How important is caster level past level 20?

[Particle_Man]

I am looking at the Cosmic Descryer class, and it gives HD boosts to summoned creatures, and later on a temporary caster level boost, but mainly it is a half-caster class.

On the other hand, once one has gotten a caster class to 20, then caster level does not determine how many spell slots one has.

So what does one lose by being a half caster, once one has 20 caster levels "in the bank"?

I assume it is harder to penetrate SR, for one thing.

[Eldariel]

I am looking at the Cosmic Descryer class, and it gives HD boosts to summoned creatures, and later on a temporary caster level boost, but mainly it is a half-caster class.

On the other hand, once one has gotten a caster class to 20, then caster level does not determine how many spell slots one has.

So what does one lose by being a half caster, once one has 20 caster levels "in the bank"?

I assume it is harder to penetrate SR, for one thing.

Depends. There are very few spells that scale past 20, but for that very reason those spells are the bread and butter past 20. Maw of Chaos for one. There's a handful of spells that scale infinitely and those become wonderful on epic. Cosmic Descryer's abilities, of course, conveniently scale one of the best, Gate.

Still, much depends on if a somewhat sensible houseruled version of Epic Magic is game or not. Basically, if it is, suddenly you're looking at things like massive Dispel Checks on epic. Which, of course, makes caster level quite relevant. Other big thing is making spells last all day with lesser effort; this is especially relevant for 10 min/level spells. They're still convenient on epic, especially ones like Shapechange, Foresight and company.


It's...it depends. It can be massively important. It can also be not all that. Hard to make any sweeping generalizations.

[Sacrieur]

Forgive me if I can't remember correctly, you can make your own spells at epic level correct? That's just asking to be abused.

[NNescio]

Forgive me if I can't remember correctly, you can make your own spells at epic level correct? That's just asking to be abused.

*Cough* (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=791074#post791074)

(blah blah padding the word length requirement)