A question about Pathfinder Wizards

[13ones]

so I have been offered a spot in a setting that provides little in the way of material to read and learn spells from and we will be running from level 4 all the way to level 20. So my question is how do I calculate spells known and spells per day? My experience with Arcane casters comes from my sorcerers but I've never played a prepared caster before. How does it work? How many spells can I learn per level and how many spells do I get per day?

[Righteous Doggy]

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard
Its all right there in a snazzy table, You get bonuses from intellect. You don't have a limit on how many you can learn, however you have to prepare them which means you pick say... 2 of one spell, 1 of 2 others at level one in the morning and you can't change them until the next day when you prepare another set of spells after rest. Its actually easy to learn spells, you just attain spellbooks from someplace and steal the spells:smalltongue:

See the section on spellbooks and spells for specifics.

[13ones]

Well the setting it has been clearly stated that there will be minimal to no scrolls, spell books or anywhere else to read magic from. And that is really the question that is kind of bothering me? Do I get four spells of each level spell to prepare and then however many uses per day?

[Righteous Doggy]

Well, it varies depending on your intellect and level. Look at the table, and then add in your bonuses from int(another table theres a link to). You get to prepare so many of each spell level. According to the OGL, 2 everytime you gain a level(one being of your specialized school) is fair. According to you and your DM, this can change radically. Unless somehow theres no magical libraries, wizard collages, and every wizard hides his spellbook in the most far corner of the world possible with terrible spells that you already have. In a setting like that, I usually think 4 or 5 per level is nifty personally. Otherwise you may as well play a sorcerer...

[MrRigger]

No, you can only cast however many spells you have prepared. There are ways around that, of course, but that's the base. Personally, if you aren't going to be able to get to copy any spells to your spellbook, I'd look more into Sorcerer or something like Dread Necromancer or Beguiler (though you'd need permission to use those in a PF game). One of the defining characteristics of wizards is the ability to add, copy, and create spells for your spellbook, and is really one of the main ways I define my wizard's personality. Not being able to do that would really make me think twice about playing one.

MrRigger

[Mari01]

Well the setting it has been clearly stated that there will be minimal to no scrolls, spell books or anywhere else to read magic from. And that is really the question that is kind of bothering me? Do I get four spells of each level spell to prepare and then however many uses per day?

However many times you prepared that spell, that's how often you can cast it. Did you prepare Black Tentacles twice? You can cast it twice and then it's done.

[deuxhero]

Unless you bought a Pearl of Power, which are pretty handy magic items a Wizard can use.

Honestly, though, with limited spells to scribe, if you want to play a spell book prepared caster, Magus is a better bet, having much fewer useful spells a level.

[Prime32]

Basically your spell slots are guns; single-shot guns of various calibers, which can only be loaded 1/day. Your spells are bullets (and metamagic feats are sabots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabot)). Knowing a spell means that while loading you have access to as many of that type of bullet as you want.

If you only loaded one gun with an incendiary bullet, you can only shoot one incendiary bullet today.

[deuxhero]

Oh, ask the DM if Sorcerers will be opponents. Blood Transcription (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/blood-transcription) lets you steal their spells after killing them.

[doko239]

Others have said it already, but I thought I'd post some clarification regarding Wizard spellcasting, to avoid any ambiguity.


A basic 1st level Wizard with 18 Intelligence gets 3 0-level spell slots and 2 1st-level spell slots per day. They start with a spellbook containing all 0-level spells, plus (3+int modifier) 1st level spells of your choice (in our case, 7 1st level spells). These are the spells you can prepare as a caster.

When you wake up in the morning, you choose what spells to prepare. This means choosing any 3 0-level spells and any two 1st-level spells from those you have in your book.

0-level spells are cantrips, and can be cast as many times as you like. Typically you'd prepare 3 different utility spells for your cantrips; you can then cast any of those 3 spells as many times as you like for the rest of the day.

For your 1st-level spells (and, eventually, 2nd, 3rd, etc), you must choose what spells you want available. For each spell slot you have, you choose one spell you know of the appropriate level (or modified to that level, if using metamagic). For each spell slot used for a given spell, you can cast that spell once that day. You can use multiple spell slots to prepare the same spell; this allows you to cast that spell more times per day, once for each spell slot used.

None of this covers Arcane Bond, Specialist Schools, or other shenanigans you can use to get more spells per day, but it's a baseline explanation of how prepared casters work.

[Suddo]

Pathfinder or 3.P? Because I only know ways to get extra spells in 3.P.

[Righteous Doggy]

Pathfinder or 3.P? Because I only know ways to get extra spells in 3.P.

Its the same in both isn't it? You learn as you level up(add 2 each level up), and copy it from other spellbooks/scrolls. Or you can apparenlty cast a second level spell to devour the blood and learn from their flesh in pathfinder... snazzy. But gives you a good plothook.

[deuxhero]

^ Cantrips aren't infinite changes, but that's it.


Typically you'd prepare 3 different utility spells for your cantrips; you can then cast any of those 3 spells as many times as you like for the rest of the day.

A 1-3 level Wizard can get millage out of Daze though. But yes, utility is the way to go otherwise.

[Analytica]

I like the idea of hunting sorcerers for spells. : )

You can also research spells during downtime, using the rules/guidelines for that.

[13ones]

After looking over the rules set forth and the fact that the GM refuses to tell me how many sorcerers could potentially be in the game (something about spoilers) I'm probably just going to end up making my sorcerer into a skeleton summoner. Only real reason I wanted a wizard is because I wanted some skill points for a change =/

[Analytica]

Pathfinder has the Sage sorcerer wildblooded bloodline. Makes you cast using Int, which means skill points. : )