Minimum time between prepping spells

[Quidam]

I had always been under the impression that in order to prep a new set of spells, a wizard simply needs to rest eight hours. My DM says that you can only prep once a day, but that you need eight hours of rest in order to do it.

Can you wake up in the morning, shoot off all your spells by 10am, then chill (meeting all the req's in the ph) 'til 6pm and then prep a new set?

 

[Li Shenron]

Can you wake up in the morning, shoot off all your spells by 10am, then chill (meeting all the req's in the ph) 'til 6pm and then prep a new set?

No. You're still bound to your number of spells/day in your class description.

The only option is not to prepare ALL the spells at once in the morning; you may prepare some of them in the morning, and keep the rest of the "slots" blank. Later in the day (with no extra rest required) you make take another preparation session (a proportionate time is needed) for the remaining slots. But you can't re-fill already used slots until the next day.

 

[0-hr]

I had always been under the impression that in order to prep a new set of spells, a wizard simply needs to rest eight hours. My DM says that you can only prep once a day, but that you need eight hours of rest in order to do it.

Both are valid interpretations of the rules as written and I'm not aware of any official clarification on the matter.

 

[Tiberius]

Re: Re: Minimum time between prepping spells

Both are valid interpretations of the rules as written and I'm not aware of any official clarification on the matter.

I'm inclined to say that WotC titled the chart "Spells per day" rather than "Spells per post-rest period" for a reason, though. Though mechanically the rules support either interpretation, IMO the intent was to force wizards to be cautious with their spells, as they had but a small number in any given 24-hour (or however many hours your campaign days are) period.

-Tiberius

 

[Quidam]

No. You're still bound to your number of spells/day in your class description.

The only option is not to prepare ALL the spells at once in the morning; you may prepare some of them in the morning, and keep the rest of the "slots" blank. Later in the day (with no extra rest required) you make take another preparation session (a proportionate time is needed) for the remaining slots. But you can't re-fill already used slots until the next day.

Then why is it the recent casting limit section in the PH only makes mention of eight hours of rest? Nowhere in the arcane magic section could I find something specifically stating that you need to wait "til the next day". You have to wait 24 hours from the time you last prepped spells?

 

[Li Shenron]

Then why is it the recent casting limit section in the PH only makes mention of eight hours of rest? Nowhere in the arcane magic section could I find something specifically stating that you need to wait "til the next day". You have to wait 24 hours from the time you last prepped spells?

Well, I know that it is somehow weird, it seems that if you once choose to prepare at 8 am, you'll never be able to anticipate it even 10 minutes earlier; you may delay it though, or "skip a spellcasting day" e.g. to make it 2 hours earlier, you'd wait 46 hours. I definitely would not been that rigid, if a player wants to move it earlier (going to bed earlier, waking up earlier, prepare spells earlier...).

Still spellcasting is clearly based on spells per day, and it is not very easy to try interpreting it differently

OTOH in Baldur's Gate games series you were able to rest 8 hours every time (that is: wake up, rest 8hr, cast all spells in 30sec, rest again, ecc... for 4 rest/day = 4 times the full amount of spells per day).

 

[Quidam]

Re: Re: Re: Minimum time between prepping spells

I'm inclined to say that WotC titled the chart "Spells per day" rather than "Spells per post-rest period" for a reason, though.

That might be a readability issue as well as an acknowledgement of the fact that, for the most part, your eight hours of rest is when you sleep at night.

You would think that, when defining the arcane preparation section, they would make explicit what conditions must be met in order to prepare your spells. IMO, they did. For divine spellcasters, they spell out the fact that you have to prep your spells at the same time each day. Not so with the arcane...

 

[Li Shenron]

For divine spellcasters, they spell out the fact that you have to prep your spells at the same time each day. Not so with the arcane...

In fact that's false. It has been debated a long time ago on this messageboard, but it really seems that actually PHB meant that it is exactly the same for all spellcaster who prepare spells.

 

[Antikinesis]

For arcane casters, the rules require 8 hours of rest before preparing spells, and specify a limited number of spells that can be cast in a day. It's the definition of a "day" that seems to cause all the controversy.

The way we play it...

The Rest Requirement: After a spell is cast from a learned "spell slot", a new spell can't be learned into that slot until the character has had 8 hours of rest. After meeting the rest requirements, the caster can prepare some spells, and leave some spell slots open, for later preparation (if time permits).

The Daily Limit Requirement: The same spell slot cannot be used more than two times in any 24-hour (or however many hours are in your days) period. This means that for any spell slot used to cast a spell, you can mark off 24 hours where the spell slot was used only one time. Of course, in this system, it's possible to mark off a 24-hour period where the daily limit of cast spells is exceeded, but it irons itself out over multiple days.

The record-keeping for spells cast can be a pain, so we don't worry about it unless the arcane casters normal sleep schedule is interrupted.

-AK

 

[MThibault]

My group just assumes (much to my delight) that it is nearly impossible to sleep for 8 hours four hours after you've had a full night's rest. You'll only sleep for an hour or two if you go to bed at 6:00PM instead of 9:00.

Unless of course you are ill or seriously sleep-deprived, in which case there should be penalties that have been applied during your waking time -- but no one has tried to pull that one, so I haven't thought about what these might be.

The letter of the rules allows 2 full spell-preparations followed by 8 hours of restful sleep per 24 hour period (more if your days are 28 hours). The spirit of the rules is one full spell-preparation per day. Common sense generally supports the spirit of the rules.

Given that there are no "sleeping" rules, the DM can adjudicate naps as he sees fit. I would see fit to say: "You wake up after about an hour. You toss and turn, restlessly for another half an hour but can't fall back asleep." Then maybe make the PC have trouble falling asleep that night for trying to be so cheesy: "You go to bed around 9:00PM, but you lie there counting the cracks on the ceiling until around 1:00AM. I guess you shouldn't have had that nap this afternoon."



Cheers.