E6 - Trapsmith - logic help needed for Precocious Apprentice usage

[Cagemarrow]

Okay so as a lot of you know my group is playing an E6 city based freedom fighter campaign, or if the party gnome has any luck turning it into Breaking Bad versus the roman legion, as they are what the city guard are based on. I've been coming up with all kinds of ideas for backup characters as my 2nd level lawyer (Rogue 1, Cloistered Cleric 1) is sitting at 8 HP and AC 12 which is about 1 and 1/2 hits from death if he ever gets attacked in combat.

Anyway this character would be a sort of Jigsaw-ish (from the SAW movies) character. Someone who builds traps and sets people up to fall into them. I'm thinking straight rogue for the first 5 levels and then Trapsmith from Dungeonscape for the 6th.

Here's where I need help. Could he take Precocious Apprentice at 6th to gain access to a second level spell from the trapsmith spell list? The feat requires Arcane Caster level 1st, which this level would be for the character, but it also says that it can only be taken as a 1st level character at the end of the feat description. If it can't be used at 6th would he be able to use, say Spell-Thief for the first 5 levels and then retrain it for 6th in Trapsmith, then use the Master Spell-Thief feat to have the Caster Levels stack for 6th level caster in both?

Afterwards he would use the following capstone feat to add additional spells so that he can cast them without having to do the caster level check and gain more uses per day.

Expanded Casting (General) (PoeticJustice)
Prerequisite: Character Level 6th, (extra spell slot added as a prereq by our DM per the Warlock capstone requirements)
Benefit: Choose a spellcasting class in which you have levels. You gain an additional spell slot at any level you can already cast.


Is any of this even worth bothering for to gain access to Dimension Door and Stone Shape as 2nd level arcane spells? Is there any way to gain 3rd Level Spells from the list for Fabricate, Break Enchantment, and Wall of Stone access?

[Cagemarrow]

Any race recommendations for this? I'm leaning towards Kobold but I'm not sure how I'm going to fit one into the current group or the city itself for that matter. Any other races get bonuses to craft trap making?

[Vicerious]

If the feat says you have to take it at level 1, then you can't take it at level 6, no matter what other requirements it has.

When you retrain a feat, you have to replace it with something you would have qualified for at the time you took the original feat.  If it's a feat you took at level 1, then the replacement still has to be something you qualified for at level 1.  You weren't a trapsmith at level 1.

[Rebel7284]

Also, doesn't Precocious Apprentice specify that the spell needs to come from the sorcerer/wizard list?

[Hallack]

Makes it more spiffy for classes like Duskblade who can take it at 1st level. 

[Cagemarrow]

I believe it says that you have to pick the spell from a school of magic you have access to, so one you could normally learn, and like most things the problem is with the editing. It doesn't actually have a Prerequisite of Character Level 1st, that's written at the bottom of the feat description. I see your point though.

I guess this isn't really necessary, just thought it might be a cool way to get access to Dimension Door and Stone Shape in E6.