Geomancer Question

[ajkkjjk52]

The Spell Versatility ability of of the geomancer states that:

At 1st level, the geomancer learns to blend divine and arcane magic. He still acquires and prepares his spells in the normal manner for his individual spellcasting classes. When he casts them, however, he can mix or match spellcasting parameters from any of his classes to gain the maximum possible advantage for any spell with a spell level equal to or less than his spell versatility score. Thus, as a 4th-level geomancer, he can cast any of his 3rd-level or lower sorcerer/wizard spells with no chance of arcane spell failure from armor. (The druidic prohibition against metal armor still applies to druid/geomancers, however, since this stricture stems from a spiritual oath rather than a practical limitation.) The geomancer may use his Wisdom modifier to set the save DC for arcane spells, or his Charisma or Intelligence modifier (whichever he would normally use for arcane spells) to set the save DC for divine spells. If a spell requires either an arcane material component or a divine focus, he may use either. A cleric/geomancer who also has levels of wizard, sorcerer, or bard can spontaneously convert any prepared arcane or divine spell (except a domain spell) of an appropriate level into a cure or inflict spell of equal or lower level, though he must be capable of casting the latter as a cleric.

My question is, how does this ability apply to feats which affect the spell-casting from a particular class, such as Natural Spell, Lyric Spell (Complete Adventurer), or, in particular, Battle Blessing (Complete Champion)?

You can cast most of your paladin spells faster than normal. If the spell normally requires a standard action, you can cast it as a swift action. If it normally requires a full round to cast, you can cast it as a standard action. Spells with longer or shorter casting times are not affected by this feat.

Could I argue that all of my spells act as paladin spells (after all, all use my wisdom modifier to determine the save, don't have arcane spell failure, and use my holy symbol as a divine focus) and therefore that all of them, sorcerer spells included, are affected by Battle Blessing?

[BenInHB]

Good find. It looks good to me.

[Hanuman]

I would say you could argue this, but unless it was a rules lawyering friendly environment I probably would advise against pitching it to the DM.

[tyckspoon]

I'd argue about it, since the concept of a 'Paladin Spell' gets horribly twisted and stretched to make all kinds of things seem like they work with Battle Blessing.. but I think this one actually does, thanks to that wonderfully open-ended language. "Mix or match spellcasting parameters from any of his classes to achieve maximum advantage..." and, well.. being on the Paladin list is one of the parameters of the Paladin's spellcasting. So it looks like you can indeed take your Arcane side and declare that not only are you casting your spells using the Divine requirements, they are in fact Paladin spells. Battle Bless away.

I don't think this is even really that cheesy, considering the requirements to get into Geomancer and that it's a pretty weak PrC otherwise. You're looking at a minimum of 4 Paladin levels, 8 if you can't find some early-entry method to get your 2nd level spells, taken straight out of the much more powerful arcane casting you're going to be Quickening with. That's a pretty hefty downside compared to just doing a straightforward Wizard or Sorc build with normal PrCs, or even an Anima Mage or Ultimate Magus build using their own means of metamagic reduction/cost replacement to do your Quickening.

[JeminiZero]

The language is sufficiently open ended to be intepreted as such. But the ToS ruling is that it only works for the specific list of items and nothing else.

While it might not be broken if used with Paladin casting, if you accept the open ended intepretation, Geomancer instantly become cheesy for 1 simple reason: It means you can technically use it, to apply DMM to Arcane Spells. So a 1 Cleric / 2 Wizard / X Geomancer with a stack of nightsticks can be running around with persisted Wraith Strike, Sonorous Hum, Greater Invisibility, etc etc. And then there's shenanigans like Persisted Time Stop.