ToranIronfinder
2022-01-06, 12:38 AM
So, I realize early entry is a well beaten path, and a number of points are interpretive, my thoughts are related to the Mind Mage or Cerebremancer, as many of the best psionic powers cost experience points, as does the Erudite's ability to learn powers, this means the Cerebremancer will not only lag in spells and powers behind another caster due to entrance level delays, but the character will be an additional level behind the rest of the party unless the character refuses to use some of the stronger options. Early entry tricks would seem to require the character to focus on manifesting over casting, but reality revision is about as useful as wish, and true mind switch has some real potential.
In review, the FAQ disallows Precocious Apprentice, though there is some terminology that could be taken to imply it is not quite settled (the point is noted, "in the sages opinion. . . "), and the debate goes on. The specific problem, as cited in the FAQ, is that this feat provides the "chance" to cast the spell, rather than the "ability" to cast the spell (despite the fact that it is possible to pass the check automatically at first level by raw, since 1s do not automatically incur a failure on skill checks, though that is a common house rule), but the text also implies that the feat retains the slot when second level spells can be cast, implying the slot itself exists.
The FAQ and allegedly some points on the older Char. Op. board implied that Versatile Spellcaster + Heighten Spell does work as an unintended consequence of the RAW and the RAI of the feats. Caedrus, in a Mystic Theurge handbook suggested one exploit that would allow Wizards to engage in early entry, by taking a single level dip in a spontaneous casting class, since the various PRCs let one choose which arcane class gains additional spell casting abilities when one has more than one Arcane casting class.
However, this is a costly dip, particularly given the problems above for the Cerebremancer, since the goal is to diminish the delay in arriving at level 9 spell casting. This method also allows for Illumian with improved sigil Krau, but this is somewhat limiting, depending on the setting, and whether this race is allowed.
This would appear to rule out early entry for Wizards, but looking at the usage of the adjective spontaneous in the Rules Compendium and throughout the 3.5 sources, there are two ways to cast spontaneously. One is to cast without preparing a spell (sorcerer, bard, etc), the second is to replace a prepared spell with another one (cleric and druid). A wizard has a few ways of mimicking this feature of the Cleric and Druid, so by RAW, as an unintended consequence of the feat combinations, a Wizard should be able to get the Versatile Spellcaster feat if he has previously taken Spell Mastery + Uncanny Forethought, or if that book is out for PCs, Spell Mastery + Signature Spell. Both require 4 feats, which is a high feat tax. It has been suggested that this could be shortened from four feats to three by using alacritous cognition, though there appears to be some debate over this as the benefit section of the feat does not specifically say spontaneous (though it appears to meet the definition in the rules compendium). This method meets some application problems, it would seem to make more sense with a wizard who took the Eidetic Spellcaster ACF than it would a caster who was lugging around a spellbook, so it has some issues, for the Eidetic Spellcaster is a good fit, flavorwise, for a Cerebremancer or mind mage.
1 Wizard 1 [eidetic spell caster ACF] alacritous cognition, Versatile Spellcaster
2 Telepath 1
3 Telepath 2 Heighten spell
4 Telepath 3
5 Cerebremancer 1
I'm wondering about a fourth option that may suffer the same debate as Precocious Apprentice for early entry. The build would go something like this:
1.Wizard 1 Precocious Apprentice, Heighten Spell
2. Telepath 1
3. Telepath 2 Cerebremetamagic
4. Telepath 3
5. Cerebremancer 1
The last feat, from Dragon Magazine (249?) allows the character to apply metamagic at the cost of power points, instead of higher spell levels, it has a caveat stating this does not allow a caster to use a higher level spell than he can cast (the role of precocious apprentice in this build is that it provides a slot which is retained after the ability to cast second level spells is present), which would mean the character could cast a heightened first level spell with a first level spell slot and 4 power points.
Any opinions on this one?
In review, the FAQ disallows Precocious Apprentice, though there is some terminology that could be taken to imply it is not quite settled (the point is noted, "in the sages opinion. . . "), and the debate goes on. The specific problem, as cited in the FAQ, is that this feat provides the "chance" to cast the spell, rather than the "ability" to cast the spell (despite the fact that it is possible to pass the check automatically at first level by raw, since 1s do not automatically incur a failure on skill checks, though that is a common house rule), but the text also implies that the feat retains the slot when second level spells can be cast, implying the slot itself exists.
The FAQ and allegedly some points on the older Char. Op. board implied that Versatile Spellcaster + Heighten Spell does work as an unintended consequence of the RAW and the RAI of the feats. Caedrus, in a Mystic Theurge handbook suggested one exploit that would allow Wizards to engage in early entry, by taking a single level dip in a spontaneous casting class, since the various PRCs let one choose which arcane class gains additional spell casting abilities when one has more than one Arcane casting class.
However, this is a costly dip, particularly given the problems above for the Cerebremancer, since the goal is to diminish the delay in arriving at level 9 spell casting. This method also allows for Illumian with improved sigil Krau, but this is somewhat limiting, depending on the setting, and whether this race is allowed.
This would appear to rule out early entry for Wizards, but looking at the usage of the adjective spontaneous in the Rules Compendium and throughout the 3.5 sources, there are two ways to cast spontaneously. One is to cast without preparing a spell (sorcerer, bard, etc), the second is to replace a prepared spell with another one (cleric and druid). A wizard has a few ways of mimicking this feature of the Cleric and Druid, so by RAW, as an unintended consequence of the feat combinations, a Wizard should be able to get the Versatile Spellcaster feat if he has previously taken Spell Mastery + Uncanny Forethought, or if that book is out for PCs, Spell Mastery + Signature Spell. Both require 4 feats, which is a high feat tax. It has been suggested that this could be shortened from four feats to three by using alacritous cognition, though there appears to be some debate over this as the benefit section of the feat does not specifically say spontaneous (though it appears to meet the definition in the rules compendium). This method meets some application problems, it would seem to make more sense with a wizard who took the Eidetic Spellcaster ACF than it would a caster who was lugging around a spellbook, so it has some issues, for the Eidetic Spellcaster is a good fit, flavorwise, for a Cerebremancer or mind mage.
1 Wizard 1 [eidetic spell caster ACF] alacritous cognition, Versatile Spellcaster
2 Telepath 1
3 Telepath 2 Heighten spell
4 Telepath 3
5 Cerebremancer 1
I'm wondering about a fourth option that may suffer the same debate as Precocious Apprentice for early entry. The build would go something like this:
1.Wizard 1 Precocious Apprentice, Heighten Spell
2. Telepath 1
3. Telepath 2 Cerebremetamagic
4. Telepath 3
5. Cerebremancer 1
The last feat, from Dragon Magazine (249?) allows the character to apply metamagic at the cost of power points, instead of higher spell levels, it has a caveat stating this does not allow a caster to use a higher level spell than he can cast (the role of precocious apprentice in this build is that it provides a slot which is retained after the ability to cast second level spells is present), which would mean the character could cast a heightened first level spell with a first level spell slot and 4 power points.
Any opinions on this one?