New metamagic feat.. melding EDITED (again)

[Jesus_marley]

why limit it to just arcane spells?

My view of magic in DnD is that arcane spellcasters are seekers of power. I believe that it is more likely that an arcane spellcaster would acquire it than a divine caster since in my view divine casters do not seek power for power's sake. Feel free to allow divine casters access to it if you like. I just feel it fits better with arcane only.

 

[Crothian]

That's cool JM, I was just curious.

 

[Li Shenron]

This is a very weird metamagic feat

My first impression is that the feat is too good for low-level spells. Can you meld 2 identical spells? If you do that, a melt Magic Missile is basically doubled for a net +2 slot increase. This is very cheap considered that all "doubling" cost +4 usually: the Twin Spell, the Energy Admixture, the twice-applied Empower Spell (in 3.0) all costed +4 slot and doubled the spell.
Obviously the fact that you can cast 2 different spells makes it even better.

OTOH as soon as the spell is level 3 or higher that the cost is at least +4. Melding spells higher than lv 3 becomes very expensive, so it's definitely not overpowered.

It's very hard to say if this is good or bad... but even harder to think of a better idea than summing the spell levels.

I would however try to add a limitation, that both spells must be targetted at the same target, whether it is you, an ally, an enemy or a point in space, although this is itself difficult to adjudicate. You could e.g. meld a Magic Missile and a Fireball as long as you target all MM on one creature and it is also the centre point of the FB.

 

[Jesus_marley]

Ok, I added a restriction that the melded spells must be different ( though may be of the same level) and I added a chance for catastrophic failure. The damage dealt would rarely cause a death, but would deal enough damage to make you really consider the consequences. I think that balances out the power levels a little better.

 

[IndyPendant]

It's a neat idea, and I might refine it a little and try it out myself. For now though, I offer you something similar I have approved for use by my players. It's not the same as yours, but a similar concept (two spells in one round).

Dual Spell [Metamagic]
You can cast two spells at once
Source: Heavily adapted from AEG’s Feats book.
Prerequisites: Any two metamagic feats
Benefit: By taking a full-round action, you may cast two spells in the same round. Each spell must require only a standard action or less to cast, including all other modifiers (such as other metamagic enhancements). Each spell is cast at half your current caster level for all purposes (such as spell effects, counter checks, and SR). You must be able to cast the spell at half your caster level to use this ability with that spell. If either of the spells cast using this ability is countered on casting, then both are countered. Any applicable concentration checks must be rolled for both spells separately, and any failed roll causes both spells to fail. Determine counter, concentration, and other checks before either spell takes effect; after that, the caster determines which spell takes effect first. Spontaneous casters do not need to take extra time when casting spells using this metamagic feat.