The changes are interesting but there were several implications that were apparently unforeseen.
What about entering Mystic Theurge at level 3? A Tiefling with the Fiendish Heritage Feat who rolled 100 (and so twice more on the table) getting Death Knell (divine, assuming it being on the WItch list doesn't make it "arcane") and Minor Image (arcane) SLAs. Wizard 1/Cleric 1/MT 1, or, better yet, the less MAD Sorcerer 1/Oracle 1/MT 1, or whatever.
And EK at 3rd level (Ftr 1/Wiz 1/EK 1) means near full BAB and near full spell progression along with qualifying for higher level fighter feats. Sure not quite as many bonus feats as a pure fighter but by 12th level, you're looking at +11 BAB, Spells like an 10th level Wizard, and 4 bonus combat feats, and have Spell Critical.
Or just go into EK after a few levels of Magus (to get a Magus Arcana say) and get a crit while spellstriking and then smash the opponent again with a swift spell from Spell Critical. Sure the Magus could have done the same thing a few levels later, but that would have been at 17th level rather than 13th (or 12th if you want to pop in after picking up spellstrike).
End-game wise, these will wash out, but the early levels(where most games seem to be) there looks to be some trouble.
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What about entering Mystic Theurge at level 3? A Tiefling with the Fiendish Heritage Feat who rolled 100 (and so twice more on the table) getting Death Knell (divine, assuming it being on the WItch list doesn't make it "arcane") and Minor Image (arcane) SLAs. Wizard 1/Cleric 1/MT 1, or, better yet, the less MAD Sorcerer 1/Oracle 1/MT 1, or whatever.
I'm not sure that will work. Because:
To qualify to become a mystic theurge, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 3 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 3 ranks.
Spells: Able to cast 2nd-level divine spells and 2nd-level arcane spells.
Unlike the core classes, characters must meet specific requirements before they can take their first level of a prestige class.
So it looks like you'd need your Knowledge (arcana) 3 ranks and Knowledge (religion) 3 ranks before picking up MT 1 at 4th level. So no 1/1/1, but still 2/1/1.
Ahh, missed that bouncing between the different PRCs. But yeah, Oracle 2/Sorcerer 1/ MT 1 is still seems to be a valid bit of weirdness.
So, just to clarify, let's say I have a Totem Guide animal companion. They can cast Guidance at will as an SLA, which is on several spell lists, both arcane and divine.
After 4th level, when my animal companion gets Intelligence 3 (and thus the ability to take any feat), does that mean it can take Arcane Strike now? Arcane Strike is a pretty powerful damage add for say, a deinonychus companion (which I have) that eventually gets 5 attacks.
In a similar vein, does this now mean a Menhir Savant qualifies for Arcane Strike, since Spirit Sense is spell-like? I was excited enough to get an extra 1 point of damage on all my attacks from Dirty Fighting, never mind the +1 per 5 levels I could get from Arcane Strike.
Do a large number of clerics now suddenly qualify for Arcane Strike because they get spell-like abilities from their domains?
Note, I'm not suggesting this is overpowered--I kind of think it's silly that only Arcane Casters can get the damage bonus--just that it's bizarre.
If a Daylight SLA counts as "being able to cast a 3rd level Arcane spell," then I can qualify for Eldritch Knight at level two with an Aasimar Magus. Not saying that's right or wrong, just interesting.
This is interesting to note, but it is sort of a horrendous trade. Give up 10 levels worth of Magus abilities for ... slightly better Attack bonus and some bonus feats you'd have already gotten anyway.
Now, if we could find a Prestige Class that would truly make this change ridiculous ....
So a fighter can take eldritch heritage (various, but dreamspun for argument) and use the spell like ability lullaby to take the arcane strike feat now? Nifty.
That's a lot of feats for a rather small benefit.
Essentially; a tiefling Rogue 3/Sage Sorcerer 1 (or Wizard 1, or Witch 1 with minor magic rogue talent) could qualify for arcane trickster by level 5 and proceed as a predominately roguish character
while an aasimaar fighter 1/sorcerer 1 could qualify for eldritch knight at level 2 and take it at 3 and proceed as a predominately martial character
or an aasimaar oracle 4/sorcerer 1 or a tiefling cleric 3/wizard 1 can qualify for mystic theurge respectively. being a mostly divine caster (nearly full) with a hint of arcane.
On what basis are people assuming asssimaar or tiefling spell-like abilities are divine?
They're not. They're assuming the SLAs are arcane (hence bypassing the arcane-spellcaster-level requirement).
I hope I have not overlooked if anyone already pointed to this, but the universal monster rules already define when an SLA is arcane or divine.
Some spell-like abilities duplicate spells that work differently when cast by characters of different classes. A monster's spell-like abilities are presumed to be the sorcerer/wizard versions. If the spell in question is not a sorcerer/wizard spell, then default to cleric, druid, bard, paladin, and ranger, in that order.
Cyd, the caster level of your SLA depends on how you acquired it; some will be character level, some will be class level. There may be some that remain fixed at level one.
Karuth, the FAQs from last summer did eventually settle out to using the universal monster rules for racial SLAs. Class based SLAs match the class (Trickery domain ability is divine) unless the class is a non-caster (minor magic talent), in which case they also follow the universal monster rules
You'd get the +2.
Druid comes before Bard in the hierarchy. It's divine.