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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GuardianLurker" data-source="post: 75574" data-attributes="member: 786">Unfortunately, yes. A spell's defining characteristic(s) is the effect it produces, not its level. Given a rigorous, algorithmic manner of rating and combining spell effects, you could accurately set the spell level based on the effect. Unhappily, the potential combination of all the various "components" of a spell make determining the level very much an art. (Heck, people are talking about whether haste and fly are "overpowered" for their level, and both spells have been in the game since its beginning. After thirty-years of play-testing the issue still isn't settled.)The only (admittedly tiresome) way to reliably rate a spell is to postulate its effect, compare to the target, reduce/enhance as appropriate, and repeat until done.Also, keep in mind that not all aspects of a spell are created equal. In the "default" dungeon-crawl environment of 3e, any range longer than close is essentially the same, since encounters will be typically occurring at close range. Now which aspects are worth more, by how much, and so on is going to vary from GM to GM.As for "improved MM", in 2e FR there was a spell called "Major Missile". As I recall, it was *identical* to MM, except there was no missile cap - so a 15th level caster would have 8 missiles instead of 5. It was a 5th level spell. MM is a tricky spell - it's at the high-power end of 1st (as determined by how often and early its taken), so it doesn't take a whole lot of improvement to push it into 2nd, and any substantial change is probably going to push it into 3rd. Now that we have Metamagic feats, a good rule-of-thumb (IMO), is to make a meta-magiced version of a spell one level less when the feat is an integral part. This would mean that a +1 metamagiced MM is probably what you're looking for, placing it solidly in second level. You *might* be able to get away with a +2 metamagic feat, but my guess is that the result would still be a little too powerful for second level.As for the "Lesser Enervation", as someone has suggested, a "tunable" Ray of Enfeeblement is probably right, and the best I've heard so far. The other solution (staying much closer to enervation itself)would be to inflicit penalties equivalent to a negative level, but have them wear off much quicker. (Of course, this is exactly what enervation itself does.) I'd suggest having it wear off in rounds, not hours, if you go this route, as the difference between minutes and hours (from the P.o.V of the original caster) is immaterial (both are longer than the combat it was cast in), probably adding a Fort save to boot. (Again, not all saves are equal; high Fort saves are very common, high Ref save less so, and high Will saves are rare [typically only found with spellcasters].)Oh, and it always helps to place a full write-up, not just a "it's the same as X with the following changes"; having all the capabilities described makes it a lot easier to analyze.</blockquote>

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