A special handbook for masters: The Master Specialist Handbook

[Mike Miller]

A special handbook for masters: The Master Specialist Handbook

1.
Contents:

1. Contents, Rating System, Useful Links
2. Introduction, Entry Requirements, General Information (notes on abilities, skills, feats, and races)
3. Generic Class Features
4. Features by school
4.1 Abjuration
4.2 Conjuration
4.3 Divination
4.4 Enchantment
4.5 Evocation
4.6 Illusion
4.7 Necromancy
4.8 Transmutation
5. Synergy by school with alternate class features
5.1 Abjuration
5.2 Conjuration
5.3 Evocation
5.4 Illusion
5.5 Necromancy
5.6 Transmutation

Rating System:
Green: A useful ability and is one reason you are taking the PrC.
Yellow: This is only sometimes useful, not a compelling reason to take the PrC, or generally not significantly better than some other ability.
Red: Not useful and definitely not the reason you are interested in the PrC.

Useful Links:
Logic Ninja’s Guide to Wizard Being Batman
DictumMortuum’s Wizard Handbook
TreantMonk's Guide to Being GOD

2.
Introduction:
So you chose wizard and you picked out a school for specialization. Then you realized you wanted more so you found the handy dandy Master Specialist to mesh with your chosen school. Will it be a good choice? That depends on the school, what you are looking to do with your specialization, and whether or not you are using alternate class features. The Master Specialist allows for a great deal of … specialization. That is, even within the same school, two or three builds could actually end up looking quite different. Part of this is because there are so many spells out there and part of it is because spellcasters in general have so many options. In this handbook I will try to look at the Master Specialist from the perspective of each school instead of as a whole, because you are only going to be receiving the goodies related to your chosen specialty.

I also want to mention a few thoughts I had while writing this handbook. As I considered a variety of points, I decided to keep the point of view that the character will be trying to make as much use of the class as possible. What does that mean, exactly? I mean taking all ten levels of the prestige class if it appears in the best interest of the specialist wizard. Obviously this isn't always the case as there are many other prestige classes out there. However, it is far more difficult to give advice of how much of one prestige class you must take given a base class plus prestige class as compared to just being given a base class. Therefore, I am assuming you want to take as much of this prestige class as useful and possible. Specific builds will conflict with this, but I found it much easier to write this way than to try and consider fitting in all the amazing prestige class and multiclass builds you can consider. As the flavor text points out, reaching archmage is easy through Master Specialist. Some characters will utilize Master Specialist just for those entry requirements. Others will go all ten levels of Master Specialist and never consider Archmage. Additionally, there are times when I point out a specific school as being less useful to stick around for all ten levels and other schools as being worthwhile. You may need to decide for yourself if your character fits that mold.

Entry Requirements:
The Master Specialist is one of the earliest entry prestige classes around, and that is without cheese, even. You can get in at level 4 simply with some skill points in knowledge (arcana) and spellcraft, spell focus, and being able to cast second level spells. Obviously you must also be a specialist wizard. If you hadn’t picked up on that, reread the title of the class.

Having mentioned early entry, it is worth noting that you could potentially enter at level 3 by getting second level spells early. One possibility is the feat Precocious Apprentice.

General Information:
This prestige class is just for wizards and if you want to know more about what races, abilities, skills, feats, etc. are good, then check out any wizard handbook. I listed a couple in the useful links section at the top. There have already been great in-depth looks at the basics and instead of reiterating it here, I think the established handbooks are good in case you haven’t that about the base wizard aspects already. Also worth noting, if you are a focused specialist wizard you may find more uses from some of the moderate esoterica abilities, which are generally active when casting spells of the chosen school. Otherwise, the focused specialist doesn’t gain much extra from this PrC.

One alternate class feature, which I chose not to include in the later section on ACFs, is school-oriented but does not interact with the Master Specialist's set of abilities. The Immediate Magic set of ACFs is from the PHBII and is utilized at the expense of your familiar. Some of these will find more use than others, but keep in mind that if you find an ACF below that interacts well with your Master Specialist abilities that they may share the same prerequisite, meaning your familiar. To give a very brief run down:

Abjurers create a temporary shield giving +2 to AC
Conjurers can teleport up to 10 feet
Diviners can gain a +2 insight bonus to the next saving throw
Enchanters can attempt to daze an opponent when making a melee attack against them
Evokers can retaliate against a ranged attack or spell with an arrow of force
Illusionists can create a figment double similar to mirror image
Necromancers can curse an opponent that targets them with an attack or spell
Transmuters can gain a climb, fly, or swim speed

Additionally, UA has more ACFs that were left out of section 5 due to having no synergy with the Master Specialist.

3.
Generic Class Features:
I will first mention the features that are common to all wizards taking this class regardless of specialty. Keep in mind these may show up again as the evaluation by school is done to reiterate the worth of each ability or how they synergize.
Full casting progression: Any caster-oriented PrC does well to have a full caster progression.
Skill Focus (Spellcraft): This will only come in handy if you are taking another PrC that uses spellcraft (such as Incantatrix) or also has this as a prerequisite (Archmage). The Master Specialist entry recommends going Archmage, so I have a feeling this was baked in specifically for that PrC. However, if those options don’t interest you, you won’t get much out of this feat.
Expanded Spellbook: More spells? Yes, please. It isn’t unique or earth-shattering, but free spells are free spells and depending on the campaign, this can be great.
Greater Spell Focus: This increases your chosen school’s DC, so why not? It gives you a feat you want but may not necessarily have taken with your limited feat selection.
Caster Level Increase: You get an increase in your caster level for your chosen school. You always want to increase your caster level. This is more or less useful depending on the chosen school, but more often than not a very good thing.

[Mike Miller]

4.
Features by School:
The following are the Minor/Moderate/Major School Esoterica features broken down by school. These are various abilities that are typically in line with the chosen school although like all things, some will clearly be more useful than others. Some things to keep in mind are: minor esoterica just do as they say, moderate are triggered automatically when casting a spell and last for a number of rounds equal to the spell’s level, and major are only usable three times a day.

4.1 Abjuration:
Minor: A minor boost to your dispel checks equal to half your Master Specialist level. Unless you use dispel magic a lot, this isn’t an impressive ability. However, if you find yourself dispelling a lot, this is green.
Moderate: Any time you are targeted by a spell with a partial or half effect on a successful save, you instead take nothing on a successful save. This is like evasion except it is any spell. This is a great ability, because as an abjurer, you are all about defense. This will help keep you alive and defending your team as long as you keep making those saves.
Major: This allows you to use personal range abjuration spells as touch instead. It also works on emanations around you. Now you can pass on all your wonderful defensive spells to your allies three times a day. There are plenty of applications for that, including shield, globes of invulnerability, antimagic field, repulsion, prismatic sphere, and that is just the PHB spells.

Overall, abjurers do well to take Master Specialist. Is it worth it to go all 10 levels? It depends on what you want to do, as with most PrCs. Casters have many great options out there for PrCs, but I would recommend sticking through at least to level 7 Master Specialist to get the moderate esoterica. Although limited to three times a day with the major esoterica, it is probably worth it to go all the way. Sending a BSF with an antimagic field after the enemy wizard is a good time.

4.2 Conjuration
Minor: Yes, more HP is always good. However, giving all your summons extra HP equal to your caster level isn’t impressive and you aren’t always summoning tanks (although this is clearly more useful when you are summoning tanks).
Moderate: Wow, this is good if your DM likes to dispel your summons. A +5 CL vs. dispel checks against your conjured creatures. If the DM rarely or never attempts to dispel your summons this could easily be downgraded to red.
Major: Conjuration spells with standard action casting times become swift actions 3 times a day. Yes. Just yes.

Overall, I think it is worth it to reach the major esoterica. Swift casting is great, especially when your summon monster spells take full rounds to cast. The best part of a conjurer going Master Specialist is that you gain benefits whether you focus on summoning monsters or not. Conjuration is such a well-rounded school that you do well regardless of what spells you like.

4.3 Divination
Minor: This increases the duration of divination spells of concentration to an extra number of rounds equal to half your Master Specialist level after you stop concentrating. This is underwhelming.
Moderate: You get uncanny dodge for the duration of the spell. This isn't the best ability ever, but it may help if you haven't had prep time before a battle and you lose initiative. It may be worth mentioning that this one is an exception and states for the duration of the spell. Therefore, you can cast a permanent duration divination spell such as gem tracer and you gain uncanny dodge permanently.
Major: When you cast a divination spell, you get true seeing for 5 rounds. Cast any low level divination spell and gain the effects of a 6th level divination spell. It can be useful, but it just isn’t that great. Considering true seeing’s duration is minutes per level, 5 rounds is nothing to write home about.

Overall, I am not so sure diviners want to delve that far into Master Specialist. Perhaps if they want to go Archmage later on they could take a one level dip just for the free Skill Focus, but I don’t see much use here. Although, I don’t put much stock in specializing in divination either so personal bias duly noted.

4.4 Enchantment
Minor: The first truly noteworthy minor esoterica! When you try to charm enemies in melee they don’t get a bonus on their save and they don’t get a bonus when forced to take actions against their nature. Charm away!
Moderate: You get to reroll failed Will saves vs. enchantment or mind-affecting spells. Yes, this is good…but there are many ways to be immune to these spells so you really shouldn’t even be making saves against them.
Major: At first, this sounded amazing. Then I reread it. If a creature saves against your enchantment spell, it has to make the save again 1 round later. Great, right? The creature gets a +5 bonus against the save though. Not a +5 to the DC…+5 bonus to the save. So not only did the creature already beat your save, they have to make the save again except with a huge bonus this time. I feel like this is a typo. It is worth noting that the errata doesn’t mention it. I could be persuaded to make this yellow because additional saves are additional saves, but at +5? I’m not sure.

Overall, I think an enchanter does well to take a dip into Master Specialist. If you can convince your DM that the major esoterica should be +5 to the DC the second time, then go all the way. Otherwise I would stop at level 4 with the minor ability and move on.

4.5 Evocation
Minor: A boost to concentration checks of half your Master Specialist level when casting evocation spells. Yes, concentration checks are important to pass when you are casting defensively. A better point is that you shouldn’t be casting defensively.
Moderate: This has potential. You gain 20 resistance to whatever energy type matches the descriptor used by the spell you cast for the number of rounds equal to the spell level. If you are fighting an enemy using a particular element, odds are good you don’t want to cast that element on it. Therefore, you may be wasting a turn casting a spell you don’t really want to cast just to gain resistance. It won’t always be a wasted turn though but I just feel like this isn’t going to function as well as it is probably intended.
Major: If the enemy fails its save against your evocation spell, it takes half that damage again one round later. You could potentially stack up lots of damage fast with this. Target the enemy’s weak save if possible.

Overall, this one is tough. The first two esoteric are potentially useful, but not ideal. The last one is nice though. Is it worth TEN levels to get the major esoterica? Is that capstone worth it? I don’t think so. I almost feel the evoker is in the same boat as the diviner here. A one level dip may be the only reason to take Master Specialist. If you like the sound of defensive casting and you don’t like resistance spells or don’t want resistance gear, then this is the class for you!

4.6 Illusion
Minor: +2 to “Will disbelief” saving throws for illusion. Increased DCs are great.
Moderate: You get concealment. So this seems very limited considering how many illusion spells already do that (blur, displacement) or do something better (invisibility, greater invisibility, invisibility sphere). I could consider changing this to red.
Major: I like this. Three times a day without increasing the slot used you get stilled, silent, eschewed illusion spells. This is for when you need that illusion now.

Overall, I like the illusionist as a Master Specialist. I think it is worth going for the capstone. The moderate ability isn't so great, but otherwise I think you will be better off going all the way.

4.7 Necromancy
Minor: The usefulness depends on whether or not you are using undead allies. If you aren’t focusing on using undead, this is worthless. However, if you have undead allies, those within 60ft gain turn resistance and save bonuses equal to your Master Specialist level for a number of rounds equal to your Master Specialist level when you cast a necromancy spell. That is a pretty decent boost for the minor esoterica.
Moderate: Yes, this is nice. You are immune to ability damage and drain, energy drain, and negative levels for the duration of a necromancy spell's level. If you encounter a lot of undead enemies or really anything that drains a lot, you will be set pretty well against it. Some of these immunities are otherwise hard to come by.
Major: Again, this depends on your use of undead allies. No benefit if you have zero undead allies but good fun if you have them. This time, they gain fast healing 10 for five rounds. That should help some undead tanks do their job.

Overall, any necromancer will benefit from the moderate esoterica. However, I’m not sure if that one ability is worth it if you aren’t using undead allies. This particular school of magic is less flexible than others. With conjuration, it didn’t require summons to be great. Here, you aren’t getting a lot if you aren’t using undead allies. There is no requirement to use undead allies as a necromancer, either. There are plenty of great spells in necromancy without spending your time raising the dead. I would say, go the ten levels if you are using undead, but otherwise probably skip this PrC. Unless of course you want the feat at first level for later on.

4.8 Transmutation
Minor: When your transmutation spell is dispelled, it lasts for one more round and then ends. This gives you time to respond to the dispel instead of being out of luck, but it doesn’t help prevent the dispel at all. I am tempted to make this red, but I suppose it is useful in planning what to do next.
Moderate: You reroll failed Fort saves against transmutation spells. Considering these tend to be nasty, such as baleful polymorph, flesh to stone, and disintegrate, an extra save is nice.
Major: If an enemy saves against your transmutation spell, they still take damage equal to the level of the spell. That is pitiful damage and remember, only three times a day. This is no capstone. Yes, damage is damage, but for the level you obtain this ability it just isn’t great.

Overall, it is a tough call for the transmuter. I really like the moderate esoterica ability, but the minor ability is only somewhat useful and the major is disappointing. I think it could be worth taking 7 levels of Master Specialist to get the moderate ability, but it depends on what other PrCs you are looking at.

[Mike Miller]

5.
Synergy by school with alternate class features:
Here I will take alternate class features into account that also specifically focus on specialist wizards and interact in some way with the Master Specialist abilities. There are a number of other ACFs out there that you may want to take, but if they don’t interact with the Master Specialist, I am not mentioning them. If you can use the following ACFs in your campaign, it adds further customization not only to your character, but to this prestige class.

5.1 Abjuration
Spontaneous Dispelling (Ex): From UA, this lets you spontaneously cast dispel magic. First, this is only useful if you find yourself dispelling a lot. You have to reach level 5 to be able to use this, which delays your entry to Master Specialist. The ability to spontaneously cast greater dispel magic comes at level 11, which is probably too late to consider Master Specialist. The cost of this ACF is losing additional spells per day from being a specialist wizard. Overall, I think this is probably not worth it. It really comes down to how much you want to dispel things. It synergizes with the minor esoterica, but that is about it.

5.2 Conjuration
Rapid Summoning (Ex): From UA, it changes summon monster spells’ casting time to 1 standard action. Although you have to give up a familiar for it, there isn’t much of an argument not to take this ACF. As a 10th level Master Specialist, this means your summons will get 10 extra HP, be harder to dispel, and be SWIFT actions three times a day. You could be a summoning machine. Take this.
Enhanced Summoning (Ex): From UA, this is a toss up. You get Augment Summoning instead of Scribe Scroll at first level, which is great. However, the ongoing benefits come at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, which you won’t see most of because you are going Master Specialist. The bonuses increase the DC to dispel your summons, which synergizes with Master Specialist, and further boosts to summons’ ability bonuses. You lose out on bonus feats for advancing as a wizard to take this, so I would recommend doing it despite the fact that you really will only be seeing the first level feat swap. A final note on this of course has to do with how much you rely on summons. If you are a conjurer for the lovely spells aside from summon monster, then this may not be as useful. If you summon a lot, the next ACF will interest you though.
Spontaneous Summoning (Ex): From UA, this does exactly what it sounds like. You can drop a prepared spell to cast summon monster of any lower level. You don’t get additional spells per day for being a specialist wizard, though. You are better off just preparing summon monster I-IX since you are losing the extra spells from being a specialist wizard anyway.

5.3 Evocation
Energy Substitution (Ex): From UA, this would have been far more useful at 1st level, but instead it is gained at 5th level. When casting a spell with an energy descriptor, you can change it to what you would prefer. This helps with the moderate esoterica, but delays entry into Master Specialist. You lost out on wizard bonus feats with this ACF.

5.4 Illusion
Chains of Disbelief (Ex): From UA, a nonbeliever of your illusions can’t provide the +4 bonus vs. saves to others. This lets you deny even more typical disbeliefs than the minor esoterica on its own. Additionally, enemies still must make a will save vs. illusions despite incontrovertible proof they are fake, although with a +10 bonus. Extra saves are extra saves, though. The price is your familiar for this ACF.

5.5 Necromancy
Skeletal Minion: From UA, you get an undead minion. This will synergize well with the minor and major esoterica. Say goodbye to your familiar, though. This is red if you don’t want to deal with undead friends, though.
Enhanced Undead (Ex): From UA, it makes your undead have higher STR and DEX and more HP. This synergizes well with minor and major esoterica. You lose your extra spells per day from being a specialist, though. This is red if you don’t want to deal with undead friends.

5.6 Transmutation
Spell Versatility (Ex): From UA, this one is rather interesting. Unfortunately it begins at 5th level, thereby delaying your entry into Master Specialist. However, you can select a spell of any spell level and treat it as if it were a transmutation spell. This means you could take Summon Monster III as a transmutation spell and it can’t be dispelled immediately, or whatever spell you want to last an extra round if dispelled. It doesn’t sound great, but I feel like it has potential. Depending on how your DM rules it, the moderate esoteric could come into play, as well. If you are frequently hit by some spell that is outside of transmutation, but you select it as your versatile spell, you may be able to get an extra save against it because YOU consider it a transmutation spell. You lose out on bonus wizard feats.

[Baby Gary]

in your useful links you might want to link treantmonk's guide to being a god

[Bullet06320]

4.2 Conjuration
Minor: Yes, more HP is always good. However, giving all your summons extra HP equal to your caster level isn’t impressive and you aren’t always summoning tanks (although this is clearly more useful when you are summoning tanks).
Moderate: Wow, this is good if your DM likes to dispel your summons. A +5 CL vs. dispel checks against your conjured creatures. If the DM rarely or never attempts to dispel your summons this could easily be downgraded to red.
Major: Conjuration spells with standard action casting times become swift actions 3 times a day. Yes. Just yes.

Overall, I think it is worth it to reach the major esoterica. Swift casting is great, especially when your summon monster spells take full rounds to cast. The best part of a conjurer going Master Specialist is that you gain benefits whether you focus on summoning monsters or not. Conjuration is such a well-rounded school that you do well regardless of what spells you like.

Overall very nice break down of the class

for summoning builds, anything that adds to your summons is always a good thing
with the rapid summoning acf the Major School Esoterica class feature is not as important, as many summonor builds break off for other Prcs after 3-4 levels of master specialist for malconvoker or thaumaturgist are the 2 big ones.

Expanded Spellbook: its a house rule at my table, but it says any spell of the corresponding school, doesn't mention it has to be arcane, so we allow it to get spells off other lists as arcane, even divine, the going theory is your specialist, who's so focused on his school of study that it doesn't matter the source, you manage to make it work.

another note, as soon as you finish master specialist prc, your eligible for arcmage right away as long as you've grabbed a 2nd spell focus feat, either it was intentionally designed that way, or ar nice happy accident

here's a link for Treantmonk's guide to being a God

[Mordaedil]

The class description in Complete Mage points out that the class is designed entirely to help wizards get into archmage, so it wasn't a happy accident, it was entirely intentional.

[Bullet06320]

The class description in Complete Mage points out that the class is designed entirely to help wizards get into archmage, so it wasn't a happy accident, it was entirely intentional.

as ive stated before, spot is not a class skill of mine, and obviously missed the class description over the years, lol

[noob]

What about non school based acfs?
What about interaction with prcs other than master specialist?
I guess this handbook could be a lot longer.

[Mike Miller]

What about non school based acfs?
What about interaction with prcs other than master specialist?
I guess this handbook could be a lot longer.

I didn't mention non school based acfs because they have been done in wizard handbooks before and don't synergize specifically with the PrC abilities.
I mentioned a couple PrCs without going into detail mostly for the same reason. A wizard handbook will have lots of different PrC information. There are so many wizardly ways I wanted to focus on why you take this PrC and what it gives you. If people are interested in interactions with other PrCs I can add a section for it.

[ExLibrisMortis]

I think the Spontaneous Summoning/Dispelling might even be downgraded to red. You're better off preparing one of each of SMI-SMIX in your specialist slots than giving those slots up to spontaneously convert them. At higher levels, the same applies to dispel magic.

[DEMON]

I didn't mention non school based acfs because they have been done in wizard handbooks before and don't synergize specifically with the PrC abilities.
I mentioned a couple PrCs without going into detail mostly for the same reason. A wizard handbook will have lots of different PrC information. There are so many wizardly ways I wanted to focus on why you take this PrC and what it gives you. If people are interested in interactions with other PrCs I can add a section for it.

I'd argue stuff like Spontaneous Divination and Immediate Magic (school specific) deserve a mention.

Gnome Illusionist could also get a nod, in a similar way you've discussed focused specialists.

[Mike Miller]

Overall very nice break down of the class

for summoning builds, anything that adds to your summons is always a good thing
with the rapid summoning acf the Major School Esoterica class feature is not as important, as many summonor builds break off for other Prcs after 3-4 levels of master specialist for malconvoker or thaumaturgist are the 2 big ones.

I can see your argument, but a conjurer doesn't necessarily have to focus on summoning things. Also, the Major School Esoterica COULD still be important, because taking the ACF that makes summon monster a standard action means that you then get 3 swift summons per day so you could potentially be summoning 2 monsters per round for 3 rounds. That is some serious back up for a tough fight.

I think the Spontaneous Summoning/Dispelling might even be downgraded to red. You're better off preparing one of each of SMI-SMIX in your specialist slots than giving those slots up to spontaneously convert them. At higher levels, the same applies to dispel magic.

I agree. Although you could gain more summon spells by using the spontaneous conversion, odds are good that having the extra spell slot for the prepared spells would be better in most cases.

I'd argue stuff like Spontaneous Divination and Immediate Magic (school specific) deserve a mention.

Gnome Illusionist could also get a nod, in a similar way you've discussed focused specialists.

I suppose there has been enough interest in the not-necessarily-related-but-similar material that I will add some info to the first post. Immediate Magic, being a great example. There are plenty of specialist specific stuff out there, I just didn't want to clutter the handbook when it didn't impact the actual PrC abilities. However, I can see the argument for making the information available.

[Bullet06320]

I can see your argument, but a conjurer doesn't necessarily have to focus on summoning things. Also, the Major School Esoterica COULD still be important, because taking the ACF that makes summon monster a standard action means that you then get 3 swift summons per day so you could potentially be summoning 2 monsters per round for 3 rounds. That is some serious back up for a tough fight.

tru not all conjuror's speacialize in summoning, but I was speaking strictly for a summoning build
and for major arcana, yes more summons are good

get there firstest with the mostest

[Endarire]

Conjuration Major Esoterica rivals Incantatrix7 for goodness.

Abjuration Major Esoterica helps with buffing.

[daremetoidareyo]

5.6 Transmutation
Spell Versatility (Ex): From UA, this one is rather interesting. Unfortunately it begins at 5th level, thereby delaying your entry into Master Specialist. However, you can select a spell of any spell level and treat it as if it were a transmutation spell. This means you could take Summon Monster III as a transmutation spell and it can’t be dispelled immediately, or whatever spell you want to last an extra round if dispelled. It doesn’t sound great, but I feel like it has potential. Depending on how your DM rules it, the moderate esoteric could come into play, as well. If you are frequently hit by some spell that is outside of transmutation, but you select it as your versatile spell, you may be able to get an extra save against it because YOU consider it a transmutation spell. You lose out on bonus wizard feats.

Also consider that you know longer have to obey the rules of conjuration spells. Namely this:

A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.

But if it is a transportation spell, that celestial whale suddenly has aerial/gravity uses, namely 20d6 damage.


Another potent combo is with illusions.

Saving Throws and Illusions (Disbelief)
Creatures encountering an illusion usually do not receive saving throws to recognize it as illusory until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion.
A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals it to be false, but a figment or phantasm remains as a translucent outline.
A failed saving throw indicates that a character fails to notice something is amiss. A character faced with proof that an illusion isn’t real needs no saving throw. If any viewer successfully disbelieves an illusion and communicates this fact to others, each such viewer gains a saving throw with a +4 bonus.

No disbelief for a transmutation illusion spell.

Enchantment spells are no longer mind affecting...



What happens if you go into master specialist with the changeling wizard ACF?

[Mike Miller]

What happens if you go into master specialist with the changeling wizard ACF?

I don't think you qualify for this PrC as a changeling wizard with the racial substitution levels. You aren't a specialist wizard, which is a prerequisite for the PrC. Instead, you simply have "dual specialization."