I don't know that there's an official ruling on this, so I wanted to ask people's opinions:
If a character gains an early archetype feat, through something like the Ancient Elf heritage or any other means, what would you suggest they do with their Level 2 free archetype feat?
Should such options be disallowed? Do you let them take one of the level 4 feats? A dedication feat for a different archetype? I wondered if this comes up and how groups typically handle it, or would expect it to be handled.
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No official ruling as far as I know. When it comes up at my table, I intend to rule it so that the Free Archetype slots have their own 2-feat lockout, so you could advance the Ancient Elf archetype with class feats if you wanted to.
Free Archetype is a Variant Rule - effectively a houserule that was created by the game designers. So it may need further houserules in certain edge cases.
One of those edge cases is Ancient Elf (and the Eldritch Trickster Rogue Racket).
The other major edge case is the handful of Archetypes that don't have any feats in at least one of the level 2, level 4, or level 6 spots. So archetypes that have their dedication feat at level 4, or have a dedication at level 2 and then the next feat is a level 6 feat (no level 4 feat).
Some options that I am aware of:
* Separate lockouts for your class feat slots and free archetype feat slots as WatersLethe mentioned.
* Granting a 1-time pass on the requirement and allowing a second dedication feat. The character has to buy out of both archetypes before getting a third dedication feat.
* Allowing characters to take their primary class's class feats of up to half their character level in place of an archetype feat.
Some options that I am aware of:* Separate lockouts for your class feat slots and free archetype feat slots as WatersLethe mentioned.
* Granting a 1-time pass on the requirement and allowing a second dedication feat. The character has to buy out of both archetypes before getting a third dedication feat.
* Allowing characters to take their primary class's class feats of up to half their character level in place of an archetype feat.
Another option could be to allow some level 4 feats at level 2. For instance, all the multiclass archetypes have a level 4 "take a level 1 or level 2 class feat" feat (basic dogma, basic maneuver, etc.). You could say they can take it at level 2, but they have to choose a level 1 class feat.
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But yeah, as with any variant rule, if you're using it then "clarify this with the GM" is in play.
For the options that grant a multiclass archetype at 1st level as a class feature (such as the Eldritch Trickster rogue racket), I believe there is already wording about class feats that can be taken at 2nd level ("For you, the Magical Trickster rogue feat has a prerequisite of 2nd level instead of 4th level"). Also, since these options were written for the base rules and not the free archetype variant, they are more or less independent of the "bonus archetype feat" at every even level. For an Eldritch Trickster rogue in a campaign with the free archetype variant, the GM should probably allow the free archetype feats at even levels to be for a different archetype than that chosen by the Eldritch Trickster racket; the GM can allow a limited selection for the free archetype options or have it be completely unrestricted.
For the Ancient Elf heritage, it is again written for the base rules and not the free archetype variant. The GM should also probably allow the free archetype feats at even levels to be for a different archetype than that selected with the Ancient Elf heritage.
Technically, an Ancient Elf rogue could take the Eldritch Trickster racket (with GM approval) in two different multiclass dedication feats at 1st level as long as they meet the requirements for both. Using the free archetype variant could potentially add a third archetype dedication feat at 2nd level (with the normal class feat used for a 1st or 2nd rogue feat or Magical Trickster), but the character would still only get the normal class feat and one extra free archetype feat at every even level. It wouldn't be a significant boost except for being able to mix and match feats from the archetypes a little earlier.
For the options that grant a multiclass archetype at 1st level as a class feature (such as the Eldritch Trickster rogue racket), I believe there is already wording about class feats that can be taken at 2nd level ("For you, the Magical Trickster rogue feat has a prerequisite of 2nd level instead of 4th level").
That is one specific base class Rogue feat that has its level reduced. Not a level 4 archetype feat being reduced to level 2, and certainly not as a general precedent.
That rule in Eldritch Trickster doesn't let you take Magical Trickster in your level 2 Free Archetype feat slot.
I'm not opposed to the idea of allowing one of the level 4 archetype feats to be taken at the level 2 slot. It is certainly one option for resolving the problems. But this Eldritch Trickster rule isn't really a justification for it.
I would let the player choose a level 1 class feat from their class instead at level 2.
But no more, otherwise it smacks of a player just trying to game the system and gain power when free archetype is already giving them extra power.
It's not too big an issue when it comes to power. The largest power boost is for classes with bad class feats that want to take as few of their own feats as possible and therefore gain less from free archetype in the first place. Rather, it's a design problem that there are classes that are better off totally ignoring their own feat lists like that.