5 Feats for a campaign where magic is commonplace

[Angel Tarragon]

Spell Blast [Metamagic]
You can use a spell slot to hurl arcane or divine energy at your enemies.
Prerequisite: Spellcraft 12 ranks
Benefit: By sacrificing a spell prepared in a spell slot or an unused spell slot you can hurl bolts of energy at your foes. The kind of energy you use depends on what kind of spellcaster you are. Arcane spellcasters (Bards, Sorcerers and Wizards) hurl arcane energy, while divine spellcasters (Clerics, Druids, Paladins and Rangers) hurl divine energy. How much damage your foe takes depends on the level of the spell slot used to power this ability. Each spell slot has a base of 1d6 per spell level. The character also does an additional amount of damage of damage equal to the base core class level. If the foe has damage reduction it is ignored unless it has damage reduction of magic. In the case of having a magical damage reduction the target takes only half as much damage on a successful Fort save. The DC of the save is equal to ten plus the characters core class level plus the level of the spell slot. The range of the spell blast is equal to 10 feet per core spellcasting class level plus 10 feet per level of the spell slot expended.

Prestigious Spell Blast [Metamagic]
A spellcaster with levels in a prestige class is as effective at handling spell energy as spellcaster without levels in a prestige class.
Prerequisite: Spell Blast, levels in any other class than her base spellcasting class.
Benefit: When applying damage to your foes you add you use your total class levels instead of just adding your core spellcasting class to the amount of extra damage dealt. Also the DC your foes must overcome to take half damage is equal to ten plus the characters total class levels plus the level of the spell slot.

For example if Laera were a 10th level Wizard and she expended fifth level spell slot she would deal 5D6 + 10 points of damage to her enemy and the DC to overcome the spell blast would be 25 and its range would be 150 feet. Now if Laera was a 5th level wizard and a 5th level spell singer the amount of damage, the DC to overcome the spell blast and the spell blasts range would be the same.

Empowered Spell Blast [Metamagic]
Your spell blasts are more powerful.
Prerequisite: Spellcraft 14 ranks, Spell Blast
Benefit: The amount of additional damage and the range of your spell blast are increased by 50%

So in Laera’s case she would deal 5D6 plus +15 points of damage when sacrificing a 5th level spell slot and its range would be 225 feet.

Enhanced Spell Blast [Metamagic]
Your spell blasts deal in increased amount of damage.
Prerequisite: Empowered Spell Blast.
Benefit: The damage die used to calculate the characters spell blast is increased.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times. A characters spell blast can not exceed 1d12 per level of the spell slot sacrificed.

Extended Spell Blast [Metamagic]
The range of your spell blast is increased.
Prerequisite: Empowered Spell Blast
Benefit: The range is your spell blast is doubled.

So if Laera spell blasted an enemy at 10th level with a 5th level spell slot, she would be able to hit him if he was no farther than 300 feet from her.

 

[Li Shenron]

I have mixed feelings about these feats.

First of all, the damage seems ok to me. OTOH I don't like how it interacts with damage reduction, which usually has nothing to do with spells (you know that, right? ). I would simply give any target a save (Fort or Refl) for half, or even better I'd give no ST but require a ranged touch attack, essentially making the blast work like a Ray. This changes should ensure more uniformity, otherwise DR Magic is 1) non-existant at low levels, 2) near-ubiquitous at high levels, and 3) much more common for monsters than NPCs.

You should also clarify if the ability is Su or Sp, just in case it comes up in the game (for AoOs, concentration, etc.).

One other thing I don't like at all is how you refer to base class and prestige classes. IMHO it's much better and much more clear to just say "caster level" instead. It isn't a big deal to give Spell Blast improvement to PrCls which grant spellcasting levels, really, so no need for the feat Prestigious Spell Blast.

The last 3 feats are quite fine. However you should check out how much damage one can have if he takes both Empower and Enhanced. IMHO there's no need for both feats if what you get is anyway damage increase, so I'd like to drop the first one which also overlaps with Extend.

 

[law]

These feats seam to be stepping on the Archmage Prc and the Worlock core class to me. With these I would not even think of using either or both. Since the feats trump and out shine both of there ray abilities.

 

[Fieari]

The Warlock isn't technically a core class, and I wouldn't balance anything against it (Personally, I think the Warlock is broken and I disallow it from my games... YMMV, but it still isn't really something you must keep in mind when comparing balance, as it comes from a supplement, not the core rules).

As for the ArchMage's Arcane Fire, that's 1d6 per Archmage levels plus 1d6 per spell level. Spellblast here does 1d6 per spell level (same as ArchMage) and then +1 per Singleclass level. If you went straight wizard 20, which no one I know does, that's a plus 20, compared with a +5d6 (Ave: 17.5) for ArchMage's Arcane Fire. Slightly more powerful, and that's for singleclassing all the way to 20. If that wizard takes just three levels of a PrC, any PrC, he'll be dealing less than the ArchMage.

That is, unless that multiclassing character takes YET ANOTHER feat, either the Prestidious or Empowered Spell Blast, or both.

Additionally, Arcane Fire has more than double, often more than quadruple the range of Spell Blast here.... unless yet ANOTHER feat is expended...

The ArchMage's Arcane Fire is still sounding much better than these feats.

I say the feats are balanced. They grant access to a weaker version of one of the ArchMage's abilities. If all you wanted from the ArchMage was Arcane Fire, you can now multiclass elsewhere instead, and take these feats... instead of taking some other metamagic feat, like quicken, still, empower, maximize, etc. Definitely a choice to be made, and certainly not a no-brainer.

 

[Li Shenron]

These feats seam to be stepping on the Archmage Prc and the Worlock core class to me. With these I would not even think of using either or both. Since the feats trump and out shine both of there ray abilities.

Mmm.... I don't see why he shouldn't use those feats only to enforce a PrCl which is available only at very high level and a questionable class from an optional book :\