Spells per day, Spells known and metamagic

[Dryvnt]

Hey everyone.

I was wondering about how the Spells per Day works for spell levels which you don't know any spells for, in work with Metamagic.

Let's say I have a level 1 Sorcerer with 20 Charisma. From the 'Additional Spells per Day' table, I can see I get one spell per day of up to level 5. Does this mean I can take a few metamagic feats and use them to spend all my spells, even the higher level ones?

For example, could I take Heighten Spell as my level 1 feat, and then in combat cast both a level 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 Magic Missile, through the metamagic?

[Esreyr]

Answer: No.

Those would be additional spell slots once you are able to cast a spell of that level.

Further: You do not need to use a metamagic to prepare a spell in a higher level slot. So you can prepare a Magic Missile in a level 5 spell slot. It functions identically to a Magic Missile in level 1 spell slot.

[hogarth]

From the Abilities section:

PRD wrote:

Abilities and Spellcasters

The ability that governs bonus spells depends on what type of spellcaster your character is: Intelligence for wizards; Wisdom for clerics, druids, and rangers; and Charisma for bards, paladins, and sorcerers. In addition to having a high ability score, a spellcaster must be of a high enough class level to be able to cast spells of a given spell level. See the class descriptions in Classes for details.

(Emphasis mine.)

[Dryvnt]

Ah, alright. Thanks everyone!

Bonus question: If I can prepare Magic Missile in a level 5 slot, why would there even be a need for the Heighten metamagic feat?

[Esreyr]

Magic Missile is not usually a spell you'd heighten.

Lets change the example to "Burning Hands".
If you prepare this spell in a level 1 spell slot the Reflex DC = 10 (base) + 1 (spell level) + Spell_Casting_Stat_Mod.

If you prepare the same spell in a level 5 spell slot (not heightened) the Reflex save is: 10 (base) + 1 (spell level) + Spell_Casting_Stat_Mod. So no difference.

However if you prepare this spell Heightened to a level 5 spell slot (+4) then the Reflex save is: 10 (base) + 1 (spell level) + Spell_Casting_Stat_Mod + 4

So heightened means the spell is likely to do more damage. And as per the description of Heightened Magic feat... will also defeat a Lesser Globe of Invulnerability.

And as a sorcerer... casting any spell with a meta magic feat will take a full round action. But if you just cast a low level spell in a higher level slot it would only be a standard action.

[Dryvnt]

Oooh, I see. Thank you for taking the time to explain!

[bodhranist]

Esreyr wrote:

Magic Missile is not usually a spell you'd heighten.

This is fairly true, but if you did heighten it, it would affect a target inside a lesser globe of invulnerability, even though a magic missile prepared in a 5th level slot without heighten would fizzle out.