Temporary CL boosts

[Wonton]

I need a few. I'm a level 9 Wizard, and I can get CL 11 with a few simple tricks. I want CL 14 to cast my amazing flying Phantom Steed.

Ideas?

[Keld Denar]

How's your UMD skill? If you can trick a Bead of Karma into thinking you can cast divine spells (DC20 to emulate class feature), you get a +4 CL bonus for 10 minutes.

Other than that, theres a 2-3rd level bard spell that gives a CL boost (Harmonious Choir? Hymn of Praise? I forget), and then there's Adept Spirit in Magic of Incarnum which can be discharged for a CL boost for 1 minute, and the Truecasting (SpC) spell which you cast yourself to boost the CL of one spell.

If you have a Bard with Inspire Greatness, you can also take the Practiced Spellcaster feat. When you get Inspired, you get temporary HD. PS increases your CL by up to +4, so long as your CL isn't greater than your HD. You now have 2 more HD, so you'd get the boost. Not shabby.

[Claudius Maximus]

This seems relevant. (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872350/Raising_Caster_Level)

[faceroll]

Practiced Spellcaster + Wild Mage has you cast spells at +1d6 CL.

[Runestar]

If you have a bard who can inspire greatness (+2 HD), practiced spellcasters give +2 caster level.

Spell enhancer (spell compendium) gives +2 caster level, though it requires a 4th lv spell.

Spell thematics lets you designate 1 spell/lv as a themed spell, which gets +1 caster lv.

[Wonton]

How's your UMD skill? If you can trick a Bead of Karma into thinking you can cast divine spells (DC20 to emulate class feature), you get a +4 CL bonus for 10 minutes.

My UMD skill is +0. Now, there's gotta be a spell somewhere that lets you make a Trained Only skill check untrained.

[Gabe the Bard]

Bards also get a nice spell called Harmonic Chorus (from Spell Compendium) that they can cast on you to give you a +2 morale bonus to caster level and save DCs. It requires concentration, but it's great for morning buffs and spells like phantom steed.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot that phantom steed takes 10 minutes to cast, and Harmonic Chorus only lasts for 1 round/level.

[Keld Denar]

Whats that spell...Wieldskill? I think that's the spell you are looking for that'll give you a bonus. Then again, I think you have to have at least 1 rank in it for Wieldskill to work.

Get you some Loremaster levels. LM has UMD as a class skill. Very nice.

[Thurbane]

Practiced Spellcaster + Wild Mage has you cast spells at +1d6 CL.
Is that really how those two interact?

[Psyren]

Is that really how those two interact?

It works by RAW. Whether it will keep you safe from flung DMGs is another story.

[Runestar]

It works by RAW. Whether it will keep you safe from flung DMGs is another story.

Why not, it costs you a feat for a very limited benefit.

From the FAQ, about the interaction between practiced spellcaster and wild mage,

How does Practiced Spellcaster interact with the wild magic class feature of the wild mage (from Complete Arcane)?

The –3 penalty and +1d6 bonus to the wild mage’s caster level are applied as a single step in the process of determining the wild mage’s caster level. Since Practiced Spellcaster’s bonus is always applied when it is most beneficial to the character (see previous answer), a wild mage with Practiced Spellcaster would typically apply the wild magic class feature first (subtracting 3 and adding 1d6 to her caster level) and then add the Practiced Spellcaster benefit, up to a maximum value equal to her character level.

For example, if a 5th-level wizard/4th-level wild mage with Practiced Spellcaster rolled a 1 on the 1d6 bonus to her caster level, her caster level for that spell would be 9th (base 9th, –3 from wild magic penalty, +1 from wild magic bonus, +4 from Practiced Spellcaster up to a maximum equal to her character level). If she rolled a 6, her caster level would be 12th (base 9th, –3 from wild magic penalty, +6 from wild magic bonus; the Practiced Spellcaster bonus would not apply since it would increase her caster level above her character level).

On the other hand, imagine a wild mage whose caster level (before applying the effects of the wild magic class feature) is less than her character level, such as a wild mage with levels of rogue or other non-spellcasting class. She might well choose to apply the Practiced Spellcaster bonus first, before applying the wild magic modifiers. A rogue 4/wizard 5/wild mage 4 would
have a base caster level of 9th before any other modifiers are applied. Adding Practiced Spellcaster’s bonus would increase this to 13th, at which point the penalty and bonus from wild magic would be applied. The Sage recommends that players averse to frequently recalculating caster level avoid playing a character with this combination, as it is likely to cause headaches.

[Ernir]

It works by RAW. Whether it will keep you safe from flung DMGs is another story.

I have to agree with the FAQ here. Yes, you can apply bonuses in the order most beneficial to you, but the Wild Mage's static CL reduction and its 1d6 CL boost aren't separate bonuses, they are only one class feature, Wild Magic.

[dextercorvia]

I have to disagree. The timing on those is very different. Wild Mage imposes a Permanent -3 to CL, that is always on and can be offset by Practiced Spellcaster. Then, "every time she casts a spell, her use of wild magic adds 1d6 to her adjusted caster level." Notice the CL has already been adjusted before Wild Magic adds the the 1d6. Those are discrete events.

It's not really worth it in my opinion unless you are building specifically around it. Wild Mage costs a crap feat you wouldn't otherwise take. With Practiced Spellcaster, that is two feats and one precious class level to get an unpredictable boost that is always at least 1.

Reserves of Strength (DCS) is a better deal, (only using it on long term buffs, so we don't care about the stunning). One crap feat Reserves of Strength it lets you add up to 3 to your CL for 3 rounds of stunning. This is 1/2 level less than Wild Mage on average, but is predictable -- and you can ignore the CL cap on spells. Work with your DM on what that means but at bare minimum, it is good for Alter Self. You can get up to 8HD forms with the most conservative reading. If you are reasonable about the cap removal, you shouldn't get anything thrown at you.

Clerics have a much easier time with Divine Spellpower +Heighten Turning. You can guarantee a

@Dr. Wonton -- Uncanny Forethought from EoE can let you cast Phantom Steed as a Full-Round Action, allowing you to stack up your temporary boosts