SLA questions

[fugazi70]

Are the sla's affected by increased caster level of the savant line and any boosting items such as the tod set?

For example the tier 3 savant sla is lightning bolt. So is this boosted to cast at lvl 20 with the tod set or is it capped still at 15?

Also does maximize and empower affect the sla spells?

[Bodic]

+DC-> Yes
+Dice-> No

All spell Dice caps are HARD you will only gain +DC from your savant if the spell goes beyond the DICE cap

[WielderofGigantus]

+DC-> Yes
+Dice-> No

All spell Dice caps are HARD you will only gain +DC from your savant if the spell goes beyond the DICE cap

What?

Since when do the Elemental Savant prestige lines add DC?

[Shade]

What?

Since when do the Elemental Savant prestige lines add DC?

since never, doesnt know what he's talking about.

Savant never increases DC. it can only hurt your DC on your oposite element.

Which is quite sad, considering the pnp version ups DC.

You can however heighten some of the SLAs, to increase there DC.

[Ridag]

How DC is determined:

DC to resist a spell is equal to 10 + the level of the spell + the modifier for the caster's casting ability.

Caster level has nothing to do with [edit] increasing [/edit] it at all. As Shade points out below, negatives to caster level will effect the DC of your opposing element spells.

As previous posters said, the damage dice are hard capped. Therefore the +CL largely does nothing for the majority of a savants spells or SLAs.

[Shade]

Caster level has nothing to do with it at all.

Currently does for your oposite element.

lvl20, drop to CL11.
Got heighten on?
Your spells cast as if they are lvl5, the max you could cast at lvl11.

[DevHead]

since never, doesnt know what he's talking about.

Savant never increases DC. it can only hurt your DC on your oposite element.

Which is quite sad, considering the pnp version ups DC.

You can however heighten some of the SLAs, to increase there DC.

Which is saddening, really. I'd give up the ton of extra time on FtS for an Earth Savant in exchange for even a few extra DC on it actually landing.

[Ridag]

Currently does for your oposite element.

lvl20, drop to CL11.
Got heighten on?
Your spells cast as if they are lvl5, the max you could cast at lvl11.

Thanks for pointing that out Shade, I edited my post for clarity.

[Arctigis]

Are the sla's affected by increased caster level of the savant line and any boosting items such as the tod set?

Some are, some are not. I'd like some clarity from the devs regarding which spells should be
affected by the +MCL. Shocking grasp does not appear to be, neither is Cone of Cold.

For example the tier 3 savant sla is lightning bolt. So is this boosted to cast at lvl 20 with the tod set or is it capped still at 15?

Lbolt caps at 10d6 (10d3 + 30). Air Savant III adds +3 MCL and +6CL. The Lbolt SLA does appear to be
benefiting from the +3MCL (well, was last time I tested it). ToD sets are now supposed to add +2 MCL. If
you have the ToD set for Air Savant, you should be casting 15d3 + 45 lightning bolts.

Also does maximize and empower affect the sla spells?

Yes.

[Ridag]

Some are, some are not. I'd like some clarity from the devs regarding which spells should be
affected by the +MCL. Shocking grasp does not appear to be, neither is Cone of Cold.



Lbolt caps at 10d6 (10d3 + 30). Air Savant III adds +3 MCL and +6CL. The Lbolt SLA does appear to be
benefiting from the +3MCL (well, was last time I tested it). ToD sets are now supposed to add +2 MCL. If
you have the ToD set for Air Savant, you should be casting 15d3 + 45 lightning bolts.



Yes.

Good info! Have you tested any other spells? I would love to know exactly what is and isn't being benefited by the +MCL.

[fugazi70]

hmm on the live server lightning bolt says 15d3+45...

*oops that was ball lightning*

[Arctigis]

hmm on the live server lightning bolt says 15d3+45...

On Lammania, the D&D dice say 10d3 + 30. This is what I would expect as Lbolt has always been scaled
similarly to Fireball. The observed average based damage for the Lighting Bolt SLA was 65. 40+ casts averaged
117.3 with 50% enhancements and BoP; 117 / 1.2 / 1.5 = 65. This corresponds exactly with 13d3 + 39.

The new backstroke/counterstroke proc effectively multiplies this all by 1.5 again. With a very easy to obtain
Superior Spark clicky (even a potion) you're looking at:

65 * 2.25 * 2.7 * 1.15 * 1.5 = 681 average (without accounting for crits or saves). Air is very much dependent
on mobs failing their reflex saves.

[WielderofGigantus]

Savant never increases DC. it can only hurt your DC on your oposite element.

I thought savant decreasing the DC of the opposing element was a bug and is not WAI.

[Egeus]

DC bonuses in your chosen element would make up for a LOT of nerfing. Being able to reliably hit with electric especially, would make being a Savant much, much better than simply pumping Air and another element.

[DevHead]

I thought savant decreasing the DC of the opposing element was a bug and is not WAI.

Geez, that sounds like a bug. It's only supposed to drop CL as far as I know....which really isn't that big of a loss, when you consider that increasing CL also isn't that big of an increase. :P

[Arctigis]

Geez, that sounds like a bug. It's only supposed to drop CL as far as I know....which really isn't that big of a loss, when you consider that increasing CL also isn't that big of an increase. :P

It's with heighten. If your caster level in Earth (for example) is 11 then heighten no longer does anything for you
on spells like FtS. The bug is that heighten reduces the FtS DC by 4 not 3 i.e. it should not reduce the
spells level for DC calculations below it's native level. Heighten not increasing (heightening) the DC is not a bug.

[Jaid314]

It's with heighten. If your caster level in Earth (for example) is 11 then heighten no longer does anything for you
on spells like FtS. The bug is that heighten reduces the FtS DC by 4 not 3 i.e. it should not reduce the
spells level for DC calculations below it's native level. Heighten not increasing (heightening) the DC is not a bug.

it also (last i heard) makes you pay the full cost of heighten as if you were actually benefitting. that is, you pay the 15 SP extra and also lose 1 DC.