Innate Spell and shenanigans.

[RSGA]

So, Innate Spell. The massive, massive restrictions on it make it pretty much a total novelty at best and more likely not even worth that much time at that level. You'd need to really be penny pinching to get any savings out of Innate Spell Bless/Curse Water, and while it is as close to completely unlimited 1d8+5 healing as you can get that still seems pretty big cost compared to wands of Lesser Vigor.

So what are some novel uses people can think of for it? I suggest Innate Spell Magic Missile after a full five levels of Force Missile Mage, because its seems so appropriate that such a caster should only ever be limited by targets available. Not smart, but appropriate.

As an alternative bit of fun, what choices come to mind if the adjustment is treated like a Metamagic adjustment but you still have to permanently trade in those reductions? And as a bit of a nod to the thread that inspired the train of thought, what if a full Faustian Pact for a ninth and the feat works? What would be a good choice in your opinions?

[Jack_Simth]

The general route is Red Mage's Circle Magic plus Extra Spell to get a spell slot of 17th or so to burn, then get an at-will 9th. Miracle, Time Stop, and Shades are popular.

[Troacctid]

My rule of thumb is, if the spell you pick isn't better than summoning a Large elemental or dealing 9d6 damage, congratulation, you have a worse version of a reserve feat.


The general route is Red Mage's Circle Magic plus Extra Spell to get a spell slot of 17th or so to burn, then get an at-will 9th. Miracle, Time Stop, and Shades are popular.
That doesn't actually work in the rules because the heightened spell still uses a slot of its normal level.

[Jack_Simth]

That doesn't actually work in the rules because the heightened spell still uses a slot of its normal level.
Not burning the heightened spell. Using it to qualify for ... ah, sorry. Named the wrong one; I always get them confused "Extra Slot" rather than "Extra Spell". The Complete Arcane wording is:
You gain one extra spell slot in your daily allotment, at any level up to one lower than the highest level of spell you can currently cast. For example, a 4th-level sorcerer (maximum spell level 2nd) gains either an extra 0-level or 1stlevel slot, and is able to cast any spell he knows of the chosen level one more time each day. Likewise, a 4th-level wizard can prepare any extra 0-level or 1st-level spell he knows. Once selected, the extra spell slot never changes level.(Emphasis added)

A heightened-to-18th spell is an 18th level spell as far as actually casting it is concerned, and you need only be able to "cast" it at the time you take the feat "Extra Slot". Afterwards, the resulting 17th level slot doesn't move, so you can burn that 17th level slot on the Innate Spell feat to get an at-will 9th. Or go whole-hog, heighten to 20th, bump it to 22nd with Sanctum Spell and Earth Spell, get a 21st in Extra Slot, and see if you can use metamagic on your 9ths to get an Innate Spell with built-in metamagic.

Higher optimization than most tables would like, but straightforward enough, and the thread title says "shenanigans" so....

[RSGA]

Not burning the heightened spell. Using it to qualify for ... ah, sorry. Named the wrong one; I always get them confused "Extra Slot" rather than "Extra Spell". The Complete Arcane wording is:(Emphasis added)

A heightened-to-18th spell is an 18th level spell as far as actually casting it is concerned, and you need only be able to "cast" it at the time you take the feat "Extra Slot". Afterwards, the resulting 17th level slot doesn't move, so you can burn that 17th level slot on the Innate Spell feat to get an at-will 9th. Or go whole-hog, heighten to 20th, bump it to 22nd with Sanctum Spell and Earth Spell, get a 21st in Extra Slot, and see if you can use metamagic on your 9ths to get an Innate Spell with built-in metamagic.

Higher optimization than most tables would like, but straightforward enough, and the thread title says "shenanigans" so....

While definitely shenanigany, you can't actually heighten past 9th as the text of heighten doesn't allow it. I even checked the copy I have of the Player's Guide to make semi-sure that wasn't erratted, and then had to find the textual rules of Circle Casting, which has to be written under the assumption that you can or that you can multiply maximize or empower a spell. Or, of course, Improved Heighten Spell.

So Earth Spell, even if used on a level 0 brought to 9 by Heighten Spell, won't give an effective spell level of 10 when it's cast because it doesn't have any verbiage to break Heighten's limits, which is what it's using. It will give out plus 8 caster level, though. Sanctum, though, is its own thing, and should work in a cheezy verbiage way, giving out a total spell level of 15. Take out 8, and that's still a pretty good high spell level. Again this goes out if you have Improved Heighten Spell, but that's a different feat altogether and nearly takes out the need for circle magic's limits.

(Yes, this took way too long to look up and cross check. Work was killing me.)