PF crafting & CL

[Gnaeus]

(Relevant rules found on PF core 460, 548-549).

A caster may create magic items of most types without meeting all prerequisites, by raising crafting DC by 5 per prerequisite skipped.

The creator's caster level must be as high as the items caster level.

Is having a caster level = the items caster level a prerequisite for crafting the item (meaning, can it be skipped by raising the crafting DC)? Or is it a hard & fast rule, like the requirement to have the feat or the need to have the spell in a spell trigger or completion item?

The text on 460 makes me THINK that it is a hard and fast rule, as does the fact that CL isn't listed under prerequisites in the item descriptions, but 549 doesn't clarify. I seem to remember a thread (which I can't find now) where people were discussing making items over their caster level by making higher DC checks.

Thoughts? Does anyone know of a clarification anywhere?

[Kamai]

If you take a look at the individual items, Caster level is not in itself a prerequisite. On page 549, it specifically calls out that the prerequisites are only the ones listed below the item, usually the item creation feat, and the spells needed.


Note that all items have prerequisites in their descriptions.
These prerequisites must be met for the item to be created.
Most of the time, they take the form of spells that must be
known by the item’s creator (although access through another
magic item or spellcaster is allowed). The DC to create a magic
item increases by +5 for each prerequisite the caster does not
meet. The only exception to this is the requisite item creation
feat, which is mandatory. In addition, you cannot create spelltrigger
and spell-completion magic items without meeting
their spell prerequisites.

Also, on 460, the only note that I see about Caster level is that Potions, Scrolls, and Wands cannot be above the creator's caster level.


For potions, scrolls, and wands, the creator can set the
caster level of an item at any number high enough to cast
the stored spell but not higher than her own caster level.
For other magic items, the caster level is determined by the
item itself.

So, through all of this, for Potions, Scrolls, and Wands, the CL acts as a hard requirement, and you cannot exceed your CL in any way. For any other item, the CL is not even a prerequisite, and is created at the items CL without the +5 DC. This is at least how I'm seeing it.

[Gnaeus]

So, through all of this, for Potions, Scrolls, and Wands, the CL acts as a hard requirement, and you cannot exceed your CL in any way. For any other item, the CL is not even a prerequisite, and is created at the items CL without the +5 DC. This is at least how I'm seeing it.

But the next sentence after the one you quote (at least in the SRD) reads:


In this case, the creator's caster level must be as high as the item's caster level (and prerequisites may effectively put a higher minimum on the creator's level).

So there seems to be some kind of limit, whether or not the limit is a prerequisite as the game defines the term.