A question about Arcane Blast have been rolling around in my head for a while. Would this feat be a stopgap solution for when wizards lose their spell book?
A few points to be cleared up:
• Do prep-casters need to actually prepare a spell to sacrifice it, or can they just blow an unprepared slot?
• If they have to prepare it, can they just fill it with the Read Magic that all wizards can prep from memory and still get full value for the slot, or would they need to use the Heighten Spell Metamagic feat to pump it up?
From the way it's written, I'm inclined to say they'd need to prep and use Heightened Spell, but I'm open to dissenting opinions. (or I wouldn't have posted. :)
Given the level needed to use the feat in the first place, and the relative weakness of the feat generally, I would say that you can either use an unused slot or one filled by a lower level spell with or without heighten (or some other metamagic feat).
a more "raw" explanation would be that it any spell you put in that slot uses the power of that slot. If you choose to put Read Magic into a 9th level slot, its still a 9th level slot powering the spell. (I guess you'd just be concentrating really, really hard when you cast that particular read magic spell ;p) I would require heighten mainly just because its putting Two feats to burn just to be marginally useful without a spellbook. Double ouch. The wizard would be overall better just to Spellmastery one of the 3rd or 4th level elemental evocations and going from there. At least they are AOE and give better damage for the feat. (as well as allowing for other spells to be learned).
-S
A question about Arcane Blast have been rolling around in my head for a while. Would this feat be a stopgap solution for when wizards lose their spell book?
A few points to be cleared up:
• Do prep-casters need to actually prepare a spell to sacrifice it, or can they just blow an unprepared slot?
• If they have to prepare it, can they just fill it with the Read Magic that all wizards can prep from memory and still get full value for the slot, or would they need to use the Heighten Spell Metamagic feat to pump it up?
From the way it's written, I'm inclined to say they'd need to prep and use Heightened Spell, but I'm open to dissenting opinions. (or I wouldn't have posted. :)
As a standard action, you can sacrifice a prepared spell or unused spell slot of 1st level or higher and transform it into a ray, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This attack deals 2d6 points of damage plus an additional 1d6 points of damage for every level of the spell or spell slot you sacrificed. 0-level spells may not be sacrificed in this manner.
A spell slot without a spell prepared is an unused slot and therefore can be sacrificed to power arcane blast.
That said I would probably opt for spell mastery if I was playing a wizard since that gives me choices of what to do with the slots other than blasting (eschew materials is probably a good choice in this case too).
However for a supernatural option to deal damage? Well not many other options.