Complete Mage and Book of Nine Swords questions

[Asmor]

Ok, here's one thing that's been bugging me for a while. Can a martial adept ready a particular maneuver multiple times? What I mean is, like, a wizard can prepare 3 copies of fireball, can a warblade ready three copies of one of his maneuvers? I've looked and looked and can't find anything that says you can't, but it seems like that goes against the spirit.

Ok, and now for the Complete Mage question...

Alacritous Cogitation, reserve feats and metamagic.

I'm assuming first of all that if I use energy substitution to prepare Meteor Swarm as an acid spell, for example, that it will qualify me to use the acidic orb reserve feat for 9d6 orbs of acid each round, since it changes the spell's descriptor to acid.

What happens if I have Alacritous Cogitation and leave a level 9 spell slot open? Does this even work? My gut says it does work, but it shouldn't. Spontaneous casters, like the Sorcerer, are limited in using reserve feats because they only know so many spells so if they do want to be gaining the advantage of, say, a 9th level spell, they have to give up one of their precious 9th level slots permanently. On the other hand, a wizard can learn an infinite amount of spells as long as he has the funds to do so. If I'm a generalist, all I need to do is learn a 9th level spell of every descriptor and all of a sudden all of my reserve feats work at max level and all I need to do is give up a single 9th level spell slot, which isn't even a big deal since if I need it that badly I can scribe scrolls and such.

Now, just to make things more confusing, suppose the only 9th level spell I know is Meteor Swarm... but I also know Energy Substitution (Acid). Since I have the capability of casting an acid descriptor meteor swarm, does this one spell empower reserve feats for both acid and fire? Reserve feats say they don't work if the descriptor is chosen at the time of casting, such as with a summon monster where the monster you summon determines the descriptors, but in this case the spell already has a descriptor, and there's really no choices I can make that affect the descriptor. I would need to prepare an acid meteor swarm differently than I would a regular, which is not true for say Summon Monster where I could prepare it twice the same way and it could have different descriptors each time I cast it.

If you're curious, these questions are more than hypothetical because I'm actually working on a 17th level wizard for a bound-for-epic game I'm in, and I'm making a reserve feat specialist.

 

[Asmor]

For that matter, if you'll excuse the tirade, how does Alacritous Cogitation even work? It doesn't fit at all from a flavor standpoint, and it's kind of dubious from a mechanical standpoint as well. It lets you cast any arcane spell you know in that one spell slot, but wizards don't know any arcane spells! They have to write them down in their spellbook. They temporarily memorize them when they wish to use them.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Ok, here's one thing that's been bugging me for a while. Can a martial adept ready a particular maneuver multiple times? What I mean is, like, a wizard can prepare 3 copies of fireball, can a warblade ready three copies of one of his maneuvers? I've looked and looked and can't find anything that says you can't, but it seems like that goes against the spirit.

According to the "Ask Wizards" feature on the web site, the answer is no. I agree with them; it's too easy to break the classes if you allow it.

I'm assuming first of all that if I use energy substitution to prepare Meteor Swarm as an acid spell, for example, that it will qualify me to use the acidic orb reserve feat for 9d6 orbs of acid each round, since it changes the spell's descriptor to acid.

Yep. You have an Acid spell prepared.

What happens if I have Alacritous Cogitation and leave a level 9 spell slot open? Does this even work? My gut says it does work, but it shouldn't.

Nope. Taking Alacritous Cogitation doesn't make you a spontaneous caster. You're still a prepared caster, with the ability to (for lack of a better phrase) "suddenly prepare" one spell per day. And as a prepared caster, you still have to have the appropriate type of spell actually prepared.

Now, just to make things more confusing, suppose the only 9th level spell I know is Meteor Swarm... but I also know Energy Substitution (Acid).

If you're a prepared caster, you would still have to actually prepare the spell with the acid descriptor to make it qualify.

It gets a bit tricker with spontaneous casters, but the answer is no. Sorcerers apply their metamagic feats when they cast the spell. Until you do so, you don't have an acid spell on your spells known list for 9th level, just a fire spell.

Edit: No longer quite sure about this last ruling. See below.

 

[Thanee]

It gets a bit tricker with spontaneous casters, but the answer is no. Sorcerers apply their metamagic feats when they cast the spell. Until you do so, you don't have an acid spell on your spells known list for 9th level, just a fire spell.

And thus those feats change from very nice to pretty much completely worthless for sorcerers... :\

Bye
Thanee

 

[Mouseferatu]

And thus those feats change from very nice to pretty much completely worthless for sorcerers... :\

Bye
Thanee

Not at all. The spells a sorcerer knows still apply to Reserve feats. I'd just say that the sorcerer cannot count spells modified with Energy Substitution to his Reserve feats. That hardly makes the Reserve feats useless; in fact, they're still better for sorcerers than they are for wizards.

 

[Mouseferatu]

And BTW, it's worth noting that the answers above are my own interpretation, and shouldn't necessarily be considered official. I worked on that section of the book, but I didn't design the feat as it now stands, so I can only offer my own interpretations.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Not at all. The spells a sorcerer knows still apply to Reserve feats. I'd just say that the sorcerer cannot count spells modified with Energy Substitution to his Reserve feats. That hardly makes the Reserve feats useless; in fact, they're still better for sorcerers than they are for wizards.

I think Thanee means that since a Wizard can always make sure to prep something of the right descriptor in her highest level spell slot (whether it be an Energy-subbed Meteor Swarm or a Heightened Acid Arrow or what-have-you), they can always get the maximum use out of the feat. Meanwhile, without counting metamagic, the sorcerer may not even have an [Acid] spell of her highest level known at any given level.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I think Thanee means that since a Wizard can always make sure to prep something of the right descriptor in her highest level spell slot (whether it be an Energy-subbed Meteor Swarm or a Heightened Acid Arrow or what-have-you), they can always get the maximum use out of the feat. Meanwhile, without counting metamagic, the sorcerer may not even have an [Acid] spell of her highest level known at any given level.

So the sorcerer shouldn't take acid-related Reserve feats, or should make sure to take acid-related spells of every level possible. Not every feat is fully useful to every character; no reason these should be different, IMO. If a sorcerer wants to focus on acid, she should focus on acid; if she doesn't, she probably shouldn't be taking a valuable feat slot with an acid-related feat.

 

[Mouseferatu]

You know what? Never let it be said that I cannot be reasoned with.

I've just reexamined the wording of the Reserve feats, and they say that must have "a [blah] spell available to cast." One could definitely argue that a sorcerer with Energy Substitution (Acid) and meteor swarm has an acid spell "available to cast," even if it's not technically on her spells known list.

I'm not sure which way I'd rule, now... But I'm no longer convinced that my previous ruling was accurate.

 

[Rystil Arden]

So the sorcerer shouldn't take acid-related Reserve feats, or should make sure to take acid-related spells of every level possible. Not every feat is fully useful to every character; no reason these should be different, IMO. If a sorcerer wants to focus on acid, she should focus on acid; if she doesn't, she probably shouldn't be taking a valuable feat slot with an acid-related feat.

Absolutely--I think Thanee and I both agree with you there If the feat applied using metamagic, though, you have to admit it would be an awesome grab for a sorcerer with Energy Substitution: Acid, whereas since it doesn't, it is fairly niche in utility.