tealizard wrote:If you increase the level of the spell, this only turns the spell off for a larger fraction of characters.
My point is that I think the problem with it is that it should be a boon for players that actually invest in translocations rather than just something any character can choose to memorize at almost any point in the game. The point is not the MP cost, which I agree is not a big deal, but limiting who can actually use it
tealizard wrote: the mechanical problems of using it to grab things outside of combat (or on the outskirts of it) come right back
Why is this so problematic? If apportation is a level 3 spell that is a spell that is not helping you in clearing the dungeon or surviving when things actually go wrong. Why is it so bad for apportation to be spammable and not for stone arrow? I bet you would never consider throwing a drain cost on the latter.
I do think it would be nice though to have apportation be less tedious. Maybe make it a passive like DMissiles that uses autopickup from distance as soon as useful things come into its range.
You could also balance it by making it noisy. You can use it to pick up something and not get close to a monster, but said monster is going to start pursuing you as soon as you use it. Maybe reducing its range could work too.
Anyway, what I see when I see you throwing a Drain cost on every utility spell in translocations all I can think is, why the hell would I ever pick this up over the dumb and straightforward alternatives like Conjurations/Summonings or ranged combat