Changling Wizards and Master Specialist

[tygah]

I started looking at the idea of doing a Changling Wizard because of their fancy Recaster prestige and the nice things they get as Wizard Racial Substitution Levels, but came across something interesting.
Changelings who take the 1st level Wizard RSL become specialists in Illusion and Transmutation schools.
Master Specialist, another of my favourite prestige classes (Found in Complete Mage) merely requires one to be a specialist wizard - which I would be. It does say it also requires Spell Focus in the specialized school, which I have no issues taking twice for both, but other than that it seems as if I could use both specializations at the same time.

Is that legal? Or would Master Specialist have to be adapted to make it work?

I discussed it with my group, and bounced around a few ideas - one that I didn't like as much was that it would only apply to one of the two schools, which makes sense - that's how the prestige is designed to be used. But I wondered if there was a more Changeling-friendly option, and came up with the idea that each day while preparing spells I could choose (either for the whole class, or each ability individually) one of the two schools - and possibly later to take a move action to switch from one to the other on the fly.

Obviously this sort of solution kinda requires DM allowance to be used, but I wondered what other people thought? Not looking to optimise at all with this, just have a bit of fun with an idea.

[BowStreetRunner]

Let's take a look.

On page 70 of Complete Mage it states that to become a Master Specialist the character "Must be a specialist wizard." So let's define a specialist wizard.

The Player's Handbook index indicates specialist wizard can be foud on page 57. If we go there we will find a section titled School Specialization. At no point in that section does it come right out and say "the definition of specialist wizard is X". It tells how to specialize, then states "A specialist wizard can prepare one additional spell of her specialty school per spell level each day." Note that the term 'specialist wizard' only appears in one other place in the entire book (under the Spellcraft skill entry). We can deduce that a wizard who specialized becomes a specialist wizard.

Now we look at the Changeling Wizard substitution levels on page 123 of Races of Eberron. The Dual Specialization (Ex) class feature comes with the 1st level substitution. The description of what the character can do - specialize in two schools - mirrors closely the verbiage for specialization from page 57 of the Player's Handbook. There are two important distinctions however. 1) "A changeling wizard can prepare one additional spell per spell level each day, chosen from either of his specialty schools." 2) "This substitution feature replaces the standard wizard’s specialization option."

It's important to note here that the phrase 'specialist wizard' does appear in this section. It states "but just as for a normal specialist wizard, a changeling wizard can’t give up divination to fulfill this requirement".

So it seems that by RAW, a changeling wizard is not a normal specialist wizard, as it replaces the standard wizard’s specialization option. But is it still a specialist wizard?

My first inclination was to say that yes, it is still a specialist wizard. Upon examining the verbiage I started to doubt this initial belief, but when I recognize that the words 'normal' and 'standard' would not have been necessary if the changeling wizard was not a specialist wizard, I am convinced that my initial inclination was correct. I believe a changeling wizard is a specialist wizard, just not a normal or standard one.

I would allow Master Specialist in this instance. I would agree that you need Spell Focus in both schools to qualify. Expanded Spellbook would allow you to choose at each level between the two schools. When you receive the Greater Spell Focus bonus feat you would need to choose one school. The Caster Level Increase would apply to both schools. With regard to the Minor, Moderate, and Major School Esoterica, I would rule that you get both abilities that apply at each level (although it would seem reasonable for a DM to insist that you only choose one).

[Troacctid]

TL;DR Expect table variation.