Anma mage

[Wish]

I don't believe the abilities gained by advancing in a prestige class can, by themselves, make you inelligible for the prestige class. This isn't a new issue - Dragon Disciple has had this problem forever where if you actually take the 10th level of the class you become a half-dragon, but half-dragons are specifically banned from the class, meaning you lose all the class abilities, which means you aren't a half-dragon any more, which means you qualify for the class, which means you're a half-dragon again, which means you... You get the idea.

 

[Gestalt]

http://boards1.wizards.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-339046

We're going to issue a little clarification on this soon. Here's the deal: It doesn't count for qualifying you toward a prestige class. Our (thin) rationalization is that you can't consistently and successfully cast 2nd-level spells, because you're "reaching" with that caster level check.

That rationalization is very flimsy indeed, but the intent is clear.

 

[WarlockLord]

By my reading, the Improved Bind Vestige feat would technically qualify you for the Anima Mage prestige class.

Unfortunately, as soon as you took the first level of the prestige class, you would (1) gain the ability to bind vestiges as a normal first level binder, which would (2) cause you to lose the benefit of the Bind Vestige feat, which would, in turn, (3) cause you to lose the benefit of the Improved Bind Vestige feat, which, of course, (4) removes your qualifications for the Anima Mage prestige class, thereby (5) preventing you from advancing further in the class and (6) denying you all of the class abilities--not that there are any really worth mentioning at first level of the prestige class.

So, short answer, no.

But wait...once you knock out your binding from anima mage, don't your feats come back on-line? Because then you're not a binder (it specifies binder in the feat. I don't know id we could argue that this specifies the binder class). Then, you get your abilities back, long enough so that when you level, (assuming you just hit 6th) to take Improved Binding and increase the binding given to you by anima mage so you meet the prerequistes, and retrain your Improved Bind Vestige for something else.

 

[RigaMortus2]

http://boards1.wizards.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-339046

That rationalization is very flimsy indeed, but the intent is clear.

And also by that rationale, if you had any type of Arcane Spell failure from armor, you would also not qualify for PrCs which required spellcasting as a prereq, because you can't consistently and successfully cast spells due to a small percent chance you will fail.

 

[Gestalt]

Yeah, that's why it's flimsy. For that matter you could extend the reasoning to mages in any situation that requires them to make a concentration check. I would have preferred no explanation at all.