How do Prestige Classes above level 10 work?

[William Nova]

New player here, I'm considering where my level 3 Wizard is going, which leads me to Eldritch Knight.

Anyway, Looking way into the future, I take 5 levels of Wizard, 1 level of Fighter, and from 7 to 16 I take Eldritch Knight levels.

What happens once I hit level 17? Do I just stop leveling before the pure classes, like an OSR Demi-Human?

If I keep leveling, how does that work? If I were to go back to, say, Wizard; would I be starting at level 6? That doesn't seem possible, since my Arcane spell level from EK will be at that point high enough to cast 9th Level Spells.

Or am I reading the EK's "+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class" too strictly? Would I continue as an 15th level Wizard? I just don't see a path forward, yet I saw Zolthux's Guide to the EK it reads "and after hitting level 10 will go back to your casting class of choice."

An ancillary question to this would be do I qualify for Wizard Bonus Feats from those "+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class" the same way I qualify for Combat Feats using the Diverse Training Class Feature?

I would think no, but since there are a lot of high BAB Combat Feats I can see adding the EK and Fighter levels together, however in the Core book I can't find anything really with a high enough Caster Level Prerequisite that would need me to add my EK level to my Wizard level other than Item Creation Feats, which only a Wizard can take as Bonus Feats. So this has me confused.

[Val'bryn2]

If you add it to your wizard level, you would be a fighter 1/Wizard 6/ E Knight 10, exactly as if you had been a 6th level wizard before going E Knight. And no, the +1 level of arcane spellcaster is only for caster level, spells, and the like, not for other wizard class features.

[William Nova]

Val'bryn2 wrote:

If you add it to your wizard level, you would be a fighter 1/Wizard 6/ E Knight 10, exactly as if you had been a 6th level wizard before going E Knight. And no, the +1 level of arcane spellcaster is only for caster level, spells, and the like, not for other wizard class features.

So whatever I add just continues where it left off, or if I were insane enough to take a level of something new, that would just add another level 1 of something else?

Using the same multiclass rules which got me Fighter 1 and EK 1 I can see how it would be done, I think. The fact the the EK stops at 10 is what is confusing me. That, and being new to PF in general. I don't want to make any assumptions using other editions of D&D.

[blahpers]

You can always level up. (Until you reach level 20, in which case the GM has to decide whether/how further levels work.)

Unlike the old days, you never really have a "current class"--that is, the rules don't really care about which class you last took a level in. When your fighter 1/wizard 6/eldritch knight 10 gains a level, select the class whose level you want to increase and, well, do it.

Individual classes and prestige classes do have caps. Once you've hit eldritch knight 10, you can't take another level in eldritch knight. But you can take a second level in fighter, a seventh level in wizard, or start another class or prestige class for which you qualify. The rules don't care what order you level in so long as you qualify when you do it.

For another example: Suppose you were going for cleric/wizard/mystic theurge. The rules don't care whether you do

1 cleric 1
2 wizard 1
3 cleric 2
4 wizard 2
5 wizard 3
6 cleric 3
7 mystic theurge 1

or

1 wizard 1
2 wizard 2
3 wizard 3
4 cleric 1
5 cleric 2
6 cleric 3
7 mystic theurge 1

or any other order of levels, nor do they care whether your 8th level is cleric, wizard, mystic theurge, ranger, Pathfinder savant, or anything else. They only care about whether you qualify for mystic theurge at all before you take your first level in it.

[Meirril]

Yes, your character continues to earn xp and increase levels.

When you go up a level you must choose a class to add to your character for that level, or a 'racial HD' if that is available to your character (and race). A prestige class is just a class that has prerequisites before you can choose it.

Prestige classes also have 5 or 10 levels. They are classes you dip into but can't spend your entire time in them. Usually they are character defining.

To improve your character you'll probably want to continue leveling your casting ability. That means adding more wizard levels, or a prestige class that advances existing casting ability. But if you wanted to go off the rails and take a level of any other class you qualify for there is nothing to stop you. The only thing you can't do is add an 11th level of Eldritch Knight because it doesn't exist.

[Nathan Monson]

The +1 to spell level applies to Spell Slots, Caster level, and Spells Known. So, if you are Fighter 1/ Wizard 5/ Eldritch Knight 10, and take another level in Wizard, you gain the class features of a 6th level Wizard, except for spell casting, which counts your EK levels, and functions as if you were Wizard 15.