So, what's the big deal about SC level 2?

[MalcolmSprye]

Pretty much every build using Sublime Chord I see runs 2 levels of Sublime Chord, and I've heard people describe the Caster level boost as amazing.  Yet, from reading it, it seems like it's capped at a maximum of +4 CL boost(at least the chart says 30+ = +4CL).

I see people talking about hitting ~80 CL with circle magic, etc... so, what's the big deal about a (potential) +4 boost as a move action, that is more useful than another level in whatever Arcane PrC you're using to advance SC spell casting? To clarify: I'm not asking why SC is good; it's pretty obvious that going from mediocre bardic spell casting to sorcerer/wizard spell casting is great.  I'm asking why 2 levels of SC instead of 1.  Is +1-4 CL that good?

[bearsarebrown]

Yes

[Empirate]

1. Yes.

2. It's easy to fit in a 10 level casting PrC (like Virtuoso) even with two levels of SC, because you can take levels in it before you ever get to SC. Personally, I even like SC level 6 - that song of timelessness is like Resilient Sphere on crack.

[ProfessorCirno]

Circle magic and all that hitting 80 CL is hilarious and obscene.

+4 CL is merely "really fucking awesome" in comparison, certainly, but it's still really fucking awesome.

[X-Codes]

+4 CL as a move action, and there are plenty of powerful, uncapped spells to employ it with.  Seriously, Bead of Karma gets tons of love, and this ability is *WAY* better.

Song of Timelessness really isn't given enough attention, IMO, but at the same time it's tough to justify taking 3 dead levels to get it (you don't even advance bardic music uses per day for 2 of those 3 levels).

I think it shines best in an extremely high-powered game, since it's a save-or-lose that is almost impossible to gain immunity against.  All you need is Melodic Casting from Complete Mage and you can apply it without losing the ability to cast spells yourself.  Even if the DM rules that it requires concentration (tough to say one way or another by the text), then you just have to add Persistent Greater Harmonize.

[Widow]

Yes, boosting your caster level up high enough that greater dispel magic does not work on you is always good.  It works great with alternative sourced spell and divine metamagic to keep those key buffs up.  Second of all, one more level does not really cost you in the class and gives you a use for your bardic music at higher levels in builds that don't have another use for it.

[X-Codes]

Yeah, it used to be a much bigger deal before rules for fractional BAB/Save progressions came out with UA.  At that time, it was a +1 BAB, +1 CL level with a freakin' awesome class ability.  No gish in their right mind would pass that up.

[Bauglir]

The reason is that, arguably, the CL calculation is wonky in the text. In virtually all cases, it works just fine, but it goes berserk any time something has a caster level allows you to add some other caster level(s) to determine it (the gold standard here is Master Spellthief, which calculates your CL for all spells by adding all your separate CLs, all of which Sublime Chord sets to [presumably] your highest CL). The 2nd level is just gravy that interacts nicely with the aforementioned wonkiness, and is better than pretty much anything except, possibly, metamagic reducers.

[X-Codes]

That's not quite what we're talking about.  That CL wonkiness is more of a TO thing, anyway.