Help me pick my sorcerer/archmage's 18th level feat/spell

[ruleslawyer]

Excuse my ineptitude, but I'm still having trouble seeing the big benefit of Heighten Spell. When would I use it? For instance, if I heightened a Finger of Death to 9 (of which I can only cast 3 per day, btw), that would only increase the DC by 2.

You do realize what +2 to save DC can mean for a spell given these parameters, right?

Assuming your sorc runs about Cha 32, then his base save DCs are 21 + spell level +5 (spell power) + feats. So, your finger of death normally runs at a save DC of 37. A reasonable CR 18 opponent, like a balor, needs a 17 to save against this. Raising it to a 19 (with Heighten Spell) cuts the chance of saving in half. That's a pretty big difference.

That said, I might go with Spell Penetration first; it may be more useful.

 

[EvilGM]

Did you try it with a sorcerer (for a wizard the feat is pretty much completely useless ) and with a spell list, which features some low-mid level spells, which have a negating save, but a great effect, if the save fails (like the above examples)?

I tried it with a Sorcerer and a Wizard. You're right about it being completely useless for a wizard. It was handy at times for the Sorcerer, but I was usually better off using the higher spell slot on a real spell of that level or a different metamagic feat.
It is better than Twin Spell tho... ugh does that feat blow.

 

[Thanee]

I tried it with a Sorcerer and a Wizard. You're right about it being completely useless for a wizard. It was handy at times for the Sorcerer, but I was usually better off using the higher spell slot on a real spell of that level or a different metamagic feat.

Sure, but you simply do not have so many high level spells, and it's nice to have some more options there. While a real high level spell is more powerful, it's not that much more powerful usually (with the types of spells, where Heighten makes sense to be used, that is - often the higher level spell has additional targeting options or additional effects, but the lower level spell still works well enough, if not for the low save DC). With Heighten, you could quite feasibly rely on lower level spells and pick different types of high level spells to get a broader selection, instead of getting a more powerful, but rather similar spell in application.

And there are a few spells, which are really good, if heightened, even at higher levels... especially Glitterdust and Slow come to mind.

It is better than Twin Spell tho... ugh does that feat blow.

Hmm... I'm pondering on picking that up, but only at really high levels (16th).
With the Incantatrix PrC, it's a bit better, tho, costing only +3 levels then.

If Split Ray would work on the Orb spells, I would probably take that instead, however.

Bye
Thanee

 

[yennico]

As a sorceror, your biggest limit is on spells known by level.

That is true.

No matter how hard you try, you'll never get another 6th-level spell, for instance.

No, IIRC there exists a feat that grants you a new (known) spell. It is called extra spell.

I also vote for the heighten spell feat.

 

[EvilGM]

I play a Necro 5 / Archmage 5 / Incantatrix 13 in one campaign. We play with a mix of 3.0 and 3.5 rules.

I have the following metamagic feats: Extend, Empower, Maximize, Widen, Quicken, Twin, Chain.

I use Twin the least (like never), Empower/Maximize a lot, Extend a few times (buffs and timestop), Quicken and Chain fairly frequently, and Widen occasionally (mostly for WotB).

I would take them all again, except Twin - I just can't find a good use for it.

AM abilities: SP 2/3, Shaping, Elements, Arcane Fire

 

[Thanee]

Twin is good for save-or-die spells, or spells like Wall of Force, otherwise, it depends a bit on the situation, of course.

It also allows you to cast two spells, similar to Quicken Spell. This is, again, especially nice as a Sorcerer, who cannot normally use Quicken Spell. For a Wizard it's probably less useful, yeah.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Rkhet]

Twin Spell is really only good for epic games, where you can take Improved Metamagic.