Just noticed today (yes, I'm a bit slow at times) that in Ultimate Magic there is an Inquisition called Anger, of which 6th level granted power is Divine Anger:
Divine Anger (Ex): At 6th level, you gain the ability to rage like a barbarian. Your effective barbarian level for this ability is your inquisitor level – 3. If you have levels in barbarian, these levels stack when determining the effect of your rage. You do not gain any rage powers from this granted power, though if you have rage powers from another class, you may use them with these rages. You can rage a number of rounds per day equal to your Wisdom bonus, plus 1 round for every inquisitor level above 4th.
This one had me instantly think of the Rage Subdomain of Destruction Domain:
Rage (Su): At 8th level, you can enter a fearsome rage, like a barbarian, for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. At 12th and 16th level, you can select one rage power. You cannot select any rage power that possesses a level requirement, but otherwise your barbarian level is equal to 1/2 your cleric level. These rounds of rage stack with any rounds of rage you might have from levels of barbarian.
What I'm wondering now is this: Do the effective barbarian levels stack to grant a (e.g.) Cleric of Gorum higher overall effective barbarian level?
How I read this, is that he would get more rage rounds per day at least, but if the effective levels would stack, he would go well above his own character level in his effective barbarian levels, and that's a bit sick.
So, is there any rulings about this I have missed or would I seriously get a level 20 cleric with effective barbarian level of 27? :D
There is at least one similar case of stacking effective levels that I can think of, and that's effective druid level for mounts/animal companions. I'm not that well into the rules to say if I'm interpreting this one accurately, but I do on my behalf agree that the stacking would be, in this case, a bit too powerful.
Well, an important thing to note is that this only gives you Rage.
(Ex): A barbarian can call upon inner reserves of strength and ferocity, granting her additional combat prowess. Starting at 1st level, a barbarian can rage for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + her Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, she can rage for 2 additional rounds. Temporary increases to Constitution, such as those gained from rage and spells like bear's endurance, do not increase the total number of rounds that a barbarian can rage per day. A barbarian can enter rage as a free action. The total number of rounds of rage per day is renewed after resting for 8 hours, although these hours do not need to be consecutive.
While in rage, a barbarian gains a +4 morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution, as well as a +2 morale bonus on Will saves. In addition, she takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase to Constitution grants the barbarian 2 hit points per Hit Dice, but these disappear when the rage ends and are not lost first like temporary hit points. While in rage, a barbarian cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
A barbarian can end her rage as a free action and is fatigued after rage for a number of rounds equal to 2 times the number of rounds spent in the rage. A barbarian cannot enter a new rage while fatigued or exhausted but can otherwise enter rage multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If a barbarian falls unconscious, her rage immediately ends, placing her in peril of death.
Which doesn't ever improve based on level. Because:
At 11th level, when a barbarian enters rage, the morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution increases to +6 and the morale bonus on her Will saves increases to +3.
Starting at 17th level, a barbarian no longer becomes fatigued at the end of her rage.
At 20th level, when a barbarian enters rage, the morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution increases to +8 and the morale bonus on her Will saves increases to +4.
are all completely seprate abilities, despite that the later modify the earlier. You do not ever gain access to them. You always just get a +4 to strength and con, it never grows. So all your effective level does is determine the number of rounds of rage you get. So I think yes, it does stack, but it will only help you get more rounds of rage.
That, would the levels stack to increase the rage bonuses, was never the case with my observations. I know they are separate abilities and that stacking your effective level wouldn't have anything to do with it.
What I was wondering is that would the levels stack for the purpose of rage powers and their effects.
Dotting, I'm curious what folks think about this one.
Levels wouldn't stack for Pre-Reqs or Scaling Rage Powers.
If you already counted a class level towards a purpose, you can't count it twice.
Each Domain/Inquisition is allowing you to count a level towards that purpose.
Being allowed to do so from two sources doesn't mean you count the level twice.
It still would be useful on other aspects.
Dotting this one. My interpretation would be that you get rounds of rage from both abilities, and your effective level for rage powers gained from the Rage subdomain power would be effectively doubled thanks to the inquisition ability, but you still couldn't take any rage powers that have Barbarian level prerequisites, per this part:
...You cannot select any rage power that possesses a level requirement, but otherwise your barbarian level is equal to 1/2 your cleric level....
So, at 10th level, a cleric with the Rage subdomain and the Anger inquisition would have an effective Barbarian level of 12th ([1/2 * 10] plus [10 - 3]), but you'd be restricted to a pretty small list of rage powers, so it's not OP in my opinion. At very most, you'd be looking at an effective Barbarian level of 27 at 20th level, with a max of 2 rage powers, and you're missing out on a lot of other cool Domain power and domain spell options by going this route.
Yes, that is the only scenario you would worry about a Domain+Inquisition stacking from the same character level,
and the OP in fact mentioned a Cleric of Gorum and a Level 20 Cleric s a relevant example of what he was talking about.
It is usually a terrible idea for a Cleric to choose an Inquisition.
Terrible or not, that's not the point. The point was "how would it work?"
And for the record, from what I've learned first-hand by playing a cleric to 13th level in Carrion Crown AP, the choice whether I have two or one domain or none at all isn't all that simple. Domain spells are rarely superior to the powers you get from Domains OR Inquisitions. (And I might add, the example cleric of gorum at level 20 mentioned in OP wasn't or won't be a character for that AP).
Inquisition powers can be, and are at times, as good as Domain powers; some are even better. So I don't agree on your opinion about "terrible idea" in this matter. But again, that was not the original point of this thread, and is of no factor to discuss. Period.
Just a bit calculations, to refer to:
Pure barbarian would get Constitution Modifier+42 rounds of rage at level 20.
Combining both pools of the domain and inquisition rage rounds rests at Wisdom Modifier+37(17 from Inquisiton and 20 from Domain), which is still lower than barbarian's base rounds. Not much lower, but still lower.
Again, I do think it would be a bit too much, since the character would still function too closely as a barbarian AND as a cleric at the same time.
About the "effective Barbarian level" in regard to how powerful rage powers would be, I'd say effectiveness would never overlap your character level, at least. Better yet: since you'd basically be a hybrid cleric/barbarian, effective barbarian level equal to half your cleric level would be just fine.