Skill Powers and Spellbooks

[klofft]

At level 2, a wizard gets 2 Utility powers, but can only prep one per day.

If he chooses a Utility Spell and a Skill Power, can he still only prepare one of them per day, even though one is technically not a spell?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

At level 2, a wizard gets 2 Utility powers, but can only prep one per day.

If he chooses a Utility Spell and a Skill Power, can he still only prepare one of them per day, even though one is technically not a spell?

I think it has to be a spell to count. (Also, if you have an encounter utility power, does that count against your spellbook?)

 

[Deadstop]

I'd say that choosing a skill power (or a theme power, likewise) takes up both "slots" for that level, since it's not a wizard power. So he shouldn't get a spell and a skill power in the first place.

I'm not sure if that's RAW, though. I know a lot of the hybrid options are very clear about "only powers specific to the class benefit from this thing," but I'm not sure they clarified how the spellbook feature for wizards interacts with power-swapping for non-wizard utility powers.

(To clarify, I'm not saying that you are dealing with a hybrid situation, just that the hybrid rules are an example of a place where they were very careful to limit certain class features to working only with class-specific powers. I don't know if they did that, specifically, for the standard wizard's spellbook feature and non-wizard powers, though it makes sense to me that they would. It doesn't make much sense for a wizard-MC-fighter to get two exploits "for his spellbook" at certain levels. This may fall into the "knocking an ooze prone" area of "It works because that keeps things simple, figure out what it looks like at your table," though.)

Deadstop

 

[klofft]

I'd say that choosing a skill power (or a theme power, likewise) takes up both "slots" for that level, since it's not a wizard power. So he shouldn't get a spell and a skill power in the first place.

I'm not sure if that's RAW, though. I know a lot of the hybrid options are very clear about "only powers specific to the class benefit from this thing," but I'm not sure they clarified how the spellbook feature for wizards interacts with power-swapping for non-wizard utility powers.

(To clarify, I'm not saying that you are dealing with a hybrid situation, just that the hybrid rules are an example of a place where they were very careful to limit certain class features to working only with class-specific powers. I don't know if they did that, specifically, for the standard wizard's spellbook feature and non-wizard powers, though it makes sense to me that they would. It doesn't make much sense for a wizard-MC-fighter to get two exploits "for his spellbook" at certain levels. This may fall into the "knocking an ooze prone" area of "It works because that keeps things simple, figure out what it looks like at your table," though.)

Deadstop

Basing it on the "rules interpretation" of the Character Builder, he does get 2 choices. I even went back and chose the skill power first to see if it would deny him a spellbook choice, but it didn't.

I still haven't figured out whether he'll get to use both each day (after all, skill powers, according to some, are not quite as good as class powers anyway) or that the skill power will just count as a "spell," meaning he'll only get to prep one (in which case, I suspect "Shield" will consistently win over "Calculated Acumen")

 

[On Puget Sound]

No wizard ability lets him prepare two spells of the same type and level, and no skill power rule allows that either. So even if you allow the skill power to take up a spell space in the spellbook - rather than replace both spells of that level - there is no justification for getting to use both a spell and a skill power of the same level.

Otherwise, he could take two skill powers and no spells at all, and use both of them in the same day.

If he gains an EXTRA skill power through a feat, then he can use that every day in addition to the power - skill, spell, theme, whatever - that he chooses from his spellbook.