A stupid idea for a Bard build

[Extra Anchovies]

This clause is in the description for the Sublime Chord's spellcasting ability:

A sublime chord’s caster level for both her sublime chord spells and the spells she gains from other arcane spellcasting classes is determined by adding her sublime chord level to her level in another arcane spellcasting class.
If I'm not wrong, this means if we can advance both Bard casting and Sublime Chord casting at the same time, we get double-rate CL advancement on both. Which would make for a pretty awful/awesome Ultimate Magus build (relying on Magical Training and Arcane Preparation to qualify).

I'm probably wrong, though. I haven't slept all night and thought the idea of a Bard/Sublime Chord Ultimate Magus was pretty hilarious, so I decided to post it here. Enjoy.

[Uncle Pine]

You can't qualify for Ultimate Magus with a Bard/Sublime Chord using Magical Training and Arcane Preparation because even though you can prepare arcane spells of any level available to you, you can only prepare and cast 0-level arcane spells from a spellbook. Moreover, even if you qualified, Arcane Preparation doesn't make Bard or Sublime Chord a prepared arcane casting class, so you couldn't advance them faster than normal. For that you need to be a 5th level Wizard with a spellbook (so no Eidetic Wizard) and the Spontaneous Divination ACF.

[Twurps]

You can't qualify for Ultimate Magus with a Bard/Sublime Chord using Magical Training and Arcane Preparation because even though you can prepare arcane spells of any level available to you, you can only prepare and cast 0-level arcane spells from a spellbook. Moreover, even if you qualified, Arcane Preparation doesn't make Bard or Sublime Chord a prepared arcane casting class, so you couldn't advance them faster than normal. For that you need to be a 5th level Wizard with a spellbook (so no Eidetic Wizard) and the Spontaneous Divination ACF.

Valid point. I guess it would be possible to advance wizard and sublime chord to get double CL progression on both, but I'm not sure that ends up any better than the pure wizard trick you describe.

[ShurikVch]

You can't qualify for Ultimate Magus with a Bard/Sublime Chord using Magical Training and Arcane Preparation because even though you can prepare arcane spells of any level available to you, you can only prepare and cast 0-level arcane spells from a spellbook. Moreover, even if you qualified, Arcane Preparation doesn't make Bard or Sublime Chord a prepared arcane casting class, so you couldn't advance them faster than normal. For that you need to be a 5th level Wizard with a spellbook (so no Eidetic Wizard) and the Spontaneous Divination ACF.How about the Corrupt Arcana feat?

[Uncle Pine]

How about the Corrupt Arcana feat?

Corrupt Arcana would let you qualify for Ultimate Magus, but still wouldn't make Bard or Sublime Chord prepared arcane casting classes.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

One thing to keep in mind is that it uses your spellcaster level, meaning the level that determines your spells/day and highest level spells, not your caster level which is what's improved by Practiced Spellcaster and UM's Arcane Spell Power. Sublime Chord replaces your caster level in each class with a value based on your combined spellcaster levels, so any caster level bonuses you apply before Sublime Chord's caster level buff will get negated.

You could go Bard 1/ Wizard 9/ Sublime Chord 1/ Ultimate Magus 9, and get Sublime Chord 10 and Wizard 15 and Bard 1 spellcasting, for a caster level of 28 with UM's Arcane Spell Power +3.

A better course of action for UM caster level shenanigans would be Beguiler 1/ Spellthief 1/ Wizard 3/ UM 10/ whatever 5, with Master Spellthief. At level 15 you'll have Beguiler 8, Wizard 13, and Spellthief 1 casting, for a caster level of 26, and at level 20 you'll have Wizard 18 spellcasting, so your caster level in every class will be 31. Master Spellthief works the same way as Sublime Chord, so caster level bonuses such as UM's Arcane Spell Power need to be added on afterward.

Then there's these caster level shenanigans (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?246510-Theurgic-Specalist-and-Necromancy-why-has-nobody-caught-onto-this&p=13398974&viewfull=1#post13398974)...

[Troacctid]

It counts your class level, not your caster level. Raising your caster level in the other class won't raise your caster level for Sublime Chord. So if you hypothetically were a Bard 10/Sublime Chord 1/[prestige class that advances both] 9, you would have a Sublime Chord caster level of 20: 10 from your 10 Bard class levels, 1 from your Sublime Chord class level, and 9 from advancing it via the prestige class. Similarly, your Bard caster level would also be 20.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It counts your class level, not your caster level. Raising your caster level in the other class won't raise your caster level for Sublime Chord. So if you hypothetically were a Bard 10/Sublime Chord 1/[prestige class that advances both] 9, you would have a Sublime Chord caster level of 20: 10 from your 10 Bard class levels, 1 from your Sublime Chord class level, and 9 from advancing it via the prestige class. Similarly, your Bard caster level would also be 20.

That's right, Sublime Chord only adds its class level, but Master Spellthief counts prestige class levels that advance your spellcasting, so it's significantly better for this type of thing.

[WhamBamSam]

It counts your class level, not your caster level. Raising your caster level in the other class won't raise your caster level for Sublime Chord. So if you hypothetically were a Bard 10/Sublime Chord 1/[prestige class that advances both] 9, you would have a Sublime Chord caster level of 20: 10 from your 10 Bard class levels, 1 from your Sublime Chord class level, and 9 from advancing it via the prestige class. Similarly, your Bard caster level would also be 20.I'm actually not so sure that's the case. Spellcasting PrC advancement uses the following language.


At each level, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level.That could easily be parsed as gaining an increase in caster level generally (ie, for both Bard and Sublime Chord), as if you had gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class (ie, a level of Bard). So if adding a Bard level instead of a PrC level would increase your Sublime Chord CL, then adding a PrC level progressing Bard casting should increase Sublime Chord CL in the exact same way.