Sword of the Arcane Order prerequisite

[Jalfred]

As it is written, the Sword of the Arcane Order feat requires a character to be at lease a 4th Level Ranger or Paladin before taking it. I presume this is because Rangers and Paladins don't have access to their spells until 4th level. However, if a character chooses to play as a Mystic Ranger variant, they would have spells at 1st level. Would it be fair to allow this feat to be taken earlier if it is by a Mystic Ranger?

[Gildedragon]

My gut instinct is Yes. But I'm lean towards the Permissive side of the DM alignment chart.

[Flickerdart]

As it is written, the Sword of the Arcane Order feat requires a character to be at lease a 4th Level Ranger or Paladin before taking it. I presume this is because Rangers and Paladins don't have access to their spells until 4th level. However, if a character chooses to play as a Mystic Ranger variant, they would have spells at 1st level. Would it be fair to allow this feat to be taken earlier if it is by a Mystic Ranger?
No. The feat is orders of magnitude more powerful on a Mystic ranger than on a regular ranger. Permitting it earlier makes it even stronger. What's the point of playing a level 1 wizard when a level 1 mystic ranger with a feat has your casting, plus a better HD, BAB, etc?

[Darrin]

There's a nice quirk to having Ranger 4 as a prereq. Frostblood Orcs/Half-Orcs start with Endurance, but if they pick it up as a bonus feat later, they can choose any other bonus feat they qualify for. Well, Mystic Ranger delays Endurance until Ranger 4, which is perfect for picking up Sword of the Arcane Order.

[Coppertop]

No. The feat is orders of magnitude more powerful on a Mystic ranger than on a regular ranger. Permitting it earlier makes it even stronger. What's the point of playing a level 1 wizard when a level 1 mystic ranger with a feat has your casting, plus a better HD, BAB, etc?

Because, without at least one level in wizard, you have to work from a borrowed spellbook. This leaves the possibility of failure for every wizard spell you choose.

Even if you took a level in wizard to get a tome of yo' own, you would only have three level 1 spells and cantrips. From there, it's campaign dependent what else you can add, if anything. Your arcane CL is added up, but you don't gain new spells each level.

The feat is a foot in the door of arcane spells. It's a pamphlet about the good word of tier 1 casting.

[Flickerdart]

Because, without at least one level in wizard, you have to work from a borrowed spellbook. This leaves the possibility of failure for every wizard spell you choose.

No, it doesn't - you only need a Spellcraft modifier of +6 for 1st level spells, +7 for 2nd level spells, etc. Because you can take 10 when you're preparing spells.


Even if you took a level in wizard to get a tome of yo' own, you would only have three level 1 spells and cantrips. From there, it's campaign dependent what else you can add, if anything. Your arcane CL is added up, but you don't gain new spells each level.
The same way it's campaign dependent whether the fighter is allowed to have a sword.

[Troacctid]

The same way it's campaign dependent whether the fighter is allowed to have a sword.
Actually, by RAW, fighters are entitled to a weapon and armor in their level 1 starting equipment.

[Pluto!]

I'm normally very permissive with this sort of thing, but Sword of the Arcane Order Mystic Ranger is so insane at low levels that I wouldn't entertain the thought.

(At minimum, I would require the Mystic Ranger spell progression to be rejiggered to be identical to the Bard spell progression. But I do that anyway because the written Mystic Ranger advancement is just stupid.)