I’ve noticed that many archetypes with a level 2 dedication feat simply don’t have any level 4 feats. How does this work with the free archetype variant rule? Do you just discard the bonus feat slot at level 4? Also, does playing with this variant rule essentially make it impossible to take a level 4 dedication feat at level 4?
I don’t see a specific rule for this, but I would just let them ignore the restriction of picking a certain number of archetype feats before selecting a new archetype. There’s nothing preventing you can’t pick a 2nd level feat at level 4.
https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1333
That seems reasonable.
I realize now that my question was a bit ambiguous, but I was specifically talking about the bonus feat slot from the variant rule.