Spell Turrets and Metamagic?

[unseenmage]

Does applying Metamagic increase a spells level so that you could potentially have some lower level spells Metamagiced to be in the same Spell Turret as higher level spells?

Is there a Metamagic or something that changes the school of a spell?

Spell turrets are in DMG2 pg 45. This page has the math for making them for any level spell (except 0):

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128846

Thanks regardless playgrounders.

[TuggyNE]

Does applying Metamagic increase a spells level so that you could potentially have some lower level spells Metamagiced to be in the same Spell Turret as higher level spells?

It does for wands, so presumably it does for other magic items.

[Regitnui]

Here's a thought I had. Shield spell turrets (deflector shields) mounted around a an airship along with other turrets holding magic missile(Point-defense) and fireball(phasers), and you've basically got the Starship Enterprise. Would that work, or am I dreaming again?

[Saintheart]

Only out to 120 feet away, because that's the maximum range a spell turret can activate at. And per RAW you can't have a single-spell turret, you have to have four spells of the same level, each coming from different schools, firing once per round, with the fifth round healing the turret. That's why the OP was asking about shifting schools through metamagic and whether metamagic'ed device spells count as higher level, I'd guess.

I've tried looking into spell turrets as artillery pieces for city battles, but unless you're going to send a commando squad in to chuck one down within 120 feet of a city wall, they don't work by RAW because of the "sensor range".

Also note that, absent somebody taking an encyclopaedic look at the SpC, they don't function terribly well from larger ranges even if you handwave the 120-foot sensor requirement. Fireball and Acid Arrow are about the only direct damage spells that work at Long (400 ft. minimum) range and which do damage to objects as well as people.

[Regitnui]

So that'd work for point defense, triggering magic missile and other short-range damage-dealing spells when arrows, bolts or boarders came within range, but shipboard wizards are still your best offensive option?

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but I really do wonder how this works if it's at all possible

[Saintheart]

I suppose you could have metamagic Empowered on all your spells to increase your range a bit, but it doesn't get you from Medium to Long range on everything, sadly, and in any event nothing seems to change the 120 foot radius of activation.

I also don't know if it'd work on arrows and bolts as such; from memory spell turrets only activate when an unknown creature comes into range, not a target as such. As point defence against boarders, yeah. Another thought I had was True Strike in one round, followed by a spell that needs a ranged attack roll, so long as they're all of the same level. And indeed maybe something like Friendly Fire from Exemplars of Evil for people trying to hit the turret.

There's been some discussion of spell turrets being carried as personal weapons platforms for PCs, too, the tricky part being how to damp the thing so it doesn't smash every commoner and housecat in a 120 foot radius when you step into a village.

[Emperor Tippy]

There's been some discussion of spell turrets being carried as personal weapons platforms for PCs, too, the tricky part being how to damp the thing so it doesn't smash every commoner and housecat in a 120 foot radius when you step into a village.
Carry it inside a Telekinetic Sphere. Or a Bag of Holding (just turn it inside out when you want it deployed).

[unseenmage]

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but I really do wonder how this works if it's at all possible

No apologies necessary, I'm loving the idea brewing.

My original idea was to craft a Fabricate -->Animate Objects-->Incarnate Construct item.
That or a Fabricate-->Animate Objects-->Permanency-->Awaken Construct item.
(Neither of which work, too much Transmutation school.)


Carry it inside a Telekinetic Sphere. Or a Bag of Holding (just turn it inside out when you want it deployed).

That or put several in the bottom (edit: and on the sides even) of a Enveloping Pit and just open the top of the pit when you need some short range artillery.
I'm kinda loving the idea of a willd west style standoff between two artificers. The first one to get their Spell Turret out of their extradimensional space wins. :)


One assumes a GREAT BIG SWORD (Colossal+ maybe?) could have one (or even several) Spell Turrets mounted on the blade. Give the sword the Sizing Enhancement (Edit: just realized I'd typed Tessealated, and that's an Armor my bad) or use Teleport Object to summon it from where ever in the world you want it stashed.


I also wonder if you could Animate Objects the wall/ceiling/etc. a Spell Turret is built into and have the nonmagical animated matter carry the magic trap around that way?