Simple Q&A D&D 3.5 (by RAW) XXIII

[Flame of Anor]

A 105 dispute

I believe you can. The text of the feat says:

When applying the chosen metamagic feat to a spontaneously cast spell, the spell uses a spell slot one level lower than normal for the applied metamagic feat, to a minimum of one level higher than a spell's normal level.

You would apply Maximize Spell first. This would make it three levels higher (sixth level), but Practical Metamagic makes it "one level lower than normal for the applied metamagic feat" so it is instead a fifth level spell.

Now you apply Invisible Spell. Now, fifth level would be "normal for the applied metamagic feat" in this case. With Practical Metamagic, you get to go "one level lower than" that, which is fourth level.

The big question mark in here is, of course, the "minimum of one level higher than a spell's normal level". But this would only prevent you from casting an Invisible Fireball as a second level spell, not the trick you want to do. The reason? Well, the "normal level" for a Fireball is third. If you apply Maximize Spell before Invisible Spell, the level of the Fireball never goes below fourth.

The important thing to remember here is that, no matter what Maximize Spell does, the minimum spell level imposed on Fireball by Practical Metamagic is always fourth!

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Here's another way of looking at it. Consider these three values:

X = the original, PHB level of the spell.
Y = the level of the spell right before applying Invisible Spell.
Z = the level of the spell right after applying Invisible Spell.

Here are the rules we have to follow:

• Normally for Invisible Spell, Z = Y, because there is no spell level modification.
• With Practical Metamagic, Z = Y - 1.
• Restriction: it must never be the case that Z < (X + 1).

The second point, Z = Y - 1, forbids using Practical Invisible Spell without other metamagic, because without other metamagic, X = Y. That would mean that Z = X - 1, which would mean Z < (X + 1), which must never be the case.

But if we apply Practical Maximize Spell first, then Y = X + 2. We can then apply our equation Z = Y - 1 to get Z + 1 = X + 2, which tells us Z = X + 1. Since X = 3 for Fireball, Z = 4. So you can indeed cast it as a fourth level spell.