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I've been trying to find some clarification on this ability, but all the posts seem to be about whether non-wizards can take spell mastery.

I'm trying to find out how superior spell mastery (from the Magaambyan Arcanist PrC) works re taking the feat multiple times and lowering the power of the feat when using the ability to reselect mastered spells.

Firstly, if I take the feat as a level 5 wizard w/18 int, I can choose 4 spells I know that I no longer need to use a spellbook to prepare. If I then become a Magaambyan Arcanist and, at level 7 (Wiz5/MA2) I get superior spell mastery and use that to reselect spells, by RAW:

"choose a number of spells she knows up to her Intelligence modifier, which have a maximum combined spell level total equal to or less than her caster level, to be her Spell Mastery spells in place of the same number of spells she previously selected for her Spell Mastery feat."

So, by using "superior" spell mastery, I will more than likely end up with fewer spells than I had before re-preparing. Is this correct? If I have a 1st, a 2nd and 2 3rd level spells mastered initially (at level 5), re-preparing means that the most I can do is have one 1st level spell and 2 3rd level spells. (at level 7)

This seems to weaken an already weak feat because of the "versatility" it could add (remember that there's a 24-hour in-game study time required to use this, with which you could be making items and such). In my experience, versatility doesn't come close to specialization in terms of the power it can give a character. (Mystic Theurge being a case in point) Basically, power is throwing out a Quickened, Persistent, Piercing Baleful Polymorph at DC40 multiple times in combat. Versatility is remembering to cast teleport before that happens.

As a 13th level wizard (say, Int 20), one could take this feat for 5 7th level spells (a total of 35 spell levels) and, upon remastery, this drops to 13 spell levels (about half the original). How is this drop in the overall power of the feat justified by the versatility one could get?

Then, reading the wording again, it seems as though it doesn't cater for the fact that a caster (wizard or otherwise, depending on the ruling) can take this feat multiple times. The rules use the singular "feat" and don't handle what could happen if you take spell mastery multiple times or later on in your career.

Do you keep separate lists of mastered spells and have to relearn them in a set group each time? Can you pick new spells in place of mastered ones as long as the total spell level of mastered spells doesn't go over (CL)*(no. of times SM was taken)? Or does "superior" spell mastery replace all mastered spells with, at most, a set whose levels don't exceed your CL?

Sorry if this sounds whiny, I'm just really keen to play one of these and I want to know how the abilities are meant to work.

I'm bringing in a 7th level wizard in an upcoming campaign, and I wanted clarification on the arcane builder discovery from UM. It says that

"You create items of this type 25% faster than normal..."

I need to know if this stacks with crafting at half speed. For example, creating a +4 Headband of Vast intelligence would take 16 days of work normally (or 128 hours of work). If I add 5 to the DC, however, I can instead craft at 4 hours per 1000gp in the base price (64 hours\50% of normal time). Now, if I use arcane builder, does that get me 25% off the accelerated crafting time (48 hours\37,5% of normal time) or do I add that to the 50% I get for increasing the DC by 5 (32 hours\25% of normal time).

Looking at the RAW, it seems like the 48 hour version is right, as Ch15 says:

"This process can be accelerated to 4 hours of work
per 1,000 gp in the item’s base price (or fraction thereof ) by
increasing the DC to create the item by +5."

... and then you'd take 25% off of that crafting time, leaving you with 37,5% of the original time (50-50/4=50-12,5=37,5)

I've decided on a Zen archer for an upcoming campaign, but I'm not sure what sort of personality to give him. I generally don't have much of a personality for my characters, but I'm wanting to start moving away from number-crunching as if it's a computer game and into messing with the world the GM's putting us in. Basically, I need a bit of imagination just for the character (the skills, traits and feats I'm taking are pretty much sorted). So far, we're playing in a world based on a 500CE version of earth, with a view to writing history as it is (instead of re-writing it). Here is what I have so far:

Raimundo, the son of a Spanish ambassador to China (not sure if it's historically accurate, but it doesn't have to be) was in training to be part of an elite cadre of body guards for <insert name of important person here>. He hasn't yet completed his training and is returning to Spain on his father's orders, as China has recently re-united (GM said there were essentially two nations in China at the time), leading to a faction of overly-patriotic xenophobic extremists ,<insert intimidating name here>, who have decided that foreigners are to blame for the country's divide in the first place.

So, I've decided to make a Zen archer/Qinggong monk in an upcoming campaign, and I wanted to know if I could sign up for a vow or three? In the vows description it states that "A monk who takes a vow never gains the still
mind class feature, even if he abandons all his vows."

However, a Zen Archer replaces still mind with point blank master at level 3, so does that mean that I foregoe point blank master when I take vows or can I not take vows at all (not having still mind) or (and this is where I'm confused) as the RAW implies, I never gain still mind if I do take vows despite the fact that I don't get still mind anyway?

I don't think there's an errata out on UM yet, so I just need some clarification on this.