I have a player who wants to use Precocious caster, gifted adept, and Spell specialization to effectively add 4 caster levels to his magic missle. Anyone know how many, if any of these bonuses stack? I could only find a vague ruling in regards to stacking in the srd.
Thanks!
I believe the bonuses to Caster Level stack because they are untyped bonuses.
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I can feel the unease with this build.
At tier 1/2 it triples the damage for Magic Missile.
Traits:
One is regional, one is magic. Trait stacking is dubios - but unless some clarification is in the rules thread it will work for +2 spell levels.
Spell Specialization can be changed at a later stage to a different spell. So it isn't truly a loss.
So up to level 6 you have both traits and the feat - from level 7 onwards he maxes out on the spell.
I assume he also is from the Evoacation subschool. That adds another half level of wizard level.
I'm highlighting this as I just checked the traits and feat and they word in in a way that the spell acts as one (or two) caster levels higher. The traits and feats should not add to Intense Spells as well - but I wouldn't be suprised to have him argue differently.
It also should not help him with his Force Missile if he is a Evocation Specialist. They work 'as magic missile' - but they are not magic missiles.
So the way I see it:
Level1 - 3d4 + 3 (+1) damage (+1 if evocation expert, minimum +1)
Level3 - 4d4 + 4 (+1) damage (+1 if evocation expert, 1 1/2 rounded down)
Level5 - 5d4 + 5 (+2) damage (+2 if evocation expert, 2 1/2 rounded down)
The real problem is only low levels.
A Wizard, Evocation Subschool, bonded item, Int 20 is doing 5 (1 + 2 bonus + 1 school + 1 bonded item) Magic Missiles at 11.5 damage average (7 minimum, 16 maximum). Add an additional 8 force missiles at 1d4 + 1 and this can kill the enjoyment of other people at tier 1-2 quickly.
All I can say is - such a player needs to be found. If you don't know what I mean - it was a thread initiated by Painlord.
So he is wasting a bunch of resources for something that will be obsolete later on... sounds like a bad trade-off in my opinion, unless he plans to stay at level 5 forever...
I think the answer to the OP is simply said, get a Wand.
What's this, evocation school magic missile optimisation and there's no crossblooded orc/dragon dip and Varisian Tattoo for extra damage and CL, respectively?! (I know dragon doesn't do anything but it's the typical other half of orc crossblood). You'd get sorcerer -and- wizard magic missile that way, too! Not to mention each missile will do an extra point of damage from orc bloodline instead of +1 to the total damage from having 20 wizard.