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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pax" data-source="post: 1665002" data-attributes="member: 6875">The feat gives a +4 bonus to caster level (for all purposes except spells per day and spell levels castable), to a maximum caster level equal to the character's current HD.  So, a fighter(1)/Wizard(3)/Eldritch Knight(6), with an innate caster level of 8 (3 from wizard, 5 from eldritch knight) and a total character level of 10, will only get a +2 bonus, since they have only 10 HD.  Thepoint, however, is that those lost spell levels are in and of themselves a sufficient penalty / cost / "price paid" / whatever, to offset any other class abilities you gain through the process of multiclassing.  And then, on top of those lost spell levels, you also lose sheer ability to effectively cast the spells you can use, as well as sheer numbers per day of those spells.  Practised Spellcaster only addresses one of those three reductions in spellcasting capacity - it [p]partially[/b] offsets the cost of multiclassing out of a Spellcasting class.  Just like the one-for-two BAB of a Wizard partially offsets the loss of combat prowess a fighter suffers for multiclassing out of a combat-oriented class.  The problemis, for every multiclass option except those involving spellcasting, you can choose which "side" of yoru character willbe primary, and which will be secondary.  As soon as one side of your character involves spellcasting, however ... you no longer have that choice.  Why?  Why can't I be a Sorceror with just a splash of fighter, without having to make combat my "primary focus" ... ?  Try a vanilla Sorceror(10)/Fighter(10) some day, and see if you even can be more effective at spellcasting than you are at melee combat.  I guarantee youwill find that it is impossible to emphasise spellcasting instead of combat - that's because the 10 sorceror levels are 5 levels of fighter in terms of BAB.  Yep, you guessed it, that character is able to connect blows as well as a 15th level Fighter ... but is not as able to connect with spells as a 15th-level Sorceror.  Practised Spellcaster seeks to redress that balance; the character gets no new spells-per-day, no access to higher-level spells - but it does let his spells have nearly as good a chance to get past the spellcaster-equivalent to AC (Spell Resistance), and incidentally makes his spells nearly that effective in general, as well.  So, answer me this: if my Sorceror(10)/Fighter(10) casts a Close-range spell, it could reach 50' away (25', plus 5' per two caster levels).  If I use enlarge spell, my range doubles, to 100' - costing me +1 spell level.  OTOH, if I picked up Practised Spellcaster instead of Enlarge Spell, my range goes up ... by all of 10', to 60' total.  Could you show me how it is that Practised Spellcaster is just as good as Enlarge Spell, again?  Outside of artificial and misleading cases where only one or two levels of a spellcasting class are taken, mind.</blockquote>

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