Preparing spells for wizards

[weenie]

I once read somewhere, that a wizard could leave some spell slots unprepared at the start of the day, to fill them in later, but I'm not able to find such a rule in any of the books. Is this a real rule, or was it just someone's houserule?

[Kylarra]

When preparing spells for the day, a wizard can leave some of these spell slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes, time and circumstances permitting. During these extra sessions of preparation, the wizard can fill these unused spell slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because she has cast a spell in the meantime. That sort of preparation requires a mind fresh from rest. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if the wizard prepares more than one-quarter of her spells.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverv...andPreparation

[taltamir]

they really should have called it "prepare an empty slot" or some such. The terminology is confusing. But yes it is one of the things a wizard can do...

And when you come across that heavily guarded door, just get knock to open it instead of waiting for the rogue to take 20 (takes an hour)

[Kosjsjach]

...
And when you come across that heavily guarded door, just get knock to open it instead of waiting for the rogue to take 20 (takes an hour)

An hour? Really? Using Open Lock is a full-round action; I always thought "taking 20" just took 20 increments (in this case, 2 minutes).

[taltamir]

An hour? Really? Using Open Lock is a full-round action; I always thought "taking 20" just took 20 increments (in this case, 2 minutes).

IIRC... i read somewhere it takes an hour.
It also eliminates the chance of jamming the lock by rolling a 1.
mmm, actually, I am gonna look it up just in case.

[Kosjsjach]

Huzzah, looks like I was correct:

When you have plenty of time (generally 2 minutes for a skill that can normally be checked in 1 round, one full-round action, or one standard action), you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure, you can take 20. In other words, eventually you will get a 20 on 1d20 if you roll enough times. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, just calculate your result as if you had rolled a 20.

(Unless I missed something, which is quite possible.)

[Thurbane]

To the OP, as well as the rule above, there are two feats that allow a wizard to spontaneously cast spells from open slots: Uncanny Forethought (EE) and Alacritous Cogitation (CM).

[Kobold-Bard]

To the OP, as well as the rule above, there are two feats that allow a wizard to spontaneously cast spells from open slots: Uncanny Forethought (EE) and Alacritous Cogitation (CM).

What book is EE? I assume CM is Complete Mage.

[Cyclocone]

What book is EE? I assume CM is Complete Mage.

Exemplars of Evil.

[Kobold-Bard]

Exemplars of Evil.

Thanks very much. I don't have that one. And now I'm curious, I must have it. TO EBAAAAY!!!

[Thespianus]

To the OP, as well as the rule above, there are two feats that allow a wizard to spontaneously cast spells from open slots: Uncanny Forethought (EE) and Alacritous Cogitation (CM).

There's also a feat called Spontaneous Divination, or somesuch, which allows you to cast Divination spells spontaneously by swapping out spells, IIRC?

[Kobold-Bard]

There's also a feat called Spontaneous Divination, or somesuch, which allows you to cast Divination spells spontaneously by swapping out spells, IIRC?

It's an Alternate Class Feature for Wizards from Complete Champion, whih costs you your feats every 5 levels. I believe originally you didn't even need to have the Divination spell you were using in your spellbook, but that's been errata'd obviously.

It's responsible for the uselessness of Spell Resistance, because with it you can spontaneously turn any Level 4 or higher spell into Assay Resistance.

[Korivan]

Thanks very much. I don't have that one. And now I'm curious, I must have it. TO EBAAAAY!!!

I suggest only using one of those feats though. To many feats devoted into this and your tieing up alot of resources. If your truly concerned about not having the right spell prepared on hand (a very often occurance and valid concern), check out the Mage of the Arcane Order from the Complete Arcane book.

[Kobold-Bard]

I suggest only using one of those feats though. To many feats devoted into this and your tieing up alot of resources. If your truly concerned about not having the right spell prepared on hand (a very often occurance and valid concern), check out the Mage of the Arcane Order from the Complete Arcane book.

You misunderstand. I'm an obsessive for D&D books, as well as an ebay addict. Finding out something useful is in a book I don't have triggers a reaction in my brain that demands I obtain it.

[taltamir]

Huzzah, looks like I was correct:

(Unless I missed something, which is quite possible.)

you are right... I guess I was wrong.

To the OP, as well as the rule above, there are two feats that allow a wizard to spontaneously cast spells from open slots: Uncanny Forethought (EE) and Alacritous Cogitation (CM).

This combo doesn't sound all that good to me. You use up feats to gain spontaneous casting of a specific few spells from your list. it can only be taken at relatively late levels when its no longer all that necessary, and it is only useful for a painfully short time before those become "low level" spells to you, of which you have excess slots anyways.

[Cyclocone]

This combo doesn't sound all that good to me. You use up feats to gain spontaneous casting of a specific few spells from your list. it can only be taken at relatively late levels when its no longer all that necessary, and it is only useful for a painfully short time before those become "low level" spells to you, of which you have excess slots anyways.

No, you gain spontaneous casting of every spell you know; int-mod times per day, which should be more than enough for a wizard.
This makes you the de facto Schrödinger's Wizard, and that is indeed worth two feats.
And btw. you can psychic reform or shun/embrace you spell mastery to change the designated spells if the full-round action bothers you so much.

[Thespianus]

No, you gain spontaneous casting of every spell you know; int-mod times per day, which should be more than enough for a wizard.

How?

Alacritous Cogitation is useable once per day, and Uncanny Forethought only applies to Spell Mastery-spells, right?

EDIT: Ok, I missed the tail end of Uncanny Forethought. My god, that's good stuff.

[Sinfire Titan]

How?

Alacritous Cogitation is useable once per day, and Uncanny Forethought only applies to Spell Mastery-spells, right?

EDIT: Ok, I missed the tail end of Uncanny Forethought. My god, that's good stuff.

Yeah. The feat is considered worth taking Spell Mastery for, but only if you feel you need it. It is somewhat inferior to MotAO until you realize that it works the way Alacritous Cogitation did before the CM errata (any spell as a Full Round action instead of the normal casting time).

[taltamir]

No, you gain spontaneous casting of every spell you know; int-mod times per day, which should be more than enough for a wizard.
This makes you the de facto Schrödinger's Wizard, and that is indeed worth two feats.
And btw. you can psychic reform or shun/embrace you spell mastery to change the designated spells if the full-round action bothers you so much.

ok, please explain this to me...
I thought you:
1. use spell mastery to "learn" spells equal to your int bonus, now you don't need a book to memorize them
2. use the other feat to at will fill an "empty slot" with any of those memorized spells.

You are saying EVERY spell you know? how is that? that would be godly.

[JeenLeen]

ok, please explain this to me...
I thought you:
1. use spell mastery to "learn" spells equal to your int bonus, now you don't need a book to memorize them
2. use the other feat to at will fill an "empty slot" with any of those memorized spells.

You are saying EVERY spell you know? how is that? that would be godly.

Uncanny Forethought gives lets you use an unprepared spell slot for two uses, to a maximum times/day of your Int mod:
1. spontaneously cast any spell you know as a full-round action
2. spontaneously cast a spell you know and have Spell Mastery with as a standard action

When I plannd a wizard around this, before the DM weakened it, I used Spell Mastery on mostly spells of the same level and left that level mostly unprepared. I left a few slots in other levels blank for needed versatility.

[taltamir]

wow... I mean, this is just godly...
that makes wizard go from top tier into a league of their own

[Korivan]

You misunderstand. I'm an obsessive for D&D books, as well as an ebay addict. Finding out something useful is in a book I don't have triggers a reaction in my brain that demands I obtain it.

Sorry, I mispoke. I didn't mean to not get the book (I too am source crazy, 80+ books), I merely meant when finally creating your character, becareful you don't use up all you feats on things for the same thing (seen it happen often). Still, do what you find to be most satisfying, just tossing out my two coppers.

[FMArthur]

Does a wizard actually know any spells, though? This might only be useful for a prepared caster who already possesses some spontaneous casting.

[Kylarra]

Does a wizard actually know any spells, though? This might only be useful for a prepared caster who already possesses some spontaneous casting.

Spells written in their spellbook are "spells they know" otherwise spell mastery is very useless. :p

[taltamir]

Does a wizard actually know any spells, though? This might only be useful for a prepared caster who already possesses some spontaneous casting.

wizards have two kinds of "know" which are sometimes confused..
they "know" spells within their spellbooks. Remember that each book is supposedly unique, and preparing from a book you didn't personally write means succeeding a check

They also "know" and can prepare some spells WITHOUT a spellbook. They can do so for "read magic" by default. And can take a core feat that allows them to learn to also "know" without a spellbook a number of spells equal to their base int modifier at the time of taking that feat (aka, include inherent, does not include enhancement).