Early Entry into Sand Shaper

[LordOfCain]

With Practiced Spellcaster, couldn't you get into Sand Shaper earlier than fifth level?

[Psyren]

PS is capped by your character level/HD. So you could use it to get in with one caster level but you'd still need 4 levels of something else.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Practiced Spellcaster won't help since it caps your caster level at your character level. If you can A) get Survival as a class feature and B) use any of the methods to get your caster level above your character level, you can do it.

[Rebel7284]

Benefit
Your caster level for the chosen spellcasting class increases by 4. This benefit can't increase your caster level to higher than your Hit Dice.


Practiced Spellcaster doesn't get you in any earlier.
There are many ways to boost your caster level for a particular spell, whether or not that would qualify is DM dependent.

You can do it with Practiced Spellcaster if you ALSO become a Lycanthrope and then remove the curse of Lycanthrapy later, but that's pretty cheesy. :)

[Necroticplague]

With Practiced Spellcaster, couldn't you get into Sand Shaper earlier than fifth level?

Nope. Practiced Spellcaster can't raise your CL above your HD. At least, not on its own.

I think you might be able to use it to help shave a level or two off, though. Take it so that your CL increases in the arcane class while you dip into Cleric and pick up a CL-increasing domain. So you could go, say, Wizard1/cleric1 with Artifice and Creation domains. Your CL for Wizard would be 1 (class level)+1(Practiced Spellcaster)+3(Domains). CL5 with Creation (conjuration) spells, you're good to enter next level.

[LordOfCain]

What is the best PrC you can qualify for after 1st level?

[Rebel7284]

What is the best PrC you can qualify for after 1st level?

Human (Elf/Dwarf/etc) Paragon.

[LordOfCain]

Human (Elf/Dwarf/etc) Paragon.
Um.... I don't believe those count as prestige classes... can't you take them explicitly at FIRST level?

[John Longarrow]

Yes, and they are pClasses.

One trick for a classless character is half Orc paragon/Orc paragon/Frenzied berserker. No base class involved in that build!

[LordOfCain]

Yes, and they are pClasses.

One trick for a classless character is half Orc paragon/Orc paragon/Frenzied berserker. No base class involved in that build!

Okay, what is the best NON-PARAGON prestige class you can enter immediately after first level?

[Inevitability]

Okay, what is the best NON-PARAGON prestige class you can enter immediately after first level?

Beholder Mage.

At least, if you meant 'first class level' instead of 'ECL 1'.

[LordOfCain]

Beholder Mage.

At least, if you meant 'first class level' instead of 'ECL 1'.
What is the best NON-PARAGON prestige class you can take after ECL 1? Sheesh.

[AvatarVecna]

Yes, and they are pClasses.

One trick for a classless character is half Orc paragon/Orc paragon/Frenzied berserker. No base class involved in that build!

Heh, "classless" Frenzied Berserker.

[Necroticplague]

Beholder Mage.

At least, if you meant 'first class level' instead of 'ECL 1'.

If we're gonna use that definition, I'd like to point out you can enter a great many things at low class levels but high ECl by using Lyucanthrope than getting cured of it once the PRC self-qualifies. Like for sand shaper:

Wizard 1 (practiced spellcaster/LA2/Animal RHD 4.
Then, proceed until wizard1/sandshaper5/la2/RHD 4. Cure yourself of lycanthropy, your build is now Wizard1/sandshaper 5, and completely legal. (At no point did you ever fail to qualify).

[Troacctid]

Yes, and they are pClasses.

Paragon classes are not prestige classes.

[gorfnab]

What is the best PrC you can qualify for after 1st level?
Thief of Life (FoE). Human or Azurin UA Generic Expert or UA Generic Warrior (if you can manage the skills right) can meet the prereqs with some work.

Survivor (SS): Commoner taken at first level

[TaiLiu]

What is the best NON-PARAGON prestige class you can take after ECL 1? Sheesh.
I presume you are asking (a) what is the earliest prestige class you can join, and (b) out of the set of those prestige classes, which one is the best one?

Or, you are asking: what is the best prestige class you can take?

If the former, see gorfnab. If the latter, see Dire_Stirge.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Earliest is some can be entered at 2 with shenanigans. A cleric with the sand and thirst domains and the ability to access a 2nd level spell can enter Walker of the Wastes at 2.

[Necroticplague]

Entering rainbow servant at second level isn't that hard.

[Zetapup]

What is the best PrC you can qualify for after 1st level?

Anima mage is pretty solid, and I believe you can enter it at 2nd level, although it's a bit cheesy

[Dread_Head]

A good and interesting PrC you can enter at level 2 is Maiden Of Pain (PGtF). The first three levels are pretty solid and (with a little refluffing) it makes a good spring board into Ordained Champion at 5th level. Even without that it is pretty decent for a few levels the right sort of build.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Anima mage is pretty solid, and I believe you can enter it at 2nd level, although it's a bit cheesy
Pretty much, though it requires flaws. You need:

1 level of an arcane spellcaster
Precocious Apprentice (so you cast second-level spells)
Bind Vestige (so you can bind)
Improved Bind Vestige (so you can bind a 3rd level vestige)

Once you've entered, the text seems to support a binding progression starting from level 0: each level of the class works "as if you had also gained a level in the binder class," meaning that a Wizard 1/Anima Mage 3 should bind as a Binder 3. And it's certainly a very good prestige class, giving you 10/10 casting and binding and three free metamagic uses per day.

[avr]

Practiced Spellcaster (so you cast second-level spells)
Nope. Precocious Apprentice, ignoring clarifications/errata is what you want. Practiced Spellcaster doesn't do it.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Nope. Precocious Apprentice, ignoring clarifications/errata is what you want. Practiced Spellcaster doesn't do it.
D'oh! I knew that.:smallredface: