Complete Mage - Is it out yet?

[BryonD]

The intent was, indeed, to allow sorcerers to use Quicken.

The "normal casting time" wording is going to cause some rules forum fun.....

Makes sense to ME, but still....

 

[Mouseferatu]

The "normal casting time" wording is going to cause some rules forum fun.....

Makes sense to ME, but still....

Yep. I intended "normal" to mean "The casting time is not increased, as it usually is when a sorcerer applies a metamagic feat." I did not intend it to mean you can't Quicken, but obviously I could have phrased it a little better.

 

[BryonD]

Yep. I intended "normal" to mean "The casting time is not increased, as it usually is when a sorcerer applies a metamagic feat." I did not intend it to mean you can't Quicken, but obviously I could have phrased it a little better.

Meh. I'm fine with normal english.
Though the clarification IS appreciated.

 

[I'm A Banana]

So for a sixth level slot, known chain lightning spell, and a feat you can get your minimum power sorcerer made lightning bolt wand as an innate power.

All of these are much more valuable than a drop in the bucket of GP, too. You get hundreds of thousands of gold pieces, of which a wand takes up only a very small fraction, and you get seven feats (not counting bonus feats, eight if you're a human). You've spent the equivalent of 1/7th of your entire character's GP throughout the course of his career to be able to use a wand at will instead of "virtually every turn for a month".

 

[Voadam]

If a wizard prepares a silent electricty orb, does that count as 4th? (I'm really asking)
If yes, does a sorcerer with silent spell and electricity orb count as long as he has a level 5+ slot?

Regardless, for balance purposes I think it is fair to assume that an appropriate spell of each valid level may come into play.

Metamagic only increases spell slot, not spell level normally. I don't have CM to examine the exact language, but it sounds like spell level is the determining factor so it sounds like a metamagicked 4th using a 5th slot is still 4th and would do 4d6.

I agree though that Spell Compendium, 3rd party sourcebooks, energy substituted spells, and future WotC spells could provide electrical subtype spells for all levels and should be expected when designing the feat. Out of the core though there is only lightning bolt and chain lightning for qualifying spells.

 

[Particle_Man]

Metamagic only increases spell slot, not spell level normally. I don't have CM to examine the exact language, but it sounds like spell level is the determining factor so it sounds like a metamagicked 4th using a 5th slot is still 4th and would do 4d6.

Sounds like Heighten Spell just became a more useful feat.

 

[Klaus]

If the creature has Lightning resistance 10, I would rather shoot a 5d6 bolt than a series of 3d6 bolts.

I'd rather find out that a creature is resistant to electricity through a wasted use of an at-will ability than through the wasted use of a 3rd-level spell slot.

 

[Felon]

So ... instead of this feat, burn another feat, some cash and some XP? Or hope your DM has Magic-Marts?

Bryon already largely covered this point, but I don't know why you presume a character has to make his own wands, and I don't know how hard I should have to "hope" that a DM allows characters to attain trivial magic items that easily fall within the DMG's guidelines. A 5th or 6h level character should be able to afford 750 gp, and even small towns can handle that purchase limit.

But heck, since you brought it up, let's consider dropping a feat on Craft Wands instead of a reserve feat. With the feat, you can craft a wand for any spell you know. That's a lot more versatility. The trade-off is the cost in XP (minor) and gp (which is half what it costs to buy the wand flat-out).

Like Bryon, I'm hardly implying that reserve feats stink, just that there's always been a way for a mage to get off a small spell virtually every round. They don't alter the very fabric of the game--except maybe for folks who play an aberrant version of D&D where magic items get short shrift.

 

[Felon]

So for a sixth level slot, known chain lightning spell, and a feat you can get your minimum power sorcerer made lightning bolt wand as an innate power.

Well, I hate to keep driving the same point, but the average wealth for an 11th-level character is 66,000 gp (88,000 for a 12th). Again, the wand of lightning bolts is well within attainability. Heck, this mage is gearing up for staffs.

But yeah, it's nice enough.

 

[Set]

These Reserve Feats sound a heck of a lot like Locus Feats, which were introduced in the Scarred Lands book "Secrets of the Asaatthi". The only difference is that Locus Feats required you to have a specific spell in memory, and sometimes a minimum number of ranks in particular skills....but they gave slightly more powerful abilities.

I like these better, actually. The +1 caster level and the much easier to meet prerequisites make them very nice compared to the Locus feats. (I *loved* the Locus feats, and even wrote up a bunch of alternates on the WW boards after they were introduced, but they just didn't offer enough bang to be worth the multiple feats necessary to get to the 'good stuff,' unless you took the specific Locus Master PrC in the book and got bonus Locus feats and abilities.)

I've noticed this a couple of times. The Scarred Lands writers came out with some really neat 'Scion feats' for a Sorcerer of whatever bloodline, and a bit later WotC came out with some Bloodline feats that did the same thing, but significantly more powerfully. To my mind, this is probably the best part of the OGL. The best ideas from third-party publishers can be pillaged and pulled into the core game.