Area of Effect Increaser
(Alteration, Metamagic)
Reversible

Range:  0
Components:  V, S, M
Duration:  3 rounds per level
Casting Time:  1 turn
Area of Effect:  The caster
Saving Throw:  None

This spell empowers the caster with one spell level per two caster levels. With these spell levels the caster may increase or decrease the area of effect of any other spells he casts during the duration of this spell. The area increase may achieve a maximum increase of up to twice the area at caster levels 12-16, 3 times the area at caster levels 17-21, one time more per 5 caster levels above that.
The size increase does not increase the damage of the spell; to the contrary - a spell decreases in damage to a fraction determined by the factor given above: half damage at factor 2, one third damage at factor 3, etc.
Thus, a fireball would increase to a 40-foot radius sphere, but (if cast by a 10th-level or higher caster) would only cause 5 dice of damage to any within its area of effect. Thus, if a 28th-level wizard cast a cone of cold at a quadruple size, he would only cause 7d4+7 points of damage to all within (which might still be enough in a pinch).
The material component of this spell is a hammered-out sheet of gold no smaller than one square foot per factor increase the caster intends to use during the duration. This is not worth so much due to the amount of gold but due to the finesse with which it has to be worked; thus, it costs 10,000 gp.
The reverse of this spell, area of effect decreaser, reduces the area of effect but increases the damage of the spell by 50% per reduction factor. Thus, if the size of a spell is halved, it can cause up to 150% the number of dice of damage in half its area (the fireball would shrink to a 10-foot radius sphere with a maximum of 15d6 of damage), size reduction to _ the damage (a fireball with approximately 7-foot radius isn't huge but it can cause 20d6 damage) is increased to 200%, etc.
The reverse' component is a solid cube of gold which has been compressed by dwarven machines for well over a year until it reaches a density where one cubic inch weighs 20 pounds. For this spell, a cube of 3 inches per side (27 cubic inches or 54 pounds of gold = 540 gp worth plus the additional cost of paying the dwarves for having to stop their mining machinery (or even worse: of building a new set of machines for the wizard)). The machinery usage might cost somewhere between 1000 gp (if the dwarves really love the wizard) to somewhere around 50,000 or 100,000 gp (if they just hate him normally) for a single cube. All material components are completely destroyed in the casting.
These spells can each be layered up to a maximum of one spell level per caster level at once (per casting of the spell). The normal and the reversed spells are two different spells and their respective spell levels cannot be mixed; the caster has to keep two different quotas: one for those spell levels with which he may increase area of effects and another quota of spell levels with which he may decrease the area of effect. The caster may have up to one spell level per caster level for the normal and another one spell level per caster level for the reversed effect. If these spells' durations run out (or are made to run out by dispel magic) the caster has to succeed at a saving throw versus spell at -1 per spell level of this spell still contained. If it fails, the caster inflates or deflates very forcibly by a factor of one per spell level. To calculate the damage done to the caster, the factor is reciprocated (a six changes to one sixth); this is the fraction of hit points the caster would have left over if he had been at maximum hit points. This might kill the caster, if he is at less than maximum hit points. If the caster is reduced by this damage to less than -30 hit points, he explodes or shrinks to nothing due to this spell. Even if the caster survives the inflation or deflation of the caster may cause serious problems, but this depends on the DM's judgement and it causes some quite gruesome but rather spectacular deaths if the caster isn't really careful! Inflation or deflation lasts for one round (unless the caster exploded due to inflation) per spell level left over, if the caster survives.

