This, at "Step 2: Add Class Levels", second paragraph:
"If the creature possesses class features (such as spellcasting or sneak attack) for the class that is being added, these abilities stack."
Now, that means that if I have, say, a Dragon with a Sorcerer CL of 7 and I add 5 real levels of Sorcerer, it gains a total CL of 12 (and all other class features as a 5th level Sorcerer).
My question is: if the creature is a Silver Dragon, or any other creature that can cast Cleric spells as arcane spells, how does this interact with the Sorcerer levels?
I mean, can the Silver Dragon choose Cleric spells to add to its list of known spells when it gets Sorcer levels, or can it do so only if it advances in racial hit dice and gains increased spellcasting level from that?
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You progress it as a sorcerer, but you treat cleric spells as being on your sorcerer spell list. So, in your example, you'd be a 12th level sorcerer and have the option of choosing any level-appropriate spell on the cleric list as one of your spells known since the silver dragon casts spells from the cleric list as arcane spells.
At least, that's how I've always interpreted it.
SSalarn is correct. The class you have levels in determines how the spell is cast so even if you have a spell that is not on the sorcerer's class list it will still be considered a sorcerer's(in the case of the dragon) spell for the purpose of that monster.
So, if I have a CL 1st (2 spells known for level 1) Silver Dragon who knows Magic Missile and Cure Light Wounds, and add 2 Sorcerer levels to it rather than letting it advance by HD (CL 3rd, 3 spells known for level 1), I can choose another Cleric spell as the one that I get to know from that increase in CL, even if the ability to choose from the Cleric list is a racial thing of the Dragon (and thus can continue to do so every time I get to know new spells)?
The doubt comes from the fact that Sorcerer-only spells are the thing that stricly overlaps with what the creature gets from the class, and thus stack, while the ability to choose from the Cleric list is something that doesn't overlap with what you get from the class (since, normally, taking Sorcerer levels, you choose spells only from the Sorcerer list, not the Cleric's too), and so I dunno if it should improve (up to casting 9th level spells from the Cleric list) if what really improves is just the class and not the racial HD.
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You're advancing the dragon's ability as a sorcerer though. His racial ability allows him to treat all the spells on the cleric list as arcane spells. Nothing in the ability limits this to spells gained by hit die or class level. So the ability functions regardless of what source he's gaining his arcane spells from.
Silver Dragons aren't exactly a player race, so there's no real pressing need to limit the ability as far as RAW goes. Really, it's not even that damaging if you are playing a campaign where you're adding class levels to monsters, as there are now several ways for legal player characters to pull spells from other classes and add them to their own spell list.