Both dimension door and teleport mention that a caster can take a medium-sized "passenger" or equivalent per three caster levels, but dimensional steps doesn't mention anything about the size of the passenger, only the number.
So.
Can a dimensional stepper ignore the size of his passengers? If not, it seems that it would be fair to apply the same rules as the spells, in which case, what's the caster level for an eighth-level spell-like ability? Eight?
Both dimension door and teleport mention that a caster can take a medium-sized "passenger" or equivalent per three caster levels, but dimensional steps doesn't mention anything about the size of the passenger, only the number.
So.
Can a dimensional stepper ignore the size of his passengers?
By raw, yes. by rai the dm may want to limit it to large sized or down, or charge additional feet for large bulky loads.
If not, it seems that it would be fair to apply the same rules as the spells, in which case, what's the caster level for an eighth-level spell-like ability? Eight?
Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): Spell-like abilities, as the name implies, are magical abilities that are very much like spells. Spell-like abilities are subject to spell resistance and dispel magic. They do not function in areas where magic is suppressed or negated (such as an antimagic field). Spell-like abilities can be dispelled and counterspelled as normal.
Spell-Like Abilities(5/11/10)
Q: A lot of the class abilities like for sorcerer bloodline '1st level attack powers' are listed as Spell-like abilities, but don't have any specific spell they're based on. The rules for Sp's seem to assume any Sp is based on a normal spell somehow. How do we determine the Sp spell level?
A: (James Jacobs 5/11/10) When one (be it Paizo or whoever) introduces new Spell-like abilities that don't mimic an existing spell, it's the book's responsibility to indicate what spell level that ability is. I argued for a LONG time that we should avoid creating spell-like abilities that don't mimic existing spells for pretty much this exact reason, but I obviously lost that argument.
So the best way to estimate what a spell-like ability's level is if it doesn't say in the description and it doesn't mimic a spell is to just look at what level the class gets the ability at and assume it's the highest-level spell that one could cast at that level.
Thus: an aberrant sorcerer gains acidic ray as a spell-like ability at 1st level, therefore that SLA is effectively a 1st level spell. The fey sorcerer gains fleeting glance at 9th level, and since the highest-level spell that sorcerer could cast is 4th at 9th level, fleeting glance is equivalent to a 4th level spell. And so on.
My personal preference would be, of course, to turn all of those into Supernatural abilities. [Source]
So at 8th level the highest level spell the wizard can cast is 4th, making it the equivalent of a 4th level spell (like dimension door)
