+1 BAB or +1 to Caster Level - Which is more important?

[Monty27]

Hello all,

My question is which should be more crucial to me a +1 to BAB or a +1 to Caster Level?
I'm playing my first non-pure martial character a Level 1 dip into spellslinger and the rest Magus. By taking the dip into Spellslinger lowers my BAB below the medium range. This for some reason does not sit well with me. Is this an acceptable hit given it keeps my Caster Level from becoming reduced or should I take one level into fighter and get my BAB back to normal as well as picking up a feat at the expense of my Caster Level? The Magus is to get involved with melee, but should that supersede my Caster Level? Thank you for your time and help with this matter.

[strayshift]

+1 Save DC.

[SiuoL]

Depends on how often will you have to fight and what kind of fight you will be in the most, also your team would make a difference.

Example, if everyone at my team can cast spell. So I should really stick to BAB because once in awhile, you will have to fight a lot of ankle biters and your team will be out of spells. However, + 1 caster level is almost always better than + 1 BAB, just make sure you don't spam spells if you do that. A lot of casters have a habit of spamming spells because they have a lot of them, mostly sorcerer. However, you should always cast with the thought of you might need some spell later in mind.

I'm playing a fighter/sorcerer/dragon disciple at the moment I'm having a hard time balance BAB and caster level. My plan so far is to keep my BAB no less than +16 while trying to obtain 10 caster levels by heavy multiclassing. Now I got decent benefit from both power attack and arcane strike.

[Kittenological]

Spell Progression. Multiclass too much/often, you'll find your firepower not quite up to par on the challenges. Don't spread yourself too thin.

[Artanthos]

Don't multiclass with magus. Spell and class ability progression are too valuable.

[Captain Xenon]

if your a caster, then caster level is most important. it adds to your concentration check, your save DC, your spell penetration, and you available number of spells.

the only time you dont worry about caster level, is when you dip caster for a reason other than spells- such as qualifying for arcane archer.

in most cases, multiclass is weak in pathfinder because class abilities are very good. multiclass is terrible for Magus, because of the specific way that class abilities work for that class. if you delay when you get those abilities, then you will be less able to survive higher CR fights.