Can magic items fulfill class requirements?

[pikafunk]

Could you use items that provided the wearer with feats to meet the prerequisites for a prestiege class?

Moreover could you say use a ring of telekinesis to satisfy the telekentic requirement for a Master of the Unseen hand (complete warrior)?

For the first case i dont see why not. For the second i also think it would work. Since the requirement only states that you have the ability to cast telekinesis, not that you need the ability to cast 5th level arcane spells.

thoughts?

 

[Mouseferatu]

No. By the rules, the character must meet all prerequisites for a prestige class. (Or a feat, for that matter.) Magic items will not do.

 

[Timeboxer]

No. By the rules, the character must meet all prerequisites for a prestige class. (Or a feat, for that matter.) Magic items will not do.

Welllll, see below:

Always use your current ability score (no matter how you managed to get it) to determine if you qualify for any feat. Keep in mind that you cannot use a feat if you no longer meet the prerequisites (which may happen if you lose the item you’re depending on to meet a prerequisite).

This makes perfect sense to me, and it's not difficult to apply this to special abilities and prestige classes as well.

 

[Piratecat]

Yes, I believe Amy is correct. You CAN use a magic item to qualify for a prestige class or a feat. . . but lord help you if you lose it, because you're pretty much screwed.

Ari, can you quote the rule that makes you think this is incorrect?

 

[shilsen]

I agree with Amy and Piratecat. Using a magic item to access a PrC is perfectly fine by the rules, and it is balanced by the danger of losing the benefits as soon as you lose the item.

 

[Shadeus]

Yes, I believe Amy is correct. You CAN use a magic item to qualify for a prestige class or a feat. . . but lord help you if you lose it, because you're pretty much screwed.

True, but that's true of any prereq. I had a dwarven defender with a 13 Dex. After he used his defensive stance, he would be fatigued and lose 2 points of Dex for a minute. The -2 Dex resulted in an 11 Dex which means he didn't qualify for the Dodge feat, which further means he no longer qualified to be a dwarven defender. That meant no Uncanny Dodge and DR. It not so bad after a fight, but I can't count the number of times I've had to drop the defensive stance to pull some other character's fat out of the fire.

The point being that you are screwed regardless if the source is a magic item or not.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Well kind of confirms what we've been saying all along... PCs are made up of the magic items they have !

 

[Vrecknidj]

So let's say you no longer qualify for a feat because of an adjustment to an ability score. No problem--you just cannot use it.

Let's say you no longer qualify for a prestige class because of an adjustment to an ability score. What are all the effects? Do you just lose the special abilities of that class? What about the class's saves, hit dice, and BAB? In other words, what are the specific rules for what the character loses?

Dave

 

[BSF]

I would allow HP, BAB and Saves to remain. Special Class Features would not. Bonus feates would be on an as-qualified basis. If you still qualified for the feat, but received it as a class bonus, I would probably let it stand. But if the feat relied on a class ability, or had a stat/feat requirement you no longer met, I probably would not.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Complete Warrior p16:

Meeting Class Requirements: It's possible for a character to take levels in a prestige class and later be in a position where the character no longer qualifies to be a member of the class. An alignment change, levels lost because of character death, or the loss of a magic item that granted an important ability are examples of events that can make a character ineligible to advance farther in a prestige class.

If a character no longer meets the requirements for a prestige class, he or she loses the benefit of any class features or other special abilities granted by the class. The character retains Hit Dice gained from advancing in the class as well as any improvements to base attack bonus and base save bonuses that the class provided.

Now, skill points could be argued either way, perhaps; they are not BAB or base save bonuses, but they also fall outside of the 'Class Features' section.

But Weapon and Armor proficiencies, spells per day, bonus feats, etc, etc are all lost.

-Hyp.