What does +1 Caster Level feats mean?

[Lao Haeris]

Hello everyone,

I am building a blaster admixture wizard 9/sorcerer 1, and I have a few questions about some feats.

The mage's tattoo (evocation) and bloodmage initiate (evocation) feats say:
''you cast spells from this school of magic at +1 caster level''

Does that mean:
1) I am adding +1 to overcome Spell Resistance?
2) I add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws (reflex in the case of fireball)?
3) I add 1 more dice to my fireball? I am currently 9 lvl wizard and 1 lvl sorcerer. The mage's tattoo will give me one more dice. But then I reach the cap of fireball. Will bloodmage initiate add another dice to that total bringing it up to 11d6 in total? Or it stops at 10 regardless and it just adds 1) and 2) ?

Spell specialization says:
''Select one spell of a school for which you have taken the Spell Focus feat. Treat your caster level as being two higher for all level-variable effects of the spell.''

4) I add again the +2 to overcome Spell Resistance and +2 to the Difficulty class for all saving throws?
5) Does that increase my dice above 10d6 which is the max for fireball? Does it make it 12d6? Or it stops there?

Extra question:
as a 9 lvl wizard and 1 lvl sorcerer, my fireball will be 9d6 or 10d6? The spell description says:
''deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6)''

Caster level equals my levels in all spellcasting classes or just the class I am casting the spell? What's the difference with: class level or character level?

[Caliban_]

1) Yes. It's a caster level check to overcome SR.
2) No - that's not determined by caster level.
3) Yes, that's determined by caster level, up to the maximum damage of the spell (max of 10d6 for fireball).
4) Yes to SR, no to save DC's. Save DC's are determined by the level of the spell and your casting stat, not your caster level.
5) It maxes out at 10d6, because that is the max damage for the spell.

+1 caster level increases everything affected by your caster level - spell range, spell damage, spell duration, overcoming SR, etc. But only up to any inherent limits in the spell itself (but there are other feats that let you change those.)

[Gluttony]

1) Yes, caster level is used to overcome spell resistance.

2) No, spell DCs are affected be spell level and casting stat, not by caster level.

3) Yes you add one more die to your fireball, but it stops at 10d6. Increasing caster level does not change how the spell works.

4) Yes to overcoming SR, no to saving throws.

5) It stops at 10d6.

[Lao Haeris]

Oh thank you all so much.

Last question:
Since Bloodmage Initiate and Mage's Tattoo and Spell Specialization gives me +4 CL and I am 9 lvl wizard, my fireball will cap at 10d6.

If I use intensify metamagic:
'' An intensified spell increases the maximum number of damage dice by 5 levels. You must actually have sufficient caster levels to surpass the maximum in order to benefit from this feat.''

That means my fireball now is 13d6 right?
And at lvl 11 it will be 15d6? Which will stop there and won't improve anymore. Are all these correct?

[Rynjin]

Yes.

[Weirdo]

I think this was missed:

Lao Haeris wrote:

Extra question:

as a 9 lvl wizard and 1 lvl sorcerer, my fireball will be 9d6 or 10d6? The spell description says:
''deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6)''

Caster level equals my levels in all spellcasting classes or just the class I am casting the spell? What's the difference with: class level or character level?

Levels in the class with which you're casting the spell.

When a class feature says "level" it means "class level" (level in the class that gives you this feature) by default. If an ability uses character level (total level in all classes), it should specify. For example, "Familiar Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master's character level or the familiar's normal HD total, whichever is higher." A Wizard 9 / Sorc 1's familiar would have 10 HD.