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View Full Version : [IDEA] Alternative Metamagic



Vael Nir
2008-04-07, 07:41 PM
I was thinking on my way home from tonights session... I was trying to think of a way my mystic theurge could use metamagic effectively. Apart from taking DMM (which I consider very cheesy), metamagic feats and extra turning I couldn't really think of anything (plus, theurges don't get that many feats)... so I started thinking about alternatives to DMM.

So... DMM sacrifices turning attempts for metamagic. What could I sacrifice? Spell slots! Got plenty of those! Now, I like the following idea, but I'd want you guys to play with it and tell me if it could be horribly abused... i.e. turned into a mound of gouda.

Metamagic Fusion: Choose any metamagic feat you know. As a swift action, sacrifice one divine and one arcane spell slot of the spell level modifier of this feat. For the next X rounds, you may apply this metamagic feat to any spell you cast whose modified spell level does not exceed your highest known spell level.

So, as an example. I'd be taking my character to 20th level: Wizard 3/Cleric3/MT 14 (ignore that I can't actually go that many levels of theurge for now). Casting up to 9th level on both sides. At this level, you could sacrifice 1 4th level slot on either side and quicken any spell of up to 5th level for X rounds. Or, as my character is now, plain Wizard 3/Cleric 3. Sacrifice 1 1st level slot on either side and extend any other 1st level spell you still have.

This could be adapted to single class casting, sacrifice 1-2 spell slots of the spell level instead. And I'm not sure what duration would be balanced, because caster level seems a *bit* high. CL/3 maybe?

NecroRebel
2008-04-07, 07:51 PM
You might want to look up the Ultimate Magus (http://http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20061010a&page=3), which is a spontaneous-arcane/prepared-arcane spellcasting theurge-type class, which has an ability to do just this. More specifically, the ability is called Augmented Casting:

Augmented Casting (Su): Starting at 3rd level, you can choose to sacrifice a spell or spell slot from one of your classes to apply the effect of a metamagic feat that you know to a spell cast using another arcane class. (For instance, you could sacrifice a sorcerer slot to apply a metamagic effect to a wizard spell.) This sacrificed spell or slot is lost (just as if you had cast the spell) in addition to the spell you are actually casting.

The level of the spell to be augmented can't exceed 1/2 your class level. For example, when you first gain this ability, you can only apply a metamagic effect to 1st-level spells. A 10th-level ultimate magus can affect spells of 5th level or lower.

The level of the spell slot sacrificed must equal or exceed the spell level adjustment of the metamagic feat. To empower a spell, for example, you would have to spend a 2nd-level or higher spell. You can't use this ability to augment a spell already affected by a metamagic feat.

You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + 1/2 your class level.

Adding something similar, or even identical, to the Mystic Theurge class probably wouldn't be overpowered. MT is fairly weak on its own, after all (though admittedly Ultimate Magus is as well).