Question about Arcane Augmentation IX

[Erokir]

Being that most (all?) damage spells have a maximum caster level below 29, is there much benefit in having Arcane Augmentation IX on level 29 weapons, such as the Legendary Firestorm Conduit?

I'm just wondering if I'm missing something here. Arcane Augmentation does not affect DC, right? It just raises your caster level by two. But, for example, a spell like Acid Well has a maximum caster level of 20. So, adding two to your caster level when you're level 29 makes no difference, right?

[LightBear]

Being that most (all?) damage spells have a maximum caster level below 29, is there much benefit in having Arcane Augmentation IX on level 29 weapons, such as the Legendary Firestorm Conduit?

I'm just wondering if I'm missing something here. Arcane Augmentation does not affect DC, right? It just raises your caster level by two. But, for example, a spell like Acid Well has a maximum caster level of 20. So, adding two to your caster level when you're level 29 makes no difference, right?

Except for those spells that don't have a max caster level, like posted here:
https://ddowiki.com/page/Maximum_caster_level

And it matters if your max caster level is higher than your caster level and you don't have the meta heighten.

[cru121]

Being that most (all?) damage spells have a maximum caster level below 29, is there much benefit in having Arcane Augmentation IX on level 29 weapons, such as the Legendary Firestorm Conduit?

I'm just wondering if I'm missing something here. Arcane Augmentation does not affect DC, right? It just raises your caster level by two. But, for example, a spell like Acid Well has a maximum caster level of 20. So, adding two to your caster level when you're level 29 makes no difference, right?

Various epic abilities, for example, Energy Burst, can benefit from an increased caster level.
Arcane Augmentation also helps your Spell Penetration rolls.

For a level 32 character, Acid Well has MCL 26. (+1 for every two epic/legendary levels)
Imagine a wizard 18/rogue 2 at level 32. The caster level is only 24 (18 wizard +1 for every two epic/legendary levels). This kind of character will benefit from Arcane Augmentation when casting Acid Well.

[LurkingVeteran]

Yeah, sadly it is mainly for multi-classed characters or a small number of spells SLAs that innately have higher MCL than 20. The affected builds are mainly Evo Spellsingers with Master of Music (Shouts), PMs (Finger, maybe Necrotic Ray?, spell pen), Water Savants (Polar Ray), and anybody who wants a small increase in damage on their DI:Energy Burst. It's nice to have but not required to be effective for most builds.

[Erokir]

Various epic abilities, for example, Energy Burst, can benefit from an increased caster level.
Arcane Augmentation also helps your Spell Penetration rolls.

For a level 32 character, Acid Well has MCL 26. (+1 for every two epic/legendary levels)
Imagine a wizard 18/rogue 2 at level 32. The caster level is only 24 (18 wizard +1 for every two epic/legendary levels). This kind of character will benefit from Arcane Augmentation when casting Acid Well.

Thanks!

[Erokir]

Yeah, sadly it is mainly for multi-classed characters or a small number of spells SLAs that innately have higher MCL than 20. The affected builds are mainly Evo Spellsingers with Master of Music (Shouts), PMs (Finger, maybe Necrotic Ray?, spell pen), Water Savants (Polar Ray), and anybody who wants a small increase in damage on their DI:Energy Burst. It's nice to have but not required to be effective for most builds.

Wiki has a MCL for Finger of Death: https://ddowiki.com/page/Finger_of_Death

The target is entitled to a Fortitude saving throw to survive the attack. If the save is successful, the creature instead takes 7-12 negative energy damage per caster level (Maximum caster level 25 or 50d3+150) damage.

[Erokir]

Except for those spells that don't have a max caster level, like posted here:
https://ddowiki.com/page/Maximum_caster_level

And it matters if your max caster level is higher than your caster level and you don't have the meta heighten.

I guess a compromise might be to have an Arcane Augmentation IX item in inventory for difficult knock rolls.

[Erokir]

Various epic abilities, for example, Energy Burst, can benefit from an increased caster level.
Arcane Augmentation also helps your Spell Penetration rolls.

For a level 32 character, Acid Well has MCL 26. (+1 for every two epic/legendary levels)
Imagine a wizard 18/rogue 2 at level 32. The caster level is only 24 (18 wizard +1 for every two epic/legendary levels). This kind of character will benefit from Arcane Augmentation when casting Acid Well.

I have to choose which to make higher with my gear: Spell Penetration or DC's. If I use the Arcane Augmentation IX staff, it will entail losing about 1 DC point to every spell school. I'm a PM wearing the Esoteric Initiate set, which has +12 spell penetration (8 + 4 insightful). This is my first Wizard level, and I don't have any past life feats that give spell penetration bonuses. But, I have taken Spell Penetration feat (+2), Greater Spell Penetration feat (+2) , Epic Spell Penetration feat (+4), Archmage Spell Penetration (+3), all of the Pale Master Spell Penetration enhancements and Magus Spell Penetration (+3).

Should I err on the side of higher DC's or higher Spell Penetration?