Pearl of Power rules questions

[MichelleSidhe]

Pearl of Power
This seemingly normal pearl of average size and luster is a potent aid to all spellcasters who prepare spells (clerics, druids, rangers, paladins, and wizards). Once per day on command, a pearl of power enables the possessor to recall any one spell that she had prepared and then cast. The spell is then prepared again, just as if it had not been cast. The spell must be of a particular level, depending on the pearl. Different pearls exist for recalling one spell per day of each level from 1st through 9th and for the recall of two spells per day (each of a different level, 6th or lower).

Strong transmutation; CL 17th; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be able to cast spells of the spell level to be recalled; Price 1,000 gp (1st), 4,000 gp (2nd), 9,000 gp (3rd), 16,000 gp (4th), 25,000 gp (5th), 36,000 gp (6th), 49,000 gp (7th), 64,000 gp (8th), 81,000 gp (9th), or 70,000 gp (two spells).


Is there anything preventing you from using multiple pearls or power to recast a spell multiple times. I have had someone argue that it doesn’t count as you preparing the spell again and that you must prepare the spell multiple times once for every pearl of Power you use.

[ezekielraiden]

Pearl of Power
This seemingly normal pearl of average size and luster is a potent aid to all spellcasters who prepare spells (clerics, druids, rangers, paladins, and wizards). Once per day on command, a pearl of power enables the possessor to recall any one spell that she had prepared and then cast. The spell is then prepared again, just as if it had not been cast. The spell must be of a particular level, depending on the pearl. Different pearls exist for recalling one spell per day of each level from 1st through 9th and for the recall of two spells per day (each of a different level, 6th or lower).

Strong transmutation; CL 17th; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be able to cast spells of the spell level to be recalled; Price 1,000 gp (1st), 4,000 gp (2nd), 9,000 gp (3rd), 16,000 gp (4th), 25,000 gp (5th), 36,000 gp (6th), 49,000 gp (7th), 64,000 gp (8th), 81,000 gp (9th), or 70,000 gp (two spells).


Is there anything preventing you from using multiple pearls or power to recast a spell multiple times. I have had someone argue that it doesn’t count as you preparing the spell again and that you must prepare the spell multiple times once for every pearl of Power you use.

It explicitly says, "that spell is then prepared again, just as if it had not been cast." Because of that second clause, it is prepared exactly the way it was previously--before it was cast--and thus since the spell worked then, it works again. It does not specify any limitation on this similarity, the spell is just as if it had not been cast.

To put this another way, in order for that other person's argument to hold, there should either be something saying the pearl itself prepares the spell, or a specific statement that a spell recalled in this way cannot be recalled a second time. Otherwise, from the rules as written, the spell recalled "is prepared...just as if it had not been cast," meaning exactly as it had been before casting...including being prepared by the caster.

[MichelleSidhe]

Can I get some more comments from different people please in reply to my question.

[DeTess]

Can I get some more comments from different people please in reply to my question.

Ezekielraiden has the right of it, as far as I can tell. I don't really have anything to add, and if no one else drops by to tell you that he's wrong, you can assume people agree.

[The Kool]

There's nothing else to add. It's clear wording.

One thing that tripped my group up for a while though was assuming it had to be used as part of the casting, or right after the casting. Nope, it can be used at any time for the rest of the day, and it's a standard action (default activation). So you can hang onto the pearls and only pull it out if/when you know you need to recast something, like a Mage Armor spell that ran out.

[Bphill561]

Yeah as stated above.


"Once per day on command, a pearl of power enables the possessor to recall any one spell that she had prepared and then cast. The spell is then prepared again, just as if it had not been cast. " The original preparation and casting is all that is required to use a pearl and a second, third, fourth pearl as long as the slot is expended at the time of activation. You still prepared and cast the spell that day. The extra bit your adversary is adding is clearly wrong because it states right in the text is it prepared again as if it was never cast, so not sure where that logic is going. Plus there are no limitations listed on using another pearl.


Maybe you should point out the item is very specifically worded in that fashion to allow retrieval of a used slot, but not allow you to use two pearls in a row on one spent slot to end up with two slots fully loaded. IE, cast magic missile, active two pearls, and now have two magic missiles memorized and ready to go is a no-no. But you could use one pearl, recast magic missile, and use a second pearl. Maybe it will provide him or her the sense of a partial victory so they don't add extra wording to the rules.

[ezekielraiden]

Yeah as stated above.


"Once per day on command, a pearl of power enables the possessor to recall any one spell that she had prepared and then cast. The spell is then prepared again, just as if it had not been cast. " The original preparation and casting is all that is required to use a pearl and a second, third, fourth pearl as long as the slot is expended at the time of activation. You still prepared and cast the spell that day. The extra bit your adversary is adding is clearly wrong because it states right in the text is it prepared again as if it was never cast, so not sure where that logic is going. Plus there are no limitations listed on using another pearl.


Maybe you should point out the item is very specifically worded in that fashion to allow retrieval of a used slot, but not allow you to use two pearls in a row on one spent slot to end up with two slots fully loaded. IE, cast magic missile, active two pearls, and now have two magic missiles memorized and ready to go is a no-no. But you could use one pearl, recast magic missile, and use a second pearl. Maybe it will provide him or her the sense of a partial victory so they don't add extra wording to the rules.

Oh yeah, if that is your friend's concern, they're fully in the right. Say you have 5 first-level spell slots as a Wizard and you prepare Shield, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Grease x2. If you expend all of your spell slots, you can use 1 first-level pearl to restore any one of your spells. If you have two pearls, you can do any of the following:
1. Restore any two distinct spells that have been cast. Thus you could have Shield and Mage Armor again, or Shield and Magic Missile, but you *could not* have two Magic Missiles prepared, because you didn't prepare that many to begin with.
2. Restore two Grease spells, because you prepared two of them. Since Grease is the only spell prepared twice, this is the only spell you can do this with. If you had instead prepared a second Mage Armor instead of Shield, you could restore both castings of Mage Armor.
3. Restore one spell, then wait until that spell has been cast, then restore it again. Each time, however, you must spend the standard action to refresh the spell, which is usually not worth doing in combat.

There is nothing in the rules which indicates that the pearls cannot be used serially in this way, and most DMs appear to agree that they work like that. However, as with all rules, if this other person is your DM you may have to accept that they're running pearls of power differently. They might want to reduce their price slightly (say, 10%) since this is clearly removing an allowed and very useful function but not totally nerfing the item (because even just getting one extra cast of a useful spell is very nice--almost equivalent to buying a bonus spell slot with gp).

[Segev]

Yeah, it's generally assumed that, if you have 10 1st-level Pearls, you can restore the same spell 10 times.

Interestingly, the very wording "as if it had never been cast" is what prevents you from stacking them without casting it again.

As an example:

You cast magic missile. It is now a spell you have cast.
You use your Pearl of Power I on it. It is now restored to you as if it had never been cast.
You try to use a second Pearl of Power I on it, but Pearls of Power only work on spells you've cast. This restored spell is "as if it had never been cast."


This is a very close reading of the minutiae of the RAW, but so is the reading that tries to say, "well, I cast it, so I can keep using Pearls ot restore it even without casting it again until I have a dozen prepared copies of it!"


But again, to answer the original question, you absolutely can keep restoring the same spell over and over as long as you keep casting it.

Cast magic missile. Restore with Pearl. Cast it again; restore with a second pearl. Cast it again; restore with a third pearl. Etc. until you're out of pearls.

Perfectly legal.

[gogogome]

You can refresh a spell with as many pearls of power as you want.

[razorback]

What everyone else said.

Also, makes me want to create a magic item. Blain's Belt-Feed Contraption of Pearls of Power.


https://media1.tenor.com/images/2555f40b441f27b43450a357de697907/tenor.gif?itemid=12756117

[Segev]

What everyone else said.

Also, makes me want to create a magic item. Blain's Belt-Feed Contraption of Pearls of Power.


https://media1.tenor.com/images/2555f40b441f27b43450a357de697907/tenor.gif?itemid=12756117


Well, intelligent magic items can use their own actions to activate their effects, so you could at least get Pearls of Power that didn't take a standard action of the caster's own to activate, but I'm not sure how you'd step it up to being able to cast the spell as soon as the Pearl restored it, thus letting you chain(gun) them....

[The Kool]

Well, intelligent magic items can use their own actions to activate their effects

Better believe my group abused THAT one. Intelligent Lyre of building. Which is now a worldbuilding element. They'll meet her again eventually... they called her GLaDOS, if that gives you any clues.

As to the magic missile gun, the MiMiGun: a staff with Magic Missile, Quickened Magic Missile, Twinned Magic Missile, and Quickened Twinned Magic Missile. The item version of an entire Force Missile Mage build I have somewhere. Unfortunately it had to hit level 21 to click, had a multi-round windup and trail-off, but could peak at well over 1000 missiles per round.

[Thurbane]

Do Pearls of Power effectively get around the 1/day casting limitation on spells gained through the Arcane Disciple feat?

[The Kool]

Each day, you may prepare ... a maximum of one of these domains spells of each level.

So, you prepare one level 3 domain spell. You cast it. You use pearl of power to restore a spell you cast as if it had not been cast. Sounds to me like it should work. The limit is on how many you prepare, not how many you cast. For a sorcerer with their PoP equivalent item from the MIC, it would not work because the spontaneous caster limit is on how many times you cast it.

[Segev]

Do Pearls of Power effectively get around the 1/day casting limitation on spells gained through the Arcane Disciple feat?

Does Arcane Disciple prepare its spell in a particular slot? If so, Pearls of Power can restore that slot, yes.

[ezekielraiden]

Does Arcane Disciple prepare its spell in a particular slot? If so, Pearls of Power can restore that slot, yes.

For a Wizard, yep, you prepare it exactly like any other spell, you just can only prepare one slot of each level each day (and need Wis for it like a Cleric would). But since a pearl of power works "just as if it had not been cast," rather than filling a *new* slot, you're in the clear. I imagine this is super useful for Wizards with a nice domain.

[Elkad]

Use the same slot over and over.

Pretty standard at my table for the Wizard to prepare one Mage Armor, and cast it on himself, his familiar, the animal companion, the paladin mount, the monk unarmed swordsage, the rogue, and whatever else.
Everyone who wants Mage Armor just buys him another Pearl.

And if everyone needs something else for the day (Endure Elements in the arctic?), he's set to do that instead.

[mabriss lethe]

Yeah, it's generally assumed that, if you have 10 1st-level Pearls, you can restore the same spell 10 times.

Interestingly, the very wording "as if it had never been cast" is what prevents you from stacking them without casting it again.

As an example:

You cast magic missile. It is now a spell you have cast.
You use your Pearl of Power I on it. It is now restored to you as if it had never been cast.
You try to use a second Pearl of Power I on it, but Pearls of Power only work on spells you've cast. This restored spell is "as if it had never been cast."


This is a very close reading of the minutiae of the RAW, but so is the reading that tries to say, "well, I cast it, so I can keep using Pearls ot restore it even without casting it again until I have a dozen prepared copies of it!"


But again, to answer the original question, you absolutely can keep restoring the same spell over and over as long as you keep casting it.

Cast magic missile. Restore with Pearl. Cast it again; restore with a second pearl. Cast it again; restore with a third pearl. Etc. until you're out of pearls.

Perfectly legal.


If we go strictly by raw, Pearls of Power have less limitations than you think.

Hang on, this is where it gets dumb.

the item never specifies when the spell had to be prepared. It doesn't care if you've since prepared different spells in that slot and expended them as well. It just has to be a spell that once occupied that slot. today, yesterday, ten years ago. doesn't matter. It can, in theory, retrieve any spell you've ever cast. say yesterday's loadout was Magic missile, shield, summon monster 1, and your wizard blew through them all. today I prepare grease, mage armor, and true strike. after casting grease, I can use a pearl of power to prepare it again, or prepare magic missile, or reach back arbitrarily farther into the past to prepare any other spell that once occupied that space, but I couldn't prepare anything that I hadn't once held there.

should you use a pearl of power that way? at most tables, I'd say no. It's definitely breaking the spirit of the rules and is a bit of a dumb extrapolation on the description based on a scenario that the designer never thought of.

[ezekielraiden]

If we go strictly by raw, Pearls of Power have less limitations than you think.

Hang on, this is where it gets dumb.

the item never specifies when the spell had to be prepared. It doesn't care if you've since prepared different spells in that slot and expended them as well. It just has to be a spell that once occupied that slot. today, yesterday, ten years ago. doesn't matter. It can, in theory, retrieve any spell you've ever cast. say yesterday's loadout was Magic missile, shield, summon monster 1, and your wizard blew through them all. today I prepare grease, mage armor, and true strike. after casting grease, I can use a pearl of power to prepare it again, or prepare magic missile, or reach back arbitrarily farther into the past to prepare any other spell that once occupied that space, but I couldn't prepare anything that I hadn't once held there.

should you use a pearl of power that way? at most tables, I'd say no. It's definitely breaking the spirit of the rules and is a bit of a dumb extrapolation on the description based on a scenario that the designer never thought of.

Oh yeah, that's hella stinky cheese and only supported by a pretty out-there interpretation rather than the much more consistent one that says you're only re-preparing what the slot currently contains. (After all, how do you differentiate two unfilled slots of the same level? It's not like they're labelled A and B.) At the very least, 100% obviously not intended and no DM should ever feel obligated to allow it (and IMO never *should* allow it.)

It's worth noting that the PF pearl closes even the potential for this loophole (that, IMO, is going beyond breaking the spirit and willfully reading properties that aren't present in the rules), as it must be a spell you cast *that day.* (Interestingly, this also means a player cannot infinitely cycle spells without preparation in PF: since you must cast the spell *that day,* even if you had 1 pearl for every slot, you couldn't re-prepare all your spells more than one time before actually needing to prepare them normally again.)

[Crichton]

even if you had 1 pearl for every slot, you couldn't re-prepare all your spells more than one time before actually needing to prepare them normally again.)



Agree with you totally about the intent.

To nitpick, though, there's still no reason in the PF wording that you couldn't use more than one Pearl on the same slot in the same day, as many times as they have Pearls to regain the spell.

-prepare spell X as normal
-cast X
-use Pearl1 to regain X in same slot
-cast X
-use Pearl2 to regain X in same slot again
-rinse and repeat

[ezekielraiden]

Agree with you totally about the intent.

To nitpick, though, there's still no reason in the PF wording that you couldn't use more than one Pearl on the same slot in the same day, as many times as they have Pearls to regain the spell.

-prepare spell X as normal
-cast X
-use Pearl1 to regain X in same slot
-cast X
-use Pearl2 to regain X in same slot again
-rinse and repeat

I was afraid the wording would be confusing.

I meant:
1. You have exactly as many pearls as you have spell slots of each level.
2. You cast every spell you have prepared (presumably not in one single sequence but hey who am I to stop you).
3. You use all your pearls to completely re-prepare your entire list in sequence, effectively taking 1 round times your number of slots to re-prepare everything. (For a very high level Wizard, this is on the order of 7*9=63 standard actions, possibly more, so we can estimate at "less than 15 minutes."
4. You again re-cast all your spells *that same day.*
5. When the pearls recharge in the morning...you haven't cast any spells that day yet. So even though you have numerous active pearls, you can't use any of them, because you haven't cast any spells that day.

I was the first commenter, so I'm definitely aware that you can cast, pearl 1, cast, pearl 2, cast, pearl 3 etc., all the same spell, as long as you still have unused pearls of the appropriate level. The quoted bit was just a funny hypothetical limit the new PF rules induce.