Metamage (3.5e Prestige Class)
Metamage[edit]
| “ | Magic is like clay in my hands. I twist it, mold it, spin it, forge it, and in the end it's something completely new. | ” |
| —Rulaster Ardigio, metamage | ||
Description[edit]
The metamage was once a sorcerer or a wizard who knew the art of changing a spell's characteristics through the process of metamagic. These individuals have learned to change spells in unusual ways to obtain their goals. However, there are those among this group that taste the thrill of unleashing fire with a gesture alone, breaking shackles or bonds with the merest syllable, and reaching farther than the laws of magic deem possible, and yearn for more of this unusual and potent advantage. These individuals become metamages. Searching through fragments of old spells for unusual wordings, frequently pausing to mutter just the right combination of restrictive clauses or practice the quick gesture that will whisk them out of danger, they are regarded as eccentrics by most non-spellcasters. Their fellow arcane spellcasters may recognize the power they hold over the shaping of a spell, but they believe that the raw spells given up in the process are more potent in the end. Divine spellcasters regard metamages as "obsessives".
Prerequisites[edit]
- Feats: Four metamagic feats.
- Skills: Spellcraft 10 ranks.
- Spells: Ability to cast 3rd level arcane spells.
- Special: Must have overcome a challenge by using a metamagic feat. (One example might be casting a stilled spell while bound.)
| Level | Base Attack Bonus |
Fort Save |
Ref Save |
Will Save |
Special | Spells per Day/Spells Known |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Metamagic Capacity I | +1 Metamagic Bonus Feat1 |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Spontaneous Metamagic I | +1 level of existing arcane class |
| 3rd | +1 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Improved Meta, Meta Cognizance | +1 Metamagic Bonus Feat1 |
| 4th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Metamagic Capacity II | +1 level of existing arcane class |
| 5th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Spontaneous Metamagic II | +1 Metamagic Bonus Feat1 |
| 6th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Meta Substitution/Swiftened Meta, Meta Reduction | +1 level of existing arcane class |
| 7th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Metamagic Capacity III | +1 Metamagic Bonus Feat1 |
| 8th | +4 | +2 | +2 | +6 | Spontaneous Metamagic III | +1 level of existing arcane class |
| 9th | +4 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Extend Meta | +1 Metamagic Bonus Feat1 |
| 10th | +5 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Metamagic Capacity IV | +1 level of existing arcane class |
| Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level) Concentration (Con), Craft, Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha). | ||||||
Class Features[edit]
All the following are class features of the metamage:
Metamagic Capacity (Ex): The metamage's first lesson is how to utilize the nature of metamagics to compress spells prepared with them. At 1st level, the metamage gains two 2nd and two 3rd level spell slots. However, these slots can only be filled by a spell altered by a metamagic feat. Every three levels afterward, the metamage gains two new spell slots each of the next two highest spell levels, to a maximum of 9th. Whether or not a character would receive spell slots of this level normally is no matter; the metamage need only possess a sufficient key ability score (10+spell level) to cast these spells.
Spontaneous Metamagic (Ex): Most casters never learn how to alter spells on the fly and simultaneously keep their power in check. However, the metamage learns this early on. Three times per day, the metamage can apply any combination of metamagic feats he knows to a spell without having to prepare the spell with them or increase the spell level, as long as the total increased spell level is only one greater than the original spell. Doing so does not increase the caster level. Every three levels after 2nd, the total increased spell level rises to two over normal and then three, at 5th and 8th levels respectively. However, the number of times this ability can be used per day remains at three.
Improved Meta (Ex): The metamage may tap into secret reserves of energy and enhance a spell even further. He may use this ability twice per day plus his key arcane spellcasting ability modifier (Int for wizards, Cha for sorcerers). He may add an effect to the spell from the following list:
Spreading: The spell's radius or range increases by one increment (e.g. if the spell's radius is 25 feet +5 feet/caster level, 5 feet is one increment) per effective spell level (the level the spell is with metamagic adjustments).
Powerful: Any variable, numeric effects of the spell are increased by the spell's modified level. A spell dealing 10d6 damage that took up an 8th level slot deals 10d6+8.
Forceful: The spell's save DC is increased by the spell's effective level.
Bypassing: The metamage gains a bonus equal to the spell's modified level on caster level checks made to beat spell resistance.
Lengthened: The spell's duration is increased by a number of increments (the spell's normal measurement of time; rounds, minutes, hours, etc, to a maximum of extra days of duration) equal to the spell's modified level.
Buffing: Any bonuses the spell already grants to its targets is increased by half the modified spell level, rounded down. A spell with an effective level of 2 that granted a character a +1 bonus on attack rolls would grant an additional +1 for a total of +2.
Frightful: Any creatures affected by the spell in some way take a -2 penalty on all checks, attack and damage rolls, and saves for a number of rounds equal to the spell's modified level. A successful save against the spell (if one is allowed) negates this effect.
Meta Cognizance (Ex): The metamage automatically recognizes whether any spell being cast has a metamagic feat attached and what that feat is. If it is altered in such a way, he gains a +4 bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify it. Metamagically altered spells can be counterspelled by the metamage even if he had not readied an action to do so. Doing so counts as an immediate action and expends the spell or spell slot as though he had actually cast it, but does not provoke an attack of opportunity.
Meta Substitution/Swiftened Meta (Ex): This ability varies based on the type of arcane caster the metamage is. If he prepares spells, he may alter one metamagic feat attached to a spell as he casts it, as long as the level adjustment of the feat is no greater than what was previously attached (a maximized spell could become stilled, but not vice versa). If he casts spells spontaneously, enhancing a spell with a metamagic feat takes no longer than casting it normally. (Thus, he may now benefit from the Quicken Spell feat.)
Meta Reduction (Ex): The metamage can easily utilize metamagic now, and doing so is less of a strain for him. All metamagic feats now subtract one from the spell's level adjustment. (Feats that do not increase the spell's level remain at +0 adjustment). If the metamage has multiple effects that do such (such as Easy Metamagic, or Arcane Thesis), they do not stack with Meta Reduction.
Extend Meta (Su): The metamage knows how to warp spells so well he can extend the effect to others. Twice per day plus one use for every point of his key arcane casting ability modifier, he may apply the effect of any metamagic feat he knows or the effects of a use of Improved Meta to any spell being cast by somebody else within 60 feet of him, arcane or divine, as an immediate action. Thus, he could maximize a cleric's healing spells, or extend his buffing spells. Alternatively, he may choose to negatively warp the spell, either negating any one metamagic feat attached to it or using the effects of Improved Meta (listed above) except with a negative effect: a negative spreading spell's range or radius would be reduced, and a negative frightful spell would apply a bonus to those affected by it. (For this purpose, the spell's effective level is one higher than normal-a 5th level spell being negatively warped counts as a 6th level spell for the Improved Meta effects.) Note that this action does not require the metamage to know what spell is being cast, but it is generally wise to identify it with a Spellcraft check anyway, so as not to waste his efforts. Using this ability to add the effects of Improved Meta (beneficial or otherwise) to a spell does not use any of his uses of Improved Meta for the day. Using this ability to add the effects of a Metamagic Feat requires a Spellcraft check (DC 25+[3 x modified spell level]) to succeed. This DC can be lowered by 10 by reading an action instead of using an immediate action.
A character whose casting is being affected by this effect gets a will save against the effect (DC 10 + Metamage's bonus with the ability relevant to her arcane spellcasting (if more than one, choose the highest; unless that highest score is tied with a class that could not use this particular metamagic) + the prerequisite level of the Metamagic being used (if any)). A succesful save negates the metamagic effect without producing any effect whatsoever to the casting. It counts against the daily uses of Extended Meta by the Metamage. A character can choose to automatically fail this check if she so desires (if the Metamage is in the same party, for example), and it doesn't affect any future capacity to resist Extended Meta. A character who possess at least one metamagic feat may attempt a Spellcraft check to determine the specific metamagic they are about to receive, before deciding if to resist or not. This gives them the effect it would have, but not the name of the metamagic involved. The DC is the same as the saving throw would be. A fellow Metamage gets a bonus equal to her Metamage class level to both of these checks.
Epic Metamage[edit]
The Metamage Prestige Class does not gain levels beyond level 10th.
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