In the leveling up section, the order of operations in the book is listed as:
- Step 1: Apply any ability increases.
- Step 2: Add new class features.
- Step 3: Add new feats or Theme benefits. "Be sure to check the prerequisites!"
- Step 4: Invest Skill Ranks.
Specifically, note the order of operations of Step 3 and Step 4, and compare that to feats that require more than one skill rank. For example, Antagonize. A player is unable to select the feat at the level that they get the appropriate number of skill ranks, adding unnecessary delays and confusion to the process.
Antagonize wrote:
Prerequisites: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Intimidate 5 ranks.
Now consider how a player who wants that feat would have to go about the leveling process -- an Envoy 4 with 4 skill ranks in Diplomacy and Intimidate each who has just leveled up.
- Ding! Level 5! I really want Antagonize.
- Ability score increases, Cool! That bonus to Charisma is going to help a lot!
- New Class features! Enboy 5! Now I have skill expertise in Diplomacy and Intimidate.
- Feat! Alright, time for Antagonize. Let me just double check the prerequisites. Diplomacy 5 ranks... heck, I have 4 ranks. I can't take it. I guess I have to pick something else...
- Invest Skill Ranks. Okay, now I finally have 5 skill ranks in Diplomacy and Intimidate. It's a shame I don't have any feats left to get Antagonize, though. .
And so now the player has to wait until Level 7 to be able to select Antagonize, because no feat is gained at level 6.
This seems like an editing mistake rather than an intentional change from Pathfinder, as it adds an unnecessary level of confusion to the leveling process. AFAIK nobody has caught this mistake yet (although my google-fu may be weak), and if anybody has, they have most certainly house-ruled it away because it makes no sense.
There is no benefit to this set-up. It's not a combat feat (in fact, most skill-prereq feats are non-combat), so this isn't a way to make sure that Soldiers get first dibs on it since no class can possible take it at level 6, and it does nothing but confuse new players. The only benefit is to give a marginal advantage to players who retrain feats via a Mnemonic Editor, which I don't think is the intent. And reordering these two steps in the next printing has the additional benefit of having the "Add new Feats or Theme Benefits" step be adjacent to the "Character Advancement Table" Table 2-4.
