So, I've tried searching the forums and found many long in depth posts about UMD and staves, but not what I am trying to figure out. So here goes.
Stave has 1 2nd level wizard spell and 1 3rd level transmutation cleric spell. That's it. Minimum CL is 8th per the rules on staves.
Character is a Wizard, level 10, with the Mage's Tattoo (Transmutation) feat to cast transmutation spells at +1 CL. He can cast the 2nd level wizard spell at CL 10. The cleric spell is not on his list, but a DC 20 UMD check pretends that it is. What's the CL for the 3rd level cleric spell? 8? 10 for the wizard CL? 11 for the wizard and bonus from the feat?
Character is a Wizard, level 10, with the Mage's Tattoo (Transmutation) feat to cast transmutation spells at +1 CL. He takes his 11th level in Cleric. He can cast the 2nd level wizard spell at CL 10. The cleric spell is now on his list. What's the CL for the 3rd level cleric spell? 1 for the cleric caster level (but actually 8 for the minimum of the stave)? 5 for the spell minimum (but actually 8 for the minimum of the stave)? 8(minimum of the stave)? 10 for the wizard CL? 11 for the wizard and bonus from the feat?
I'd throw in Magical Knack but that's a whole 'nother can of worms, given the need for order of operations.
Staves are spell-trigger items. You have to actually know the spell. No +5 to DC, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Note: You don't actually count as adding the spell to your spell-list with that UMD check, IIRC. The UMD just acts as a secondary means of meeting that prerequisite. Not sure if that'd make any difference.
I would guess that, as far as staves go, CL is CL and as such your wizard would be using that staff at CL 11 (or 10, if feats boosting CL aren't meant to count), and taking that level of cleric wouldn't change anything (other than the opportunity cost of not taking wizard or an appropriate prestige class).
Ah, sorry, thought you want to craft the thing.
Use the rules for wands UMD-wise, using the staff's caster level for the cleric spell. Use the wizard spells at your wizard level. Mage's Tattoo doesn't affect staff use at all, so that simplifies things.
With the level of cleric, you don't have to make the UMD check obviously; use the staff's caster level since your cleric level is a whopping 1.
Staves don't care what type of spell it is as far as you caster level goes.
"the wielder can use his caster level when activating the power of the staff if it’s higher than the caster level of the staff."
It doesn't care what 'type' of caster level you have, any more than the staff itself has a 'type' of caster level.
Anything that generically increased your caster level (like and Orange Prism Ioun Stone) would 'transfer' to the staff, but anything situational, like Mage's Tattoo wouldn't.
Dave, so in the case of the first wizard, he would cast either spell at CL 10, right? (Assuming he makes the UMD check on the cleric spell) What about the second wizard with one level of cleric?
Blahpers, the way Dave and Linea approach it is how I thought things worked, although I missed that only feats affecting DCs apply, not feats affecting caster level. The unresolved part of Dave's answer is what happens if you have two caster levels (Wizard 10, Cleric 1) and use a staff with Wizard and Cleric spells.
A single level gives access to a spell list, negating the need for UMD checks; but if doing so locks you to the staff CL (being higher than your CL 1 from one level in the class) then it isn't nearly as nice.
Dave, so in the case of the first wizard, he would cast either spell at CL 10, right? (Assuming he makes the UMD check on the cleric spell) What about the second wizard with one level of cleric?
Blahpers, the way Dave and Linea approach it is how I thought things worked, although I missed that only feats affecting DCs apply, not feats affecting caster level. The unresolved part of Dave's answer is what happens if you have two caster levels (Wizard 10, Cleric 1) and use a staff with Wizard and Cleric spells.
A single level gives access to a spell list, negating the need for UMD checks; but if doing so locks you to the staff CL (being higher than your CL 1 from one level in the class) then it isn't nearly as nice.
Yes. That staff itself has a caster level for its spells. If you have a caster level (it doesn't care what kind) that is higher, you can substitute it for the staffs caster level. If you had two caster levels, you could choose, although technically you can't 'choose' a caster level that is lower than what the staff already has (and mostly you would never want to anyway.) So the options for a Wiz 10/ Clr 1 would be either CL 10 or the caster level of the staff (assuming it was lower than 10, otherwise you would be stuck with the staff's CL) and it wouldn't matter what spell of the staff you used (for CL anyway, if the staff had a Ranger only spell in it as well, you would still need UMD).
I can see the argument that it doesn't care about which class's caster level you're using, but I can also see the argument that the developers assumed it was obvious by the fact that you (normally) couldn't use the spell at all if you didn't have levels in the class. I would FAQ it, and expect table variance in the meantime.
Thank you for your replies! Staves seem weird all around - it's like there should have been two more paragraphs of rules text that got lost on the way to the printer.