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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1019870" data-attributes="member: 1210">The thing about metamagic feats is that the balance for the power-up is the level increase.  If you take this feat for, say, maximize spell (decreases to a +2 increase), you get a 60-hp fireball every time as a 5th level spell (assuming you're 10th level).  Compare this to casting a 10d6 cone of cold- average of 35 hp.  Boom!  The maximized fireball wins out.  A fireball max'ed as a 6th level spell (60 hp) vs. an 11th-level caster using disintegrate is a whole different story- that's 22d6 (in 3.5), or an average of 77 hp.  Maximize is very useful because of its diversity (can be applied to any spell with variables) and reliability, so I think it retains a huge amount of usefulness.  If it makes maximized spells hands-down better than non-metamagicked spells of the level they become, I think it breaks out of the 'useful and balanced' category and into the 'whoa! gotta have that!' category.  Keep in mind, too, that even with two other metamagic feats as a prereq, a human wizard or sorcerer could have it as soon as 3rd level.  So you could be empowering magic missiles at third level (two missiles for 6-15 points of never-miss, no save force damage compared to Melf's acid arrow, which has a very real chance of missing, and there are plenty of creatures with acid immunity or resistance, it mightn't effect incorporeal creatures, etc.)Basically, I just think it's too much.  Maybe if it had heavy prereqs it'd be okay- like 18 ranks of Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana), plus Heighten Spell, the feat you want to apply it to, Spell Penetration, Skill Focus (spellcraft), and a few others- but then you may as well wait a couple of levels and take the Epic version.</blockquote>

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