Using Heroics offensively?

[Vrock Bait]

Ok, the feat “Mage Slayer” lowers caster level by 4. It is a fighter feat.

Now, the spell “Heroics” grants any feat off the fighter list.

Does this trick actually work? The main problem I can see straight away is touch range, meaning it’s not really useful against gishes.

If the character you’re going against has high Con like most optimized casters, you can also throw in Pierce Magical Protection for an extra -4, I guess.

[NotASpiderSwarm]

Against arcanists, I don't see it as a good idea.

Touch Spell strikes me as a problem. You have to either get into touch range of a Wizard(in which case just hit them with a sword) or use a method of generating Reach Spell. THEN you have to hit a touch attack against someone who should have reasonable defenses in place against that(most armor spells apply to touch AC, miss chances, etc).

Then the caster has to hit the prerequisites(2 ranks Spellcraft, +3 BAB). Until level 6, this doesn't work, after level 6, it becomes more of a seriously annoying debuff than a killshot. Decent for a lvl 2 slot, not incredible.

Against Divine casters, it's more interesting. You don't want to be standing in melee with a Druid or a Cleric, but at CL 4 they have 3 BAB, and they have far fewer defenses against touch spells. The problem is that at CL 5, they can still cast, which again takes this into "annoying debuff" territory, but it's a much more reasonable choice then.

The other issue is the Spellcraft ranks. A lot of DMs don't worry much about statting out NPC skills, because why bother, so it's going to be up to your DM at the moment of casting if the random Orc Cleric who's buffing his warband took Spellcraft or Profession: Chef.

[Firest Kathon]

a seriously annoying debuff than a killshot [...] which again takes this into "annoying debuff" territory

I would call not being able to cast your two highest spell levels a little more than annoying debuff. Remember:


You can cast a spell at a lower caster level than normal, but the caster level you choose must be high enough for you to cast the spell in question...

So in most cases (for a full caster), this will be the two highest levels of spells that they are unable to cast. I would think that those are also the levels where they prepare the most offense, while lower levels would be used more for long-term buffs, defense, and utility.

[Dimers]

It's got SR:Yes. Arguably, it wouldn't change the CL of spells already cast. And of course if you're playing a sorcerer/wizard in touch range of an enemy caster you might have better things to spend your action on.

I think it's a fun find, reagrdless. Good lateral thinking.