Human Bard Favored class bonus Question

[AllegedChaos]

Question for all you semantics lawyers out there. The human Bard favored class list says " Add one spell known from the bard spell list. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the bard can cast." Now this makes sense. But Bards with high Charismas can cast up to 4th level spells with an 18 charisma. Does this mean that the bard favored class bonus can allow me to take up to a 3rd level spell (granted that I have an 18 Charisma) at level 1? Some clarification would be helpful. I am making my first pathfinder society character right now and would like to have everything that my character has by the book.
Thanks.

[Lathiira]

A 1st level bard can't cast 4th level spells. The bonus says the spell chosen has to be at least one level lower than the lowest level spell they can cast. Looking at the bard class in the CR, a 1st level bard can only cast spells of 1st level (see Spells per Day table). Therefore, at 1st level the bard could only pick a cantrip (0th-level spell).

Oh, and technically, your 18 Charisma bard has enough Charisma to cast 8th level spells...not that bards have those. See, highest level spell you'll ever be able to cast is equal to your relevant ability score (Charisma for a bard) - 10. If you were a sorcerer, you'd need to gain one more point of Charisma to be able to cast 9th level spells...when you reach 18th level, as the spell per day table dictates the highest level spell you can cast. Got it?

[John Murdock]

the bonus spell slot for high stat is only effective if your class can cast spell of that level, so a 1st lvl bard can't cast spell lvl 2 and higher therefor no spell slot of lvl 2 and higher, so the bonus spell slot don't come into play, when you will be able to cast spell of that lvl then the bonus spell slot is effectively there to use.

so as a 1st lvl bard you can only choose 0 lvl spell with the favoured option, its good for spontaneous not for prepared, but its better to take either 1hp or 1sp if no spell lvl 0 is interesting you

[Gisher]

AllegedChaos wrote:

Question for all you semantics lawyers out there. The human Bard favored class list says " Add one spell known from the bard spell list. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the bard can cast." Now this makes sense. But Bards with high Charismas can cast up to 4th level spells with an 18 charisma. Does this mean that the bard favored class bonus can allow me to take up to a 3rd level spell (granted that I have an 18 Charisma) at level 1? Some clarification would be helpful. I am making my first pathfinder society character right now and would like to have everything that my character has by the book.

Thanks.

The short answer is that a 1st level Bard will only be able to add 0 level spells to their list of spells known. This FAQ might help alleviate your confusion.