Variant specialists and PrC's

[hyloblates]

So bear in mind that this question is a result of an ongoing discussion and I'm trying to present it in as neutral a light as I can.

Bob: Hey, if I use the variant Transmuter from Unearthed Arcana then I can select a spell from my prohibited schools every five levels to use as a Transmutation spell. That'll really help when I take 10 levels of Mystic Theurge.

Frank: Not really it won't. When you take 10 levels of Mystic Theurge, you don't gain any levels of Transmuter so therefore don't get any prohibited spells for those levels. The variant Transmuter gets those abilities based on class levels, not character levels.

So Who is right, Bob or Frank, and is their reasoning correct?

-Hylo

 

[Kerrick]

Frank is. And here's why (note the bold section):

Spellcasting: An [insert class name] continues training in magic as well as her field of research. Thus, when a new [insert class name] level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (improved chance of controlling or rebuking undead, metamagic or item creation feats, and so on). This essentially means that he adds the level of [insert class name] to the level of whatever other crcane spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly.
If a character had more than one arcane spellcasting class before he became an [insert class name], he must decide to which class he adds each level of [insert class name] for purposes of determining spells per day when he adds the new level.

 

[Voadam]

Frank is. And here's why (note the bold section):

I agree.

 

[Darren Ravenshaw]

Frank is. And here's why (note the bold section):

I also agree.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Toss another agreement on the pile.

 

[the Jester]

I agree with Frank, Kerrick, Patryn, Darren and Voadam.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Wasn't it confirmed somewhere that a sorcerer who takes a prestige class can still swap out spells at every even-numbered spellcasting level, even though he's not actually taking levels in sorcerer any more?

If that's the case, I'd need to take a look at Unearthed Arcana to decide whether the variant transmuter's ability is a similar case...

-Hyp.

 

[ergeheilalt]

IIRC, the one spell per five levels thing replaces the spellcasters bonus specialist school spell slots. Now if my memory serves, the spellcaster would recieve these bonus spell slots even if he MC'ed into a PrC.

With that reasoning, I would allow Bob to get the bonus "transmutation" spell.

Erge