This is a thread about the theoretical and practical implementations of metamagic.
I enjoy playing casters. Wizards are typically my favorite since they
are power and high-level wizards are nerds who go around PWNing the jocks who teased them for being a d4, 1/2 BAB class.
Class preference aside, I find it very annoying that I spend feats on metamagic as prerequisites or because I have a spare feat, but often I never use them. My three main beefs with metamagic for prepared casters:
Items and special abilities aside, I must spend a feat on an ability that nearly always costs me a higher-level spell slot or extra feats/abilities to reduce the slot cost. Oh, and prepared casters can't normally spontaneously apply metamagic. I realize balance is a concern, but there's also the matter of full casters, even core-only full casters, being tier 1 and non-casters not being tier 1, typically tier 3 and below.
I've concluded that while there may be balance problems with cheapening metamagic, no sane man ever pays full price when he can reasonably get a discount. Incantatrix and Divine Metamagic are the primary means of using metamagic- Metamagic School Focus, Easy Metamagic, and metamagic rods are others- and all these have one primary function: To allow someone who's paid for metamagic via a feat or rod to actually
use it! That doesn't seem so wrong!
A cleric1 who chose the Planning domain for Extend Spell and took a flaw or two to get Divine Metamagic: Persistent Spell and maybe Extra Turning to persist 1 spell per day is probably paying a high price to actually use that nifty metamagic feat. Someone who took
Wild Talent, Midnight Metamagic (
Magic of Incarnum 39), and Psycarnum Infusion (
Magic of Incarnum 40) is probably having fun with metamagic (Quicken, Persist, whatever) when it's useful, meaning when there's no level increase. Many characters will never get more than 4 feats in their entire careers. Why must they spend them and possibly more to be able to use a spiffy metamagic feat, even once per day?
Invisible Spell (
Cityscape) is widely regarded as uber. It requires 1 metamagic feat, but it can turn
any spell effect invisible for no slot adjustment. Invisible summonlings from level 1 are spiffy, but don't think too hard about what happens if you use Invisible Spell with
invisibility.
Why does WotC demand people pay so much for metamagic when we get so little from it? Extend Spell is handy, in theory, but at wizard3, I'd typically rather prepare 2
mage armor spells in level 1 slots than an
extended mage armor in a level 2 slot. I may be dispelled or I may want to use
mage armor on two targets. Extending or persisting spells with expensive costs is an obvious use, but I want to be able to
use. Certainly, at higher levels I can cast an
extended mage armor to last all day and all night- but if I have this kind of resources, why am I spending them on keeping
mage armor up 24/7?
Quicken at +4 spell levels and Persistent at +6 spell levels are often regarded as among the best pricey metamagic feats. Even if I could apply them spontaneously, I'd be hard-pressed to regularly use these with spells I could cast
8 or
12 character levels ago. If I need to prepare every Quickened spell, I may as well break down and buy a rod or just skip the notion entirely. If I need to prepare every spell to Persist, then at level 13 when I can
plane shift,
reverse gravity and bind genies to give me
wish loops, I can make
shield or
lesser vigor last all day. Too bad
greater dispel magic became available 2 levels ago and is probably common now. To top it off, spell DCs typically don't use the increased slot level, worsening the deal.
I greatly object to paying for something I simply can't use and may never use, short of a prereq. It's like the conundrum about hot dogs. Hot dogs, at least in the US, typically come in packs of 6. Hot dog buns come in packs of 8. Regardless, you're paying too much for buns or too little for hot dogs. If I have a metamagic feat, I'd like to be able to use it at least once per day for free with additional uses costing the listed amount. Alternatively, allow me to swap metamagic feats like a warblade swaps Weapon Focus and similar feats. Most simply, ditch the feats and make metamagic effects on items only. Perhaps then metamagic will be useful.