Good spells to Heighten

[Felix]

Ok, some folks think Heighten is a bad metamagic feat. Those of you who do are invited to keep your opinion since this thread really doesn't want to discuss it.

What I would like to roll around the boards is, what spells benefit the most from [Heightening]? Off the top of my head I'd suggest these are good ones:

Blindness/Deafness
Detect Thoughts
Grease
Charm XYZ
Ghoul Touch
Sepia Snake Sigil
Suggestion
Hold XYZ
Phantasmal Killer
Bestow Curse
Fear

Any other [Heighten] fans out there? What do you [Heighten]?

 

[Felix]

*chirp chirp*

*chirp chirp*

*chirp chirp*

Hmmm.... maybe I am all alone on this [Heighten] thing of mine. Sigh...

*chirp chirrrrrp*

 

[Spatula]

Good spells to Heighten: Any spell that says

Save: XXX negates

The more dire the consequences of failing the save, the better a choice it is to Heighten. That's really all there is to it, since all Heighten does is increase the save DC (the side effect of bypassing globes of invulnerability isn't something that you're going to encounter very often).

I do think Heighten could be a good choice for a sorcerer, as it would help the character get more mileage out of lower-level spells that allow for a save.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Blindness/Deafness

No higher than 6th level--after that, you've got Power Word: Blind

Detect Thoughts

Not bad but for most high level applications, Probe Thoughts (Complete Divine) is better.

Grease

Not bad. Not incredibly impressive though.

Charm XYZ

Only for a sorceror who has limited spells known. Wizards should just prepare the innately high level versions.

Ghoul Touch

This one never really impressed me in general. I suppose that, if it's worth casting, it could be worth heightening but I'm dubious about its value at 2nd level.

Sepia Snake Sigil

I guess. When you use it it's worth heightening.

Suggestion

Definitely.

Hold XYZ

Again, only for a sorceror. Wizards should just prepare the innately high level versions.

Phantasmal Killer

No. (Or not really--Disintegrate and Finger of Death are far superior, don't have two saves, and aren't negated by hero's feast).

Bestow Curse

Definitely.

Fear

Yes.

A few others:

Glitterdust
Slow
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
Feeblemind
Dominate XYZ (for sorcerors only--wizards should just use the naturally higher level versions)
Magic Jar
Baleful Polymorph

 

[blargney the second]

I think Heightened Reduce Person sounds like a lot of fun.

-blarg

 

[Ferret]

The teleports that give will-saves for unwilling targets sounds good, 'I don't like you. Your going....ELSEWHERE!!'.

Protect from's (and other barrier spells) can be good if you expect them to try and force their way through as well.

 

[DaveStebbins]

Since light/darkness spells will cancel out their opposites of lower level without being cancelled themselves, a heightened continual flame is proof versus any darkness spell that hasn't been heightened itself. I always thought that was a cool idea for clerics with Sun as one of their domains.

 

[Particle_Man]

Not sure I agree that Power Word Blind is always better than Blindness, since the latter could work even if the person has 1 000 hp and is at max hp.

But if you are going for high level campaigns, heightened disintegrate is cool.

And heightened Scrying, under the 3.5 rules. [For a Scry vs. Scry black and white campaign -- an imaginary rubber cigar to whoever gets this one]

 

[Hypersmurf]

And heightened Scrying, under the 3.5 rules. [For a Scry vs. Scry black and white campaign -- an imaginary rubber cigar to whoever gets this one]

Heh.

-Hyp.