Meaning of number in brackets?

[Nethog]

The in-game help for items/weapons that have magical spells have a line stating something like: Ghostly Visage (3) 2 Charges/use. What does the (3) represent?

[Shia Luck]

It means the spell is cast as if a caster of (x) lvl was casting it.
So, ghostly visage has a 1 turn duration per level (iirc) so cast from a wand it will last 3 turns.

Have fun :)

[wendigo211]

Since this might not be common knowledge:

• 1 round= 6 seconds
  
• 1 turn= 10 rounds= 1 minute
  
• 1 minute = 1 minute
  
• 1 hour= 2 minutes

Caster level can also affect the power of an ability:

• For a damage spell, it can affect the amount of dice rolled for damage, e.g. a Fireball rolls a number of six sided die equal to the caster level for damage (but it caps at 9 dice).
  
• For a buff spell, it can determine the strength of a the buff. e.g. Greater Magic Weapon enchants a weapon with an enhancement bonus of +1 for every 3 levels the caster has (to a maximum of +5 at level 15).
  
• For the damage reduction spells, it can determine how much damage they absorb before they fail. E.g. stoneskin will absorb 10 points of damage per caster level to a maximum of 100 points of damage.

It also determines how easy an ability is to dispel.

[Lady MacBeth]

Originally posted by wendigo211:

Since this might not be common knowledge:

• 1 round= 6 seconds
  
• 1 turn= 10 rounds= 1 minute
  
• 1 minute = 1 minute
  
• 1 hour= 2 minutes

Caster level can also affect the power of an ability:

• For a damage spell, it can affect the amount of dice rolled for damage, e.g. a Fireball rolls a number of six sided die equal to the caster level for damage (but it caps at 9 dice).
  
• For a buff spell, it can determine the strength of a the buff. e.g. Greater Magic Weapon enchants a weapon with an enhancement bonus of +1 for every 3 levels the caster has (to a maximum of +5 at level 15).
  
• For the damage reduction spells, it can determine how much damage they absorb before they fail. E.g. stoneskin will absorb 10 points of damage per caster level to a maximum of 100 points of damage.

It also determines how easy an ability is to dispel.

The only other thing to bear in mind with what he said is that a server can vary the length of an hour in their settings. So if playing on PWs and in game hour could be longer or shorter then the defaut time mentioned.

[Nethog]

Thanks everyone for your answers - now I am wondering what the effective casting level is for a scroll?

[Shia Luck]

Unless modified, it'll be exactly the same. The base rules are that the scroll or wand is created at the lowest possible level for someone to cast that spell. This severly limits the usefulness of scribe scroll and create wand at higher levels, tho I am not saying thhey arent useful.

Options:
Character customisers such as PGCC (Pretty Good Character Creator on neverwintervault) can create items at higher caster levels, but you could only really use this to preload a character before a module.
WoG (World of Greyhhawk) created a scripting system whereby if you create your own scrolls/wands then it would use your actual caster level (or to nearest 5? IDR). Again, check the vault.

Have fun :)

EDIT: One other thing about caster level on items is it is instrumental in beating enemy spell resistance (if they have any). IIRC it is d20+caster level vs target spell resistance so should you meet say, oh, I don't know, some mid level drow in a dark hole somewhere, offensive scrolls are going to start failing unless you are very lucky with the die. ;)

[Nethog]

Thanks sl - now I see the number in brackets for scrolls too.