Ok, so putting together an encounter and was going to give the NPC the "Staff of the Slain". Here is the description copied from HeroLab:
This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons. A
spellstealing weapon allows its wielder to siphon protective magic
from a target and transfer it to herself. When the wielder rolls a
critical threat against a target, she can forgo confirming the critical
hit and instead automatically learn which spells or magical effects
are active upon the target. The wielder may then make a caster
level check to steal her choice of one of those effects, using the
spellstealing weapon’s caster level plus its enhancement bonus,
against a DC of 11 + the caster level of the effect. If the check
succeeds, the target immediately loses the benefits of that effect
and the wielder gains the effect for 1 minute (or until the effect
expires, whichever comes first). If the spellstealing weapon has a
critical multiplier greater than ×2, the wielder may attempt to steal
one additional spell effect per additional multiple beyond ×2 (two
effects for ×3, and so on).
Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, greater arcane sight ,
limited wish ; Cost +3 Bonus
Appears In : Ultimate Equipment
The bold/italic part is what is confusing me. This item is an intelligent artifact so assuming it would be a CL 20 item, it is a +5 weapon, which would make the CL check =25 to steal the spell effect. So doing the math, CL 25 -11 (from DC) = 14 CL. The highest caster level you can effect with this is 14th? So any caster over level 14 has nothing to fear from this item? Something is not right here, and for some reason I cannot figure it out, so please if someone can see what I am missing please point it out.
Also on the flip side, if you attempt this against a caster 14th or lower, you will automatically succeed? I know the circumstances that need to be met for it to happen with the crit etc., but once they are met it is auto-success?
