under_score
2011-04-27, 09:50 PM
I've tried to find an adequate answer to my quandary on the great ocean of knowledge we call the internet but have so far failed. I would delight in your thoughts, o brave and learned ones of the playground! (All you cowardly, mindless undead are welcome to share your thoughts as well, I suppose :smallwink:)
With the Augmented Casting ability of the glorious Ultimate Magus, does the spontaneous application of a metamagic feat increase the casting time of the spell (1 standard => 1 full round, etc)? If so, does it do this only for the spontaneous casting side or for both? The text in Complete Mage says nothing either way, and the errata does not address the Ultimate Magus at all.
I offer you this bit of text from the SRD, in the section concerning metamagic feats, to consider:
Sorcerers and Bards
Sorcerers and bards choose spells as they cast them. They can choose when they cast their spells whether to apply their metamagic feats to improve them. As with other spellcasters, the improved spell uses up a higher-level spell slot. But because the sorcerer or bard has not prepared the spell in a metamagic form in advance, he must apply the metamagic feat on the spot. Therefore, such a character must also take more time to cast a metamagic spell (one enhanced by a metamagic feat) than he does to cast a regular spell. If the spell’s normal casting time is 1 standard action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action for a sorcerer or bard.
The flavor of this suggests to me that the UM's Augmented Casting would require an increased casting time for BOTH prepared and spontaneous casting.
On the other hand, my intuition says only the spontaneous casting would need increase casting time.
However, I've also heard recently that Metamagic Rods do not increase casting time for spontaneous casters. I am unsure about this (also welcoming your thoughts here), but if this is the case, then it seems that the UM class feature would not increase casting time at all.
Thoughts? Experiences? RAW? RAI? Balance?
With the Augmented Casting ability of the glorious Ultimate Magus, does the spontaneous application of a metamagic feat increase the casting time of the spell (1 standard => 1 full round, etc)? If so, does it do this only for the spontaneous casting side or for both? The text in Complete Mage says nothing either way, and the errata does not address the Ultimate Magus at all.
I offer you this bit of text from the SRD, in the section concerning metamagic feats, to consider:
Sorcerers and Bards
Sorcerers and bards choose spells as they cast them. They can choose when they cast their spells whether to apply their metamagic feats to improve them. As with other spellcasters, the improved spell uses up a higher-level spell slot. But because the sorcerer or bard has not prepared the spell in a metamagic form in advance, he must apply the metamagic feat on the spot. Therefore, such a character must also take more time to cast a metamagic spell (one enhanced by a metamagic feat) than he does to cast a regular spell. If the spell’s normal casting time is 1 standard action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action for a sorcerer or bard.
The flavor of this suggests to me that the UM's Augmented Casting would require an increased casting time for BOTH prepared and spontaneous casting.
On the other hand, my intuition says only the spontaneous casting would need increase casting time.
However, I've also heard recently that Metamagic Rods do not increase casting time for spontaneous casters. I am unsure about this (also welcoming your thoughts here), but if this is the case, then it seems that the UM class feature would not increase casting time at all.
Thoughts? Experiences? RAW? RAI? Balance?