PrCs: +1 divine spellcasting

[hbarsquared]

A question:

When a prestige class lists "+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class," does this include domain spells?

I understand that a cleric with the Strength Domain would not gain a larger enhancement bonus to Strength, or a cleric with the Travel Domain additional rounds of freedom of movement, but would that cleric still get the extra slot to prepare a spell from a chosen Domain at higher levels, gained by a prestige class?

By the same token, would specialist wizards gain their additional spell slot for their chosen school if the level of spellcasting was gained via a prestige class?

Thanks

 

[saucercrab]

Yes, that's how my group has always done it.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Let's reference one example, the Mystic Theurge.

Spells per Day
When a new mystic theurge level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in any one arcane spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class and any one divine spellcasting class he belonged to previously. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that he adds the level of mystic theurge to the level of whatever other arcane spellcasting class and divine spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. If a character had more than one arcane spellcasting class or more than one divine spellcasting class before he became a mystic theurge, he must decide to which class he adds each level of mystic theurge for the purpose of determining spells per day.

So, to find out what spells a wiz3/clr3/mt2 get, based on the underlined, we add clr3 to mt2 and get 5. Then, we look up the cleric class:

Spells
...
Like other spellcasters, a cleric can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Cleric. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score. A cleric also gets one domain spell of each spell level he can cast, starting at 1st level. When a cleric prepares a spell in a domain spell slot, it must come from one of his two domains (see Deities, Domains, and Domain Spells, below).
...

The relevant paragraph is included and you can see that domain spells are based on the cumulative level of cleric and MT. You'll find the same argument for specalist spells.

 

[hbarsquared]

Thank you, to you both. Very helpful.

I had been thinking of Domain spells or Specialization spells as a separate ability from Spellcasting, and I can see that I was mistaken.

This question originally arose from an implementation of a house rule from Dragon magazine: Sorcerer Domains. At 1st-level a sorcerer can take a feat which grants access to a domain special ability and can choose to "know" one spell from the domain spell list each day. The question came up when I tried to figure out how this would interact with prestige classes, and decided it made the most sense if it worked exactly how cleric domain spells worked. When I looked up the exact wording, I became unsure.

What are some thoughts about such a house rule?

 

[Infiniti2000]

I had been thinking of Domain spells or Specialization spells as a separate ability from Spellcasting, and I can see that I was mistaken.

To be more precise, they're special abilities related to the class's spellcasting. Note that a creature that can cast spells as an Nth-level cleric (e.g.) does not necessarily gain domain spells.

What are some thoughts about such a house rule?

I have not read the exact rule text, but I see no problem in just interpreting it similar to a cleric's domain spells; i.e. favorably for the character. If you need a literal interpretation, however, I guess you'll have to post the text or wait for someone else to respond.