Sorcerer can do it on the fly. Wizard does it faster. It depends on what your priority is.
Golem said it about right.
It also depends on what sort of spells you want to focus on.
Personally, I think an Arcanist works best, since they can get some of the best Wizard stuff and some of the best Sorcerer stuff with the proper archetype. But, as I've said before, it depends on the type of spells you're focusing on, because each spell type can only be affected by certain Metamagic feats.
Sorcerer can do it on the fly. Wizard does it faster. It depends on what your priority is.
As a note a sorcerer with the arcane bloodline can gets metamagic adept at level 3, allowing them to apply a metamagic feat to a spell without increasing the casting time 1/day. This increases in uses by one every 4 levels after this, so 2/day at level 7.
The Arcane blooded sorcerer also increases the DC by 1 when they apply a metamagic feat to a spell with their bloodline arcana.
A blood arcanist could choose the arcane bloodline, that would be very versitile for metamagic.
Sorcerers are able to do it on the fly
Wizards are Faster? how? because of spell levels?
Arcanist? I haven't really touched it, can you go into further detail?As for the class style....I think Blaster Caster would be fun with this. Normally I play Blaster Caster despite the fact its not "effective" but I have fun with it. I've done a Universal Wizard before and became an absolute monster when i didn't specialize.
Anyways, Blaster Casters. Offensive Damage spells. I know the general Metas for it: Empower, Maximize, Twin, Intensify, Quicken.
When you are a Wizard and for kicks take nothing but Magic Missile in ALL of your spell slots of 1st-9th and metamagic the s~@$ out of them, things get crazy.I agree that Rod's are very useful and probably for some I would use a Rod for.
Arcanists can take the School Understanding for limited access to any spell school that a Wizard can take, and that includes subschools, such as Teleportation, Admixture, and so on. Blood Arcanist gets access to a Sorcerer's Bloodline Arcana, and all of their Bloodline Powers (at the cost of a few Exploits and their not-so-good capstone).
I had a feeling that you'd suggest being a Blaster. With that being said, I will suggest This Guide I've whipped up that optimizes damage and versatility.
Twin spell is not a thing in pathfinder and it's probably worth noting magic missile is considerably worse to metamgic in pathfinder than it is in 3.5.
Wizards do it faster because drops do it spontaneously but unless they use quicken it takes them a full round action to cast meta,agin spells. Wizards have to prep them with metamagic but they are a standard action to cast.
Do you mean quicken spell?
That allows you cast the same spell twice with one spell slot, but not cast two spells in one turn. As I understand it twin spell allows the same spell to effect a target twice in one turn. The closest pathfinder gets to that is quicken to my knowledge.
Also have you considered a kineticist they allow for some blasting fun :)
Metamagic tends to reward specializing in one or two specific spells, due to the metamagic traits being so good.
If we're talking ridiculously mean blaster/control, then I'd probably say Astral Draconic Sorcerer, Blood Havoc and Blood Intensity Bloodline Mutations, Magical Lineage: Battering Blast, Wayang Spellhunter: Ill Omen.
You take Spell Specialization: Battering Blast and Varisian Tattoo: Evocation to add +3 to the caster level of Battering Blast (and whatever else will boost spell level), and then you throw Battering Blast with things like Dazing Spell and Empower Spell, crossed with Blood Havoc and Blood Intensity to drive up the damage. As levels go up, Battering Blast starts to multiply force damage; at an effective caster level of 15, you can throw three 7d6+7(Force) bolts, and those bolts can each trigger a reflex save vs. Dazed + +20 Bull Rush + knocked prone.
With the Astral Draconic Bloodline you can grab Psychic class spells - so Ill Omen. Quickened Ill Omen with a metamagic trait is only level 4; so it's not hard to throw a quickened spell that forces multiple d20 rerolls, including saving throws.
So you can cripple a target's saving throws with a swift action, then hit it with a brutally strong knockdown/daze force attack.
That's more a specific build than a general answer, but metamagic rewards specializing in spells...
@ Danzibe1989: Smart choice. 90% of tables ban the Summoner (even Unchained Summoner) anyway, so you saved yourself a lot of disappointment.
@ Badbird: The problem with Saving Throws is that they don't scale well for PCs unless you're throwing 9th level spells.
A 3rd level Metamagic spell has a 6 DC difference than a 9th level spell, which is very huge.
So, 10 Base + 3 Spell Level + 1 Spell Focus + 2 Potent Magic + 13 = 29 Save DC by the endgame, compared to a DC 35 9th level spell. (Add an extra one for Greater Spell Focus if you want, but there are better feats to spend than that.)
Most creatures by the endgame will have upwards of 25+ to their saves. You'd need a 9th level spell just to have a 50/50 chance to make them fail, even if you target their weakest save.
The reason Battering Blast works so well is because of its damage scale, damage type, and without requiring a saving throw to be fully effective. It still requires Touch Attacks (which can still miss). When you apply effects which require a saving throw to function, it's not going to go over well.
The reason Battering Blast works so well is because of its damage scale, damage type, and without requiring a saving throw to be fully effective. It still requires Touch Attacks (which can still miss). When you apply effects which require a saving throw to function, it's not going to go over well.
If we're talking about a spellcaster who can throw level 9 spells, then they're going to have long ago gained access to A)Spell Perfection and B)Heighten Spell.
So a Sorcerer at very high level will easily toss-on a swift Ill Omen to force a double-save, and then drop a Spell Perfection Dazing Empowered Battering Blast (Dazing = free, Empower = +1level with metamagic trait, so Heighten = whatever level you want to throw it at -1), and the save to avoid being dazed for [Heightened spell level number of rounds] and knocked on the ground is a Reflex save.
Succeeding at a touch attack can be bolstered by Greater Heroism easily at that level, as well as all kinds of other tricks; and there will be 3-4 shots from Battering Blast that all have to miss to avoid the Daze rider (and if the Bull Rush fails, then it's still a Will save).
The whole point of a spell specialist is that the spell(s) they focus on should be mutable to any level.
For a blaster an elemental sorcerer with elemental spell, heightened spell and intensified spell works well. Never choose a spell with your element or the element you choose for elemental spell as one of your known spells. This allows you to be able to cast any damaging spell in three elements. Since the best damage spells seem to be fire its best to avoid fire as your element.
Different strokes for different folks
Wizard- higher level spell slots fastest, no metamagic adding time, extra feats
Sorcerer- most spell slots, arcane bloodline adds a lot of use to metamagic, can add metamagic ONLY when needed
Arcanist- can steal arcane bloodline, can add metamagic on the fly as a sorcerer without increasing cast times, best extra metamagic
Will post about specific metamagic feats later. There's alot and not enough time
An Arcanist with Metamixing and Greater Metamagic Knowledge exploits, and Craft Rod feat.