Why Do Clerics Get to Spontaneously Cast Their Prepared Spells, But Not Wizards?

[variant]

Can the cleric even prepare spells or are they restricted by having permanent spells known similar to the 3e sorcerer? From how the advancement reads, it sounds like it.

 

[BobTheNob]

The cleric really get a leg up with this. The only thing that would put the mage above him now is the nature of mage spells vs clerical. I really hope that pound for pound mage spells are simply noticably better

 

[Campbell]

Can the cleric even prepare spells or are they restricted by having permanent spells known similar to the 3e sorcerer?

It looks like they prepare spells, but the play test did not go into detail as to what spells they had access to prepare. Most likely due to the fact that domain based spell access has not been fully codified as of yet.

 

[Oni]

The cleric really get a leg up with this. The only thing that would put the mage above him now is the nature of mage spells vs clerical. I really hope that pound for pound mage spells are simply noticably better

There are a lot more demands on a clerics spellcasting from other players than there are on the wizards. If go back to the old pre-3e model, then clerics simply have to prepare a lot of healing spells and just give up on doing anything more interesting with their spellcasting, or at least they have to deal with that expectation from other players. If you go with the 3e model then they not only have to guess what spells they will need ahead of time, they have to guess again when figuring out what to sacrifice to cast healing spells. The current 5e model doesn't less the demand on cleric spellcasting, but it gives them more control over the utility of their few remaining slots the rest of players haven't commandeered. So that all that really remains is that they don't have a lot of spells to buff themselves into the stratosphere if they don't play ball with the rest of the other players demands, which could be accomplished by limiting stacking and making some of their buffs shorter duration, i.e. good for one fight so that it then becomes a choice of action economy (spend the action to become stronger or spend it to act).

 

[variant]

The cleric really get a leg up with this. The only thing that would put the mage above him now is the nature of mage spells vs clerical. I really hope that pound for pound mage spells are simply noticably better

I agree as a whole that the cleric's spellcasting should be relatively weaker considering the other class features they get. So far the wizard has one more spell per day at 1st level than the clerics. A good start, and probably a trend that should continue.

 

[JamesonCourage]

I've heard a lot better things about the Wizard at-will spells than the Cleric at-wills. So there might be that. I'm also guessing that Wizards will have a lot more options with spells they can prepare than Clerics end up getting, so the added versatility might play a big part, too. It's a good question, though. As always, play what you like

 

[Phaezen]

A: Because this is a playtest and this way they get to test 2 different spell casting systems.

B: The Wizard gets an extra spell slot

 

[AlioTheFool]

Because anyone who doesn't love Wizards hates them and thinks they're overpowered. So while the Wizard might get an extra spell slot and have access to 2-5 autodamage per round, he has to beg his buddies to form a wall in front of him so a goblin's sneeze doesn't put him out of the fight. At the same time the Cleric bashes things with her weapon and heals when needed. Why not stick it to the Wizard one more time by letting her rain damage through her god whenever the mood fits.

I've spoken often of the War on Magic in D&D. I firmly believe that it is the goal of all those who prefer strictly martial characters to cripple spellcasting classes, but especially the Wizard.

(This probably sounds needlessly antagonistic, but it's not meant to start fights. It's simply based on observations I've made over time.)

 

[Dornam]

Right, it does because you can't assess "balance" between the classes based on the informations that are given to us in the playtest documents.

Of what we see the power levels of all classes as presented seem about even.

 

[Gold Roger]

Because it further differntiates between cleric and wizard spellcasting.

Because classical vancian spellcasting was never reallly practical for clerics.

Because clerics need all the flexibility they can get as healing and support spellcasters.

Because the classical vancian casting is mostly identified as a feature of the wizard.