Suggestion: Caster Levels as Epic Feats

[Hoihe]

After many years of insisting that my caster builds end up with cl 30 or higher, I tried playing toons with lower cl. You need to be more item reliant and add more defense feats.

In the end it turned out to be much more fun and engaging to play a melee caster hybrid with only cl 20 than 30. You don't do the 2 min prebuffing cycle after each rest and focus more on reactive combat. You don't have the feeling any more, when you get dispelled that oh sh** I am useless now and need to rest.

It took me many years to get better but now I have found a niche cl 20 caster that is a bit harder and more reactive to play, that can function when dispelled against normal mobs and only uses the main spells for the big bosses.

By normal mobs, are you counting the 35/38 AB giants? I cannot think of a cl 20 caster that can hit 58 AC unbuffed. And my cl19 build had all the AC feats and int to AC as possible. (maybe ICE + Athkatlan at once. But that's essentially hitting once per round with that build due to lack of AB)

Pls don't understand me wrong. I would like to see this change implemented on some of my toons. And I am totally aware that lower cl casters are weaker and harder to play.

Getting to your build. You could improve armor by improved mage armor, that when runs out gets replaced by wands. Brooch of shieldud get's 4 shield Ac if your shield enhancement drops. Nat Ac should be at least 4. I roughly count displacement and mirror image as at least 5 Ac equivalent. So memorizing a lot of them plus having wands in the inventory should keep you save. And you always have summons too.

I am aware that buying wands and scrolls is an investment that many players don't want to do, but most of my melee builds rely on wands much more.

I think we should move toon building to another forum. Sorry for deviating to much from the main topic.

IMA is a buff that can get dispelled. Brooch of Shield is a buff that can dispelled, and only lasts 3-5 minutes. Mirror image - likewise will get dispelled constantly, and it's mandatory for being playable. Displacement is round/cl, and is reserved for bossing (nowhere near enough slots)

Nat AC at 4 needs 400K gold. That's end-game gear.

Speaking of, I'm yet to see mithral chain +4 so I tried the Swash-swinger equivalent:

https://nwn2db.com/build/?340530


(Gr. Evo is stand in for Reignite Evocation. Realized it only gets 23 int at the end so had to give up epic evo for it)
(ignore the could get + great int. It was before I realized 23 + 3 is 26 and not 28).

As visible, even the Swashsinger is useless.

I could add +1 AC by replacing a gr. int with
It too lacks AB and damage to touch anything.

Without buffs, it's a sitting duck.

Most mobs you fight at level 30 got 35 AB, AC in 30-40 range, with 5-10 DR.

[Kalgain]

Right, I totally agree. Sorry I could have made my playstyle more clear. When you get dispelled, your summon tanks a few rounds you step back and rebuff just a few crucial spells that are essential for your build.

And on other toons with a 2min prebuff cycle, I feel the same frustrating feeling. Because you don't have so many spell slots and you don't want too rebuff after you get dispelled.

Pls donr understand me wrong. I am on your side with some of my caster toons. I just want to raise awareness in this thread that there are playstyles that are ok with the current dispels and not cl 30 although they are harder to play.

[Kitunenotsume]

A suggestion was made earlier for Spell Girding feats, which exist in source material (FR-specific, even). They don't give a full caster level for all purposes, but do give -2 to the enemy dispel roll (so +2 CL functionally against dispels). While the one from the book is just the one, you could easily extend it by creating Greater Spell Girding and Epic Spell Girding feats at -4 and -6 respectively.

http://alcyius.com/dndtools/feats/magic ... index.html

Spell Girding
( Magic of Faerûn, p. 22)

[General]
Your spells are particularly hardy, resisting dispel checks more readily than normal.

Prerequisite

Benefit
Any dispel checks against your spells are made with a -2 penalty.

I recall using this feat quite effectively back on Sundren, as it was tangibly useful to everyone due to the server soft-cap of 20.
Even here, I'd support it's consideration and inclusion.

[EasternCheesE]

I myself am prone to:
1) Ask builders to reduce amount of dispel-able mobs to like 1/5 of current amount making them randomized. So, within same caster mob type, 4 out 5 don't have dispel ready
2) Add Girding feats line Rhifox suggests. Dispel immunity should come with price.

[Kalgain]

I myself am prone to:
1) Ask builders to reduce amount of dispel-able mobs to like 1/5 of current amount making them randomized. So, within same caster mob type, 4 out 5 don't have dispel ready
2) Add Girding feats line Rhifox suggests. Dispel immunity should come with price.

1) that is a very good solution. I think dispels are more a problem when the CL is relatively low, and casters need to level through the lower levels. I would suggest to remove more of the dispels in lower levels (that includes traps) while not removing so many dispels in the epic levels.
2) I have played around with getting immune against mords using the hierophant divine spell power feats. If you allow toons to get far over CL 30, the game will get dominated by a new level of power builds. In this case, it would be imperative to only make the girding feats work below CL 30. Just imagine getting CL 33 and adding 3 Girding feats make you basically immune to mords, then there is no hard counter to this playstyle any more.
3) If you add the girding feats check the very carefully. I played around theorycrafting, and the powerlevel of some builds will be off the charts then. So I would like to have them, but I would also know that if the build became public, it would be nerfed again

[EasternCheesE]

I myself am prone to:
1) Ask builders to reduce amount of dispel-able mobs to like 1/5 of current amount making them randomized. So, within same caster mob type, 4 out 5 don't have dispel ready
2) Add Girding feats line Rhifox suggests. Dispel immunity should come with price.

1) that is a very good solution. I think dispels are more a problem when the CL is relatively low, and casters need to level through the lower levels. I would suggest to remove more of the dispels in lower levels (that includes traps) while not removing so many dispels in the epic levels.
2) I have played around with getting immune against mords using the hierophant divine spell power feats. If you allow toons to get far over CL 30, the game will get dominated by a new level of power builds. In this case, it would be imperative to only make the girding feats work below CL 30. Just imagine getting CL 33 and adding 3 Girding feats make you basically immune to mords, then there is no hard counter to this playstyle any more.
3) If you add the girding feats check the very carefully. I played around theorycrafting, and the powerlevel of some builds will be off the charts then. So I would like to have them, but I would also know that if the build became public, it would be nerfed again

Oh, you raised good concern, i forgot to add that girdling shouldn't exceed PC level in my view. To only be the way to actually raise vs dispel CL to 30, but not beyond

[Steve]

Yes, so that Hierophant and ArchMsge are made superfluous.

[YYA]

If someone wants to role-play a very specific concept character -- in my opinion -- it is only fair that they get to experience the exact realities of said character.

A lot of these 'nimble and smart' -- 'dexterity and intelligence' builds would be actually better without their low level investment into arcane spell casting -- or if one truly needs some minor arcane casting for flavour; a long time ago the server fixed Hideous Blow to be far less hideous and thus Warlock would actually offer something right here -- Darkness, Invisibility, Haste, and a choice in elemental damage types.

And to be honest, the Druid and Cleric spellbooks offer far better spells for a non-buff reliant caster in the form direct healing, and select physical damage increasing spells that could be casted as needed without any need to deal with the arcane spell failure or equipment based constraints. Medium BAB progression also makes life more tenable for a 'GISH' type of character.

And anyhow, if arcane casting is insisted upon, instead of trying to get the most out of dexterity and intelligence, why not just go for strength and charisma as a Sorcerer, wear that Full-plate with a Tower Shield, use the Still Spell metamagic feat, get the three epic feats for Automatic if you must. Oh and since you did not need to get Swashbuckler, Duelist, etc, for AC and Damage -- your caster level will be much higher by default and thus solving the very problem at hand. The problem of a very specific, but mechanically utterly horrible, character concept. This is a role-playing server, so if you find your character to be incompetent, then just role-play your character's incompetence or change concept.


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But there is one change I would actually suggest in favour of these terrible, useless, 'Not-Nimble-Nor-Smart-Jacks-Of-No-Trades' -- make Augment Form feat work with Tenser's Transformation spell. In Pen and Paper the Tenser's Transformation is a Polymorph effect, and thus it should actually benefit from the Polymorphing changes, which also brings +4 AC from Epic Spell Focus in Transmutation. The spell still negates spellcasting, so, you are not going to rebuff anything while it is still active, but on the plus side: it is not listed on the Spell Breach list. So feel free to hack away and just recast if dispelled!

I suppose some Wizard or Sorcerer 10/Eldritch Knight 10/Dragon Slayer 10 build could use it to get something like 27 BAB instead of 25, which is +1 attack at their lowest BAB -- but they already get that while Polymorphed into a different form, which also negates the need to invest into strength, dexterity, and constitution ability scores, thus and allowing the character o pump up their primary casting ability score as high as humanly possible for the obvious benefits of it. A more proper 'GISH,' would still have to invest into those physical stats, which in my opinion would balance it all out.

And if we put the above into more concrete terms, using the horrible builds that were willingly posted as examples; the first build would get +4 BAB and +5 AB on top -- the second build would get +1 BAB and +2 AB -- while Tenser's Transformation is active. Neither build experiences an extra attack at their lowest BAB, but the two builds would sit at 35 and 33 AB respectively, while squeezing out as much AC as possible, before things like Greater Heroism (+4) and Haste (+1), which are not found on the Breach list. Casting one to three spells shouldn't be a great burden, the only real downside here is that both Greater Heroism and Tenser's Transformation are 6th level spells, while Heroism (+2) shares 3rd level spells with Haste, which introduces some spell book management issues. A problem eventually overcome by experience, because you can use Extend, Still, or Silent Spell to use higher level spell slots as needed. Although, Arcane Scholar 10 would be an interesting addition for Improved Quicken Spell for a build built entirely around the use of Tenser's Transformation.

In my opinion, it would be the best solution to this whole problem borne out of player stubborness.

Although, it should be said that since Divine Power lost its BAB equals caster HD component, there could be some clerics with the Fury domain that would spend at least two feats on Spell Focus Transmutation and Augment Form to boost the BAB from their low BAB progression classes -- *Cough* Frost Mage *Cough* -- but it seems that it is no longer a concern as no domain has Tenser's Transformation listed as their spell.

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Oh, and I have nothing against the Spell Girding feats, the only thing is that I am not sure if anyone would truly spend three regular feats and one epic feat just to get that total of +10 against dispels. It would be beneficial, but with all those PRC requirements and other quality of life build necessities, I am not sure if the problems builds actually have enough feats to spare. But if added, it is not going to be my headache.

[Rhifox]

This is a role-playing server, so if you find your character to be incompetent, then just role-play your character's incompetence or change concept.

Pretty much what I do. My character is meant to be vulnerable to Abjuration magic, and rightly afraid of it.

[Hoihe]

If someone wants to role-play a very specific concept character -- in my opinion -- it is only fair that they get to experience the exact realities of said character.

A lot of these 'nimble and smart' -- 'dexterity and intelligence' builds would be actually better without their low level investment into arcane spell casting -- or if one truly needs some minor arcane casting for flavour; a long time ago the server fixed Hideous Blow to be far less hideous and thus Warlock would actually offer something right here -- Darkness, Invisibility, Haste, and a choice in elemental damage types.

And to be honest, the Druid and Cleric spellbooks offer far better spells for a non-buff reliant caster in the form direct healing, and select physical damage increasing spells that could be casted as needed without any need to deal with the arcane spell failure or equipment based constraints. Medium BAB progression also makes life more tenable for a 'GISH' type of character.

And anyhow, if arcane casting is insisted upon, instead of trying to get the most out of dexterity and intelligence, why not just go for strength and charisma as a Sorcerer, wear that Full-plate with a Tower Shield, use the Still Spell metamagic feat, get the three epic feats for Automatic if you must. Oh and since you did not need to get Swashbuckler, Duelist, etc, for AC and Damage -- your caster level will be much higher by default and thus solving the very problem at hand. The problem of a very specific, but mechanically utterly horrible, character concept. This is a role-playing server, so if you find your character to be incompetent, then just role-play your character's incompetence or change concept.


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But there is one change I would actually suggest in favour of these terrible, useless, 'Not-Nimble-Nor-Smart-Jacks-Of-No-Trades' -- make Augment Form feat work with Tenser's Transformation spell. In Pen and Paper the Tenser's Transformation is a Polymorph effect, and thus it should actually benefit from the Polymorphing changes, which also brings +4 AC from Epic Spell Focus in Transmutation. The spell still negates spellcasting, so, you are not going to rebuff anything while it is still active, but on the plus side: it is not listed on the Spell Breach list. So feel free to hack away and just recast if dispelled!

I suppose some Wizard or Sorcerer 10/Eldritch Knight 10/Dragon Slayer 10 build could use it to get something like 27 BAB instead of 25, which is +1 attack at their lowest BAB -- but they already get that while Polymorphed into a different form, which also negates the need to invest into strength, dexterity, and constitution ability scores, thus and allowing the character o pump up their primary casting ability score as high as humanly possible for the obvious benefits of it. A more proper 'GISH,' would still have to invest into those physical stats, which in my opinion would balance it all out.

And if we put the above into more concrete terms, using the horrible builds that were willingly posted as examples; the first build would get +4 BAB and +5 AB on top -- the second build would get +1 BAB and +2 AB -- while Tenser's Transformation is active. Neither build experiences an extra attack at their lowest BAB, but the two builds would sit at 35 and 33 AB respectively, while squeezing out as much AC as possible, before things like Greater Heroism (+4) and Haste (+1), which are not found on the Breach list. Casting one to three spells shouldn't be a great burden, the only real downside here is that both Greater Heroism and Tenser's Transformation are 6th level spells, while Heroism (+2) shares 3rd level spells with Haste, which introduces some spell book management issues. A problem eventually overcome by experience, because you can use Extend, Still, or Silent Spell to use higher level spell slots as needed. Although, Arcane Scholar 10 would be an interesting addition for Improved Quicken Spell for a build built entirely around the use of Tenser's Transformation.

In my opinion, it would be the best solution to this whole problem borne out of player stubborness.

Although, it should be said that since Divine Power lost its BAB equals caster HD component, there could be some clerics with the Fury domain that would spend at least two feats on Spell Focus Transmutation and Augment Form to boost the BAB from their low BAB progression classes -- *Cough* Frost Mage *Cough* -- but it seems that it is no longer a concern as no domain has Tenser's Transformation listed as their spell.

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Oh, and I have nothing against the Spell Girding feats, the only thing is that I am not sure if anyone would truly spend three regular feats and one epic feat just to get that total of +10 against dispels. It would be beneficial, but with all those PRC requirements and other quality of life build necessities, I am not sure if the problems builds actually have enough feats to spare. But if added, it is not going to be my headache.

May I introduce you to the class known as "Bladesinger"?

And how it's described in every sourcebook it appears as an elite elven warrior, top of the cream?

And how despite its lore, on BGTSCC it is utterly useless?

Bladesingers are supposed to fight with their sword. Not shapechange into monsters. They're the pinnacle of elven warfare. Meaning. They fight as elves. Not as horned devils.

Bladesingers are also supposed to actively use their magic to alter the battlefield. Not cast Tenser's and pretend to be a fighter. In P&P, they have explicit mechanics to be able to make a melee attack AND cast an offensive/battlefield alteration spell at once. Here, it is mimiced by Song of Alacrity where they make it so their next attack casts a spell imbued into their sword - which is worse than the original since you gotta waste a round preparing your spell.

A bladesinger fights wearing chain or a simple light mithral cuirass, with a single blade held either with two hands or just one. A blade that's finesseable. "Just use a Tower Shield and Fullplate" goes entirely against the lore AND fantasy of the class.




Oh, and even ignoring bladesingers. Tenser's transformation? You can't drink healing potions. I used it once, almost died after downing 2000 gold's worth of healing and getting 0 HP out of it. I immediately deleted it from my spellbook after getting to safety.

[YYA]

This is a role-playing server, so if you find your character to be incompetent, then just role-play your character's incompetence or change concept.

Pretty much what I do. My character is meant to be vulnerable to Abjuration magic, and rightly afraid of it.

And over the years, I had many characters that would not enter some corners of the server without a being dragged there with a party of adventurers. I have made countless characters that were intentionally made mechanically weaker in order to account for my own role-playing sensibilities. In fact, most of my characters could be described as Swiss Army Knives of varying shapes and sizes; a great degree of utility, but nowhere as good as a tool made for that specific purpose would be.

May I introduce you to the class known as "Bladesinger"?

By all means, go ahead.

And how it's described in every sourcebook it appears as an elite elven warrior, top of the cream?

And if you go over the different editions of Dungeons and Dragons, the above is pretty much the only thing that could be considered to be common between the editions as the lore and the mechanics of the class have changed drasticly between the different editions. For example, in AD&D, Bladesingers often had much higher -- erm, lower -- AC when casting spells than they did when not.

And how despite its lore, on BGTSCC it is utterly useless?

Please, have a look at the PRC listed in 3rd edition source materials, it is a ten level PRC that offers no spellprogression as it has its own four level spellbook. It is not terrible as a Fighter 3/Bard 3/Bladesinger 10 build if you are playing a pre-epic Pen and Paper campaign, but on this server such a PRC would have been unplaybly bad.

And the PRC this server has is not useless, one needs only to create a Wizard 10/Eldritch Knight 10/Bladesinger 10 and you have a strong build. BAB of 25, Caster level of 29, with Combat Insight to transform your high DC intelligence score into direct melee damage. You can make use of the +5 EB from Greater Magic Weapon, +4 AB from Greater Heroism, +5 AB from Tenser's Transformation, +1 from Haste, and you already sit at the AB of 40 without any dexterity or strength modifier to Attack Bonus. Oh, and you can wear light armor while you are at it, which means that you do not need as high dexterity modifier as a regular arcanist would becauyse you can wear a Mithral Chainshirt, or Chain Mail, or something similar.

Bladesingers are supposed to fight with their sword. Not shapechange into monsters. They're the pinnacle of elven warfare. Meaning. They fight as elves. Not as horned devils.

And that is where you are wrong bucko. Elven War Wizards are the pinnacle of elven warfare, it is the kit that was explained after the Bladesinger in the Complete Book of Elves, AD&D, TSR. Now, while Bladesingers are expected to protect and further the elven way, their role is that of a diplomat or a one man army. A lot of the bladesinger description is indeed about grace, but nowhere does it state that bladesingers are forbidden from shapeshifting, or even casting multiple Horrid Wiltings at a village just to save the life of a single elf. A bladesinger polymorphed into a Cornugon would certainly be a very graceful Cornugon at that. When one fights a war the results tend to matter far more than the means, so if you can defeat an enemy army by poisoning and destroying their rations, you do it. As for the supposed fact that Bladesingers are suppose to fight with their sword, they can, they are kind of good at it, but what Bladesingers are truly about is casting spells on the front line -- not behind -- right there in the first row. Which is why back in the days of AD&D, Bladesingers tended to have better AC when casting spells, than what they did when not.

Bladesingers are also supposed to actively use their magic to alter the battlefield. Not cast Tenser's and pretend to be a fighter. In P&P, they have explicit mechanics to be able to make a melee attack AND cast an offensive/battlefield alteration spell at once. Here, it is mimiced by Song of Alacrity where they make it so their next attack casts a spell imbued into their sword - which is worse than the original since you gotta waste a round preparing your spell.

According to you: Bladesingers are supposed to fight with their swords, and now they are supposed to actively use their magics to alter the battlefield. I wonder if you can spot why someone might consider it as a contradiction.

Anyhow, when it comes to the Song of Celerity, its usability actually depends on how long you can maintain that one spell stored within your sword. Because if you must store a spell, and then use it on the next turn, I will agree that the ability is useless -- just as hideous blow used to be as a single target effect. But if it persists for as long until you hit a target, it actually allows you to herd in a mob of monsters thanks to you high AC, and then blast them with a Horrid Wilting or Burst of Glacial Wrath as you perform your melee attacks. After all, when you stop to cast a spell a mob might be close enough to initiate combat, which can delay your spellcasting to the next turn if your character managed to start an attack flurry. It is not the greatest ability, but it can be useful when used correctly.

A bladesinger fights wearing chain or a simple light mithral cuirass, with a single blade held either with two hands or just one. A blade that's finesseable. "Just use a Tower Shield and Fullplate" goes entirely against the lore AND fantasy of the class.

And the problem you have here is that you want to play a certain type of character with classes that do not quite make any sense for it. You know, the classical round hole, square peg type of problem. So, how about we have a look at the AD&D description of Bladesingers, and one of the builds you have made, the Wizard 15/Duelist 7/Swashbuckler 5/Shadowdancer 3 one.

If you swap the race to Half-Elf, or endure the multiclassing experience penalty, why not go for a Warlock 15/Duelist 7/Swashbuckler 5/Shadowdancer 3? Warlock 16/Duelist 6/Swashbuckler 5/Shadowdancer 3 and Warlock 17/Dueliest 5/Swashbuckler 5/Shadowdancer 3 are also possible if you can live without the free +5 to Deflection AC.

With Practiced Invoker, you should be able to reach 9d6 Eldritch Blast Dice, which opens up the path to Eldritch Mastery. And if you look at the list of Invocations you can get with 15 levels of Warlock, you could choose the following:

Least: Hideous Blow (Your Song of Alacrity), Beguiling Influence (+6 to social stats so you can perform as a diplomat, same as a +12 point investment in charisma in that regard), and either Darkness (for battlefield control) or Entropic Warding (+4 to Stealth skills and protection against ranged attacks)

Lesser: Flee the Scene (Haste for your party), Walk Unseen (Invisibility as utility), and either Brimstone Blast (Fire damage) or Hellrime Blast (Cold damage) for your Hideous Blow to make use of monster weaknesses.

Greater: Vitriolic Blast (Acid damage without spell resistance check, damage over time), and the follwoing for battlefield control: Chilling Tentacles (AoE Cold damage), Wall of Perilous Flame (More AoE damage), or Devour Magic (To dispel mobs)

And if you go for more than 15 levels of Warlock, Dark: Otherworldly Leap (Short range teleport for battlefield utility)

You can use the exact same ability scores, medium dexterity, high intelligence, and even if you only land one attack per round that attack will land Hideous Blow with Vitriolic Blast for about 47~ Acid damage per hit, which would deal stacking 2d6 damage for three rounds. I am not sure if the stacking damage gets multiplied by Eldritch Master or not, but if you have placed your charcter to get most out of Chilling Tentacles and Wall of Perilous Flames, all of that damage adds up and your high AC allows you to tank things out.

Moreover, if you go for Fey Heritage and Fey Skin, you can get up to 9/Cold Iron damage resistance, which makes your character even tankier. Not to mention that just as the PRC in the source books, you only have four levels of spells.

Warlock even also has better list of skills than a Wizard does, and gains more skill points per level.

Based on your words, the above would be as close as you can ever get to the Bladesinger you have imagined.

Oh, and even ignoring bladesingers. Tenser's transformation? You can't drink healing potions. I used it once, almost died after downing 2000 gold's worth of healing and getting 0 HP out of it. I immediately deleted it from my spellbook after getting to safety.

Use healing kits, invest in the heal skill (Warlock has it), spam them and you get to use two per round. A potion still heals more, but +1 healing kits are dirt cheap even if you leave the heavier loot in dungeons. And hey, you have access to stealth and invisibility, sometimes it is worth the reduced movement speed to carry and haul things back to town.) If a wizard with base 8 strength can do it, so can a character with 13+.

[Alexander Holgart]

Hello guys, I had a look at the conversation going on here.

I am not really into discussing technicality and balance of the game so I'm just writing here from the moderator perspective.

I've noticed that the discussion is going a bit off topic from the original "Caster Levels as Epic Feats" started by Steve.

I just ask you to keep the conversation around that.

That said, feel free to carry on!

[YYA]

I just ask you to keep the conversation around that.

It is.

The request about getting additional caster levels in the form of Epic Feats did not arise from the nothingness of the void -- there are causes and effects we can identify. When the caster level fix was added on this server, no longer was the total hit die or level of the character used to counter the dispel effect, but instead it used the actual caster level of the spell's caster. This resulted in numerous mechanical changes in build viability, and before the change, builds such as Fighter 12/Wizard 8/Eldritch Knight 10 were far more common than what they are today. BAB of 26, access to 9th level spells with caster level of 17 or 21, and the benefits of all those arcane spells as they would not be easily dispelled. Such a gish build was arguably cheaper and superior to any non-magical melee build, including the common Fighter/Frienzied Berserker/Weapon Master/Rogue builds of the day, and were part of the reason why the server had so many mobs casting either dispels or spell breaches. But when the change went in, even though you can still play such a build, it is not as powerful as it once were simply because its spells are no longer as reliable as those once were. The problem is too low of a caster level against the infinite spawns of caster mobs, which means that your spells will fail and you do not have infinite slots to recast them.

This topic has been discussed a many a time, the number of dispels and spell breaches has been reduced, along with their associated mob caster levels. People have suggest 'Epic Practised Spellcaster' feat for additional +4 caster levels, just as the non epic feat would offer, but it would only empower certain multiclass builds that were 'nerfed' by the fix in the first palce. For example, I wouldn't mind such a feat on a 'Wizard/Assassin 8/Arcane Trickster/Arcane Scholar or Frost Mage' to get that caster level of 30 for either Empowered 45d6 or Cold Immunity ignoring 30d6 Polar Ray, which would land with some additional sneak attack dice on top of it while the caster moves in and out of stealth thanks to HiPS. And as for the suggestion of getting one extra caster level per epic feat, why see the effort to implement something that in all due likelyhood will only ever be used by a very limited numbers of players? And even if it were to end up in common use, then it would be by people who only take it as means to squeeze in little bit more mechanical power through multiclassing. An epic feat or two can be a small price to pay for caster level of 30.

As for Spell Girdling, it sounds like a great solution on paper, because even those with caster levels of 30 or more might go for it to make them more immune against dispels -- bit of a PvP related concern and advantage -- but it is a reason for use nonetheless. However, there is a but, and the but is a whether or not it is actually an implementable addition to the server. Whatever the dispel fix was, would have to be adjusted to take into account of this certain feat, which may not be possible based on how hardcoded the game is.

So all in all, it may sound quite pessimistic, but I am not expecting any further changes when it comes to this topic. I could wave my hands in the air and say that there is nothing to see or hear, but sadly it doesn't mean that the problem of low caster levels has been fixed for those that suffer from it. But just because there is no server wide solution doesn't mean that there could not be an individual solution to the problem, an adjustment of the build in use so to speak. Thus even if the topic may haved seemed to have drifted off course, it is still about the same underlying cause and effect that spawned the topic in the first place.

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And as for Hoihe's Bladesinger, just roll a Warlock instead of a Wizard. The whole theme of the Warlock class is a mess in 3rd edition anyhow, with expectations of necessary pacts, and source book lore that directly states how such are not needed if you are just directly manifesting the power of your soul instead of using the medium of spell like a sorcerer would. And yeah, I remember how Feylocks were seen as cringe, but that was mostly because Warlocks on the server used to be Chaotic Good with Fey Heritage, and the few guys with their 'Pact Warlocks' struggled to find their desired roleplay as a villain and headaches for everyone else involved. I mean, why treat that one Warlock with hostility, when there are three others around the campfire with the exact same invocation list. Thus I would recommend you to cast all of that ancient drama into dustbin of history and just use Warlock to play your concept of a Bladesinger. The elves of the Forgotten Realms are not actually native to Abeir Toril, but progeny of the elves that came from the Feywild. Thus, you could say that your Bladesinger is a from a Bladesinger guild composed of those who seek to master and maintain the ancient fey heritage as core component of the elven way. Oh, and should anyone call out your Warlock class in game, then just insult them back with an unflattering term about their character archetype. Trading of insults and accusations is usually more entertaining type of player interaction than outright mechanical combat.

Oh, and, about the Song of Celerity, it is another PvP related comment, but sometimes these things have to be considered on a server where player against player interaction happens. First of all, most 'stealthy sneak-sneak' characters want to deal as many sneak attacks as possible, and so they make use of two-weapon fighting. You pop out of stealth, 'WASD' away after first attack flurry, and then hit stealth again. It is kind of smart and kind of dumb. It is usually smart against arcanists, because if you can trigger them to start an attack flurry you delay their spell casting. If is usually dumb to do it against hard hitting melee builds who in turn gets a chance to land their highest BAB attack flurry at the sneak, with or without Epic Dodge, and so ranged weapons would actually make more sense here. Anyhow, the way how Song of Celerity changes this interaction is that when the dual-wielding sneak pops out of stealth, the Bladesinger can land a hit and also manage to land an offensive spell... Horrid Wilting or Bigby Nine. How many sneaky-sneak builds truly have AC greater than 50 -- because the Wizard 10/Eldritch Knight 10/Bladesinger 10 build could easily get that roll of 50 +1d20 to beat it with Bigby Nine. But anyhow, never played the PRC on the server, so take these with a grain of salt.