How common is this?

[HiddenLineage]

I see alot of people house ruling different things. How many actually house rule a wizard's spell preparation to be more like a Cleric's once he prepares them he has use for them for the day instead of one of these, two of that, another one of these, etc?

 

[sjmiller]

I see alot of people house ruling different things. How many actually house rule a wizard's spell preparation to be more like a Cleric's once he prepares them he has use for them for the day instead of one of these, two of that, another one of these, etc?

I am not sure what you are trying to say. A cleric prays for (picks out) his spells in the morning (or when appropriate for his deity) and those are the spells he has for the day. If he picked one bless this morning and he casts it that is it, it cannot cast bless again till he prays for it.

 

[Dandu]

Not allowing wizards to prepare spells into an empty slot.

 

[Arkhandus]

Yeah, I think you're a little confused about cleric spellcasting, HiddenLineage. Clerics have to prepare their spells in specific slots just like wizards, druids, paladins, and rangers do. One cleric might prepare 2 Divine Favors and 1 Bless on a particular day, for example; so he's limited to casting 2 Divine Favors that day and 1 Bless that day. Of course, a cleric also has the option of substituting Cure spells (or Inflict spells if evil or something) for any of their prepared spells (except Domain spell slots), whenever they like.

Sorcerers, bards, and other spontaneous casters (favored souls, duskblades, beguilers, etc.) just have a specific set of spells known, and can cast any of those spells as often as they like, so long as they expend a spell slot of the appropriate level or higher each time.

However, what you describe does sound loosely like what's in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved. In those books (basically, they're variant Player's Handbooks for 3e/d20), the spellcasting classes choose a certain number of spells to "ready" beforehand, then they can cast those readied spells as many times as they like until they run out of actual spell slots for the day of the appropriate levels. Casters in Monte Cook's AU/AE can change their selection of readied spells with something like an hour's study or prayer, I forget exactly which (and don't feel like going over to my book to check). But they can do so more than once each day (they just have a limited number of spells cast per day).

 

[Greenfield]

The exception is that Good clerics (or clerics of a Good deity) can swap prepared spells for healing spells (Cure Light, etc) on the fly.

Evil clerics (or clerics of an Evil deity) can do the same with harming spells (Cause light, etc.).

Druids can do the same for Summon spells.

Other than that, a Cleric prepares a specific number of spells into specific slots, and if he wants to cast one of those spells three times, he prepares it three times.

Just like a Wizard.

Is this what you were asking about?

 

[JamesonCourage]

I believe he's referencing the advantage a wizard has when preparing that a cleric does not.

Cleric: Choose one part of the day. You can only prepare spells during this part of the day, and it takes one hour.

Wizard: Takes one hour to prepare spells. If you don't prepare all of your spell slots, then you can stop later on during the day and spend more time, preparing those empty spell slots.

This allows Wizards to leave spell slots empty and fill them in as necessary throughout the day, making their versatility jump. It's a very useful feature.

In regards to the OP, if you're asking about what I've outlined above, then I'd say it's extremely normal for people to houserule that wizards must prepare like clerics. Most people probably don't even know that wizards can leave blank slots.

 

[airwalkrr]

I believe he's referencing the advantage a wizard has when preparing that a cleric does not.

Cleric: Choose one part of the day. You can only prepare spells during this part of the day, and it takes one hour.

Wizard: Takes one hour to prepare spells. If you don't prepare all of your spell slots, then you can stop later on during the day and spend more time, preparing those empty spell slots.

Actually this came up the other day in another thread, but that's not actually what the rules say. I admit it is clearer in the case of the wizard, but clerics (and other divine casters) can do the same thing. A careful reading of chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook will provide the evidence you need. There is a reference to a divine caster being able to prepare spells later in the day as long as he prayed earlier in the day at his usual time and left a spell slot open.

Basically, what you should take away from the preparation rules is that the main way divine and arcane casters differ is that divine casters get their spell slots refreshed every day at the same time whether they rest or not. Arcane casters need rest and can switch their primary preparation time from day to day if they want. But both types can save slots for later preparation.