How does Mnemonic Enhancer really work?

[Matt Black]

I would love some input on this spell, which has the potential to be powerful and versatile, or largely useless.

The first version of Mnemonic Enhancer, "Prepare", allows you to prepare up to three additional levels of spells, but it's very unclear how this works. Does it:

a) grant you thee levels of spell slots that fade after 24 hours, but may be filled in the usual way during that time?

b) grant three levels of spell slots that must be prepared immediately after Mnemonic Enhancer is cast, at the same time as you prepare the rest of your spells?

c) grant three levels of spells that are prepared at the same time as the Mnemonic Enhancer is cast, at any time during the day?

The fact that the spell description states: "You prepare and cast these spells normally" indicates to me that these extra spells are prepared at the same time as you prepare the rest of your spells: ie. when you study your spellbook for an hour, right after 8 hours rest. This would support interpretation a) or b). However there's no indication that those slots must be filled immediately after the enhancer is cast, so I tend towards a). This would of course allow you to cast Mnemonic Enhancer in the evening and still have those extra slots when you prepare spells in the morning, in addition to the recovery of your 4th level slot.

What do you think?

 

[TanisFrey]

It is intended for C. That based on how the 3.5 version works.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

When you cast Mnemonic Enhancer, you gain three spell levels' worth of slots that can be filled in the next 24 hours in the normal fashion. You can divide these up in any way you wish and at any time - so, a single 3rd-level slot, two 1st-level and two 0th-level, etc.

Remember that wizards have the option of leaving spell slots open when preparing spells in the morning, and then preparing them later on in the day.

When preparing spells for the day, a wizard can leave some of these spell slots open. Later during that day, he can repeat the preparation process as often as he likes, time and circumstances permitting. During these extra sessions of preparation, the wizard can fill these unused spell slots. He cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because he has cast a spell in the meantime. That sort of preparation requires a mind fresh from rest. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if the wizard prepares more than one-quarter of his spells.

So, in the middle of the day, you could cast Mnemonic Enhancer (which takes 10 minutes) and then prepare some additional spells (which takes up to another hour, but probably much less).

So, C) is the closest option, but I don't see a requirement to fill the spell slots immediately.