Something I just realized yesterday is that in my 3.0-3.5-PF experience, there was a huge inconsistency in the way my parties and I ruled requirements for prestige classes or for feats.
For feats we always ruled that you could take a feat the moment you reached the requirements. For example weapon focus has a requirement of BAB 1. A fighter could take the feat at level 1 while a rogue could do so at level 2, the moment he reached BAB 1.
For prestige classes we always ruled that you could enter the class the level after you reached the requirements. So if a prestige class requires 5 ranks in Stealth, you could enter it at level 6 at the earliest.
This seems rather inconsistent and a bit illogical. Did we interpret these rules correctly or were/are we wrong on this?
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You did it right.
From the OGC:
When adding new levels of an existing class or adding levels of a new class (see Multiclassing, below), make sure to take the following steps in order.
First, select your new class level. You must be able to qualify for this level before any of the following adjustments are made.
Second, apply any ability score increases due to gaining a level.
Third, integrate all of the level's class abilities and then roll for additional hit points.
Finally, add new skills and feats.
You're right in ruling that way.
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You weren't wrong. You can't use anything granted by a Prestige Class to qualify for that class, even if it would grant you any or all missing requirements. Feats are a little bit different in requirements, and the level in which you level up does influence that. So a Rogue who takes his second level as Fighter can take Weapon Focus as his bonus feat because his BAB increased to +1 as a result of taking the Fighter level.
Ok, thanks for the answers guys. I wasn't aware there was a specific order of phases in levelling.
Do you mean if the prestige class requires you to have the feat you're gaining? No, per the list above. You select the class level in step 1. Feats aren't selected until step 4.
If the next level that is gained has a feat slot available, can I take the prestige class to obtain the be chosen feat? Meaning no matter which class I take, I will still gain a feat.
personally, i think you should be able to apply things gained from character levels (as opposed to class levels) to qualification for prestige classes since you get them no matter what class you choose to take a level of, but RAW you cannot.
If the next level that is gained has a feat slot available, can I take the prestige class to obtain the be chosen feat? Meaning no matter which class I take, I will still gain a feat.personally, i think you should be able to apply things gained from character levels (as opposed to class levels) to qualification for prestige classes since you get them no matter what class you choose to take a level of, but RAW you cannot.
I agree, especially as the Great Retraining Fiasco Overreaction FAQ prevents you from fixing this later by retraining that last base class level.
If retraining is available, though, you can almost certainly get around this by retraining one of your existing feats to the required feat right before leveling, then taking the prestige class level, then using your new feat to replace the one you retrained--unless the feat required too many prerequisite feats to allow this, of course, but I can't think of an example that wouldn't work off the top of my head. Most prestige class prerequisites are things with few to no prerequisite feats like Skill Focus or Alertness. Or unless there are just too many feat requirements, like loremaster (ugh, so much work for so little gain).