rest & spells

[Tor the Fallen]

When WotC says "spells per day," how long is a day?

For instance, if a wizard starts a day out at 00:00 hours, having woken up at 23:00 hours and spent the last hour preparing spells, he has a bunch of spells.

Let's say he casts all those spells in the next hour, then goes back to sleep at 01:00 hours. He wakes up at 09:00, and is ready to cast at 10:00. He then casts all his spells in the next hour, and goes back to sleep at 11:00. He wakes up at 19:00, and is ready to go again at 20:00 hours.

He has cast all his spells 3 times that day.

Now, can clerics and druids do the same trick? Except in their case, they wouldn't have to sleep even; just pray once every 8 hours for 1 hour to get their spells back.

So in the case of undead clerics and druids (or other creature types that don't sleep), they can adventure hard for 8 hours, stop for 8 to get their spells back, and keep going?

Oh, no, wait, clerics must choose a time to prepare their spells.

So does this show that, once again, wizards are superior, getting 3 times as many spells as their divine counterparts, in nearly the same period of time?

[DaMullet]

Per day means just that; per day.

Every 24 hours, you can prepare spells. It's very simple.

[ClericofPhwarrr]

Except that a 24 hours =/= a day in every campaign location. I could have 8 hour days in my campaign world, for example.

[DaMullet]

Then in your campaign setting, you can prepare spells once per 9 hours.

It's still not that difficult a concept, though I am glad someone found a hole in my logic. It's late here.

[Fizban]

They last until you next prepare spells. Most people prepare spells every day, so it becomes spells per day.

A sorcerer keeps all his spell slots until he uses them or meditates for 15 minutes after resting for 8 hours.

A prepared caster retains all prepared spells until they are cast, or they are replaced by preparing other spells in their place. A wizard has to rest for 8 hours, so he can at most prepare spells twice per day, if he casts them all and then immediately rests and re-prepares. Clerics are only allowed to pray for spells at a specific time of day, so they are limited to once per day period, but they don't need the rest.

It is perfectly possible for a caster on the run to conserve spells when he knows he won't be able to prepare more, whatever he has left won't disappear short of being cast, dying, or some other magic or power that removes them forcibly.

[Zeful]

A day is as long as it takes to go from sunrise to sunrise. Be it twenty-four hours or seven and a half years. It is still only one day. That said, any player resting for eight hours to regain spell despite having done so already are smote by the inability of their bodies being unable to channel that much energy without a prepared mind.

The consiquence isn't in the rules but after batman explodes from being a smart-donkey less arcane casters will be willing to try.

[Tor the Fallen]

So what happens on planes where there aren't suns or days? Casters are ****ed?

[ClericofPhwarrr]

Hmmm... this actually could be a non-rule changing way to add a *little* more balance between casters and melee. Let's see how batman likes a 48 or 72 hour day! ...Until he gets epic spells and alters it to whatever he wants.

I might have to run a campaign someday based off of this idea, where as the PCs progress the days get longer and longer, with their end goal of stopping/reversing this cycle. That way, the casters aren't nerfed at the early levels when nerfing isn't needed, and they still have to watch their spell count at later levels.

[Edit] Ninja'd by Tor, who takes that idea to the next logical step.

[Tor the Fallen]

In the games I play, it's typically 8 hours rest + prep time = new set of spells. Limits on casting are more of a relationship between what a body can cast rather than a relationship to the Prime's Sun.