fun. If you are encountering tons of fire resist enemis then that invocation is useless and no fun at all. and warlocks don't have that many invocations in use so one useless one hurts a lot (though i guess its not that bad if you compare what you get)

[gomipile]

No, prerequisites have to be kept the way they are. For an analogy, only a character with a Strength of at least 13 can take the Power Attack feat; but if that character's Strength score subsequently drops below 13--either due to ability damage or through retraining, they lose access to that feat until their Strength score increases again. Prestige Classes work the same way: if you ever fail to meet the prerequisites, you lose access to the class.
This is the reason why a little bad wording in the Dragon Disciple's capstone ability causes the "qualify-disqualify" loop that most DM's will just hand wave.

The Survivor prestige class has the same problem. Also, I don't think any of the general rule books (core, core II, and Rules Compendium) say that prerequisites for prestige classes must be maintained. I know at least one specific rule book says this for the prestige classes in that book, but I am not aware of a general rule like that which applies to all prestige classes.

[Emperor Tippy]

No, you only have to meet prerequisites for a class when you take the first level in a class as the general rule for D&D 3.5.

Some books have a more specific rule that failure to maintain the classes prerequisites strips you of some or all of your class features.

Fiendish Codex 2 is not one of those books. If you want an example of the difference compare Complete Warrior page 16 and FC2 page 86.

[yougi]

As you can see it's a hotly debated subject. CW and (IIRC) CArc states that if you stop fulfilling the Pre-Reqs of PrCs, you lose its benefits. Some follow the absolute RAW, according to which it only applies for PrCs in these two books, and others apply it to all PrCs.

It all comes down to RAW vs Logic: does your DM allow drowning to heal you? or does your character know what race they are without ranks in knowledge (local)?

[GameSpawn]

If you're talking about the retraining rules in the PHB II, then no you can't. It explicitly says retraining your class feature choices can't make any future choices illegal. If you're talking about using the warlock rules for learning new invocations, then it appears to be legal by RAW (though many DM's might not allow it anyway).