Houserule for Metamagic

[Nameless]

Kirth Gersen wrote:

hogarth wrote:

What do you think of the Unearthed Arcana "sudden" metamagic variant (quick synopsis: 3/day, but can't use on high level spells)?

And it's open content, too... Looks good, but lemme think about it. I get the feeling it might be open to some abuse, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

I have a feeling that the Quicken Spell feat might get taken more than onece. Being able to quicken 6 to 9, maybe even 12 times per day can get pretty bad real fast. Of course, the wizard will always be limited to quickening 5th level spells (assuming no epic), but 12 quickened 4th-5th level spell/day is pretty intense. And being able to use maximized disintegrate multiple times per day without expending 9th-level spell slots? Pretty nasty.

On the other hand, it allows low-level spells to still be useful at higher levels. Fireball and lightning bolt become useful again.

I think it's certainly successful in being more powerful than the current Metamagic Feats. Whether or not it's too powerful, though, is a much more difficult question.

[DM_Blake]

hogarth wrote:

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Almost everyone prefers the (non-OGL) "Sudden" versions -- if 1/day isn't enough, select the feat twice for 2/day? But we can't steal these for Pathfinder.

What do you think of the Unearthed Arcana "sudden" metamagic variant (quick synopsis: 3/day, but can't use on high level spells)?

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/spontaneousMetamagic.htm#dailyUses

I gave my opinion a few posts up, but here it is:

Of the Unearthed Arcana variants this one is the only one that wouldn't make me unhappy as a player. However, it has two limits that I'm trying to avoid with my housrule.

3/day is fairly limiting. I bet the fighter will Power Attack more often than that. I want mematmagic to be frequently useful, not rarely useful.

And I think the spell level limit is a bit low. I like the idea of a spellcaster being able to use metamagic to achieve something he couldn't achieve without it. A fighter with Power Attack can achieve damage he cannot achieve without it. A wizard with Maximize merely achieves the same thing he could have accomplished with a good die roll.

But I think being able to apply metamagic, even one time, that goes over your caster level is overpowered unless there is risk involved too. So simply housruling this variant to apply to higher level spells would overpower it.

Finally, I like that metamagic should entail some risk. Power Attack does. That penalty on to-hit rolls means that sometimes the fighter will miss with a roll that would have hit without the feat. I like bringing that uncertainty to metamagic - especially to spontaneous metamagic applied "on the fly".

[Leonis472]

DM_Blake-

I like your ideas. In fact, I created a spell for it. I thought it might be considered too powerful, so I scrapped it. I thought of it as I read through here, and I didn't notice anything already posted like it (as a spell, I mean), so here it is. Sorry if there already is a post like this on the board! Perhaps this spell can be used to avoid a check in a pinch. You can add it to the spell lists of non-arcanists.

LIGATURE
Universal
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V or S, see text
Casting Time: 1 swift action
Duration: Instantaneous

As you cast ligature, choose a metamagic feat that you know. As a commensurate cost, you lose a spell slot of equal or greater value to the spell level modifier the feat imposes, or a number of spell slots which together equal this value. The next spell you cast is modified by that metamagic feat, except that this feat does not increase the spell slot level. Casting time is increased to a full-round action or greater, as under the normal rules for spontaneously applying a metamagic feat to a spell. (PHB p.88)

A spellcaster who prepares spells can modify any of their spells spontaneously through ligature. Ligature can be cast to append another metamagic feat to a spell a caster is already attaching a metamagic feat to.

Ligature can be cast only once per round, and can only attach a single metamagic feat per casting. It cannot be used apply the same feat more than once to a given spell (a fireball, for instance, cannot be twice-empowered, once normally and once again through ligature). The Heighten Spell feat can raise the effective level of a spell by a maximum of three. Sudden Metamagic feats are incompatible with this spell. If the benefit provided by this spell is not used within 1 round of casting, the commensurate cost outlined above is still used.

At caster level 10, a caster can apply a metamagic feat he knows which modifies the spell slot by one at no commensurate cost.

Special: To cast ligature, you must have spent time researching a word of binding and a sign of binding. These are unique to each caster, and the research time is as for a 1st level spell. You make the same check to develop both. The word of binding is the verbal component for this spell, and the sign of binding is the somatic. When you cast ligature, you choose which component is required for that casting, and the word or sign supplies it.

[Leonis472]

I just thought of something new. Give all spellcasters a second, metamagic-only Spells per Day chart, namely, the Bard's. Tie it to the caster's relevant spellcasting ability, and you have a level-based pool of "metamagic slots" for spellcasters to use. Instead of increasing the level of a metamagic-modified spell, you could just have this pool take the added cost out of its spells per day. A character could maximize spells by Level 7.

[LazarX]

Set wrote:

Does this kill Heighten Spell and take it's stuff? Yeah, it does, but I've always thought that a spellcaster should be able to prepare a lower level spell in a higher level slot, *if he wants to* without any sort of Feat requirement.

He always could. He just got no benefit saving throw DC wise from doing so.

And in Living City, I used metamagic left and right. Living Arcanis practically rains metamagic.