Wizard school abilities and prestige class spell levels

[Iron Brow]

So, I have a fighter/wizard/arcane archer. What does everyone think about the +level of existing class spells per day and wizard arcane school ability increase? Let me explain...

I have 2 levels of wizard and 7 levels of arcane archer. An effective 7th caster level. I specialise in conjuration so have the acid dart ability from 1st level of wizard class, this does 1d6 +1 per 2 wizard levels. My question is, do I only add +1 damage for my wizard levels or +4 for 7th caster level?

The prestige spells per day says "He does not, however, gain other benefits a character of that class would have gained, except for additional spells per day, spells known (if he is a spontaneous spellcaster), and an increased effective level of spellcasting.". So I'm happy that I wouldn't gain the 8th level wizard ability (when I reach appropriate level) as that is a new benefit, but my increased caster level for the 1st level ability would that increase my acid dart damage?

Discuss.... :)

[Gisher]

CRB wrote:

Acid Dart (Sp): As a standard action you can unleash an acid dart targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The acid dart deals 1d6 points of acid damage + 1 for every two wizard levels you possess. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier. This attack ignores spell resistance.

Acid Dart damage is based on Wizard Level, not Caster Level. So it doesn't progress with your AA levels. It does 1d6+1 points of acid damage.

[DM_Blake]

Not much to discuss here. It's written in black and white.

It's too bad, really, and I've made house rules to allow it. Frankly, I don't even know why Pathfinder has prestige classes. Nobody uses them. Well, almost nobody; apparently Iron Brow does. But at my table, I haven't been able to sell a prestige class to any player since we started Pathfinder in 2009.

None of them seem any better or any more prestigious than the base classes, many of them require burning feats or skill points as entry requirements that the PC might not want to burn, many class abilities get stunted when you take a prestige class (like the OP's Acid Dart), and taking a prestige class means you stop getting your favored class bonuses.

So, for no real gain (basically only flavor) and having to pay a penalty to get that flavor, they don't seem to really make sense in Pathfinder.

Heck, I'm not even convinced that Paizo has a great interest in them; they're really only adding them in companion books and few of them seem very inspired.

[Iron Brow]

Cool, thanks for the replies. Pretty much what I was expecting but was hoping I'd missed an errata where pathfinder had changed the use of the "wizard levels".

Prestige classes are fairly weak compared to core classes I agree, but it has introduced a nice twist to the campaign we play, so I did it more for a fun aspect than 'I must be the absolute best archer'. Personally I wanted to be a Druid but DM recommended otherwise as he said I'd struggle to maintain appropriate alignment with what is planned in his campaign...

[James Risner]

Iron Brow wrote:

do I only add +1 damage for my wizard levels

This

[Blakmane]

DM_Blake wrote:

Heck, I'm not even convinced that Paizo has a great interest in them; they're really only adding them in companion books and few of them seem very inspired.

Paizo doesn't have great interest in them at all: they are being phased out in exchange for archetypes.

They were worth the paper they were printed on for a year or two there when there was SLA early entry. Now they are back to being a waste of ink, sadly.