Spell pen items and feat stacking

[Adalita]

So to assist in CC I've acquired spell pen and improved enchantment items, however it occurred to me that these might not stack with the corresponding feats that I'm also taking (Spell Pen, Greater Spell Pen, Spell Focus: Enchantment).

So what say you, should I consign these to the AH or are they useful?

And does it strike you as odd that "penetrate" gets censored in general chat when its a legit game term?

[Visty]

items stack with feats stack with enhancements
rule of thumb

[EKKM]

Edit - after rereading your OP it appears you do understand the difference, I'll leave my comments anyway as a lot of people dont understand the difference.

Keep in mind that some of those things have different effects.

Spell penetration affects your ability to bypass spell resistance. ONly certain mobs have SR, mainly devils, demons, drow and duergar. This is a check to see if your spell affects them at all, if you make this ceck the mob still gets a save like everyone else. SR only applies to affect based spells amd instakills, not direct damage.

A mob has a fixed SR, say 25. You roll a D20 and add your caster level (not character level) + feats + enhancements and items to see if you beat it (a tie counts as beating it I think).

Your enchantment item (and spell focus feats) affect the DC fo your spell, or how difficult it is to save against. Your DC is the spell level + your primary casting attribute mod (so your CHR bonus for bards) + itmes + spell focus feats. The target rolls a D20 and adds their save modifier.

Hope this helps.

[Solmage]

They stack.

Also because the filter is inane most folks disable it in options.

[Adalita]

Thanks all for the advice.

EKKM: I kind of had that understanding, but you've made it a lot clearer, thanks.

[vVAnjilaVv]

Total Bard spell pen breakdown as far as I know.....

Level 20 bard 20
Improved Spell Penetration {enhancement line} 3
Spell Penetration {feat} 2
Greater Spell Penetration {feat} 2
Greater Spell Penetration VI item (highest you will need) 3

Total 30 Spell Penetration ....these all stack

I forget if the capstone adds additional spell pen as well.

You can also use shattermantle & improved shattermantle....but that is temporary and situational.

[Rusty_Can]

I forget if the capstone adds additional spell pen as well.

Yes, the capstone adds +2 to Spell Penetration checks, but only for Enchantment spells, which anyway represent a big share of spells bards usually cast.

Total 30 Spell Penetration ....these all stack

If you have "some" time to spare *grins*, you could also get +6 bonus from 3 wizard past life feats and +3 bonus from 3 FvS past life feats ^^.