The Devil Went Down to Georgia: The (Arbitrarily Large)th Level Spell Slot

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Open Fiendish Codex.  Turn to page 23 and start reading about Faustian pacts.  Stop when you're done with the assorted rewards chart.  Let's just get one thing out of the way first: a rank 3 Corruption act is... "inflicting grievous harm to a creature."  Good, you got that done with once you started bloody adventuring.

So, ready for the Fiddle of Gold?  I want you to look at two words on that assorted rewards chart.  The ones, in parentheses, next to "Additional spell slot."  Those two words are:  "Any level."

And that's it.  No qualifications, no caps.  Any.  Freaking.  Level.

So if getting three 10th level spell slots at level 1 weren't enough, there's also a way to get more... and even keep them if you lose the pact.  See, the much-maligned Extra Slot?  It has this awesome text on the end of it:

"Once selected, the extra spell slot never changes level."

Now, of course, you still have to have an ability score high enough to cast the spell... look, raise your hand if you're already thinking of Tainted Scholar.  You are?  Goooood optimizers.

Cross-posted to here.

[Rymosrac]

. . . Man, they really can't be bothered to both think and write at the same time over at WotC, can they?

Excellent find - I am amused.

[BowenSilverclaw]

Schway

[The_Mad_Linguist]

But how to make this bargain without planeshift?

  To seduce mortals into contacting them, the archdevils make such contact easier. A spellcaster need only succeed on a DC 10 Intelligence check to avoid losing Intelligence and Charisma, but answers are resolved as if he had contacted a lesser deity. If the information gained is true, the caster gains 3 corruption points; if it’s a lie, 2 corruption points. In the case of a random answer, the archdevil sends one of its minions (or his aspect) to try to make a bargain with the mortal instead. For details on corruption points, see the following section.

Contact other plane, is there anything you can't do? 

[Brainpiercing]

. . . Man, they really can't be bothered to both think and write at the same time over at WotC, can they?

Excellent find - I am amused

Yeh, old story...

But really good find. Once again, slightly TO, but...

[tsuyoshikentsu]

What makes it REALLY TO is what Lormador figured out over on 339:

This + Arcane Manipulation.

[archangel.arcanis]

i think you just beat pun-pun. 

[Arcane-surge]

My question is, how does one get out of the contract once one's gained the benefits? Without being Lawful Evil (Meaning you'd need the Pact Insidious, instead of the Pact Certain). I'm sure there's a way to do it.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

They don't say anything about FCII corruption being distinct from the scale used by taint...

[Omen of Peace]

This is a nice trick, but it smells of DM Fiat to me. If you ask the devil for a spell slot of level (e.g.) 1 billion, he'll just laugh at you. I guess something can be worked out with Mindrape.
edit: I see Balthanon already brought it up.

@TML: They do. The rules for it are page 30. I doubt you can get rid of Taint by apologizing...

[The_Mad_Linguist]

@TML: They do. The rules for it are page 30. I doubt you can get rid of Taint by apologizing...

Still don't say anything about them being distinct...  Heck, they even call it "the taint of sin".

It's just like sticking eldritch glaive on a warlock.

[Omen of Peace]

And they don't say anything about them being the same. *shrugs*
If you find a reference about the rules from one book in the other, I'll happily concede.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

And they don't say anything about them being the same. *shrugs*
If you find a reference about the rules from one book in the other, I'll happily concede.

I was under the impression the default interpretation was that things with the same name are the same.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Hey, guys.  How about some more neat stuff?

Arcane Strike: AL attack bonus; ALd4 damage.

Arcane Flourish: AL Perform check.  According to the Epic uses, you can use this for Diplomacy... or, if you prefer, just use it for AL gold.  Doable at level 1.

Arcane Accompaniment: Arbitrarily long Bardic Music.

[Negative Zero]

Or a reserve feat, for ALd6 as a standard action, all day.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Or AL distance of teleportation, or fetch an object weighing AL pounds from AL feet away, or detect magic within AL feet, or see normally within AL feet.

Plus, Invisible Needle will give you a ranged attack for AL damage at AL range.  And Mystic Backlash means you KILL casters.  Nice work, sir.

[Surreal]

Shadowcraft Mage for uber-reality illusions.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Heh.  And Residual Metamagic.

because you really need to cast a 999,999,999,999,999th level spell from a 0th-level slot.

[Tleilaxu_Ghola]

The various character class tables show how many spells of each level a character can cast per day. These openings for daily spells are called spell slots. A spellcaster always has the option to fill a higher-level spell slot with a lower-level spell. A spellcaster who lacks a high enough ability score to cast spells that would otherwise be his or her due still gets the slots but must fill them with spells of lower level.

An empty spell slot has no intrinsic value unless filled with a spell.  A spell slot of arbitrary high level has no improved value if it only contains a spell of 1st level.  Any substitution effects made based on the level of spell being sacked refer to the level of spell stored in the slot, not the slot itself.  References to expenditure of the spell slot refer to the spell contained therein.  If that were not true, a sorcerer would never need to expend more than 1 spell slot for arcane strike or similar abilities, since he could continually gain benefit from the mere existence of the spell slot.  Reserve feats are more explicit on the matter and also require that a spell of the level referenced occupy the slot.

A heightened spell has a higher spell level than normal (up to a maximum of 9th level). Unlike other metamagic feats, Heighten Spell actually increases the effective level of the spell that it modifies. All effects dependent on spell level (such as saving throw DCs and ability to penetrate a lesser globe of invulnerability) are calculated according to the heightened level. The heightened spell is as difficult to prepare and cast as a spell of its effective level.

Furthermore heighten spell does not permit one to elevate a spell to a level higher than 9.  There are a few miscellaneous feats that allow one to exceed 9th level, but they are not arbitrarily capped, as far as I am aware.  Usually these feats (like earth spell or sanctum spell) grant +1 to spell level, hardly an arbitrary increase.

The synthesis of these facts is that you cannot occupy this arbitrarily high spell slot with a spell of arbitrary level until you have access to improved heighten spell (an epic feat).  Because of this, you are not able to gain benefits of a spell of arbitrary level until you have 21 HD or more.  Furthermore, to even access the spell slot you will need an ability score or taint of arbitrary level.



Bottom line: this trick is firmly within the realm of TO and cannot be used for early ascension schemes.  While some of the effects dependent on spell level are interesting, I'm not certain this brings a whole lot more than a number of other TO tricks do, and many of those do not require epic feats.

[jameswilliamogle]

So, as I'm reading it, the crazy high level spell slot could still hold a super-metamagic'd up spell, as long as it wasn't Heighten Spell past what the casting modifier allowed (since only Heighten changes the actual spell level).  Is this correct?

Also, any of the casters that know all the spells of their spell list once they cast them (ie Warmage, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer) could use this to "know" all the spells of a higher level than normal (by occupying the spell slot w/ first a Heightened 9th level slot, then 8th, then 7th...).  Might require Arcane Preparation, though, to make it stick (seems like a DM call).

Versatile Spellcaster could then access spells of a higher level by virtue of "knowing" those spells, making progression of those classes 1 spell level faster than a Wizard.

There's the feat that lets you break up high level spell slots for multiple low-level ones in LEoF, I think.  This probably is the most abusive use.  EDIT: YES it IS...  Wizard 1st, no limit on the amount you break it down as long as it equals the total.  Does not require it to be used for Wizard spell slots...

That'll give you AL numbers of spell slots.  How about 15 million?  Combining with the Heighten trick, and you get slots of every level.  Requires Heighten, Arcane Manipulation.  Practically Infinite casting of every spell on your spontaneous "knows every spell on his list" casting.  At level 2.

EDIT: Oh, nm, old news... Oh well...