Do any of the feats involving spellcasting actually work as intended?

Re: Premade 'Toffee' 3 Pro modules

Just a general question from a newbie to all of the new mods and patches:

Do any of the feats involving spellcasting actually work as intended? E.g. Widen spell, extend spell, empower(?) spell, etc. I never can tell if any of these feats were actually working for my wizard after he selected them.


BTW, Great work to all the developers and D&D fans who contributed to making ToEE better, stronger, and faster than it was before!

 

Re: Premade 'Toffee' 3 Pro modules

Are you preparing the spell with the feat in question? Just having the feat doesn't do anything, you have to prepare the spell augmented by the feat. I use Empower spell with my Sorcerer all the time and it boosts the damage as it should. I love letting loose with an Empowered Scorching Ray in the face of those bugbear barbarians that like to try and trip your spellcasters. They tend to drop like a rock.

 

Re: Premade 'Toffee' 3 Pro modules

Not sure if I understand what you mean. Preparing the spell with the feat - is that done by clicking on those red or pink dots before each spell? I think I tried this, and it didn't work. But then again I did this before I downloaded the current co8 mod pack.

 

Re: Premade 'Toffee' 3 Pro modules

It's been ages since I've played a wizard with a metamagic feat. I'd have to give it a try and see what happens to see if I can figure out what you're missing.

 

Re: Premade 'Toffee' 3 Pro modules

Okay, so I looked into Metamagic with Wizards. Once you have a metamagic feat, on the spell preparation screen you get blue symbols next to all your spells. Click on the one you want to modify. This brings up a "New Spell" screen that lists the metamagic feats you have on the left and slots on the right. Just like when you're preparing a spell, you need to either click and drag the feat(s) you want to apply or right-click on them to add them. Once you're done you can go back to the spell preparation screen. There will be a new version of the modified spell listed under the appropriate level. Assign this "new" spell to one of your open spell slots and you should be good to go. It's pretty straight-forward and uses the existing spell preparation system.

As a side note, a moderator might want to move this conversation to it's own thread, as it has absolutely nothing to do with the thread topic.

 

Thanks, Gaear.

 

I've found that Extend Spell, Empower Spell, and Heighten Spell work just fine. I haven't tried Maximize Spell or Quicken Spell yet (haven't needed them).

However, it does seem that the Widen Spell effect doesn't do anything. If I launch a regular Fireball and then a Widened Fireball, they both seem to occupy the same area - even though the Widened Fireball should be larger. Same is true of a Color Spray and Widened Color Spray. I think that the Widen effect might be busted or not work with the graphics very well.

 

How does the game handle that? You cast a spell regularly on your turn and you are allowed to ready an action, or what? (Actually, as of Complete Arcane, Quicken Spells are Swift actions - not free actions - and must be taken during your turn).

I need a rules lawyer to explain Heighten Spell to me. This is what I found in the SRD:

HEIGHTEN SPELL [METAMAGIC]
Benefit: 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. All effects dependent on spell level (such as saving throw DCs and ability to penetrate a lesser globe of invulnerability) are calculated according to the heightened level. The heightened spell is as difficult to prepare and cast as a spell of its effective level.

Multiple Metamagic Feats on a Spell: A spellcaster can apply multiple metamagic feats to a single spell. Changes to its level are cumulative. You can’t apply the same metamagic feat more than once to a single spell.

So, I was quite surprised when I took Empower Spell to complement my sorceror's Heighten Spell. I had thought applying both to Magic Missile would result in it using a 3rd level spell slot and treated as a 3rd level spell. ToEE (which may be correct) makes it use a 4th level spell slot and treats it as a 4th level spell (it bypassed a Lesser Globe of Invuln). My rationale is based on The heightened spell is as difficult to prepare and cast as a spell of its effective level. So, if I wanted the effective level to be 3, thus upgrading it by two spell levels, why am I forced to add one more spell level to it?

Does anyone share my interpretation or know the official line?

 

I was under the assumption heighten spell was the only metamagic feat that made your spell a different level? And that the rest only move it up slots for preparation's sake?