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Not sure if this has come up before (please direct me if it has), but it suddenly struck me (whilst looking at the 'Words of Power' playtest stuff) that there's no real reason you couldn't design metamagic feats which reduce the spell level, by making the spell worse in some way, instead of increasing it by making it better.
The obvious suggestion would be a 'Ritual Magic' feat which allowed you to cast a spell at one level less than normal by increasing the casting time to something like an hour. Or a feat which allowed you to reduce a spell's level by expending expensive material components where none are usually needed. Or a feat which turned an area spell into a single-target spell.
Maybe, if reducing the spell level seems too powerful by itself, such reductions could only be used to off-set the increased level 'costs' of other metamagic feats? So, you could maybe maximise your spell by casting it as a ritual using expensive components and having a dozen acolytes on-hand to assist you?
I'm sure such a system would be open to abuse... but it seems like it could be kind of an interesting idea...
Thoughts, comments, suggestions?
It's a common idea in superhero RPGs to have limited powers be cheaper, but you have to keep in mind the Champions maxim (paraphrased): "A limitation that doesn't limit is worth nothing." E.g., a 1 hour casting time for a noncombat spell that lasts a week is not really a limitation.
Some people don't like seeing those kind of "GM's discretion" disclaimers in the rules, though.