With Regards to "Feat Tax" and Early Entry Anima Mage

[chartear]

Hi everyone.

For context, I've been trying to get into optimization and completely lack experience. I thought it'd be fun to try out early entry into prestige classes and decided to attempt taking the first level of Anima Mage (Tome of Magic) as the second character level. The prerequisites are Alignment: Any nongood; Skills: Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 4 ranks; Feat: Any metamagic feat; Spellcasting: Ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells; and Special: Ability to bind a 2nd-level vestige. As a Human Wizard taking two flaws (Unearthed Arcana), the feats Precocious Apprentice (Complete Arcane), Bind Vestige (Tome of Magic), Bind Vestige, Improved (Tome of Magic), and Extend Spell (Player's Handbook) can be taken to meet all of the non-skill requirements, with Precocious Apprentice giving 2nd-level arcane spells, Bind Vestige and Bind Vestige, Improved giving access to up to 3rd-level vestiges, and Extend Spell as the metamagic feat. Using the Enchanter variant Social Proficiency (Unearthed Arcana), Intimidate becomes a class skill for a Wizard. This lets Intimidate and Knowledge (the planes) each have 4 ranks at level 1. Assuming all of this works, this should grant access to Anima Mage at level 2.

Given the above, how heavy is the "feat tax?" I've seen this applied to entry into prestige classes such as Archmage and taking other feats, so I'm wondering how that fits into this.

Thanks!

[Snowbluff]

Honestly, it's a good option. Wizard doesn't have class features past casting for the most part.

It's not so much a feat tax. Feat taxes are the feats you HAVE to take. Early entry feats aren't considered that. :smallsmile:

[Cruiser1]

Given the above, how heavy is the "feat tax?" I've seen this applied to entry into prestige classes such as Archmage and taking other feats, so I'm wondering how that fits into this.
If you're doing early entry optimization tricks, then you should also be able to gain back the "feat tax" by retraining the feats (for a nominal fee as described in PHB2, or by buying a Psychic Reformation) to other feats that you really want. Do that soon as you've gained enough levels to be able to cast 2nd level spells and bind 2nd level vestiges naturally, so you no longer rely on the feats to meet the requirements for the PrC. The only potential problem is if you permanently lose enough levels so that you no longer meet the PrC requirements naturally, in which case you need to retrain feats back to what they were to restore the "feat tax", so you can level up again in the same way. :smalltongue:

[chartear]

Okay! Thanks for the clarification on feat tax and reminding me of retraining. On to my next project!

[Chronos]

You also need an interpretation of prestige class prerequisites that you only need to meet them to take the first level of the class. Otherwise, that level of Anima Mage will "turn off" your Bind Vestige feat, which will in turn mean you're unable to bind 2nd-level vestiges, which means as soon as you take Anima Mage, you no longer qualify for it.

Much more straightforward is to qualify by taking an actual single level of Binder, plus the Improved Binding feat (which is nearly as much a no-brainer for binders as Natural Spell is for druids). Yes, that means losing a level of wizard casting, but this is one of the very few cases where you can do so while still increasing your total power.

[Snowbluff]

If you take the feat that improves your binding level by 2, you're fine.

[chartear]

You also need an interpretation of prestige class prerequisites that you only need to meet them to take the first level of the class. Otherwise, that level of Anima Mage will "turn off" your Bind Vestige feat, which will in turn mean you're unable to bind 2nd-level vestiges, which means as soon as you take Anima Mage, you no longer qualify for it.

Much more straightforward is to qualify by taking an actual single level of Binder, plus the Improved Binding feat (which is nearly as much a no-brainer for binders as Natural Spell is for druids). Yes, that means losing a level of wizard casting, but this is one of the very few cases where you can do so while still increasing your total power.

I took the phrasing of the qualifier on the Bind Vestige feat to indicate that I don't lose the ability.

"Special: Characters who have the ability to bind vestiges through other means (such as the soul binding class feature) cannot take this feat. If you become a binder after taking the feat, you lose its benefit."

When I take it at level 1, I don't have the ability to bind vestiges. However, I never take a level of Binder; I only take Anima Mage levels. In the books I've read, I don't think I've seen them refer to classes with an uppercase letter, so I assumed they're referring to the actual Binder class. I'm currently looking for an indication in Tome of Magic that having the ability to bind vestiges makes you a "binder;" it seems like it always refers to the class or, in the case of prestige classes, your previous levels.

Edit: deleted a line