Wizard Cross Class Help

[Conchobear]

Hello, So I have a level 5 Wizard and I am putting 1 rank into Mindbender. It says "At each odd-numbered level, a mindbender gains new spells per day (and spells know, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which he belonged before adding the prestige class level. He does not, however gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (such as the bonus feat sometimes gained by a Wizard)." So that means on my next level if I put a level into Wizard I go to casting level 7 like in This (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/sorcererWizard.htm) or do I stay at Level 6?

[Diarmuid]

The advancement works like this.

Level 5 Wiz5 - 5th level Wiz casting
Level 6 MB1 - +1 Wiz casting level
Level 7 Wiz6 - +1 Wiz casting level
Level 8 MB2 - no spellcasting advancement
Level 9 MB3 - +1 Wiz casting level

As it mentioned in the PrC, this only applies to spells per day, and spells learned (most people agree that the "adding 2 spells to your book" at each level should be included but others have argued that it isnt...ask your DM)

The BAB, Saves, and Skills gained would be per the class that you have gained in. If you were to get to level 10 for example with 6 Wiz levels and the 10 level was your 4th level in MB, you would not gain the normal MM/Item Creation bonus feat that a 10th level Wizard would be entitled to.

[Flickerdart]

When you are a Wizard 5, you cast as a Wizard 5.
When you are a Wizard 5/Mindbender 1, you cast as a Wizard 6, since Mindbender 1 is an odd-numbered level of Mindbender.
When you are a Wizard 5/Mindbender 2, you still cast as a Wizard 6, because Mindbender 2 doesn't progress casting.
When you are a Wizard 5/Mindbender 3, you finally cast as a Wizard 7, because Mindbender 3 progresses casting.

When you go back to Wizard, the Mindbender progression doesn't matter anymore, so as, say, a Wizard 5/Mindbender 3/Wizard 1, you'll cast as an 8th level Wizard, whereas a Wizard 5/Mindbender 4 would still cast like a 7th level Wizard. For this reason, many people just take the first level of Mindbender, and then move on to a different prestige class.

[Conchobear]

Thanks guys! You helped a lot! And such quick responses ^_^

[Telonius]

The +1 level of spellcasting means that you basically count the Mindbender level towards your total of wizard spells. So at Wizard5/Mindbender1, you'd be casting as though you were a 6th-level wizard. You'd get 4 level zero spells, 3 level 1's, 3 level 2's, and 2 level 3's per day (not counting any you've gotten due to high intelligence).

If you go back to Wizard and take another level (Wizard6/Mindbender1) you'd be casting as though you were an 7th-level Wizard.

Note that spellcasting is the only thing that the Mindbender level increases. The level doesn't count towards anything in the "Special" column - like Bonus Feats, or Familiar Progression. For example, you wouldn't get your Bonus Wizard Feat when you're Wizard9/Mindbender1; you'd have to wait until you were Wizard10/Mindbender1.