Magic Item Caster Level.

[Eddieddi]

How can you manipulate it. Is the main question. And what are the minimum/maximum level you can have for any given spell?
My party and I are going in to the Underdark (or pathfinder version) and I am a crafter build. (Assume all the craft feats and level 20 spell caster with access to every spell, to save answering questions)
We have been debating 'Oh ****' Options, You know, that one item you carry round incase you find yourself ambushed by half a drow army, or find yourself captured and stripped of all your gear? So-far we've settled on a item the cleric is holding, which is a 'save or have your soul sent to hell' single use range touch item. The next is something I'm holding on to, which is basically an arrow of infinite annihilation. but we're looking for something the whole party can use. And we noticed Form Of The Dragon. we won't need it for more than 1 minute (a party of 5 players, 2 of whom are full martial 1 is 3/4ths martial/bab progression, and 2 who are 1/4th progression bab, turning in to dragons as FOTD3 is going to be enough for 1 minute). is it feasable to make a magic item that casts form of the dragon on the user as a 1st level caster (at least cost/duration wise). To keep cost down, and to stop having players waste time as a dragon?
In a similar vain, anyone know what the cost change for 'for x meany minutes per day, as meany times as the user wants, but must be used in 1 minute increments." ? He's thinking of making himself a ring of form of the dragon, but he is never going to need it for more than 1 or 2 minutes at a time.

[GiantFlyingHog]

I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure that the minimum caster level for an item that replicates a spell is the minimum level required to cast the spell. Other than that, I don't believe there are any restrictions.

[grarrrg]

I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure that the minimum caster level for an item that replicates a spell is the minimum level required to cast the spell. Other than that, I don't believe there are any restrictions.

Correct.
"The caster level must be low enough that the spellcaster creating the item can cast the spell at that level."
You can set the caster level anywhere between the minimum, and whatever your actual caster level is.

Form of the Dragon I is a 6th level spell, minimum caster level 11 (assuming Wiz/Sorc anyway).
Form of the Dragon III is an 8th level spell, minimum caster level 15.


As for your " and to stop having players waste time as a dragon? " worry, Form of the Dragon is tagged as "(D)", which means "Dismissible".
"If the duration line ends with “(D),” you can dismiss the spell at will. You must be within range of the spell’s effect and must speak words of dismissal, which are usually a modified form of the spell’s verbal component. If the spell has no verbal component, you can dismiss the effect with a gesture. Dismissing a spell is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity."

So even if the duration is 20+ minutes, you can end it whenever you want.

[Feantar]

On the Form of the Dragon issue - while the spell is dismissible, it's the item who casts it not the character, so I don't know if it would work(Unless it's a spell completion item). You cannot reduce the CL of a spell lower than it would be required to cast it even if you were not creating a magic item.

However, if you need a form of the dragon spell that lasts 1 minute(CL independent), develop it. It is clearly within the rules and it is demonstrably worse than an equal level spell. Then craft the item with that spell in mind.

Now, if you're using 3.5 material, read on, otherwise ignore the rest.


The minimum possible caster level of a magic item replicating a spell that can possibly be, is (Spell Level * 2) -3. The normal formula to for having access to a spell level is 2 * Spell Level -1. The additional -2 is due to Artificers counting as -2 caster levels when creating items (it's a bit more complicated than that, but this is the short explanation).

There might be a few exceptions with Ur Priest ~ but because it's caster level depends on it's HD and not just Ur Priest levels, the formula gets weird - in short it would be (Minimum Level Entry for Ur Priest) + Spell Level.