Heighten Spell Question

[torrasque666]

So I've been thinking. I see a lot of caster builds that use Heighten Spell and metamagic reduction to get access to higher level spells(and PrC's/feats that require them) earlier. And I understand this, given the line "A heightened spell has a higher spell level than normal (up to a maximum of 9th level). Unlike other metamagic feats, Heighten Spell actually increases the effective level of the spell that it modifies." However, a lot of metamagic reduction feats state that they cannot go below a certain point, whether its +1 or +0 from the spell level. So my question is this: if Heighten Spell actually raises the level of a spell, how do these work for it? If the spell level is actually raised, then wouldn't these reductions not be able to be used with only a Heightened spell? My other line of thinking is that it is only an effective increase, using the DCs as appropriate for that spell level slot. But this wouldn't change the actual level, and thus not qualify for "Can cast Nth-level spells" would it? Because otherwise a person with four feats to burn at first level(human and two flaws) could get access to 3rd level spells with a metamagic reducer and Earth Spell. Which just doesn't seem right in my head, it just doesn't mesh with my understanding of the rules.

[sideswipe]

So I've been thinking. I see a lot of caster builds that use Heighten Spell and metamagic reduction to get access to higher level spells(and PrC's/feats that require them) earlier. And I understand this, given the line "A heightened spell has a higher spell level than normal (up to a maximum of 9th level). Unlike other metamagic feats, Heighten Spell actually increases the effective level of the spell that it modifies." However, a lot of metamagic reduction feats state that they cannot go below a certain point, whether its +1 or +0 from the spell level. So my question is this: if Heighten Spell actually raises the level of a spell, how do these work for it? If the spell level is actually raised, then wouldn't these reductions not be able to be used with only a Heightened spell? My other line of thinking is that it is only an effective increase, using the DCs as appropriate for that spell level slot. But this wouldn't change the actual level, and thus not qualify for "Can cast Nth-level spells" would it? Because otherwise a person with four feats to burn at first level(human and two flaws) could get access to 3rd level spells with a metamagic reducer and Earth Spell. Which just doesn't seem right in my head, it just doesn't mesh with my understanding of the rules.

this is why nobody short of playing the most highly optimised game ever (where pun pun would be welcome) would use that trick to get say 9ths at level 1.

it can be interperated like this.

a thing requires you to be able to cast a spell of X level
you can cast through manipulation a spell of X-1+1 (-1 because of its a lower level, +1 because of heighten spell) which mathematically gives you the ability to cast X level spells.

using the idea that being able to cast spells of a level requires you to be able to do it more than once. but say one on monday, one on tuesday etc. this means you qualify for the thing.

so casting the spell of that level is easy. you can rules lawyer all you want and so can the others. math overrides any amount of words people can twist.
the hard part is gaining the slot for the known spell. since the heighten spell trick only usually works for spontaneous casters.
you then use versatile spell caster to use 2 lower level slots to make a slot 1 higher then they both are (so 2 lvl 1's for a level 2 slot).
with some tricksy manipulation you can then get higher and higher.

i would never use it. not past the intended uses. but others think if its there then use it.

[torrasque666]

I understand the versatile spellcaster bit, its actually the only way I understood it.

My quandary is this: Say someone Heightens a spell and wants to apply Easy Metamagic to it. Easy Metamagic/Practical Metamagic states that it can never reduce the slot-cost below the actual level+1. So either Heighten doesn't actually raise that level, not making it an actual Nth level spell and thus not qualify for the requirement, or it does raise the level meaning that Easy/Practical metamagic can't be applied.

It mostly stems from the fact that Arcane Thesis was errata'd to clarify that it couldn't be used on Heighten, but I never see Dragon getting errata, nor one Practical Metamagic. Given that they both seem to follow the same idea as Arcane Thesis, it would make sense that a similar errata should have been applied.