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View Full Version : Breaking a hard Caster Level cap (Su)



Rijan_Sai
2017-03-19, 01:33 PM
Or, how to make Thrall of Jubilex's Polymorph Self ability better then it already is?

Basically. I'm trying to find out if there is any way to do so. I would guess that basic CL boosters, such as the orange ioun stone, would work (maybe?) But given that it is a Supernatural ability, (as opposed to the summon abilities being Spell-like,) it seems quite difficult to give any boosts to...

So yeah; that's the crux of the question: is there any way to make ToJ's 8th level, CL8 polymorph self any more disgustingly powerful? (Anything that helps here would also help the 4th level Alter Self, but that can only really benefit from 1 level of boost.)

Thanks!

ATHATH
2017-03-19, 08:31 PM
Does Reserves of Strength work with SLAs?

Rijan_Sai
2017-03-20, 04:37 PM
Does Reserves of Strength work with SLAs?

Good question... I honestly don't know...

After reading up on the feat, from the DM side I really wouldn't have any problem allowing it to work with SLAs, or with SUAs that have any effect from caster level. It tops out at three, and there is the stun (or damage,) a horrible feat tax, and no variation of Talented (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#talented) to offset it (that I have found).

Also, I wouldn't necessarily be against homebrewing a version of Practiced X for SU abilities, either. There's already Practiced Spellcaster (CAr; spells) and Practiced Magic (Dungeon 116; SLAs) that are functionally identical except what they boost.

There's also this (https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Greater_Supernatural_Abilities_(3.5e_Feat)) little "gem*," which (as I understand it) as written does nothing, but with a little re-write to properly address caster level (durations, area, SR, etc.)... maybe do a version for each of spell, spell-like, and supernatural abilities, each with a prerequisite of the type of "Practiced X" (Basically, turn it into an "Improved Practiced X," which would take the "+4 up to HD," and turn it into "up to HD."

Again, though, the proceeding 2 paragraphs are all about homebrew. Which, from a DM perspective, I don't see much problem with. From a player perspective, however, are there any other methods of improving a static caster level (particularly for SU)? (When I DM, I like and even encourage a certain amount of homebrew, with the expectation that what the DM gets the players can have, and vice versa. From the players side, I prefer to find what I can legally from the books, first.)

*Yes, I know the source of this thing... the rest of that paragraph seems like it could be pretty reasonable, particularly since the two currently available "Practiced X" feats already target a single source of spells/spell-like abilities. They both state that if you have multiple sources, you have to choose which one it can be used with; so adding one for SU, and even a secondary level feat boosting the "+4, max HD" to "=HD" doesn't seem too bad.

ATHATH
2017-03-20, 07:43 PM
There is an interpretation of Reserves of Strength that says that it lets you break the cap past 3 levels. For example, a Wizard 15 casts Fireball and uses Reserves of Strength to boost it up by 1 CL. Depending on your interpretation, he either does 11d6 of damage or 16d6.

Someone else can probably explain that better than I can, but that's the gist of it.