Heighten metamagic


Rules Questions


OK, I know how the feat works to increase the spell level of a spell.

here is what I want to see if it can be done;

an Aasimar has daylight as a SLA which is a level 3 spell, I want to heighten it to level 4 so that it cannot be removed by a deeper darkness spell.

is there a feat or ability that can allow this? I have not found any so far but there are many more books out there than I have access to.

Grand Lodge

No matter what you try, even a heightened Daylight spell will go away when it is in the presence of a Darkness spell:

Quote:
Daylight brought into an area of magical darkness (or vice versa) is temporarily negated, so that the otherwise prevailing light conditions exist in the overlapping areas of effect.

What you want, really, is a Heightened Continual Flame spell...


The issue in this case is how to heighten spell-like abilities, it seems. Although kinevon is probably right about the specifics.

I don't think there's a way. There are feats for Empower/Quicken Spell-Like Ability, but I don't think there's one for Heighten. There's probably a third party feat out there.


There is no Heighten SLA, so no. You can Quicken it, Empower it, and Maximize it, but those are the only three Meta-SLA feats.


kinevon wrote:

No matter what you try, even a heightened Daylight spell will go away when it is in the presence of a Darkness spell:

Quote:
Daylight brought into an area of magical darkness (or vice versa) is temporarily negated, so that the otherwise prevailing light conditions exist in the overlapping areas of effect.
What you want, really, is a Heightened Continual Flame spell...

ok that seems to contradict the SRD concerning darkness and light:

under the darkness spell: (same verbiage under deeper darkness):

This spell does not stack with itself. Darkness can be used to counter or dispel any light spell of equal or lower spell level.

the quote you gave is only in the daylight spell description thus meaning that daylight can temporarily negate deeper darkness but it also dispels it (see the very next line...)

"Daylight counters or dispels any darkness spell of equal or lower level, such as darkness." both spells (deeper darkness and daylight) are level 3 so it both temporarily negates it and dispels it?

by the same verbiage (in the darkness spells) indicates that a deeper darkness can dispel my daylight. unless heightened to level 4 thus making a standard deeper darkness spell useless against my daylight.

I hope this clarifies what I am asking..


There are 3 different possible actions here, and counter spelling and dispelling are two different things. You can only do one of the following actions. Where it says "counters or dispels" it should be read as can be used to counter or dispel _______.

Counter spelling requires a readied action, such that you basically cast your daylight spell at the same time the enemy cast their darkness spell. If this happens:

Quote:

How Counterspells Work: To use a counterspell, you must select an opponent as the target of the counterspell. You do this by choosing to ready an action. In doing so, you elect to wait to complete your action until your opponent tries to cast a spell. You may still move at your normal speed, since ready is a standard action.

If the target of your counterspell tries to cast a spell, make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell's level). This check is a free action. If the check succeeds, you correctly identify the opponent's spell and can attempt to counter it. If the check fails, you can't do either of these things.

To complete the action, you must then cast an appropriate spell. As a general rule, a spell can only counter itself. If you are able to cast the same spell and you have it prepared (or have a slot of the appropriate level available), you cast it, creating a counterspell effect. If the target is within range, both spells automatically negate each other with no other results.

Counterspelling Metamagic Spells: Metamagic feats are not taken into account when determining whether a spell can be countered.

But you specifically have to ready an action to counterspell. If the spell is already on the field you cannot counter spell.

To dispel, is not actually well defined but I can only assume it is meant to be used like dispel magic spell. Which is you target that specific instance of darkness and cast to dispel. After which neither spell exist any longer.

A 3rd method is simply casting the spell in an overlapping area.

In any event, there is not a heighten spell like ability feat.

Grand Lodge

I think this thread could help, as Jiggy explains how the various Light, Darkness and other effects work, including dispelling, counterspelling, and the Daylight negation effect.

Negate is different than counterspell is different then dispel.

Negate: Both effects continue, but neutralize each other in the overlapping area of effect.

Counterspell: One spell is cast as a counter to someone casting the other. They both have to be in range of the same target, IIRC.

Dispel: One spell can be used on the target of the other spell after the first spell is cast, in which case both spells end.

The benefit of a Heightened Daylight is pretty much negated by that section of Daylight that I quoted, so the higher/lower level stuff from the regular Light/Darkness rules does not apply.

Continual Flame, on the other hand, does not have that negate clause, so a Heightened Continual Flame will overcome most Darkness and Deeper Darkness effects. Until someone counterspells your Heightened Continual Flame.


actually, daylight negates darkness but darkness does not negate daylight.

also by the negation effect the last line serves no purpose but to confuse

remember the line you quoted ONLY appears in the daylight spell NOT the darkness spell.

thus if I cast a heightened daylight (4th level) and then the enemy casts a regular deeper darkness (3rd level) the end result will be my daylight stays and his deeper darkness has no effect.

also as stated you cannot counterspell a spell already cast (like the continual flame) it would have to be dispelled via a dispel magic.

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