One-step Spellbook Spellcasting!

[candidus_cogitens]

Let’s say a wizard has a spell slot open, has rested adequately, and wants to cast a spell directly from his spellbook—in other words, without the intermediate step of “preparing” the spell before casting it. Would this require the same minimum of 15 minutes of preparation time that a wizard usually has to spend when preparing a spell, or would it be somewhat faster.

In some of the Salvatore novels, I remember instances where wizards flipped through their spellbooks in the middle of combat to immediately cast a spell that they had not prepared in advance. Is that at all workable in d20 mechanics? Is it possible for a wizard to go through the whole process of casting a spell, from spellbook to the final triggering utterance, in a matter of a few rounds? How about in a few minutes?

Note that in the "Read Magic" spell description, it states that it takes one minute to read one page of magic. So, shouldn't you be able to cast a first level spell (two pages) in two minutes, a second level spell in four minutes, etc.?

 

[Stalker0]

Preparing is much more than just reading the spell, part of it is casting the majority of the spell. From what I know of the rules, you must spend at least 15 min preparing in order to prepare a spell when you have a slot open, no way around that by the book.

One house rule I use is that spell mastery also allows the spells you pick to be prepared in one minute instead of 15. None of my players still use it though

 

[candidus_cogitens]

I should mention that on p. 154, in the Player's handbook, it states that the minimum of 15 minutes reflects the fact that it takes a certain period of time simply to achieve the "proper mental state." Presumably, spell preparation time should be fifteen minutes + 1 minute per page. According to this, my suggestion would be contrary to the rules.

BUT ....

Maybe there should be a feat for this. Something like: "Improved Spell Preparation." (Or something more creative for the title.) The feat would allow you to achieve that "proper mental state" instantly, or at least very quickly. Perhaps a concentration check or spellcraft check should be involved. Ideas?

 

[candidus_cogitens]

Preparing is much more than just reading the spell, part of it is casting the majority of the spell.

Isn't reading the spell the majority of casting the spell? I had thought that casting a spell meant (in most cases), reading it, then doing a gesture of some sort, often involving a little token of some sort, and then saying a trigger phrase. Reading it is the only part of this process that takes more than a few seconds, n'est pas?

So, doesn't my formula of 15 min + 1 min per page work?

 

[AuraSeer]

By the book, you must prepare spells before you can cast them. Your suggestion is an interesting house rule, but there's a whole other forum for those.

 

[Aluvial]

This might be a carry over from an older addition BUT...

Can't you cast a spell from your spell book and treat like it was a scroll? When cast it vanishes from the book!

I used to use this rule in 2nd edition. If the players were in a real bind and needed that spell...

Aluvial

 

[AuraSeer]

This might be a carry over from an older addition BUT...

Can't you cast a spell from your spell book and treat like it was a scroll? When cast it vanishes from the book!

I used to use this rule in 2nd edition. If the players were in a real bind and needed that spell...

You're right, it's a carryover from the old rules. It's not allowed in 3E.

 

[candidus_cogitens]

How does it work for scrolls anyway?

I had always thought that after you had deciphered the scroll, it only took a standard action to activate it. But just now i looked in the DMG, and it says that in order to cast a spell, there are two steps: deciphering and activating. The activating step consists of one thing: READING the scroll.

Therefore .... it should take two minutes per spell level in order to activate a spell from a scroll. Should it not??

If not ... then I guess scrolls must be written in a very different way on scrolls than in spellbooks.

 

[Aluvial]

You're right, it's a carryover from the old rules. It's not allowed in 3E.

Why not?

Aluvial

 

[candidus_cogitens]

Also, regarding scrolls....

In order to activate a scroll, do you have to get into that "proper mental state" in order to be able to read it? Clearly the answer to that is NO.

This helps to clarify the issue at hand.

That mental pre-preparation is already done for you with scrolls, and all you have to do is just utter the words. Otherwise, I suppose it would be impossible for sorcerers to cast spells from scrolls, since they would not even know how to go about getting into the "proper mental state" for activating arcane writing.

Bypassing that "proper mental state" step must be what makes scrolls scrolls, and not just a loose page of a spellbook.

That being the case ... it seems pretty important that that step be preserved in the wizard's spellcasting process. The magic has to come from somewhere .... either from a sorcerer's charisma, from a wizard's actively-achieved special mental state, or from something imbedded in the scroll.

Still ... it would seem possible for a wizard to hasten the process of achieving that special mental state. I want a new feat!