Bard Spellcasting

[Fundin Strongarm]

We've just hard a bard in our party reach second level and we wanted to know if he could cast first level spells. Instead of -- it has 0 under spells per day.

If he can't, why is he given a number of first level spells on the "spells known" table? I mean, why would he know spells he doesn't have the ability to cast?

 

[Destil]

He can cast spells, but only if he has sufficent Cha to grant a bonus first level spell, which would be his only spell / day (I believe this is explained at the bottom of the chart, with an *).

 

[Christian]

Here is the explanation you need. PH p. 23, under the heading Class Table and the subheading Spells per Day:

If the entry is "--" for a given level of spells, the character may not cast any spells of that level. If the entry is "0", the character may only cast spells of that level if he or she has bonus spells (see Table 1-1: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells, page 8).

 

[Fundin Strongarm]

Thank you, Christian. We knew we read it somewhere but couldn't remember where.