So to be more specific, my play group has come to a crossroads about how to go about multiclassing for Prestige Classes and class that give you a effective level of a different class. Example:
The Rage Prophet is a Prestige Class that combines the Oracle and Barbarian. Its requirements are a Base Attack Bonus of +5, the Oracles Curse feature, and the Rage Power “Moment of Clarity”. The class itself states that any levels in it count towards your Barbarian and Oracle levels for the sake of Rage, Rage Powers, Revelations, and Curses. Now if instead of a Barbarian if I were to go the Bloodrager Primalist Archetype which lets me choose standard Rage Powers instead of his Bloodline Powers and also treated his Bloodrager levels as Barbarian levels would I be able to multiclass into Rage Prophet gaining full bonuses from the Prestige Class while still having access to my Bloodline Powers as I gain levels of Rage Prophet?
Looking for a general ruling on builds like this, so GM’s please let me know your opinion and anyone with a lot of Multiclassing experience please share as well.
You have a slight problem with your build. Primal Choices specifically states that it does not count as the rage power class feature for the purpose of feat prerequisites and other requirements. That means it does not allow you to qualify for Rage Prophet.
If it did it would only increase your rage powers, not your bloodline powers. So any rage powers would level up when you gain levels in rage prophet, but any bloodline powers would not benefit from them. If you decided to take a level of barbarian would it increase your bloodrager class abilities? Just because B increases A, does not mean A increases B.
"A rage prophet's class level stacks with barbarian levels for determining the effect of rage powers (...)"
"If the primalist chooses rage powers, those rage powers can be used in conjunction with his bloodrage, and his bloodrager level acts as his barbarian level when determining the effect of those bloodrage powers and any prerequisites."
It would be possible to make a case against it based on some very pedantic reading, but yeah, those two stack, because both count your respective class levels as barb levels for the same specific effect.
You would not gain any new rage powers or bloodline powers/feats/spells. Level dependant bloodline powers don't progress.
You have a slight problem with your build. Primal Choices specifically states that it does not count as the rage power class feature for the purpose of feat prerequisites and other requirements.
A Primalist does not have the "rage power class feature", but still has those rage powers, and that's all Rage Prophet asks for.
Ok so it seems that the general consensus is if the Prestige Classes ask/focuses a specific class(s) that any classes with the ruling “Your (insert class here) level is your effective (insert class here) level” would lose out in some way despite meeting requirements for Prestige Class. Would this be a safe way to go about builds like this in the future?
Ok so it seems that the general consensus is if the Prestige Classes ask/focuses a specific class(s) that any classes with the ruling “Your (insert class here) level is your effective (insert class here) level” would lose out in some way despite meeting requirements for Prestige Class. Would this be a safe way to go about builds like this in the future?
Usually, a prestige class only progresses very specific things - in this case, for the Barbarian side, the effective level of scaling rage powers. A Barbarian wouldn't gain additional rage powers, increase their rage, gain/increase DR, and so on. It doesn't progress everything related to rage. Not even rage rounds (or bloodrage rounds) are gained from Rage Prophet levels, because the levels only stack "for determining the effect of rage powers", not for anything else (again, on the Barbarian side).
Short version, you almost always loose quite a lot of class features when multiclassing, including prestige classes like this one. Main exceptions are Evangelist which progression just about everythign from (one of your) base class(es), and Stargazer (for Clerics with positive Channel Energy).