What metamagic feat can your Arcane caster not live without?

[welby]

What metamagic feat can your Arcane caster not live without? Trying to decide what would be a good first feat (lvl 5).

 

[Thanee]

Depends on spells...

Really good ones are (IMHO) Quicken (for later, if you don't want any other), Empower (False Life, Ray of Enfeeblement, Scorching Ray, Fireball, etc) and Maximize (as before, tho I prefer Empower myself). Energy Affinity (MiniHB new version of Energy Substitution) is also pretty good, if you use enough spells with energy damage.

For a Sorcerer Silent Spell and Heighten Spell are very useful, too.

Bye
Thanee

 

[welby]

does empower spell affect the non-random part of false life? IE. would I be getting 1d12 + 15 at tenth? I dont really cast any elemental spells (I'm a hardcore necromancer) so the energy sub feats probably dont fit the flavor of my guy.

 

[Methos of Aundair]

One metamagic feat I tend to take a lot is Extend Spell. An extended mage armor is always nice.

 

[drunkmoogle]

For a sorcerer who is limited in spell selection, Empower spell is great, and heighten for those Invulnerability Globes.

IMO, Quicken is overrated; you wait until 11th level to cast a 1st level spell at the 5th level slot? I don't think any of the core spells are worth that much.

Slight tangent, but I believe Extend Spell for a 13+ level cleric is great. Hers 1hr/lvl spells go past 24 hours, so she can start buffing one day before a major encounter. I haven't done any searching for it's usefulness for Arcane casters, though.

 

[Crothian]

Still spell and silent spell. These are great if you ever find yuorselfr tied up or under the effect of a silence spell.

 

[Caliban]

Empower is the most consistently useful metamagic feat in my experience, followed by Energy Affinity and Quicken at higher levels.

My sorcerer has Enlarge spell to double the range of his Ray spells.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Extend Spell and Silent Spell (for use with Dimension Door and Teleport).

 

[Liquidsabre]

Still spell and silent spell. These are great if you ever find yuorselfr tied up or under the effect of a silence spell.

Or grappled for that matter!

 

[ruleslawyer]

The major problem with Still and Silent for a wizard is that you can never be sure when you'll need them until it's too late. If I could research a silent, stilled teleportation spell, or a silent, stilled version of dispel magic, I'd never take these feats. Empower is consistently useful, as are Energy Affinity, Energy Substitution, and Extend.