The Magician (a campaign-specific core class)

[Machiavelli]

As written right now, this class is REALLY cool. I'm afriad I don't have much more to add than that bit of encouragement.

Really cool. Seriously.

 

[Ciaran]

Glad to be of help. The basic problem I have with your Metamagic Synergy feat is that it's vastly too powerful. It's too broad. What happens when a mage who's taken Metamagic Synergy four times casts an 8th (base) level spell with 5 metamagic levels? He's now effectively casting a 13th level spell as 9th level.

Is that actually the main problem? Because you can't take a feat more than once unless it's explicitly permitted by the feat text, and Metamagic Synergy doesn't permit it. You can only take Metamagic Synergy once, so your example is inapplicable.

But your Improved Metamagic feat goes the other way: by limiting it to once a day no-one will take it. It's too weak.

How about twice per day? Three times per day? Once per day per point of intelligence bonus?

So if you want it I suggest you make it apply to a specific feat of the player's choice, but don't limit its usage. But consider that a 5th level mage could be casting Quickened Truestrikes if you let it stack.

Perhaps allow it to be used freely for all spells associated with a chosen rune?

 

[Machiavelli]

So if you want it I suggest you make it apply to a specific feat of the player's choice, but don't limit its usage. But consider that a 5th level mage could be casting Quickened Truestrikes if you let it stack.

Perhaps instead of specifically stating which metamagic feats this "Metamagic Synergy" applies to, you can explicitly state which two it DOES NOT apply to: namely Quicken and Permanant. Those two metamagic feats have an annoying tendency to be the "problems" with every universal metamagic feat proposed after them.

 

[Ciaran]

Perhaps instead of specifically stating which metamagic feats this "Metamagic Synergy" applies to, you can explicitly state which two it DOES NOT apply to: namely Quicken and Permanant. Those two metamagic feats have an annoying tendency to be the "problems" with every universal metamagic feat proposed after them.

I'm not familiar with Permanent Spell. Where is this feat found, and how does it work?

But consider that a 5th level mage could be casting Quickened Truestrikes if you let it stack.

I should note that the feat wasn't intended to allow a caster to metamagic spells beyond their normal limits; this is a bug cause by insufficiently stringent wording, not a feature. Even without stacking, this shouldn't allow a 5th level mage to, say, cast a Silent fireball, because that would require starting with a 4th level spell slot before the Metamagic Synergy bonus kicks in. If I were to keep working with the original concept for the feat, I'd put in wording to make this explicit.

On the other hand, with a more restricted version of the feat (say, you can only gain the benefits for spells associated with a specific rune), I might go the other way; a Silent fireball at 5th level isn't so bad if you're limited to using the feat on fire spells only, and you still can't get Quickened truestrikes or anything along those lines.

 

[Ciaran]

Let's just go with the PHBII's Metamagic Specialization ability:


Improved Metamagic [Metamagic]
You are adept in the use of metamagic.
Prerequisites: Any two metamagic feats.
Benefit: You do not take more time to cast a metamagic spell (one enhanced by a metamagic feat) than you do to cast a regular spell.
Normal: You must take more time to cast a metamagic spell than you do to cast a regular spell. If the spell’s normal casting time is 1 standard action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action. (This isn’t the same as a 1-round casting time.) For a spell with a longer casting time, it takes an extra full-round action to cast the spell.

 

[Ciaran]

And this can replace Amplify Spell, Penetrating Spell and Potent Spell:


Enhance Spell [Metamagic]
You can cast spells with greater power than normal.
Benefit: An enhanced spell adds +2 to your caster level for that spell, and increases the spell’s save DC by 1. An enhanced spell uses up a spell slot two levels higher than the spell’s actual level.