Hi all
I'm pretty sure my GM has things wrong. I'm a new Pathfinder player, starting play as a 6th level wizard. He recommended that I take Magical Knack as a trait, which would give me a +2 bonus to my caster level (boosting range, duration, damage etc to various spells). In the rule book it says this bonus applies "as long as this bonus doesn’t raise your caster level above your current Hit Dice."
This confused me, as it would seem to indicate that I would get no benefit from this trait, as it would always raise my caster level above my hit dice. Looking up caster level in the book, it says "A spell’s power often depends on its caster level, which for most spellcasting characters is equal to her class level in the class she’s using to cast the spell." All I can figure is that this trait only benefits multiclassing characters (e.g. wizard 1/fighter 3) and other classes like the Paladin (which doesn't get a caster level until the 3rd level).
When I brought this up, however, he told me that my caster level is the highest level of spell that I can cast, which is shown in the chart for wizards. So as a 6th level wizard, I normally can only cast up to 3rd level spells. But because of my high intelligence, I can cast up to 4th level spells. Which would I guess make my caster level 4, and with Magical Knack, it becomes 6.
I may be a new player, but I'm pretty sure he's wrong. I'm not going to push it though, since he's the GM, and I'm a new player. I figure just let it be a house rule, even though he doesn't know that it's actually a "house rule," lol
Edit: After asking about the bonus spell from my high intelligence, he's now saying that the bonus spell doesn't raise my caster level, and without Magical Knack I wouldn't be able to cast 4th level spells. But with magical knack, I can. And my caster level is raised to 5....
SO confused!
