Why Metamagic Feats?

[sfedi]

Something I kept wondering since the first time I read the Metamagic Feats...

Why would I invest in a Feat when I can research a better version of the spell?

Should a Metamagic version of a spell be better than a researched one?
Vice-versa?

The line gets particulary blurry when Swift spells are begginning to appear.
Now, you don't need Quicken spell to cast a swift spell.

So, as a Game Design POV, it's not clear to me where are the limits of metamagic feats and spell capabilities.

I think there are not, and it's all becoming more messy.

 

[Crothian]

Well, researching takes time and money. A meta magic feat can be applied to any spell you know. So a fifth level wizard who has say 20 spells in his spell book can meta magic all of them with his feat. Or he can spend a lot of time and money researching 20 new spells. Also, the researching new spells rules are practically MIA there no guidelines for making new spells or anything like that so its a pain to try to use those rules.

Meta magic feats have lots of problems, but I still perfer them to the alternatives.

 

[sfedi]

Sure, researching takes more time and money.
BUT it takes less character resources (i.e. Feats)

So, if you routinely cast certain spells: Empowered Fireball, Quickened Shield, etc.
Should you be able to research a Fireball, Greater spell? or a Swift Shield spell?
If so, should they be more or less powerfull than their metamagicked counterparts?
(it seems that the researched spells should be better)

I haven't made the math, but I was told that certain metamagicked spells are better than spells of that same level (Empowered Fireball, IIRC)
This would indicate the opposite of what I previously mentioned.

 

[delericho]

Sure, researching takes more time and money.
BUT it takes less character resources (i.e. Feats)

So, if you routinely cast certain spells: Empowered Fireball, Quickened Shield, etc.
Should you be able to research a Fireball, Greater spell? or a Swift Shield spell?
If so, should they be more or less powerfull than their metamagicked counterparts?
(it seems that the researched spells should be better)

I haven't made the math, but I was told that certain metamagicked spells are better than spells of that same level (Empowered Fireball, IIRC)
This would indicate the opposite of what I previously mentioned.

Empowered Fireball does more damage than Cone of Cold at any caster level lower than 15th (when they're equal). However, it has a lower saving throw DC (by 2), and is blocked by a Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, where the Cone of Cold is not. Finally, if cast by a Sorcerer it requires a full-round action to cast. Whether it's 'better' is not entirely clear.

I would not allow a spellcaster to create a spell that exactly mirrored a metamagic version of another spell. However, I would allow one to research a spell that looks similar. So, the Greater Fireball suggested would do 1d6 damage per caster level (max 15d6), and otherwise work like the Fireball spell. It would be a 5th level spell, with all that that entails. Granted, the differences between that and the Empowered Fireball are quite minor, but they do exist.

Of course, any such research would be governed by the normal rules for researching and learning new spells (not sure where the former are found, though). In general, it's just more efficient to take a few key metamagic feats.

 

[argo]

Sure, researching takes more time and money.
BUT it takes less character resources (i.e. Feats)

I guess it all comes down to the nature of your particular campaign. Most campaigns that I know of the spellcasters are lucky to have enough "downtime" to research one or two new spells and craft a handfull of items. In many campaigns they don't even have time for that. So in that case metamagic is probably better. If you run a campaign where the players regularly have years of downtime then you might need to rethink the metamagic/researching rules.

And of course theres always Sorcorers.

Hope tht helps.

 

[Quickleaf]

I think you've hit a problem with the wizard, in your campaign: Escalation.

Why would you ever cast those low-level spells if you could just make an improved high-level version. OK, before I rant about throwing out the traditional D&D spell system...

Consider the following fix: Get rid of spells which could scale according to level. In other words, anything that inflicts damage or adds a bonus.

Since either you or your player(s) seem to enjoy researching new spells, go and make up / gather OGC unique spells to replace the ones you've stripped from the game.

Did I mention using a different spell-casting system?

 

[WayneLigon]

It depends on the GM. Will he allow you to research said spell? What do you do if he says 'no'? Or you spend all that time and cash researching a spell only to have it all wasted. What happens then?

It depends on the campaign. I've been playing for decades and I've never once seen a player research a spell. Not one time. I've never had a player even ask me to do this. So for us at least, metamagic is the way to go.

 

[Storminator]

Sorcerers can't just add new spells willy-nilly. Each spell choice is a precious commodity to them, so using a metamagic feat greatly enhances the sorcerer's options. Since the sorcerer also doesn't have to pick out his spells ahead of time, there's little penalty to unused metamagic during any particular day. (if a wizard prepares a bunch of metamagiced spells and doesn't use them, he's tied up slots unnecessarily.

Wizards don't get as much use out of the feats. And divine casters can use some of them to nifty effect.

PS

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Metamagic is more versatile - if you learn a new spell you can use the feat as soon as you learn the spell.

For that matter you can use the feat on the spells that you just created so you didn't need the feat!

The Auld Grump

 

[Crothian]

Sure, researching takes more time and money.
BUT it takes less character resources (i.e. Feats)

Money is a character resource, yu only have so much just like feats. And many groups don't want to wait around while the wizard spends their money and many months researching new spells.