No, it is not 'necessary'. But you would have an unfair advantage over people who actually are timely with their choices: [hypothetical]"Oh, lots of undead here? Better not take cloudkill then, I'll take that later. [to other player] Oh, you actualy did take Cloudkill as soon as you leveled up? Sucks to be you."[/hypothetical]
Also, why should I believe that you actually would pick them later? You are going to study medicine. I really don't believe you are going to be any less busy. I think it is more likely that in three weeks from now I'll get fed up and pick the spells in your stead.
I think Take, Matthijs, Karsten and I all believe a certain tempo is required for the PbP to be fun. In fact, even if it goes at maximum speed it is already too slow for Take's liking IIRC. Checking less often quickly becomes not checking at all. I have been in enough PbPs to know that a slow game is only a baby step away from a dead game.
If the thread hasn't picked up in two and a half weeks (before friday the 5th of september), I am moving the game back to tabletop again. If that means some people can't play, so be it. That would also mean I would stop DMing the Sunless Citadel campaign.
Oh, and Take: don't sabotage it as soon as you get back because you prefer tabletop!
