Highest possible ratio of caster level to effective char level?

[FireLance]

Well, there's often debate as to how Practiced Spellcaster is applied. I agree that in the case of the Ur-Priest (especially in this case) it doesn't help.

But what about the PS Wiz5/Ftr2 who gets hit with a temporary -2 penalty to caster level? Is his caster level 7 or 5?

What about the PS Wiz5/Ftr2 with an orange ioun stone? Is his caster level 7 or 8?

-Hyp.

For what it's worth, the Sage stated in the Dragon #331 that the bonus from Practised Spellcaster applies when it would be most beneficial to the caster.

A Clr4/Ftr4 with Practised Spellcaster and the Healing domain would cast conjuration (healing) spells as a 9th-level spellcaster (base 4th, +4 PS, +1 Healing domain)

A Clr4/Rog4 with Practised Spellcaster who activated a bead of karma would cast spells as a 12th-level spellcaster (base 4th, +4 PS, +4 bead of karma).

For your examples, the Wiz5/Ftr2 with an orange ioun stone would cast spells as an 8th-level spellcaster (base 5th, +2 PS, +1 orange ioun stone).

The Wiz5/Ftr2 with a -2 penalty to caster level would cast spells as a 7th-level spellcaster (base 5th, -2 penalty, +4 PS).

The Sage also addressed the Wild Mage/Practised Spellcaster interaction. Since the bonus from Practised Spellcaster is applied where it is most useful, this typically means that a wild mage subtracts 3 from her caster level, adds 1d6, and then increases her caster level by 4 for Practised Spellcaster, up to a maximum equal to her character level.

 

[moritheil]

If you use enough magic items from various WotC supplements, way beyond ludicrous.

I'm willing to see how far this goes.

 

[moritheil]

I just realized something. Is arcane devotee a feat? That lets you take some clerical spells as arcane spells, right? That enables Rystil's arcane build to work perfectly.

If you go epic with Red Wizard, Archmage, and magic items, you can get a really high Wizard caster level. For clerics, Beads of Karma and that CD feat give you +8 and you can get 2 more from ring and ioun stone, at least.

Hmm, so that's 40 caster level at 30? Oh wait, that's a Wizard caster level . . . I suppose I could just use Wish to cast a Holy Word (automatic, no save killing of things considerably higher level than the character, in an area, is the goal of the build), but I wonder if that reduces my overall power. Although, now that I put it that way, if I don't fixate on divine spells, and if I work with things that DO allow a saving throw, I can abuse Fatespinner . . .

Thanks for being the first to kick this off!

 

[moritheil]

So, is the vanilla Cleric/Hierophant build really the best way to get the best effective caster level? That seems rather surprising, although in light of the greatsword, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

Does anyone want to submit a list of items that a character like this should try to obtain? We've heard ioun stones mentioned already.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

What do you mean by 'listed problem'?

Holy Word and Word of Chaos won't kill someone who can't hear (though they can be banished); Blasphemy and Dictum have no such restriction.

-Hyp.

This must be a mistake. If it hasn't been errata'd already, then I would think most DM's would apply as a house rule that the four spells are identical in that regard (as with the oddly-worded Protection From spells).

Seriously - regardless of the RAW, how many DMs in actual games would read strictly the letter of the rules and give Blasphemy and Dictum more power, and how many would go by the spirit of the rules (which in every way shows that Law, Good, Chaos, and Evil are equally powerful forces when it comes to magic)?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Seriously - regardless of the RAW, how many DMs in actual games would read strictly the letter of the rules and give Blasphemy and Dictum more power, and how many would go by the spirit of the rules (which in every way shows that Law, Good, Chaos, and Evil are equally powerful forces when it comes to magic)?

Blasphemy has more power anyway.

Deafened, deafened, deafened... dazed?

You have to completely rewrite the spells if you want them to be 'equally powerful'.

-Hyp.

 

[noeuphoria]

You know what they say when they cast blasphemy? "Evil will always triumph.. because good is dumb"

 

[moritheil]

You know what they say when they cast blasphemy? "Evil will always triumph.. because good is dumb"

I think Blasphemy was made a little more powerful to provide a slight edge to the villans (who are usually evil), because as handled by most DMs, villans act pretty unintelligently.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

I think Blasphemy was made a little more powerful to provide a slight edge to the villans (who are usually evil), because as handled by most DMs, villans act pretty unintelligently.

Then why was Dictum made more powerful than Word of Chaos?

 

[FireLance]

Then why was Dictum made more powerful than Word of Chaos?

Because to a certain mindset, Lawful == oppression and Chaotic == freedom. Hence, Lawful Evil seems more menacing than Chaotic Evil.