CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
I am currently developing a set of house rules for 3.5 Edition, that borrows one of the best features of 4E: at-will spellcasting. Under this new system, spellcasters will no longer have to count and keep track of spell slots, power points, spells per day per spell level, x times per day, none of that.
You can find the detailed write-up of the rules here (107K PDF), and follow the project's thread here. Bottom line: spellcasters can cast any spell they know, at will, as a standard action. To do so, they must make a caster level check DC = 10 + (2 x spell level). There are other rules and balance checks in place, but that is the biggest one.
Now, one of the biggest problems of this system is, the metamagic feats are remarkably hard to balance. Either they are super-powerful and no spellcaster in his right mind would go without them, or they are nerfed and completely useless and no spellcaster in his right mind would ever choose them. I'm having a hard time finding the middle ground.
I've got a few options, and I would like everyone's opinion on which one would be the best.
1. Once Per Day: By taking a penalty to the caster level check (penalty varies by the power level of the metamagic feat, from -2 for Silent or Still, to -8 for Quickened), the caster may cast any spell he knows with the metamagic enhancement, but only once per day. The feats can be taken more than once; each time the same metamagic feat is taken it grants one more use of the MM feat per day.
Benefits: easy to learn and use, can apply to any spell that the caster knows.
Disadvantages: some bookkeeping, allows metamagic feats to stack, allows metamagic feats to apply to any spell regardless of spell level. It would be feasible for a high-level caster to throw down a quickened, enlarged, maximized, empowered meteor storm...would it still be unbalancing even though it could only be once per day, and with a -22 penalty to the caster level check?
2. Only One Spell: This option means that the metamagic feat only applies to one spell, selected at the time the feat is taken. That spell becomes permanently enhanced with the metamagic feat, and is always cast as enlarged, or silent, or quickened, or whatever. The caster level DC for that spell is permanently increased by +2, +4, +6, or +8.
Benefits: easier for the player to use...the spell gets updated on the character sheet, and doesn't ever change. No bookkeeping, no stacking bonuses to remember to apply.
Disadvantages: a severe lack of versatility. A spellcaster who wanted to maximize all of his healing spells would need to take the Maximize Spell feat over and over again, once for each cure wounds spell.
3. Metamagic feats do not stack: Part of the problem with metamagic feats is that nobody can take just one.
With this rule, a spell can only be enhanced by a single metamagic feat at a time, regardless of the number of metamagic feats known. Under the regular rules system, this would be horrible...but given that the spellcaster can cast spells at will, all day long without preparation, this isn't so bad.
Advantages: easy to balance...metamagic feats can only be applied one at a time, so there are no quickened + maximized + empowered fireballs to worry about.
Disadvantages: I call this one the "nerf bat," because it really lowers the appeal of metamagic feats. Low-level spells become absolutely useless (instead of just sort-of useless) at high levels.
You can find the detailed write-up of the rules here (107K PDF), and follow the project's thread here. Bottom line: spellcasters can cast any spell they know, at will, as a standard action. To do so, they must make a caster level check DC = 10 + (2 x spell level). There are other rules and balance checks in place, but that is the biggest one.
Now, one of the biggest problems of this system is, the metamagic feats are remarkably hard to balance. Either they are super-powerful and no spellcaster in his right mind would go without them, or they are nerfed and completely useless and no spellcaster in his right mind would ever choose them. I'm having a hard time finding the middle ground.
I've got a few options, and I would like everyone's opinion on which one would be the best.
1. Once Per Day: By taking a penalty to the caster level check (penalty varies by the power level of the metamagic feat, from -2 for Silent or Still, to -8 for Quickened), the caster may cast any spell he knows with the metamagic enhancement, but only once per day. The feats can be taken more than once; each time the same metamagic feat is taken it grants one more use of the MM feat per day.
Benefits: easy to learn and use, can apply to any spell that the caster knows.
Disadvantages: some bookkeeping, allows metamagic feats to stack, allows metamagic feats to apply to any spell regardless of spell level. It would be feasible for a high-level caster to throw down a quickened, enlarged, maximized, empowered meteor storm...would it still be unbalancing even though it could only be once per day, and with a -22 penalty to the caster level check?
2. Only One Spell: This option means that the metamagic feat only applies to one spell, selected at the time the feat is taken. That spell becomes permanently enhanced with the metamagic feat, and is always cast as enlarged, or silent, or quickened, or whatever. The caster level DC for that spell is permanently increased by +2, +4, +6, or +8.
Benefits: easier for the player to use...the spell gets updated on the character sheet, and doesn't ever change. No bookkeeping, no stacking bonuses to remember to apply.
Disadvantages: a severe lack of versatility. A spellcaster who wanted to maximize all of his healing spells would need to take the Maximize Spell feat over and over again, once for each cure wounds spell.
3. Metamagic feats do not stack: Part of the problem with metamagic feats is that nobody can take just one.
With this rule, a spell can only be enhanced by a single metamagic feat at a time, regardless of the number of metamagic feats known. Under the regular rules system, this would be horrible...but given that the spellcaster can cast spells at will, all day long without preparation, this isn't so bad.Advantages: easy to balance...metamagic feats can only be applied one at a time, so there are no quickened + maximized + empowered fireballs to worry about.
Disadvantages: I call this one the "nerf bat," because it really lowers the appeal of metamagic feats. Low-level spells become absolutely useless (instead of just sort-of useless) at high levels.
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