EDIT: Answered! Understanding the Wyrm Wizard prestige class

[Harlot]

Hello Playgrounders
My homie wants to be a Wyrm Wizard in my upcoming campaign.
His Character is supposed to be a 10th level character.
He wants to take 5 levels of wizard and then switch to Wyrm Wizard
Rulewise he can't do this, because of not meating the requirements, needing 9 ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft, buy I may be pursuaded to let him enter that class prematurely.

Now I am generally not strong on casters and I have a problem understanding what is meant by the Wyrm wizard getting +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class at PrC levels 1+3+5.

I thought it meant that he'd have the 5 ordinary wiz class levels (i.e being able to cast 3rd level spells) + 3 more wiz levels, making him a level 8 wiz, casting 4th level spells.

My homie says that, no, he'll have 10 caster levels (5 from wiz, 5 from wyrm wiz) + 3 more levels - i.e. making him a level 13 caster giving him access to 5th level spells.
BUT being a 10 level caster, he'd cast those 5th level spells as if he were level 10, i.e. dealing less damage etc.
EDIT: My homie has corrected me, stating that he means that he has access to spells like a 10th level wizard, but his CASTER level will be 13, so that his 5th level spells will do more damage than ordinary. Question still stands though.

IMO the first interpretation seems wrong as this is a PrC, the other seems almost broken.

Help, please?

[Karnith]

You are correct; Wyrm Wizard only progresses the character's spellcasting ability at the indicated levels. At the levels that don't progress spellcasting (i.e. that don't have "+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class"), a Wyrm Wizard's spellcasting ability does not progress at all - no new spells known, no new spells per day, no increase in caster level, and so on. Your friend's hypothetical level 5 Wizard/level 5 Wyrm Wizard would therefore cast spells as an 8th-level Wizard.

[Daishain]

What Karnith said. There are very few means of increasing caster level beyond that of your effective character level, and most of them are not intended for players to use. Greater Draconic rite of passage is one of the few exceptions, but it is only available to kobolds, and only grants 1 sorcerer caster level.

If your buddy is looking for a means to improve his arcane casting ability, without giving up caster levels like Wyrm Wizard does, encourage him to take a long look at Mage of the Arcane Order

P.S. If he stumbles across the practiced caster/manifester feat as a means of increasing CL, make sure to point out that it too is limited by one's ECL.

[Harlot]

Thanks for the fast replies. We'll look into the Mage of the Arcane Order - and other options :-)

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Another thing about the aforementioned practiced spellcaster feat is that while it will increase effective caster level to your HD, or will not give an increase in spells per day. A wizard 3/fighter 4 with practiced spellcaster for example still casts spells as a 3rd level wizard, not a 7th level one.