I was playing around with the idea of swift spells. IE spells that are swift actions to cast, but have a duration of 1 round, and I came up with this metamagic. The idea is to give low level fighter/mages and warrior priests more spells options that they can cast in combat while using their martial abilities.
Swift spell(Metamagic) - You can cast spells quickly, but at reduced effect.
Benefit: A swift spell lasts 1 round, but only takes a swift action to cast. A spell with a duration of concentration, instantaneous, or permanent is not affected by this feat. This feat cannot be applied to spells that take longer than 1 full round action to cast. The increase in spell slot is based on the original duration of the spell. 1 round - +4 spell levels, 1 round/level or 1 minute - +2 spell levels, 1 minute/level or 10 minutes - +1 spell level, 10 minutes/level or 1 hour or longer - +0
Examples,
Swift Divine Favor - Uses a level 3 spell slot.
Swift Divine Shield - Uses a level 2 spell slot.
Swift Mage Armor - Uses a level 1 spell slot.
Swift Dominate Person - Uses a level 4 spell slot, but since it only lasts 1 round, it isn't that much more powerful than command.
I also had been looking at options related to the casting of spells.
This is an important matter for fighter/mages and reduced casters since quicken spell uses a slot (four levels higher).
Rarely would a low level PC have a slot that much higher to even use for quicken spell.....
I wanted to reduce that slot to two levels higher and half the spell duration (like a heightened in reverse) as a penalty for casting as you say a "swift spell"
Yeah, that is why I am looking at this. I am playing a holy warrior cleric, and after digging through the spell compendium, I have only found a handful of swift spells between level 1 and 4. The leaves a huge void from levels 1 to 9 for melee/caster types.
If you are a pure caster, you have to be level 9 or 10 before you can even use quicken spell. Even then a most level 5 spells are much better than a quickened level 1 spell. Quickened spells really don't come into play until around level 13-14 when you have 7th level slots for your big spells, and can afford to use level 5 and 6 slots for quickened level 1 and 2 spells. If you are a multiclassed warrior/caster type you won't be able to use quicken spell until even later.
I admit, I see no real issue, but I am unsure as to the benefit. What spell would be useful to cast that only lasts 1 round that would also not require a level adjustment of +4? What hr/lvl spell would you not want to just pre-cast instead?
Divine favor, shield, and shield of faith are great examples. You need to cast these right before the fight, but you may not always know a fight is coming. Even mage armor only lasts a couple of hours at low levels, what is a mage to do if they get attacked during the 20+ hours a day mage isn't up. Swift mage armor would be a good spell to keep memorized during down time in case trouble came knocking.
Divine favor only lasts 1 minute, so you can't precast it unless you know a fight is right around the corner, even then, you may spend 2 rounds getting into position, 1 round to close, full attack, move kill, etc. So with a 10 round spell I may only get 2 or 3 rounds worth of attacks. Still it is a good level 1 spell.
With this, I can memorize swift divine favor as a level 3 spell. It only lasts for 1 round, but at level 9 it is giving me a +3/+3 bonus. Save it for the round where I get to make a full attack and I get the full bonus. The thing is my cleric doesn't have any other level 3 spells that are better choices for my aggressive playstyle. Every round I spend buffing myself to do damage is a round where my friends are fighting without my support. I would much rather have a few spells I can use to buff myself while attacking.
As a DM, I like it because it actually makes it easier for a DM to soak players resources. Making buff spells easier to cast makes it more likely players will use them. The reduced duration means the spell will only be useful for one combat. It is a tough choice memorize a swift buffing spell that I can always make use of or memorize a normal buff spell that may not get used depending on the situation.
Swift Spell
requirement quicken spell
cuts the cost of quickening a spell to two slots higher
and halves the spells durationI would prefer to see the duration lowered by 1 step:
1rd/lvl = 1rd
1min/lvl = 1rd/lvl
10min/lvl = 1min/lvl
1hr/lvl = 10min/lvl
I thought about something like this. Extend spell is +1 spell level. So if you halve the duration 4 times that is roughly the same as -4 spell levels.
But....
Dominate person is the problem child. No matter what method you use to divide the duration, you still end up using a swift action to cast a dominate person that lasts 10 minutes/level or more and uses a level 4 spell slot.
Want to apply it to "buff" spells only?
you know buff self and buff others spells.....
That kills a lot of fun options like swift grease, swift slow, etc.
I thought about that, but dominate person is the problem child. A swift action to cast a dominate person that lasts 1 hour/level and still uses a level 4 spell slot? Yes, please.Swift Spell
requirement quicken spell
cuts the cost of quickening a spell to two slots higher
and halves the spells durationI would prefer to see the duration lowered by 1 step:
1rd/lvl = 1rd
1min/lvl = 1rd/lvl
10min/lvl = 1min/lvl
1hr/lvl = 10min/lvlWell, two issues:
First, I think the stipulation that the spell have a casting time of 1SA or less should still apply.
Two, Dominate Person is 4th lvl Bard and 5th lvl Wiz. The Bard can cast it as a 6th lvl spell for 1hr/lvl, or using KenderKin's redux, 10min/lvl as a 5th lvl spell.
Both I think kill the "Dominate Person" exploit. I would be more concerned with someone pulling out Dimensional Lock as a 9th lvl spell with a duration of 10min/lvl.
OTOH, to be honest, spells like this get pulled out without modifying the duration all the time via Metamagic Rods. I don't think feat-taxing in exchange for a magic item is all that bad.
A rod of metamagic quicken capable of working on dominate person is 75k gold. That is almost all the wealth of a level 11 character. I doubt you would see anyone with one of those before level 14. Even then you can only do it 3 times per day.
Also wouldn't a 10min/lvl dominate person be level 4 spell?
It is a version of or is an improved quicken spell so yes the 1 SA rule would still apply...
you might be right on the redux.
Quicken Spell (Metamagic)You can cast spells in a fraction of the normal time.
Benefit: Casting a quickened spell is a swift action. You can perform another action, even casting another spell, in the same round as you cast a quickened spell. A spell whose casting time is more than 1 full-round action cannot be quickened.
A quickened spell uses up a spell slot four levels higher than the spell's actual level. Casting a quickened spell doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Special: You can apply the effects of this feat to a spell cast spontaneously, so long as it has a casting time that is not more than 1 full-round action, without increasing the spell's casting time.
More than a full round action mean that full round action spells can be quickened.
More than a full round action mean that full round action spells can be quickened.However, Dominate Person is a 1 round casting time spell, which is longer than a Full-round action. Even a metamagic rod would not work.
if 1 round > full round, then we can safely ignore it.
Also wouldn't a 10min/lvl dominate person be level 4 spell?My understanding of Kender's feat is that:
Dominate Person cast by a Bard is a lvl 4 spell. By increasing the spell level by 2 (6th lvl spell), the spell becomes a swift action, and the duration is lowered from 1day/lvl to 1hr/lvl. By lowering the duration again to 10min/lvl, the spell is only increased by 1 level (5th).
I read it as the 2 level reduction can be applied a second time and reduces the duration again.
I'm fairly sure this is meant to indicate the spell level is only lowered by 1, which would be a net +1 to spell level. Not bad, and I can see using it for a couple of different buff spells (especially the 1min/lvl spells).
I am looking at his second version, you are looking at the first.
The second version is
Swift spell
cuts the cost of quickening a spell to two slots higher and lowers the spell duration to the next level.
Special can by used to lower the spell slot one additional time, this results in the duration of the spell being lowered one more step.
No spell can be cast using this feat less than 1 slot higher than the spell normally needs to be cast.
I read that as you apply the 2 spell slot reduction again.
Ok, using kinderkins 2 spell level per duration reduction idea.
Swift Air Walk, 1 round per level at no increase in spell level.
Swift Alarm, 2 minute per level at no increase. Could be nice as an emergency rear guard spell.
Swift Align Weapon, 1 round at no increase or 1 round/level at a +2 increase.
Swift Antimagic Field, 1 round/level at no increase.
Swift Arcane sight, 1 round at no increase or 1 round/level at a +2.
Swift Bane, 1 round at no increase or 1 round/level at a +2.
Swift +4 buff to stat, 1 round at no increase or 1 round/level at a +2.
Swift Cloudkill, 1 round at no increase or 1 round/level at a +2.
Swift Daylight, 1 round/level at no increase.
Swift Ice Storm, 1 round at a +2 increase.
Swift Invisibility Purge, 1 round at no increase.
Swift Invisibility, 1 round at no increase, 1 round/level at a +2.
Swift Keen Edge, 1 round/level at no increase.
Swift Spell Immunity, 1 round/level at no increase.
Swift Stoneskin, 1 round/level at no increase.
Swift Wall of thorns, 1 round/level at no increase.
The basic idea seems sound. It was dominate person that was throwing me off. With that off the table, everything else seems ok.
Swift Antimagic Field, 1 round/level at no increase.
Swift Spell Immunity, 1 round/level at no increase.
Swift Stoneskin, 1 round/level at no increase.
Swift Wall of thorns, 1 round/level at no increase.
These are the kinds of spells that concern me most, actually. All are good combat spells, all are needed for the battle, but most do not need to hang around much afterwards.
Some, like Keen and Air Walk, are not really a big deal. But Wall of Thorns and Antimagic Field could easily be too good (there are few counters to these spells).
I would prefer to see a reduction limit of +1 spell level. Think of it as halving. We halve the quicken +4 to +2 by reducing the duration. We can halve again from +2 to +1 by reducing the duration again. But then we are stuck.
It won't be that big a deal, and might still be worth it to cast. It's just not auto-cast last the spells above are now. If there is no penalty, you always do it. If there is a minor penalty, you just sometimes do it.
Swift Antimagic Field is still a level 6 spell. Worse it is an emination, so if you cast that, you are not going to be casting anything else for 1 round/level. Not too worried about that one.
Swift Spell Immunity. This one worried me a little. Usually spell immunity is something you put up, and you pick very common spells. Swift SI lets you tailor SI to your opponents on the fly. Still, I don't think it is that powerful.
Swift Stoneskin nice quick defense spell, but swift doesn't change the material component cost, so you are still paying 250 gold for a spell that doesn't last nearly as long.
Swift Wall of Thorns, this was the worst of the wall spells that I could find. It has a higher base duration(10 min/level), and it is a PITA to get through it. Still, it is a level 5 druid spell which is a level 9 druid. At that point, fly spell has been available for 4 levels and dimension door has been available for 2 levels.
I thought I said that you always had to use a slot at least one level higher than the spell is normally (since it is a metamagic feat and it is only reducing the quicken penalty) it can not remove the penalty (ie higher slot) completely.....
You wrote it 2 ways. The second writing just said apply the reduction again.
Also, metamagic doesn't have to increase the spell level, look at the energy substitution metamagic.
That said, I don't think that quicken spell at +0 spell levels for 2 levels of duration reduction is overpowered. If the second reduction was halved, I would never use it. Swift keen edge is barely useful as a level 2 spell that lasts 1 round/level, it is garbage as a level 3 spell.
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So here is where I am at....
Swift Spell(Metamagic) - Prerequisite quicken spell.
When this metamagic is applied to a quickened spell, the duration of the spell is reduced by one step, and the spell level is reduced by 2 levels. A spell with a duration of concentration, instantaneous, or permanent is not affected by this feat. The duration steps are days, hours, 10 minutes, minutes, rounds, and 1 round. A spells duration cannot be lowered to less than 1 round.
Special: This feat can be applied twice to the same quickened spell in which cast the spell level is reduced by 4, and the duration is reduced by 2 steps.
Also opens up a new magic item. Metamagic Rod of Lesser Swift Spell - 9,000gp, Metamagic Rod of Swift Spells - 32,500gp, Metamagic Rod of Greater Swift Spells - 73,000gp The rod would make the 3 spells per day cast as a swift action at the cost of 1 duration reduction.
Trying to decide if I want to make this a feat or a template for researching new spells. IE make swift shield a separate spell from shield.