Tvtyrant
2012-09-03, 05:23 PM
There are two ways to apply metamagic to wands that I know of. The first is to make the spell placed in the wand effected by Metamagic, and the other is to use the Metamagic Spell Trigger feat which allows you to burn charges to apply metamagic to the wands spell.
Without metamagic reductions, it appears to me that the latter is by far the cheaper option.
Take the Sonic Snap cantrip. It costs 375 gold for a wand of Sonic Snap (7.5 gold per charge), which is half the cost of a wand of a first level spell. If we apply the popular Fell Drain metamagic to Sonic Snap (thus gaining a mini-enervation effect), it increases in cost to 4,500 gp per wand (90 GP a charge). That makes it 90 GP per level reduced.
However, using Metamagic Spell Trigger you use 3 charges of a wand of Sonic Snap to apply Fell Drain, making it 22.5 GP per use. It costs a little under 1/3 as much to apply the metamagic through charges as through raised spell levels. (22.5 GP per level reduced.)
(in contrast Enervation costs 210 GP per level reduced, assuming an average role.)
Improved Metamagic or Practical Metamagic alters this scenario by lowering the cost of metamagic by 1 (it cannot go below 1, so that is as far as you can lower it for Fell Drain). In the original use this makes it a 1st level wand instead of a second level wand, so the cost of the wand is 750 GP (15 GP a charge.) Since each charge casts the spell, it beats out the 22.5 GP of Metamagic Spell Trigger.
The final thing to take into account is that a Metamagic Wandgrip costs 6,000 GP, so depending on how highly you value feats it might offset the 7.5 GP difference. However it also only works 3/daily, so it severally limits the use of the wands.
If anyone has any better breakdowns of the relative costs I would be happy to see them, or if someone sees an error in my math.
Without metamagic reductions, it appears to me that the latter is by far the cheaper option.
Take the Sonic Snap cantrip. It costs 375 gold for a wand of Sonic Snap (7.5 gold per charge), which is half the cost of a wand of a first level spell. If we apply the popular Fell Drain metamagic to Sonic Snap (thus gaining a mini-enervation effect), it increases in cost to 4,500 gp per wand (90 GP a charge). That makes it 90 GP per level reduced.
However, using Metamagic Spell Trigger you use 3 charges of a wand of Sonic Snap to apply Fell Drain, making it 22.5 GP per use. It costs a little under 1/3 as much to apply the metamagic through charges as through raised spell levels. (22.5 GP per level reduced.)
(in contrast Enervation costs 210 GP per level reduced, assuming an average role.)
Improved Metamagic or Practical Metamagic alters this scenario by lowering the cost of metamagic by 1 (it cannot go below 1, so that is as far as you can lower it for Fell Drain). In the original use this makes it a 1st level wand instead of a second level wand, so the cost of the wand is 750 GP (15 GP a charge.) Since each charge casts the spell, it beats out the 22.5 GP of Metamagic Spell Trigger.
The final thing to take into account is that a Metamagic Wandgrip costs 6,000 GP, so depending on how highly you value feats it might offset the 7.5 GP difference. However it also only works 3/daily, so it severally limits the use of the wands.
If anyone has any better breakdowns of the relative costs I would be happy to see them, or if someone sees an error in my math.