Entering a prestige class early?

[Leguard]

Hey guys I'm stumped on a problem and was wondering if you guys might know a solution.

I need to be able to enter either Tomb Warden (only taking 2 levels in it) or Master of the Unseen Hand (just taking 4 levels) after just 4 levels in a base class. The character is a ghost and I need to be able to combine this with one other class that's 5 levels long.

Would feats like skill focus or iron will work to be able to enter early? Or do I need to rethink this concept?

[prufock]

Tomb Warden doesn't look too hard.

Base Attack Bonus: +3 = multiclass full BAB classes
Alignment: Any nonchaotic = choose a nonchaotic alignment
Feats: Toughness = first level feat, no prereqs
Type: Undead. = you are already a ghost
Base Save Bonus: Will +5. = 2 levels in one class with good Will, 1 level in another class with good Will (3+2=+5)
Special: A tomb warden must dedicate itself to the protection of a tomb, graveyard, or similar resting place of the dead. = roleplay it


Duskblade, Hexblade, Knight, and Samurai (Oriental Adventures version) all have full BAB and good Will saves. Multiclass between any 2 or more of them and you can enter this prestige class at level 4.

As for Master of the Unseen Hand, the Favored in Guild and Primary Contact feats, along with membership in a religious organization, can get you the Concentration ranks you need at level 4. Telekinesis is a ghost supernatural ability. Easy peasy.


Would feats like skill focus or iron will work to be able to enter early?
Those feats do not help you meet skill rank or base save requirements. They give you modifiers, not skill ranks or base saves.

[kestrel404]

As an alternative, there's also the Ghost Template Class, which gives most of the aspects of the Ghost template, but you can stop after 4 levels and all you lose out on is +2 to a few skills.

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a

[sideswipe]

if you could argue that an elf ghost is still the elf subtype then you could do this, otherwise it is impossible to enter Master of the Unseen Hand at that level as you need to cast a 5th level spell.

ghost elf elven generalist domain wizard 2/fighter 1/duskblade 1 (or hexblade 1)/master of the unseen hand x/tomb warden x

minor bloodline to increase skill ranks by 1, you must take this by level 3 so before duskblade so you can get 8 ranks in concentration.

feats you need are heighten spell and versatile spellcaster, you can take the level 3 fighter feat as toughness.


using your 1st level slots you cast a heightened 1st to 2nd level and gain its generalist slot and domain slot. you use both those slots to cast the 2nd lvl domain spell heightened, etc. etc. if your dm gets picky on semantics take 2 flaws as the practised spellcaster (wizard) and the extra slot feat. or just wizard 4 and qualify for tomb warden later on as that is why i added duskblade and fighter as you wanted to qualify for both by level 4.

its pure parmesan sandwich with Gouda instead of bread and Stilton instead of butter but you did ask lol


edit - dumbass here forgot that ghosts get telekinesis.

you could just take anything in the world you want 4/ master of the unseen hand x

a single feat which is primary contact to up concentration skill ranks by 1 forever.

then you are a ghost whatever/ anything x/ the class you want x and only spend 1 feat on primary contact if that class is master of the unseen hand

[torrasque666]

if you could argue that an elf ghost is still the elf subtype then you could do this, otherwise it is impossible to enter Master of the Unseen Hand at that level as you need to cast a 5th level spell.

ghost elf elven generalist domain wizard 2/fighter 1/duskblade 1 (or hexblade 1)/master of the unseen hand x/tomb warden x

minor bloodline to increase skill ranks by 1, you must take this by level 3 so before duskblade so you can get 8 ranks in concentration.

feats you need are heighten spell and versatile spellcaster, you can take the level 3 fighter feat as toughness.


using your 1st level slots you cast a heightened 1st to 2nd level and gain its generalist slot and domain slot. you use both those slots to cast the 2nd lvl domain spell heightened, etc. etc. if your dm gets picky on semantics take 2 flaws as the practised spellcaster (wizard) and the extra slot feat. or just wizard 4 and qualify for tomb warden later on as that is why i added duskblade and fighter as you wanted to qualify for both by level 4.

its pure parmesan sandwich with Gouda instead of bread and Stilton instead of butter but you did ask lol


Master of the Unseen Hand requires being able to cast Telekinesis, or have it as a Spell-Like Ability. Ghosts have the latter naturally.

[sideswipe]

Master of the Unseen Hand requires being able to cast Telekinesis, or have it as a Spell-Like Ability. Ghosts have the latter naturally.

i realised this as soon as i posted lol i edited

[Leguard]

As an alternative, there's also the Ghost Template Class, which gives most of the aspects of the Ghost template, but you can stop after 4 levels and all you lose out on is +2 to a few skills.

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a

Based on my understanding of that article and savage species templates is that you still have to take all the levels in the template, its just there to introduce the powers more slowly.

Thank you guys for the help so much, I can't believe I didn't consider the muticlassing to be able to bump my Will save like that considering I have done it before.

I think I will run with Hexblade 3/(something 1) going into Tomb Warden first because it will save some feat spots and doesn't mess with the organizations and such.

[kestrel404]

Based on my understanding of that article and savage species templates is that you still have to take all the levels in the template, its just there to introduce the powers more slowly.

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20030824a

That's the base rules for the template classes - unlike the classes in Savage Species, you can take a few levels in one of the Savage Progression template classes and then choose to level in something else. Ghost is the obvious best choice, but a lot of the were-creature templates work out better with miniman animal HD.