PHBII: Metamagic Specialist

[Bront]

I'd like to propose the PHBII's metamagic specialist option for LEB.

It swaps the Familiar for the ability to use metamagic without increased casting time.

 

[Erekose13]

I like this one too. yes

 

[stonegod]

YES

 

[Rystil Arden]

Sorcerers were never particularly great to begin with, so despite being an almost required choice for the Sorcerer, I have no problem with this. YES

 

[Patlin]

Sorcerers were never particularly great to begin with, so despite being an almost required choice for the Sorcerer, I have no problem with this. YES

I read this right after thinking "Interesting, but I think I prefer having the familliar." Must be some loophole in the requirement, possibly involving gish characters and benign transposition.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I read this right after thinking "Interesting, but I think I prefer having the familliar." Must be some loophole in the requirement, possibly involving gish characters and benign transposition.

Familiars are an XP-drain waiting to happen, though they do have many uses. The Metamagic variant eventually lets the Sorcerer use Quicken Spell, which is incredibly powerful (let's face it--preparing a Quickened spell in one of your high level slots a day in advance is like shooting at the moon, but when you can have exactly the Quickened spell you need when you need it, it is well worth the four-level increase). Other powerful combos are Heighten (utter crap for Wizards, but extremely useful for a Sorcerer with a save-or-nothing spell who really needs the enemy to fail against a low-level effect in a particular situation (for instance, Charming the king)) and of course the usual Empower (Why learn Cone of Cold at 10th level to do 10d6 when you can save on a Spell Known and just Empower your Fireball to do 15d6 at the same level?)

 

[Patlin]

OK, first of all I acknowledge I'm not thinking of the typical sorceror when I mention an exception for gish builds.

The xp drain is mitigated for a multiclass character, since the amount of xp at stake is based on your sorceror level -- a mixed blessing as that level also controls the usefullness of your familliar. I like meamagic feats as much as the next guy, and I'm familliar with their advantages... but there are some builds that just don't support them. The character I'm thinking of would have trouble fitting quicken spell in, given his desire for power attack, cleave and divine might among others. Still spell is required as a prequisite, but it's the only metamagic feat I see in the characters future.

So while metamagic specialist would be nice for some builds, it does nothing for those not investing in metamagic to begin with. For such a character, the familiar remains attractive. It gives the benefit of a feat or two for very little investment. I can't remember the last time I let one of my familiars get killed, and there have been a number of times when the've been usefull in a variety of small ways.

They're a good role playing prop, too!

 

[Rystil Arden]

OK, first of all I acknowledge I'm not thinking of the typical sorceror when I mention an exception for gish builds.

The xp drain is mitigated for a multiclass character, since the amount of xp at stake is based on your sorceror level -- a mixed blessing as that level also controls the usefullness of your familliar. I like meamagic feats as much as the next guy, and I'm familliar with their advantages... but there are some builds that just don't support them. The character I'm thinking of would have trouble fitting quicken spell in, given his desire for power attack, cleave and divine might among others. Still spell is required as a prequisite, but it's the only metamagic feat I see in the characters future.

So while metamagic specialist would be nice for some builds, it does nothing for those not investing in metamagic to begin with. For such a character, the familiar remains attractive. It gives the benefit of a feat or two for very little investment. I can't remember the last time I let one of my familiars get killed, and there have been a number of times when the've been usefull in a variety of small ways.

They're a good role playing prop, too!

Oh, definitely agreed--that's why I said it was almost required. If you're a straight Sorcerer and you don't have any metamagic (at least Heighten or Empower), something is probably wrong. For hybrid or unusual builds, this could easily not be the case though (in fact, a Sorcerer dip would be foolish to take any metamagic). At high levels (which admittedly are unlikely in PbP) just the fact that the Metamagic Specialist can have Quicken and the normal Sorcerer can't is a coup de grace just by itself.

 

[Living Eberron Judge]

This has been added to the list of approved content.
-Erekose13