| Shyft |
Curses cannot be considered to use character level instead of class level - some of the abilities simply don't make sense. For example, the haunted curse grants free spells. Giving telekinesis to a Fighter 5/Oracle 5 would be a bit odd, particularly since there's no way to cast it.
Other abilities would make dipping extremely attractive, especially after 10th of 15th level. In most cases, the high-level benefits of curses dramatically outweigh the low-level penalties. Besides, picking up a single level of a class when you hit 15th shouldn't grant a whole host of abilities (let alone 6 spells). I'll admit that some curses are not nearly as attractive for high-level cherry picking, but there are enough that they should not be governed by character level.
The exception in my thought process it the Clouded Vision curse. I LOVE the concept, but that HURTS. Additionally, if your race already grants darkvision, you gain no benefit until 10th level. That is a long time to wait; prohibitively long if you're multi-class. I would argue that the progression of Clouded Vision should count all levels gained since the curse was applied (i.e. - since the first level of Oracle). I'll even go a step further and recommend some low-level benefit be added - at the very least for those characters who already have darkvision.