Quote Originally Posted by Tels View Post
Will spell-like abilities count as Spellcasting for effects? I've always thought this was one of the dumber FAQrrata Paizo released and so abjectly refuse to honor it.
Depends on what you mean by effects. For example, in normal Pathfinder, SLAs provide a caster level but they are explicitly not spells. So hypothetically, a Succubus could take Item creation feats (Caster Level) are use her innate magical power to create magic items, albeit she would always take a penalty for not having the correct spell for the job (even if the spell was vampiric touch or charm monster) because her SLAs are not spells.

Similarly, the same succubus could not become a prestige class such as Mystic Theurge or Eldritch Knight because those prestige classes require spells. Succubi do not have spells. They have abilities that work like spells and rely on her caster level, but they are explicitly not spells (the magic chapter is very clear on this).

Unfortunately, the Paizo FAQ has juggled these issues multiple times, flip-flopping on both whether or not they are spells, and whether or not innate caster levels will allow you to qualify for item creation feats. To the point that the FAQ is a huge mess. Last I checked, you can qualify to go into a prestige class if you have an SLA that mimics a spell of the same level, but couldn't use it to pick up item creation. Essentially the exact opposite of what the real rules say, and incidentally, opens up another can of worms with dealing with spell lists and SLAs and the effective spell level of unusual SLAs (since some SLAs do not actually mirror spells).

All that noted, it likely won't actually come up much if at all in D20 Legends because...
  1. Spells and SLAs are always the same magic level regardless of the caster.
  2. Spells and SLAs are always cast at your character level (CL boosting effects aside).
  3. Spells and SLAs are harder to resist based on the caster's abilities, rather than magic level.
  4. I intend to fold item creation over into the Spellcraft skill, divorcing it from caster level (incidentally this means that mundanes can learn to enchant* magical items with the appropriate materials even if they can't make fire by wiggling their fingers).


As such, in any situation you are comparing spells or spell-like abilities, it's exceedingly unlikely that they'll be able to qualify you for something you couldn't have qualified for otherwise. Though in the odd chance that something explicitly requires spells, a SLA wouldn't cut it. Sorry succubus.

*: I used the term enchant. Traditionally a big no-no in d20 since it confuses things with the Enchantment school. Except in D20 Legends, the Enchantment school has been made "Beguiling", and now the official term for creating magic items is "enchanting" them. It just seems so much more intuitive this way.