Can you prepare spells more than once a day?

[Henry]

Tell me something. If you've been awake for two hours, after a full eight-hours of sleep, do you think you could just nod back off at the drop of a hat?

More to the point, the rules very specifically call out the spells as "daily." The requirement of preparation is in addition to that; it doesn't overrule it.

Bottom line? No, you cannot prep spells more than once per day.

To be fair, I've known war veterans who are able to fall asleep and wake up at the drop of a hat - and some of the D&D fiction has stressed a virtue of powerful wizards as the ability to focus on a task and shut out distractions, or to fall asleep in the most inhospitable of situations. So I wouldn't discount that out of hand...

 

[Caliban]

What's more, actuall sleep does not seem to be required, merely a period of "rest". This is mentioned in regards to elves, and I believe the ring of sustenance.

 

[Deset Gled]

More to the point, the rules very specifically call out the spells as "daily." The requirement of preparation is in addition to that; it doesn't overrule it.

Bottom line? No, you cannot prep spells more than once per day.

Well, as I reading into the rules more closely, I'm finding the following:

To prepare her daily spells, a wizard must first sleep for 8 hours. The wizard does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but she must refrain from movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period. If her rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the total amount of time she has to rest in order to clear her mind, and she must have at least 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately prior to preparing her spells. If the character does not need to sleep for some reason, she still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any spells.

Like other spellcasters, a wizard can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day.

It looks to me like, from a pedantic standpoint, a wizard can only cast a number of spells per day, but can prepare spells any time after they rest. So a wizard would be able to sleep for 8 hours in the middle of the day and prepare their spells again (allowing them to choose new spells) but wouldn't gain any extra slots for the day from doing so.

That actually sounds pretty balanced, too.

 

[Stalker0]

Tell me something. If you've been awake for two hours, after a full eight-hours of sleep, do you think you could just nod back off at the drop of a hat?

If was to say I don't know....engage in life and death battle with a creature that is 20 feet high and can crush buildings with bare hands and during said battle I am forced to channel powers behind mortal comprehension, exposing myself to magics that accelerate my brain and grant my intelligence beyond Einstein, summon monsters from heaven and hell, and release explosive energy equivalent to many thousand pounds of TNT?

Sure

 

[Mistwell]

Tell me something. If you've been awake for two hours, after a full eight-hours of sleep, do you think you could just nod back off at the drop of a hat?

It's not sleep, it's rest. As in non-activity. If it were sleep, Elves could never been wizards.

Do I think I could just sit around for 8 hours? Is that really a question you need to ask folks who spend this much time on a message board?

 

[MarkB]

Actually, isn't there a rule saying that spells cast 8 hours before a new day count against the next days' allotment? I know it was there in 3.0E, but I haven't checked 3.5E - it was there specifically for this sort of thing.

I believe there is a rule that spells expended within the last eight hours can't be re-memorised. This applies if a spellcaster's rest is interrupted, they cast a spell during that interruption, and then they take the extra hour's rest to make up for it. Spells cast during that interruption would not be able to be replaced after resting.

 

[Dross]

As an aside, 3.0 allowed you to leave slots unmemorise and after ~15 minutes of study fill them with a spell. I don't know what 3.5 says about this tho'.

 

[Vegepygmy]

As an aside, 3.0 allowed you to leave slots unmemorise and after ~15 minutes of study fill them with a spell. I don't know what 3.5 says about this tho'.

It says the same thing.

 

[Gerion of Mercadia]

The main thing I see here is that your "day" starts after you get 8 hours of rest if you are a wizard. If you are a cleric your "day" is really a true 24 hour deal.

We percieve a "day" as a 24 hour period. If you were on another "planet" or "plane" a day may not equal 24 hours.

Say I'm a wizard. I slept from 12am to 8am today.

I prepared spells from 8am to 9am.

I went out to fight, and I came back home at 11am.

I decide to sleep to 7pm again.

Can I prepare my full allotment of spells again after I wake up?

As you asked the question - yes.

 

[hong]

See, you wouldn't have these problems if you banned wizards gave wizards spells per encounter, like maneuvers.