| hamsterwheel |
Wait - so the benefit of the feat is to allow me to get +1 hp and +1 skill rank (which is effectively a weakened version of Toughness) OR to get an 'alternate favored class bonus'? What is an alternate favored class bonus? I assume that would be the standard option available to every class and every race, like the human's additional spells for bards or a dwarf's extra uses of a Domain power... but if its something everyone automatically gets anyway regardless of race or class, why would I need to be a human AND take a feat to get access to an alternate favored class bonus? Why would that even be deliberately included in the feat description?
When I look at the feat's description AND the fact that its a feat at all, I have to believe that either 1) its a race-specific feat that does exactly what another feat available to everyone (Toughness) does but not as well, 2) its a race-specific feat that explicitly allows something every race gets anyway for free including the race it is restricted to, or 3) its race and attribute pre-requisites and the fact that its a feat at all means that its intended to give some sort of bonus or benefit, and the logical extrapolation of that benefit is that you get to choose two of the normal options available to you instead of one (i.e. +1 skill rank, +1 hit point or whatever favored class options you are eligible for - which in most cases woudl be one, but under special circumstances like Scion of Humanity, might well be more than one).
I think that's a huge jump from the intention of the feat. The way it's written is pretty straight forward. If the author intended for you to select either the alternate class reward + either a skill bonus or a bonus to HP then that would have been explained in the description of the feat. Instead he/she explains that the intention is to give the option of either +1 Skill/+1 HP or the alternate class reward. As for other uses for the Fast Learner feat, it's a prerequisite for the Improvisation chain.