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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1880512" data-attributes="member: 3146">A few more notes about practiced spellcaster:1. Contrary to popular belief, it's not a gimme for every multiclassed spellcaster. Properly played, a multiclass spellcaster is multiclass because he wants to do something other than cast spells. If you're a fighter/wizard and your solution to every problem is fireball, then you should have just been a wizard and then you'd be able to fireball more often and wouldn't have to spend a feat to fireball at character level. Consequently, a multiclass spellcaster will often be designed to do things other than cast direct damage and targetted spells. For instance, I play a fighter/wizard/Eldritch Knight/Spellsword in Living Greyhawk and, while I would make a few changes if I constructed the character from ground up in 3.5 (for one thing, I'd trade 4 wizard levels for Eldritch Knight levels which I wasn't able to do during the 3.5 conversion), I don't think I'd take Practiced Spellcaster. Practiced Spellcaster would give me +2 on SR checks, and an additional +1 on GMW (from level 16 to retirement at level 18). It would make Bigby's Grasping Hand marginally more effective (though in my observation, it's generally more of a "got Freedom of Movement?" than an actual grapple check). And that's about it. Scorching Ray is capped out. Ray of Enfeeblement is capped out. I don't use fireball, chain lightning, disintegrate, cone of cold, etc. (Mostly because all of those spells have saves and spreading stats about and spending my feats on combat makes my DCs suck).More to the point, I'd have to give up something for it? Power Attack? Heck no. Cleave? Maybe now, but it was very useful in the early levels. Even at 15th level, it still comes up occasionally. Quickdraw? Nope. Switching weapons as the situation requires is more valuable. Combat Expertise? Not likely. It's a good feat and an important prerequisite. Improved Trip? Are you nuts? Combat Reflexes? Not likely. (I use a reach weapon and it's an important prereq). Expert Tactician? No way! (It's the single most often used feat on the character). Craft Wondrous Item? My bonus spells from the +6 headband and my Boots of Speed say "no." Scribe Scroll? Sure, but it's not an option. Still Spell? Well, this is the feat I'd ditch for losing the Wizard 10 bonus feat. Spellsword lets me wear a mithral chain shirt without ASF so I don't need it any more. (The comparitive advantage between mithral fullplate and a mithral chain shirt is much less than between mithral fullplate and mage armor). Quicken Spell? Not on your life. Arcane Strike? Heck no! (The ability to turn unuseful spells (for instance Enervation when I'm fighting undead or Greater Invis when I'm in an unhallowed area with Invis Purge attached) into attack and damage bonusses is far more useful than anything I'd get out of practiced spellcaster). If I had another feat, I think I'd be better off using it for Improved Critical than for Practiced Spellcaster.For my character, and a number of others, Practiced Spellcaster simply isn't as valuable as the alternatives. For characters like a Mystic Theurge whose contribution to the party must come in the form of spells or characters like the "I just grabbed two levels of sorcerer for shield and chill touch" rogue (who gets iterative sneak attacks with chill touch from practiced spellcaster), Practiced Spellcaster makes sense. For my fighter/mage (and probably for fighter/clerics built along similar lines) it doesn't.2. In the discussion of Mystic Theurge, some posters have pointed out MAD (multiple attribute dependencey). This, however, effects more than just spells/day and spell DCs. It also has an impact on secondary stats. Depending upon the chargen method, a Mystic Theurge will typically have a lower constitution and dexterity than a normal wizard since wisdom will push con from stat # 2 to stat #3, etc. This means that a Mystic Theurge will not generally have significantly more hit points than a normal wizard. (For reasons explored later, he may often have fewer hit points). The dex loss makes ray spells less effective. Furthermore, a mystic theurge will generally want a periapt of wisdom which fills the slot typically used for an amulet of health. There are belts of dwarvenkind, but they're not as good.Finally, Mystic Theurges feel a lot of feat pressure which is why practiced Spellcaster for both classes isn't always an obvious choice even for a mystic theurge. A normal character has 7 feats (8 if human) over his entire career. A wizard has scribe scroll and 4 other bonus metamagic and item creation feats. If the Mystic Theurge takes Practiced Spellcaster twice, Improved Initiative, and Quicken Spell, that only leaves three slots for things like Spell Focus, Empower Spell, and Spell Penetration. OTOH, a wizard can have Greater Spell Focus, Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Initiative, Quicken Spell, Empower Spell, Sculpt Spell, Craft Wondrous Item, and still have that same number of free feats as the Mystic Theurge to work with. That means that the difference in spellcasting potential is not just in spells per day and caster level and the difference in DCs is not just from MAD. Even with all of that, the wizard will probably have better spells available (through metamagic), +4 to spell penetration rolls, and +2 to the DCs of his favorite spells in addition to whatever advantages he has due to the Theurge spreading his attributes more thinly. (In play, this difference is only amplified by the fact that the wizard can take levels of prestige classes too so the proper comparison probably isn't Wiz 7/Clr 3/Mystic Theurge 10 to Wiz 20 but more likely to Wiz 5/MotAO 10/Archmage 5).I think a Mystic Theurge can be made effective, but even at 20th level, Practiced Spellcaster isn't a magic bullet that automatically makes a Mystic Theurge better than a normal wizard or cleric. It's a good feat for certain characters (and any feat that isn't good for "certain characters" isn't worth printing), but even in its target market, there are a number of characters who can do without it or who benefit more from something else.</blockquote>

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