Healer's Touch questions

[Eeza]

So I'm looking to take the Healer's Touch achievement feat and just had a few things I would wish to clarify before I do.

Quote:

Healer’s Touch (Achievement)

The magic of life flows through your body like a river.

Prerequisites: Cure a cumulative total of 1,000 points of damage for other creatures using healing spells. Dealing damage slows progress toward this goal achievement; for every 1 point of damage you deal to another creature, reduce your cumulative healing total by 2.

Benefit: When you cast a healing spell to heal a target other than yourself, the spell is maximized as though using the Maximize Spell effect. This does not increase your casting time for the spell. When you cast a healing spell to damage a target, the spell is not maximized but its saving throw DC increases by +4.

Note: There may be an opposite version of this feat allowing casters using negative energy to heal undead.

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It's ONLY the dice rolls that are maximized correct? So a level 8 oracle casting cure critical wounds which is normally 4d8+8 would be 32+8? Or is the whole spell maximized to look like 32+20?

Secondly, I would like to know if it increases my spell level to use it. The matamagic Maximize spell adds a +3 to the spell slot used to cast the spell and just want to know if this one does or not. I read a post here that seems to come to the conclusion that it didn't take up the higher spell slots but I just wanted to double check and get more recent opinions before I bring it to my GM.

[Jeff Merola]

Maximize only works on the dice, as there's nothing else to maximize. And it doesn't use up higher slots because it doesn't say it does. It's not the only way of getting "free" metamagic on healing spells either.

[DM Sothal]

Maximize Spell (Metamagic) wrote:

Your spells have the maximum possible effect.

Benefit: All variable, numeric effects of a spell modified by this feat are maximized. Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected, nor are spells without random variables. A maximized spell uses up a spell slot three levels higher than the spell's actual level.

An empowered, maximized spell gains the separate benefits of each feat: the maximum result plus half the normally rolled result.

The 4d8 is a variable. the +1 per Caster level is not.

[Eeza]

This is how I thought the spell worked, I just wanted it clarified before I brought it to the GM so thanks guys for the input.