Best single metamagic feat

[Mark Hoover]

I have a Universalist Wizard at 7th level. So far I've completely engineered him for crafting and utility spells. Now that he's gotten some experience he's edging toward 8th level.

At 8th he gets an ability from Universalist that allows him to apply an metamagic feat he knows spontaneously, 1/day. The downside is I know no metamagic feats. I am wondering; what metamagic feat do you think would be worthwhile when I finally hit 9th?

[andreww]

It varies depending on level but the three big ones as far as I am concerned are:

Quicken Spell - action economy is king and being able to launch two spells per round is golden.

Dazing Spell - Dazing is the most powerful status effect in the game bar Dead. It's more powerful than Stunned as nothing is immune to Daze. It can be attached to spells which target any of the three defences and both AoE or single target.

Persistent Spell - forcing your target to roll twide is equivalent to about a minus 3-4 on their save, a far better deal for 2 spell levels than using a higher level spell or Heighten.

Honourable mentions go to Widen Spell for hitting truly huge areas, Empower Spell if you are using a lot of evocations and Piercing Spell if you fight a lot of Outsiders but I would still pick one of the first three.

[Heaggles]

I would have to say quicken spell is very useful.

[ShadowcatX]

It depends how you play your wizard, really. Quicken is probably the most universally useful meta magic.

[Nefreet]

I'm a fan of Intensify Spell. It breathes life back into those 1st level spells you forgot about a few levels ago.

[Charlie Bell]

I'd say Extend Spell is the best metamagic feat in general, but not for purposes of that ability. Quicken Spell probably fits the bill for that.

[aceDiamond]

Maximize is useful, but more expensive than Empower. My favorite combo, though, is Spell Perfection (Chain Lightning) with Maximize.

[ArmouredMonk13]

Maximize and intensify seem great to let you use those spells you forgot about like burning hands.

Quicken spell is better though, because it allows 2 spells in one round.

[chaoseffect]

Dazing is my favorite as it can be put to good use as early as level 7 for a Wizard. Quicken is also very good, but it seems like it's not really worth it until you can at least quicken 2nd level spells and that's at 11.

[andreww]

Quickened Shield isn't a bad option if you are in trouble but Quickened Mirror Image is better.

[Marius Castille]

Quicken Spell is nice in general but you wouldn't be able to use it with Metamagic Mastery until 14th level (when you would have the requisite 4 uses of the ability to burn). If you're wanting to grab a metamagic feat at 9th level to use with the ability right away, it'll have to be one that bumps the spell by only one level.

[Nefreet]

Quickened True Strike right before Disintegrate.

[gracefulArmageddon]

I don't think it gets better than Quicken. Though, it's not as much fun for me as some others..