[3.5] Thoughts on using feats to help with dual class progression

[Amiel]

What are people's thoughts on using feats to help with dual class progression?

For example, take the following

Eldritch Theurge
Prerequisite
Must have already entered an arcane class.
Benefit
You are an eldritch theurge, and benefit from both sides of your class progression. You can enter another arcane class. Your caster level from both classes stack.


Too powerful? Mechanically inappropriate? Other?

[TheLogman]

Is this for 3.5?

If so, I would say it is fairly overpowering.

Currently, the only way to dual-class progress is to enter the right Prestige class. And then that progression comes at the cost of taking levels in that Prestige Class. Plus, you have to have certain prerequisites, which make the dual casters weaker with specific spells, which is a balancing factor.

Plus, the dual casters get different class features.

This lets me basically double my casting potential if I went Wizard 1/Sorcerer 19.

If I'm reading this right, I would have...39 levels of Arcane Casting by level 20?

[Saintjebus]

That sounds really overpowered. You get the benefits of a dual progression prc without any of the penalties.

[Pluto]

I must be missing what "side of your class progression" means. That sounds like gibberish.

If it has anything to do with 3.5:

If all this boosts is CL, it's not an unreasonable feat (you aren't going to have a higher CL than a straight-classed caster would anyway), but it's definitely pushing it -- Practiced Spellcaster is usually worth taking and it only goes up to +4.

If you're giving a gestalt character for the price of a feat, this would be way OP compared to other feat options. That doesn't mean you couldn't incorporate it into a fully functioning game -- everyone would take it... so it would even out, kind of.

[Amiel]

Sorry if it wasn't clear, this is for 3.5.

Essentially (for this feat at least; other feats may allow for different possibilities), you need to be able to cast 1st level spells on both sides. So, say you took a level in wizard and sorcerer, for this feat to benefit you, you need to able to cast 1st level spells from both arcane trees. The obvious balancer here would be the different ability scores necessary for spellcasting.

Would it be more palatable to folks if the limit was at the caster's total limit? So, to take the previous example of Wizard 1/Sorceror 19, you cannot cast at a level higher than 20; however, both "sides of the progression" stack (as you have combined two arcane magic paths), so you are now casting as a 20th-level wizard and 20th-level sorceror.
As a clarifier, this will mean for the purposes of caster level in each class, both classes stack.


Eldritch Theurge
Prerequisite
Must have already entered two arcane classes. Must be able to cast 1st-level arcane spells from either class.
Benefit
You are an eldritch theurge, and benefit from both sides of your class progression. For the purposes of caster level in each class, both classes stack.

[Divide by Zero]

At that point, you're basically a gestalt character minus one feat. Just play gestalt if that's what you want, or you'll be making casters even more powerful relative to everyone else.