Bonus spells from a high casting stat

[Greymane]

Hey guys, I just found out my DM does not think you get bonus spells from having a high casting stat that you get from magic items, like the Enhancement bonus from a Headband of Intellect for a Wizard.

I can't find anything in the books about the issue, but I'm certain you get bonus spells from enhancing from magic items. Any page number that clarifies this?

[BowStreetRunner]

PHB page 10 states "Over time, the ability scores your character starts with can change...When an ability score changes, all attributes associated with that score change accordingly." There is a whole list of examples including both permanent and temporary changes. Since bonus spells are attributes associated with an ability score, they would change accordingly whether you are wearing a magic item that boosts the score or are hit by a poison that lowers the score.

Note that in order to take advantage of a temporary increase, that increase must be in effect when you gain your spells for the day. If the score goes up later, you won't get them until the next day, if the effect remains that long. Likewise, if something lowers your score temporarily, you would lose access to those slots until the effect goes away. If the decrease affects you when you gain your spells for the day, you can't fill those slots.

[Greymane]

Great points that we brought up. He's not buying it though, since nothing is specifically saying enhancement effects give you bonus spell slots, and increasing your score magically doesn't give you more skill points, and Fox's Cunning, the spell used to make the item in question, specifically says it doesn't give you bonus spell slots. I was hoping there was something that succinctly said you got bonus spells from magic items.

[The Grue]

Ask him why a Headband of Intellect is considered a Must Have for any Wizard build if it doesn't grant bonus spell slots. Laugh when he says it's for the + to spell DC, and point out that nothing in the rules specifically says that enhancement bonuses to casting stat improve the save DC.

Make sure that nobody who gets enhancement bonuses to CON has their HP increase, or bonuses to Str/Dex have their attack rolls increase, since there's nothing in the rules that specifically says that enhancement bonuses improve those things either.

[TuggyNE]

Ask him why a Headband of Intellect is considered a Must Have for any Wizard build if it doesn't grant bonus spell slots. Laugh when he says it's for the + to spell DC, and point out that nothing in the rules specifically says that enhancement bonuses to casting stat improve the save DC.

Make sure that nobody who gets enhancement bonuses to CON has their HP increase, or bonuses to Str/Dex have their attack rolls increase, since there's nothing in the rules that specifically says that enhancement bonuses improve those things either.

Basically this, with a further note:
He's not buying it though, since nothing is specifically saying enhancement effects give you bonus spell slots, and increasing your score magically doesn't give you more skill points, and Fox's Cunning, the spell used to make the item in question, specifically says it doesn't give you bonus spell slots.

Those two highlighted rules are, strictly speaking, the exceptions that prove the rule; the fact that fox's cunning needs to call it out indicates that the default would probably be to grant bonus spell slots. Since the default is indeed for ability score bonuses, however gained, to count toward bonus spell slots, he just doesn't have a leg to stand on in 3.5's exception-based rule set. There is, in other words, no applicable exception to the general rule that the total ability score determines bonus spell slots.

[Fyermind]

I always thought it worked this way because temporary ability score increases shouldn't give permanent benefits. Generally I thought if you could lose the bonus by taking something off, you couldn't use it to get more spells or skill points, but it improved what you already had prepared. I don't remember where I got that impression though.

[Carth]

If I recall correctly, the PHB example cleric gets bonus spells from from a magic item, if you break down the character. Not that examples are RAW, but I'm not a believer at all in your DM's line of thinking.

[TuggyNE]

I always thought it worked this way because temporary ability score increases shouldn't give permanent benefits. Generally I thought if you could lose the bonus by taking something off, you couldn't use it to get more spells or skill points, but it improved what you already had prepared. I don't remember where I got that impression though.

There are specific rules to that effect for certain spells, but no general rule, and there's nothing resembling a definition of what "temporary" bonuses would be. (Round/level, min/level, and 10 min/level presumably are temporary, but what about Permanent spells, grafts, continuous magic items, or similar? And since you could get ability damaged, penalized, or drained at theoretically any time, what makes your base score truly lasting?)

[Greymane]

Thanks for the more eloquent rhetoric, guys. We got him to relent, but being proven wrong always damages his pride and infuriates him.

I've been gaming with him for almost ten years. I had no idea he had this idea in his head that whole time.