A dozen metamagic cantrips (meta-cantrips?)

[knight_isa]

I've had this idea for a while, and today I finally took the time to flesh it out. Basically, this is an idea to make cantrips a little more useful past level 3. So here are a dozen cantrips that affect the next spell cast. The questions I have are:
1) does this idea have merit (does it make sense and would it ever be used)?
2) are the spells balanced? If not, what could I do to correct the issues?
3) what would be the most appropriate school? Most I defaulted to Transmutation.

Here a short summary:

Caster Preserver        +1/2 CL bonus to save vs. own spell
Duration Extender       +1 CL for duration
Energy Augmenter        +1d3 energy damage to energy spell
Lingering Reminder      1 point of damage is continuous
Material Provider       eschew materials
Range Enhancer          +2 CL for range
Resistance Penetrator   +1 CL to overcome SR
Somatic Stabilizer      -10% ASF
Spell Fortifier         +1 to dispel DC
Target Locater          -10% miss chance due to concealment
Verbal Stabilizer       -10% SF due to deafness/silence
Verbal Silencer         +5 to Listen DC

And the long version:

Caster Preserver
Abjuration
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

You gain a +1/2 caster level bonus to the save against the next spell you cast before the end of the next round.


Duration Extender
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

You gain a +1 bonus to caster level when you determine the duration of the next spell you cast before the end of the next round.


Energy Augmenter
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

The next damage-dealing spell with an energy descriptor (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) that you cast before the end of the next round is augmented. All targets of that spell take an additional 1d3 points of damage of one energy type matching the spell's energy descriptor(s).


Lingering Reminder
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

One point of damage from the next instantaneous damage-dealing spell that you cast before the end of the next round is continuous damage that lingers for one round.


Material Provider
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

You can ignore the material component worth less than 1gp of the next spell you cast before the end of the next round.


Range Enhancer
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

You gain a +2 bonus to caster level when you determine the range of the next spell you cast before the end of the next round.


Resistance Penetrator
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

You gain a +1 bonus to caster level checks to overcome spell resistance for the next spell you cast before the end of the next round.


Somatic Stabilizer
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

The arcane spell failure of the next spell you cast before the end of the next round is reduced by 10%.


Spell Fortifier
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

The DC to dispel the next spell you cast before the end of the next round is increased by 1.


Target Locater
Divination
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

The miss chance due to concealment is reduced by 10% for the next spell you cast before the end of the next round.


Verbal Stabilizer
Transmutation
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

The spell failure caused by casting a spell with a verbal component while deaf and/or silenced is reduced by 10% for the next spell you cast before the end of the next round.


Verbal Silencer
Illusion (Glamer)
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 0
Components: S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: See text

The Listen DC to hear the next spell you cast before the end of the next round increases by +5.


Comments/suggestions?

Edit: Changed the Energy Augmenter to 1d3
Edit: Changed duration to be similar to True Strike

 

[Sound of Azure]

I believe a 1 round duration spell would only last until the beginning of your next turn, so you wouldn't get the benefit of the spell worded as it is now.

They should possibly be swift or move action action spells, rather than standard action spells. This would provide better utility overall, in my opinion.

I like these low-range effects. Nice work. I'd probably drop the bonus damage on Energy Augmenter to 1d3 damage though.

 

[Jack Simth]

I believe a 1 round duration spell would only last until the beginning of your next turn, so you wouldn't get the benefit of the spell worded as it is now.

It's the same duration as True Strike.

They should possibly be swift or move action action spells, rather than standard action spells. This would provide better utility overall, in my opinion.

No. You don't want something that makes a meaningful difference, in a cantrip, that easily accessable. You want it fast? Quicken it.

I like these low-range effects. Nice work. I'd probably drop the bonus damage on Energy Augmenter to 1d3 damage though.

 

[EricNoah]

At first blush, I love it. Gonna pitch a few of these to some of my players!

 

[el-remmen]

Yeah, I totally plan to yoink some, if not all, of these. .. if that is okay. . .

 

[Machiavelli]

Spend an action to gain a low-level power boost? Sounds fine to me. At higher levels, when cantrips come by the dozen, the action will be too valuable to waste like that. At lower levels, it may be more worthwhile, but it will still be a definite trade-off.

 

[knight_isa]

I believe a 1 round duration spell would only last until the beginning of your next turn, so you wouldn't get the benefit of the spell worded as it is now.

It's the same duration as True Strike.

Actually, True Strike has a duration of "See Text." I'll change these to match.

They should possibly be swift or move action action spells, rather than standard action spells. This would provide better utility overall, in my opinion.

That would, but I think that would move the power level out of the realm of 0-level spells. Part of the balance here is that it costs a round to get the benefit.

I like these low-range effects. Nice work. I'd probably drop the bonus damage on Energy Augmenter to 1d3 damage though.

I'd been thinking that, but I'm prejudiced against d3s. I agree, though. Done.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Feel free to use them!

Any other comments/suggestions?

 

[Kerrick]

It's the same duration as True Strike.

Yes, but you can cast a spell and make a single attack in a round, which is the intent of true strike - it works for one attack. You can't cast two spells in a round unless a) one of them's quickened; or b) you have Multispell. I agree - these are a neat idea, but they should be faster to cast.

No. You don't want something that makes a meaningful difference, in a cantrip, that easily accessable.

It's about the same as a feat - they don't increase spell level, but they can't be used all the time (you'll eventually run out of cantrips).

 

[knight_isa]

Yes, but you can cast a spell and make a single attack in a round, which is the intent of true strike - it works for one attack. You can't cast two spells in a round unless a) one of them's quickened; or b) you have Multispell. I agree - these are a neat idea, but they should be faster to cast.

Actually, you can't. Casting True Strike is a standard action, as is making a single attack. So you cast True Strike this round in order to get a bonus next round.

It's about the same as a feat - they don't increase spell level, but they can't be used all the time (you'll eventually run out of cantrips).

Shouldn't a 0-level spell be decidedly less than a feat?

Edit: spelling

 

[knight_isa]

Part of the limiting factor for these spells is availability. Without house rules, for example, a wizard will never get more than 4. House rules in my current game grant a number of bonus 0-level spells equal to your primary spellcasting ability modifier. Does that make these more/less balanced, or the same?

What about other classes that get more? I'm rather fond of Mongoose's hedge wizard, for instance, which gets boatloads of low-level spells (including unlimited cantrips at 9th level) but fewer high-level spells.

There is also the issue of magic items. You could make, say, a rod of augment energy for a measly 1000 gp (1/2 spell * 1 caster * 2000 gp), right?

Does the ability to cast these at will, as a standard action via means of the afore-mentioned hedge wizard's class ability or a rather inexpensive magic item, skew the balance any? I don't think so (not with standard action casting time/activation), but I'm looking for other opinions.