Gestalt Characters Revisited

New question! Initiate!

If you take fighter/warlock to 6th Then take a prestige class that grants +1 arcane spell caster bonus/warlock for another 6 levels. Now does this character have 12th caster level or 18th arcane caster level?

Excellent question. Let me make sure I have it straight.

1. Attain fighter/warlock 6
2. Attain warlock/PrC 6 where PrC is a prestige class that grants "+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class"

The first thing that catches my eye is that the warlock is not an arcane spellcaster. They use spell-like abilities which function very similarly to spells and indeed have their own caster level, but the fact remains that they do not cast spells and usually do not qualify for PrCs that grant bonuses to existing spellcasting classes.

Ignoring that, this character would have a warlock caster level of 12 and an arcane caster level of 6. This works the same way with other classes. For example, a fighter/cleric 6//cleric/wizard 6 would have a divine caster level of 12 and an arcane caster level of 6. Likewise, a fighter/sorcerer 6//sorcerer/wizard 6 would have a caster level of 12 when casting spontaneous spells as a sorcerer and a caster level of 6 when casting memorized spells from his spellbook as a wizard.

He responds:

Let's simplify it more. Wizard/fighter for 5 levels. Then wiz/prc (that grants a +1 arcane level) for another 3 levels. Does he have a effective caster level 8 or 11?

Ah, now that changes things. In my opinion, the wizard's spell progression and caster level progression and the PrC's "+1 to previous arcane spellcasting class" features would be "aspects that overlap" according to the gestalt RAW. Therefore, you would only get them from one class or the other and this character's caster level would be 8. I feel this provides some balance as you could easily have a character who is fighter/wizard 10//wizard/PrC 10 who casts spells as a level 30 wizard. That seems like a little much to me, but your DM may disagree and that's up to him or her.

Thanks again for the question, I'm always open!

Tags: gestalt, wizard, caster level, prestige class, PrC, Dungeons and Dragons, D&D, D20

HIGH-Magic Campaign

No, really... HIGH magic... beware....

This is an idea I came up with while thumbing through my copy of the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Yeah, psionics will be involved here so if you just can't stand 'em you won't get much from this post.

So I came upon the Cerebremancer PrC and thought "this looks familiar." Sure enough, it's exactly like the Mystic Theurge PrC except it involves an arcane spellcasting class and a psionic class instead of a divine spellcasting class. Well that's cool, I wonder if there's a divine/psionic PrC? Sadly, I was unable to find one. But, it's a pretty simple and straightforward PrC idea so I made one:

Enlightened Minds

Requirements:

Skills: Knowledge (psionics) 6 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 6 ranks.

Spells: Able to cast 2nd-level divine spells.

Psionics: Able to manifest 2nd-level powers.

Class Skills:

Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Enlightened minds gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day/Powers Known:

When a new enlightened mind level is gained, the character gains new spells per day and spells known as if he had also attained a level in any one divine spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if he had also gained a level in any one manifesting class he belonged to previously. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of either class would have gained (bonus metapsionic or item creation feats, psicrystal special abilities, and so on). This essentially means that he adds the level of enlightened mind to the level of whatever other divine spellcasting class and manifesting class the character has, then determines spells per day, caster level, power points per day, powers known, spells known, and manifester level accordingly.

For example, a 3rd-level cleric/3rd-level psion who takes a level in enlightened mind has the same access to spells as a 4th-level cleric and the same number of power points as a 4th-level psion. But he continues to turn undead as a 3rd-level cleric, and his psicrystal (if he has one) won’t gain any new abilities.

If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class or more than one manifesting class before he became a enlightened mind, he must decide to which class he adds each level of enlightened mind for purpose of determining spells per day, spells known, caster level, power points per day, powers known, and manifester level.

Got all that? Ok good. Now we have three PrCs that are slight variations on each other. But what good is making a new class if you're not going to use it? So I came up with a neat campaign idea, but sadly lack the players or a proper DM (I wouldn't do it justice) to pull it off. So I'll post it here and hopefully someone will like it enough to give it a try. If you do, let me know how it turns out. I'll even post some of your exploits up here if you want. Ok, down to business. First, there are two groups of three:

Group A:
Cleric/Wizard/Mystic Theurge
Wizard/Psion/Cerebremancer
Cleric/Psion/Enlightened Mind

Group B:
Favored Soul/Sorcerer/Mystic Theurge
Sorcerer/Wilder/Cerebremancer
Favored Soul/Wilder/Enlightened Mind

If you're like me, you're squealing with anticipation right now. What can I say? I like balance (in the cosmic sense).

The actual nature of the campaign can take on many forms. I suggest three OR six players.

With 3 players either:
Choose either group and the group left over is NPCed and becomes a rival group.

Choose either group and forget the other.

OR

Players play both groups in parallel (either competing or cooperating).

With 6 players either:
Play both groups as one large group.

OR

Play both groups in parallel (either competing or cooperating).

The only part of the character development that the players don't have control over is class progression. The characters alternate their base classes and take the requirements for their PrCs as soon as possible (yeah I know that controls some skill choices as well). As soon as they meet the requirements for their PrC they must take at least 1 level in it. They cannot gain more than 5 levels in either of their base classes and cannot take levels in any other class. This makes everyone end up as "Base class A" 5/"Base class B" 5/PrC 10. All other development choices can be made by the player (familiars, psicrystals, deities, domains, spell/power lists, etc.).

I know this isn't a campaign for everyone, but if you know people who would like to give it a shot then go for it. I know I'd love to play it. Along those lines, I do game over the internet on FantasyGrounds, so if you want to try to get it started on there I'd be up for it.

That's all for today.

Tags: high magic, campaign, mystic theurge, cerebremancer, enlightened mind, prestige class, cleric, wizard, psion, favored soul, sorcerer, wilder, Dungeons and Dragons, D&D, D20

Question 2!

Our latest question comes from Nachoelanciano, and he asks:

If a wizard takes on the quicken spell feat, this means he can cast a quickened spell on each round, but, can it be a different spell each time? Or he takes the quickened feat and then he chooses a spell and that spell becomes his quickened spell?

Like any metamagic feat, Quicken Spell can be applied to any spell the wizard can cast. When the wizard memorizes spells for the day, he can choose to apply the Quicken Spell feat to a spell if he has an open spell slot 4 levels above that spell. For instance, a 10th level wizard sits to memorize spells, he can memorize a quickened magic missile and a quickened burning hands (thus filling his two 5th level spell slots). Then, he can also memorize regular magic missiles and burning hands spells in his 1st level slots. Wizards just can't add or remove metamagic feats once he is done memorizing spells.

Sorcerers on the other hand can (though they can't use Quicken Spell, sorry). Since sorcerers don't memorize their spells, they choose to apply metamagic feats when they actually cast. This carries with it the downside of turning the casting time into a full-round action (which is why Quicken Spell just doesn't work). The sorcerer would still need to expend a higher level spell slot to cast metamagic spells.

Ok, thanks for your question Nachoelanciano! Keep 'em coming guys! (and gals!)

Tags: metamagic, quicken spell, wizard, sorcerer, Dungeons and Dragons, D&D, D20