No more double empowered fireballs!!

[RolandOfGilead]

I should HOPE that this is wrong. Otherwise, Heighten spell just got a lot less appealing.

Roland

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Andy posted the metamagic info on both the WOTC boards and his own boards.

It made the Compiled Revisions thread a couple hours ago.

 

[Piratecat]

I added Quote bars to Stalker's post to make it a little clearer that he and Andy are two separate people.

 

[JoeBlank]

I should HOPE that this is wrong. Otherwise, Heighten spell just got a lot less appealing.

Roland

Surely Heighten Spell is treated differently, as it would become practically useless.

I have never thought of Heighten Spell as a +1 to spell level feat that is applied multiple times. Instead, think of it as a metamagic feat with a variable level adjustment, so it is only applied once, with the level adjustment selected by the spellcaster.

 

[Quixon]

Thanks Olgar. Thats what I was looking for-the place he had said that.

 

[Quixon]

Surely Heighten Spell is treated differently, as it would become practically useless.

I have never thought of Heighten Spell as a +1 to spell level feat that is applied multiple times. Instead, think of it as a metamagic feat with a variable level adjustment, so it is only applied once, with the level adjustment selected by the spellcaster.

Agreed-I have never understood why people think Heighten spell is used at +1 level at a time. You use it once, the cost is variable, depending how much you Heiten the spell.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I sincerely doubt they've changed Heightened Spell (JoeB & Quixon have it right by my read).

Andy was specifically referring to double-empowers (per the questions he was asked).

 

[ShadowX]

Another useless change. The only time that multiple empower was anything resembling unbalanced is with the animal buffs(which is now fixed) or with the incantrix. Double empowered fireballs are a bad example anyway as fireball is overpowered. Compared to the 5th level spell cone of cold, a single empowered fireball will do more damage until 15th level, and then it still breaks even. The real problem is the horrible scaling of damage spells in D&D.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

So, can anyone think of a situation in 3.5 where a character having the Empower Spell feat is better off than a character not having the Empower Spell feat?

Simulacrum anyone... How about multi-multi-multi-Empowered Disintegrate? Don't forget the Druid (Awaken, Poison, etc).

It's pretty easy to dismiss Simulacrum as broken, but in practice any other spell designed by WotC that has a variable component could be broken outright by Empower Spell.

I wish it only applied to direct-damage - then I wouldn't care if it were restricted or not.

 

[Corinth]

The spell-caster in my Deeds Not Words playtest will be so pissed to hear about this, because it means that he can't pull the Quintuple-Empowered Magic Missile trick anymore. (Note: DNW uses a power point mechanism; metamagic feats either add to the PP cost of spell-casting or multiply it.) I, OTOH, am thrilled to hear it.