Improved Spontaneous Metamagic (New Feat)

[airwalkrr]

IMPROVED SPONTANEOUS METAMAGIC [METAMAGIC]
Prerequisites: Any metamagic feat.
Benefit: By expending a little extra power, you can spontaneously cast metamagic spells without increasing the casting time for the spell. Whenever you spontaneously cast a spell enhanced by a metamagic feat, you may choose to use up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s modified spell level to cast the spell without increasing the casting time.
Special: This feat allows spontaneous casters to cast quickened spells.
Normal: Without this feat, spontaneously casting a metamagic spell with a casting time of 1 action is a full-round action, and spontaneously casting a metamagic spell with a casting time of 1 round or greater takes an extra full-round action.

What do you think of this feat?

 

[RisnDevil]

With the alternate Sorceror option in the PHB II, this isn't that great. If you alter it so that a Wizard could also spontaneously add metamagic to spells this way, it would be better.

 

[airwalkrr]

Yea but then wizards would have to leave spell slots open. It happens sometimes, but not usually unless the wizard is a mage of the arcane order and leaving spell slots open is sometimes as much a liability as it is a benefit.

The benefit of this feat is that it can be used an unlimited number of times per day and doesn't force you to give up anything, as opposed to the sorcerer variant which costs you your familiar and can only be used a limited number of times per day (based on an ability score which most sorcerers don't care about). It has an advantage over arcane preparation in that it lets you decide to apply metamagic on the fly without increasing the cost, while arcane preparation lets you do it ahead of time for the standard cost.

 

[green slime]

I say just let them (sorcerors) have their spontaneous casting with Quickened spell, if they take the feat, and be done with it.

 

[Ferrix]

I say just house rule sorcerers to be able to cast metamagicked spells without ridiculous penalties. Not like that's going to overpower them at all, might even make them approach the strength of wizards.

 

[airwalkrr]

I've played sorcerers quite a bit and I don't believe they are underpowered compared to wizards since I've played wizards more. Tossing out the metamagic penalty might not hurt, but something tells me it was in the RAW for a reason, probably a game balance reason. Maybe they saw sorcerers flinging quickened spells like there was no tomorrow. Not sure. Perhaps the reason for the stipulation was that sorcerers could already cast multiple spells per round with haste, but since 3e haste is now changed, there is no reason for the restriction. I suppose I could playtest it with both the feat and with just nixing the rule and see, but I don't have any spontaneous casters in my current campaigns. Anyone toyed with this idea before?