Is this feat a bad idea?

[MarauderX]

So, wait, with this feat as a, say, 7th level human Wizard, I could take my next level in, hmm, fighter, and pick up a bonus feat... I would have 4 of these feats, making 6th level spells available instead of just 2 at 5th level...wow, I need to think of a few more ways to multiclass this so I can get 9th level spells at around 5th level wizard.

OTOH, I agree multiclassing wizards suck, just as multiclassed anything really, unless you are going to be a master at a certain gimmick. Rogue/Fighter for a tumbling frontliner; monk/fighter for a grappling master with feats to boost him; cleric/bard for all sorts of buffs to go around; wizard/monk for a monk that can upgrade his armor & stats himself; etc. I think you have to look at what you are going to do instead of trying to do it all (which wizards often can with a thick enough spell book). If you want a spell casting monster don't multiclass - if you want the wizard to only use certain spells to amp his other abilities, perhaps you don't want a wizard in the first place.

 

[hong]

So, wait, with this feat as a, say, 7th level human Wizard, I could take my next level in, hmm, fighter, and pick up a bonus feat... I would have 4 of these feats, making 6th level spells available instead of just 2 at 5th level...wow, I need to think of a few more ways to multiclass this so I can get 9th level spells at around 5th level wizard.

Is the following bit from the original post invisible, or something?

1) Spellcaster level must always be lower than character level (note: this means the feat cannot be taken at first level).
2) You may not take this feat more times than the actual number of class levels you have.

 

[jdfrenzel]

I agree with DC and Marauder on this one - nothing's broken. I don't really see anything wrong with the feat technically, if that's your game. But while the benefits of multiclassing in all its variants are well documented, I'd like to point out that the benefits of NOT multiclassing would be diminished with this feat. To paraphrase, why would anyone remain dedicated to a spellcasting class if this feat were available? My 2 cents.

--- John

 

[Silverglass]

I think that this is a reasonable feat, as its not going to appear in any class bonus feat lists the best a non-epic character is going to achieve is +6 caster levels from this. So a Ftr 15/Wiz 5 would effectively be a Wiz 11. A Ftr 4/Wiz 16 could reach CL20 by using 4 feats which is more of an issue so perhaps an addendum to limit the feat to raising CL to 15.

I doubt that anyone disagrees that a Wiz 11 is much much less powerful than a Wiz 20. Caster power does not increase in a linear fashion because the class grants more spells per day and more powerful spells as you progress.

Even a Cleric 10/Wiz 10 with effective 10/16 CL and casting 8th level wizard spells is not that horrific because the PC will have burned every level based feat after first to do so (and they are still down 1 6th, 1 7th, 2 8th and 4 9th level spells and are 20% worse at penetrating SR, but at least they have some chance to beat SR whereas without this feat they have pretty much no chance). So their actual feats as a 20th level PC are Scribe Scroll, the feat taken at 1st and 2 Wizard Bonus Feats.

Compare that against a pure Wiz 20 and you will see that there still is an advantage to not multiclassing but that this multiclass can at least affect opponents with the spells they have.

The only sting comes with the addition of Mystic Theurge or +1 caster level per level type PrC's.

A Ftr 1, Wiz 9, Eldritch Knight 10 could have an effective Caster Level of 20 by burning 2 feats and a Cleric 5, Wiz 5, MT 10 could reach 16/20 or 18/18 with his 6 feats. Whether people see this as an insurmountable balance issue is one that I think will vary and that there will never be a final agreement.

Therefore my suggestion for those who find this a problem (I do) is to amend the feat so that it does not stack with additions to caster level granted by PrC's.

If the PC goes the PrC route then they gain something similar to this feat anyway and this feat then allows a PC to be a somewhat effective multiclass caster without forcing them to go down the PrC route to retain some spellcasting parity with pure spellcasters.

 

[Altalazar]

I wonder if there might be some other way to balance it out.

Feats are VERY powerful abilities, but then so is a +1 to spellcaster level (though it be limited by class levels, as someone indicated).

Perhaps requiring it to take more than one feat slot - either 1.5 slots or even 2 or 3 would help balance it out more. For me, such a thing isn't about power, its about playing a particular sort of character within the limits of the class system in AD&D. In other games, mixing magic and non-magic talents is less of an issue. I tend to favor anything that allows more customization of characters - always being careful of balance of power.