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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lamoni" data-source="post: 1529053" data-attributes="member: 12680">No, you aren't the only one who sees fault with the Sage's ruling.  I think that applying it to spells that have already been modified by other metamagic is the best use for it.  It keeps being said that it is extremely useful to sorcerers.  I disagree.  The sorcerer can already cast the same spells at the same spell slots without the feat for the same amount of damage.  Raising the DC of the less effective spells is helpful.  But in my opinion not as helpful as many other feats that I would much rather have for my sorcerer.  Plus, it lengthens the casting time to a full-round.I also don't understand why people say that the wording in the player's handbook is clear and therefore there can be no interpretation on it.  The fact that this topic keeps coming up and is debated for so long should say that it isn't clear.  I think that if you read the rule as it is written without adding any preconceived notions about how you think it should work based on other feats or your past playing experience, that you will read the feat as not raising the spell slot... just raising the effective level up to the spell slot that it uses.Yes, it gives an example of using a 2nd level spell in a 4th level slot.  Does it say that the feat changed it to a 4th level slot?  No.  You can already do that without any feat.  What the feat did was that it made the 2nd level spell in the 4th level slot act like a 4th level spell.  Quit bringing up the rule that metamagic stacks.  Of course it stacks.  But if you take a 2nd level spell, add +2 to the spell slot from a metamagic feat, add another +1 to the spell slot just because you wanted to, and added +3 to the effective level you end up with a spell that starts at 2nd level and becomes a 5th level spell.  You still stack all increases to the spell slot.There is one good argument that this isn't the case.  That is the line that says: "Benefit: A heightened spell has a higher spell level than normal (up to a maximum of 9th level)."  This can be interpreted as saying that you can't apply heighten to any spell that isn't in a higher level spot... or it can say that the feat actually does raise the spell level concurrently with the effective level.  Still, it is far from clear.  To help clear it up you just read on... "Unlike other metamagic feats, Heighten Spell actually increases the effective level of the spell that it modifies. " Still it doesn't say whether or not the feat raises the spell level, but it makes it clear that it DOES raise the effective level.  Assuming that it raises the spell level too is based on what we expect it to do based on the effects of other metamagic feats.Good thing there was an official answer to clear it up because the rule as written isn't very good.  Unfortunately, that moves heighten spell from being of about equal benefit as other metamagic feats back down to being about the least useful.  Some people will still get it, but only because they can also get a few of the better ones and they think that a sorcerer casting with a full-round action is offset by the +1 or +2 DC.  I just know that I'll probably never pick it up.  I didn't mention the higher spell slot since the sorcerer is already going to be doing that out of necessity.  The thing is, that is a drawback of the sorcerer that they need to do that so often.  Using the feat only lessens the drawback... and not by much.</blockquote>

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