Void wizard school, what caster level are they referring too?

[Maniacwyrm]

So two different scenarios: if you take a single level in wizard and say summoner 19, taking the void school, for the purposes of the reveal weakness feature is your caster level consider 19 or 1?

If you were to say take vmc wizard and void, and you have caster level 20 in cleric for example, does reveal weakness take your CL as 20 or 0?

Asking because I saw void school seemed to be a go to wizard dip and everyone says it’s because it scales off CL instead of class levels. Though, I thought it scales off your wizard caster level specifically not just any caster level you have generally

So to give an example, I thought a Sorc 19/ wiz 1 will reveal weakness as a CL 1 while a Clr 3/wiz 7/mystic Theurge 10 will reveal weakness as a CL 17

[Azothath]

℟

[Belafon]

The answer varies between the scenarios you outlined, but you are correct. It's based on your wizard CL. Let's start with the basics. This particular ability does scale off caster level, and in general caster level for a spell or ability is equal to your level in the class that granted the ability. However, specific does trump general, so let's dig into your scenarios.

Dragon Empires Primer page 29 wrote:

Reveal Weakness (Su): When you activate this school power as a standard action, you select a foe within 30 feet. That creature takes a penalty to its AC and on saving throws equal to 1/2 your caster level (minimum –1) for 1 round. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence bonus.

CRB page 208 wrote:

Caster Level

A spell’s power often depends on its caster level, which for most spellcasting characters is equal to her class level in the class she’s using to cast the spell.

Wizard 1/Summoner 19 - Reveal Weakness CL 1

Unchained page 90 wrote:

Wizard

A character who chooses wizard as his secondary class gains the following secondary class features.
School: At 1st level, he chooses a school of magic in which to specialize. For all powers of that school, he treats his character level as his effective wizard level.

VMC Cleric/Wizard 20 (wizard as secondary class) - Reveal Weakness CL 20.

Sorcerer 19/Wizard 1 - Same as Wizard 1/Summoner 19. Reveal Weakness CL 1.
Cleric 3/Wizard 7/Mystic Theurge 10 - Reveal Weakness CL 17.

CRB page 388 wrote:

This essentially means that he adds the level of mystic theurge to the level of whatever other arcane spellcasting class and divine spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly.

[Maniacwyrm]

Well if the vmc trick works this makes vmc void wizard summoner 20 really good combo if you have somewhat decent intelligence. Since you can inflict a -10 to AC so all you summons could have a high chance of hitting stuff lmao not as thematic but sounds pretty effective

[Melkiador]

Maniacwyrm wrote:

Well if the vmc trick works this makes vmc void wizard summoner 20 really good combo if you have somewhat decent intelligence. Since you can inflict a -10 to AC so all you summons could have a high chance of hitting stuff lmao not as thematic but sounds pretty effective

It’s nice that it scales, but a level 20 summoner will have plenty of things to spend his standard action on every round. It’s probably more useful at lower level when you often have a shortage of ways to contribute.

And summoning is a pretty feat intensive focus. So losing half of them to VMC isn’t an easy choice. I’m not saying not to do it, but the trade offs are significant, so it’s not like you are getting some huge advantage here.

[Tom Sampson]

It refers to the caster level of the class that gives you the Void school powers, so ordinarily your Wizard class's caster level. As such, a Wizard 1 / Summoner 19 would only have a caster level of 1 for the Void school powers.

If you instead obtain it as a variant multiclass power, I would treat it much like features received from feats, so 20 levels of Cleric would give you a caster level of 20 for the Reveal Weakness school power, and should you use a bead of karma you would even have a caster level of 24.

[Belafon]

I briefly played a void elemental wizard (actually an arcanist with the School Understanding exploit) and Reveal Weakness is an amazing ability. It is a supernatural, no-save ability and applies to every attack or spell cast in the next round. It scales really well - the more characters in your party the better it is.

One thing to be aware of using VMC - you won't actually get Reveal Weakness until 7th level. Fun to theorycraft a level 20 character, but in actual play from level 1 you're not going to be able to use it for a long time.