Did I just break the wild mage?

[Sammael]

Not really, no. You're still limited to your total HD. Someone with a cursed item that reduced caster level could learn Practiced Spellcaster to mitigate the penalty, but he then wouldn't gain anything when taking the item off.

I was actually talking about Thanee's interpretation.

As for your original question, I think #2 sounds about right, and I don't find anything too unbalancing about it (other than the fact that it breaks the wild mage's flavor).

 

[Mouseferatu]

I was actually talking about Thanee's interpretation.

As for your original question, I think #2 sounds about right, and I don't find anything too unbalancing about it (other than the fact that it breaks the wild mage's flavor).

Ah. My mistake.

 

[Thanee]

Benefit: Your caster level for the chosen spellcasting class increases by 4. This benefit can't increase your caster level to higher than your Hit Dice.

You have to read the complete text.

It goes on to say, that if you do not get full benefit of this immediately, then later, when you gain a level, you can apply the rest.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Mouseferatu]

You have to read the complete text.

It goes on to say, that if you do not get full benefit of this immediately, then later, when you gain a level, you can apply the rest.

Bye
Thanee

But you can benefit immediately. The wild mage's base caster level is level -3. So as soon as he gets the feat, it becomes equal to his level.

 

[Thanee]

The above interpretation allows the caster to wear a cursed item that bestows a -4 penalty to caster level, level up, and then remove the item, for a net bonus of +4 caster levels.

As Mouseferatu already stated, this does not work.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

The wild mage's base caster level is level -3.

That is the big error in your thinking. It's not.

Read the Wild Magic ability carefully. It states, that the -3 is only for spellcasting, so it cannot reduce the "base caster level", which also applies to other activities, like item creation.

Both the -3 and the +1d6 are only ever active when you cast a spell. They then change your caster level temporarily, but Practiced Spellcaster does not, it only makes permanent changes (as permanent as it can get in a game, where you can lose a level, anyways), not temporary ones.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Mouseferatu]

That is the big error in your thinking. It's not.

Read the Wild Magic ability carefully. It states, that the -3 is only for spellcasting, so it cannot reduce the "base caster level", which also applies to other activities, like item creation.

Both the -3 and the +1d6 are only ever active when you cast a spell. They then change your caster level temporarily, but Practiced Spellcaster does not, it only makes permanent changes (as permanent as it can get in a game, where you can lose a level, anyways), not temporary ones.

Bye
Thanee

The problem with that logic, however, is that it assumes that Practiced Spellcaster makes a change and then goes away, when in fact, I believe its effects are constant.

Consider this possibility, using your logic:

I am a wizard 4/rogue 4. I have an orange ioun stone which grants me +1 caster level, so my CL is 5.

I learn the Practiced Spellcaster feat. It raises by CL to 8.

By your logic, if I take off the ioun stone, my CL drops to 7, even though I have Practiced Spellcaster, and even though I haven't "maxed out" the feat, and even though 4 + 4 = 8, because I didn't gain another HD since first learning Practiced Spellcaster.

That just strikes me as silly, from both an in-game and meta-game standpoint. Leaving wild mage aside, I feel it's far more reasonable to assume that Practiced Spellcaster "kicks in" to fill in the caster level gap whenever and whyever one appears, so long as you haven't exceeded the 4 HD cap.

 

[Thanee]

Well, that depends on how you see the ioun stone's bonus. I'd not see it as a permanent bonus like the one from the feat, so I would not figure it in, when applying it.

It's, after all, just a magic item. It only applies when you "wear" the stone.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Mouseferatu]

Well, that depends on how you see the ioun stone's bonus. I'd not see it as a permanent bonus like the one from the feat, so I would not figure it in, when applying it.

It's, after all, just a magic item. It only applies when you "wear" the stone.

Bye
Thanee

What about when you suffer a negative level? What about level loss? If I'm a wizard 4/rogue 3 with Practiced Spellcaster, my caster level is 7. If I lose a level of wizard, are you telling me that you wouldn't allow the feat to kick in and "fill in the gap," keeping me at CL 7? I haven't gained levels there either, but I'm still within the 4-level cap on the feat.

 

[Thanee]

I feel it's far more reasonable to assume that Practiced Spellcaster "kicks in" to fill in the caster level gap whenever and whyever one appears, so long as you haven't exceeded the 4 HD cap.

That would be how it would work then, if it was not the way I think it is.

But could that be the intent of the feat? To remove any penalties, which you gain from negative levels, spell effects, weird PrC abilities, and so on? I hardly think so.

That's why I take it as it is written there, that it only applies immediately and whenever your level changes (discounting any temporary modifiers at that time). It's like that level you gain gives you the bonus, as if you had picked up a PrC, which grants you higher casting ability (only limited to caster level, of course).

That's the point of the feat, quite obviously, since it is meant to make multiclassing less of a burden for a spellcaster.

And that is, IMHO, also what the text says.

Bye
Thanee