Grifton’s Rememorize... No, I swear I had that spell memorized DM!

[Grifton]

Grifton’s Rememorize... No, I swear I had that spell memorized DM!

Straight from the books of the great Grifton (at least great in his own mind), a new spell idea…

Grifton’s Rememorize
Divination
Level: Brd 4, Clr 6, Drd 5, Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M/DF, F
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Personal: see text
Target: You
Effect: Change memorized spell
Duration: Instantaneous

Description:

This spell was created by a wizard who absolutely hated having chosen the wrong spells to memorize.

Upon casting this spell, the caster manages to tell himself, 24 hours in the past, of a spell he will need and what spell he should swap for. Thus a wizard can suddenly have just the right spell at the right moment.

There are of course limits. First and foremost, the wizard can’t swap for the Grifton’s Rememorize spell he is currently casting. This spell’s energy is used and can not be replaced. Nor can he replace a spell he has already cast in the last 24 hours. So no casting Lightning Bolt on the badly beaten flesh golem, realizing it was a bad idea as your party members give you the evil eye, and then trying to get yourself to memorize a Fireball spell instead of that Lightning Bolt.

The caster must replace a spell with another spell of the same level. The use of metamagic to accomplish this is acceptable.

A caster can only swap one spell for one spell.

A caster must have had both spells available to him 24 hours ago. So no finding a convenient scroll, then trying to teach yourself the new spell 24 hours in the past.

Finally, if the caster was unconscious 24 hours ago, then the spell fails.

Sorcerers should note that this spell is utterly useless to them.

Components: An eye of hawk, eagle, or roc. Dehydrated ants or bees.

Wizard/Bard Focus: Hourglass.

Cleric/Druid Focus: Sundial

I’ve also thought of maybe requiring the caster to have a familiar (for wizards), homunculus (for clerics), or a bogun (for druids) with this spell (I’m visualizing the familiar 24 hours ago suddenly speaking and directing his caster to which spell to cast and not cast). Obviously, the familiar would be a focus and not a component.

This last part would be my attempt to encourage players to get a familiar. It’s been my experience that players don’t usually get a familiar because the risks of losing one tend to outweigh the advantages of getting one in their minds.

So what are the pros and cons of this spell that I can see? This spell has advantages over simply keeping a spell slot empty in that the wizard need not take a turn to fill the slot. It has disadvantages in that require spell energy to make use of it.

Grifton

 

[Tuzenbach]

It's a good concept.

 

[Mouseferatu]

The Alacritous Cogitation feat in Complete Mage basically does something similar. It allows a wizard to leave one spell slot open per day, to fill spontaneously with a spell from his spellbook.

 

[evilbob]

There's probably no need to include Bards on the list of who can know the spell.

You might also want to include a spell level cap. For instance, the "X's Lubrication" spell allows you to recall 1 spell of 5th level or lower, and it's a 6th level spell. Allowing a 5th level spell to swap a 9th level spell might be much.

I can envision a "greater" version of this spell that is a swift action... Although as it stands, your spell could be quickened, which is basically the same thing. (Giving it a different level of spell that could be swapped would make a "greater" version more useful, though.)

You could also simplfy the entire spell by removing all of the stuff about being "24 hours in the past," and just allow the mage to swap out a currently known spell with anything else they currently have available. This would cut down on the explanation and close various potential loopholes, but it would also make the spell slightly more powerful. Perhaps this could offset a spell level cap?