Hello all,
Recently I had an idea for a metamagic feat, but I'm unsure if it's ever been made before.
The idea is a metamagic feat that will allow you to change the save type of a spell you attach it to. For example, using this metamagic, one could change the will save of say Sleep into a fortitude or reflex save.
Not sure what level increase would fit or even if it'd be useful or overpowered. I was thinking +1 or +2 for the level increase though.
So, first of all, would this be overpowered? I wouldn't think so, but I'm not as experienced as some.
Second, is it useful at all? I could see it being useful if you knew what you were going up against or if you could do it on the fly.
Third, what level increase do you think it should have?
Also, I'm not sure what to call it this metamagic feat if it hasn't been made already. I'm thinking Potent Spell though.
except i think is taken Flexible spell might make more sense. and think potent spell is taken...
I wanna say 3.5 had some that would turn certain types of spells to another save, ie: mind-affecting to FORT.
overpowered... hmm... depends. from a realistic standpoint i not sure how sleep being off reflex would work...
potentially useful sure. that mage sitting there blasting you, target his fort instead of will. on the fly vs fore knowledge, is kinda no different than any other metamagic, really.
I would say at least two levels if not three levels higher. It is possible to know about what kind of enemy you will be facing, thus what their low save is likely to be. A spellcaster type I would go reflex or fort. Warrior type will is the key.
Just a bit of information and you have a good Ideal which save to target.
Whether it was balanced or not all comes down to the level increase in my opinion.
I think it should be atleast +2, but possibly more. A clever player (or very experienced player) would be pretty good at guessing the weak save of a creature. An animal? Hit it with a will save. Outsider? Smack it with a Fort save. Undead? Go for reflex. This of course isn't 100% accurate but is still a relatively easy baseline to follow. This gets worse depending on how your group identifies monsters and/or metagames.
When you compare this to Heighten Spell you can get a better idea of what its increase should be. Its not uncommon for a bad save to be 6 points less than a strong save (even more at higher levels) and if a player is good at figuring out what that weak save is then its almost like adding +6 to the DC of a spell with 1 metamagic.
Now granted sometimes this metamagic will work against itself. If you prepare a Fort Save Fireball and run into a creature with a weak reflex save then its actually made the spell worse while taking up a higher level slot. But if you also happen to prepare normal fireballs with Will-Save-Fireballs then you have a tool for everything... Or if you happen to be a spontaneous caster.
While I havn't given you a straight answer, I hope this helps you decide how strong you think the feat is. And as for name, My vote is Adaptive Spell!
Thanks for the input everyone.
@ IejirIsk - Good to know, I may go with the Adaptive Spell name as Ishnya had suggested. As far as if it's realistic, I feel like magic users twist reality enough that it would be acceptable. If not, some brainstorming per spell could be done to explain it.
@ Tursic - I may try it out at 2 sometime and see how it works out, if it's still too overwhelming I think I'll up it to 3. I don't consider this on the same plane as +4 (i.e. quicken spell though).
@ Ishnya - Some good points and I may just use the Adaptive Spell name and you pretty much hit on why I thought it'd be a fun feat. It may make enchantments far more usable in later levels.