Spells at caster level 0

[Kaiwen]

If I have a Wiz 1 with the Spellgifted trait ("Drawback: Reduce your caster level by 1 whenever you cast a spell that is not from your chosen school."), do my spells that don't depend on caster level still function? For example, nothing in the Prestidigitation entry depends on caster level. Does it still function at CL 0? Does that mean I can scribe scrolls and make items of it for free?

[ngilop]

If I have a Wiz 1 with the Spellgifted trait ("Drawback: Reduce your caster level by 1 whenever you cast a spell that is not from your chosen school."), do my spells that don't depend on caster level still function? For example, nothing in the Prestidigitation entry depends on caster level. Does it still function at CL 0? Does that mean I can scribe scrolls and make items of it for free?

Having a caster level of zero means you cannot cast those particular spells.

One would have to wait until 2nd level to be able to cast non-chosen school spells at 1st level.

[heavyfuel]

If you abide by the (ultra-cheezy) interpretation that only the Fireball spell has a minimum Caster Level, then havin a CL of 0 doesn't change a thing.

This, however, requires you willfully ignoring that the rule mention plenty of times that spells (in general) have a minimum CL.

Assuming you're not trying to worm your way into your DM allowing the former, then it means that CL 0 means you cannot cast that spell.

[Kaiwen]

If you abide by the (ultra-cheezy) interpretation that only the Fireball spell has a minimum Caster Level, then havin a CL of 0 doesn't change a thing.

This, however, requires you willfully ignoring that the rule mention plenty of times that spells (in general) have a minimum CL.

Assuming you're not trying to worm your way into your DM allowing the former, then it means that CL 0 means you cannot cast that spell.

Standardized minimum caster levels causes some problems with differing lists and progressions, like where Bestow Greater Curse becomes castable at CL16 on a Bard or Sorcerer, CL15 on a Wizard, CL14 on a Favored Soul, CL13 on a Cleric, CL8 on an Ur-Priest, CL7 on a Beholder Mage, and CL4 on a Demonologist. Even those can vary, given Practiced Spellcaster and multiclassing.

The only reasonable reading I can get of that clause is that where the minimum CL is based on the specific build of the character in question, which isn't useful to answer my question.

[Ruethgar]

That 'ultra cheesy' reading is accurate. No other spell has a listed minimum caster level. Heck, a Mind Mage can lower a Fireball to effectively a cantrip so even that is questionable. You could get the spell hunter feats and heal with magic missiles if you wanted.

[Falontani]

Minimum caster level aside (I've made a fairly large thread arguing it to a fairly put stalemate) what happens at caster level 0 is undefined, as is what happens at cl -1. There is no RAW to figure out what happens. Could the spell function? Possibly. It may also fail completely or even backfire.

I would suggest a minimum caster level of 1 so that you don't get weird 0 gp enchantments or negative priced enchantments.

[Vaern]

I'd personally say that caster level is a representation of how much power you're able to put into a spell, and a caster level of 0 results in a spell with no power behind it which causes it to fizzle. That's just my own perspective, though, and as far as I am aware casting with an effective CL 0 - or, for that matter, whether CL can be forced below 1 to begin with - is an area that RAW doesn't cover for us.
As far as RAW goes, the only thing that comes to mind is a section that says you may choose to cast a spell at a caster level lower than your actual caster level, but you may not choose to cast a spell at a level lower than the minimum that the spell would normally be available to you. I'm paraphrasing as I don't have the book in front of me atm, but my main takeaway the last time the subject came up was that the rule in question is in regards to voluntarily casting spells at a lower caster level and one might argue that it doesn't apply in situations in which your caster level is forcefully reduced.

[Buufreak]

That 'ultra cheesy' reading is accurate. No other spell has a listed minimum caster level. Heck, a Mind Mage can lower a Fireball to effectively a cantrip so even that is questionable. You could get the spell hunter feats and heal with magic missiles if you wanted.

And that is a specific case, and as we all should know by now specific trumps general.

[Darg]

If you want to go by specific, spellgifted is broken. As it is worded, any time you cast a spell not of the chosen school you permanently reduce your caster level.

If we want to go specific again, nothing I've seen says that you cant cast a spell with a CL lower than the minimum. Only that the spell itself has a minimum CL that it can be cast with. Say you have a fireball. If your CL is 4 when casting it then the fireball is cast with CL 5 as that is the minimum.

[Psyren]

At our table, at CL 0 or lower the cast fails. Don't care if it's RAW or not - after all, drown healing is RAW and we don't do that either.