Advancing beyond the mystic theurge

[KR Chalice]

A member of my group and I are having something of a tete et tete over the mystic theurge, or rather a class that builds along similar lines to it when applied after the 10 levels have been taken.

Essentially both classes he wants to use as his prestige classes allow him to do the whole spells per day as +1/+1 a spell casting class you already have. I'm arguing that the second class with this ability would restart the spell growth from where his base two classes left off, he's arguing it would pick up where the theurge left off.

So my question is pretty much who's right about this.

Thanks in advance,
Chalice.

[Quandary]

where the theurge left off (in terms of spell progression).
that`s what happens when you go back into a base class after theurge.
think of spell casting progression (a given progression) like BAB, if it goes up, that stacks with what you have.

I`m not sure if you explained your idea 100% clearly, but basically, it just doesn`t seem to make sense...
What would anybody be getting out of `Mystic Theurge: The Next Generation` if it`s casting levels don`t stack with Mystic Theurge?
people stack casting PrCs all the time (ok, not all the time, but it`s not strange or something), using combos like Dragon Disciple, Eldritch Knight, Arcane Archer, Mystic Theurge, and that all stacks... If it didn`t you wouldn`t be getting the Class Features that the PrC`s say you get.

[TriOmegaZero]

You add all levels that count towards spellcasting together to get total spellcasting.

[KR Chalice]

Well this issue is more the extra spells he'd wind up aquiring from this with say the build was Cleric 3/Wizard 3/Mystic Theurge 10/Class X 4, this issue isn't the spell caster level stacking so much, as him continuing to get 4 of levels of progression of spells.

So instead of having the spell list/spells per day of a level 13 Wizard and a level 13 cleric, he'd have the spells of two level 17 classes.

I think that explains it slightly better.

[Quandary]

I think you just discovered that Mystic Theurges actually get interestingly powerful at high levels after alot of suckage.

When he finished MT, he cast as 13th level wizard/cleric.
Why would he cast the exact same if he continues 4 more levels in another class that does what MT does?
On a rules basis, he should still have been casting as a 3rd level wizard/cleric after 10 levels of MT if that reading was true.

If you think it`s unbalanced that he does this, DON`T ALLOW SOME CUSTOM MT-like CLASS!
If you`re allowing it, ANY RATIONAL PLAYER would expect it to do the same thing MT does, if that`s what it says.
WHen PrC`s say: Spells per Day +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class, that`s what they mean.
If a PrC already advanced that, that`s what you`re advancing on top of. To say it doesn`t stack goes against how existing PrC`s work,
and totally removes the entire reason to take that class... if it doesn`t stack, then those class levels don`t really do anything, effectively.

Again, if you don`t really think that allowing this is balanced or whatever, just don`t allow the class,
DON`T allow the class but gimp it to hell by some bizarro interepretation of the rules that nobody uses.
FYI: Most Mystic Theurges go back into taking levels in one of their base classes when the finish MT,
which also usually gives them some Paizo-style Class Abilities along with maxing out spells.

[TriOmegaZero]

At level 20, with a second prestige class that added to both progressions, he would indeed have 17th level spellcasting in both classes.

If you do not want that, you should not allow such a second class, forcing him to choose which spellcasting to advance each level.

[Bobson]

KR Chalice wrote:

A member of my group and I are having something of a tete et tete over the mystic theurge, or rather a class that builds along similar lines to it when applied after the 10 levels have been taken.

Essentially both classes he wants to use as his prestige classes allow him to do the whole spells per day as +1/+1 a spell casting class you already have. I'm arguing that the second class with this ability would restart the spell growth from where his base two classes left off, he's arguing it would pick up where the theurge left off.

So my question is pretty much who's right about this.

Thanks in advance,
Chalice.

How would it even make sense to restart where the base classes left off? "I can cast spells as a 13th level wizard and a 13th level cleric, and I can cast spells as a 4th level wizard and cleric"? Or would it be "Last level I cast spells as a 13th level wizard and cleric, but this level I'm back to casting as a 4th level wizard/cleric"?

[EWHM]

Pretty clearly Paizo and developers before them consider 3 levels of mage & 3 levels of clerical casting to be approximately equal to 4 levels of mage or cleric. You can effectively be a 15th level Cleric/Wizard, for instance, for the same 'price' as a 20th level wizard. THere are a few wrinkles of course (you can trade as much as 17th wizard/13th priest), but that seems to be the metric being used.
You could build a base class around that observation and several folks have.