Please help explain a wizard's need to memorize

[Storyteller01]

I'm looking for a good reason as to why a wizard must memorize spells (vs a sorcerer, who casts on the fly) that I can incorporate into my campaign. So far, the reason is because spell energy must be trapped in in runes on items before it can be used. It's a minor adjustment to the Scribe Scroll feat (which a Wizard starts with). Since the wizard doesn't spent exp to 'lock' the spell in the scroll, the item is useless after about 16 hours. This idea has made for some interesting changes in the black market and slave trades.


I like this idea, but I want to get away from the item use, getting back to the actual casting of spells.

Any hints??

 

[GlassJaw]

I compare a wizard studying his spells like a mathematician or scientist or engineer solving a complex math problem.

The scientist must "memorize" or learn formulas and mathematical operations in order to solve more complex problems (like a wizard learning higher level spells). A wizard learns certain runes, incantations, and formulas to create the magical effect. And since it is magic, he must expend some of his energy to create the effect. He then must spend time reviewing and replenishing his magical energy.

I don't know if that made any sense but it works for me. Wizard spells = math problems.

 

[Jaerom Darkwind]

Well, you might say that they're like simplified scrolls. With a scroll, the whole arcane formula is written out and you just read it. But it's too complex to fit into a person's mind. So a wizard learns to simplify the complex notations into something he can hold in his head, and cast from memory. The only downside is that he must use verbal, somatic, and (sometimes) material components to compensate for the power lost in the simplification.

Sorcerers, on the other hand, have the "gift," which means that they have the ability to hold these formulae in their minds, and are, in fact, the ones that created them in the first place. Only the most scholarly are actually aware of this, though--most sorcerers have no understanding whatsoever of the "how" of their spells.

I other words, sorcerers have a gift for spellcasting, and wizards have learned to fake it.

 

[DreamChaser]

or you could use the 3.x idea of "preparation" instead of "memorization"

a wizard casts all but the last little bit of the spell (except for things like Identify and such that take a long time...in that case technically I think the would be leaving the slot free but earmarking it for the long spell). When it comes time to cast, the wizard finishes the spell and at that point the prep is used up. No more spell until it is used again.

Think of it as the wizard walking around with a bunch of muzzel loaded muskets. They can each only be used once without him having to stop and reload them. In this case, though, the reloading can only be done after rest.

DC

 

[DreamChaser]

to continue the metaphor with sorcerers, think of them as carrying semi-automatics. they can fire them again and again and again until the ammo runs out but they can only carry a few of them. the wizard can keep his huge cache of muskets in storage an only bring out the ones he needs but a sorcerer has no gunrack so he's stuck with what he can carry.


And yes, I do habitually overextend even the most basic of metaphors. It is the privilege of a English education.

DC

 

[dok]

Another variant is to say that Magic represents a primal power, only fully understood by the Gods.

Clerics & Paladins use magic at the permission of their Gods. Druids & Rangers use magic through a holistic understanding of being.

The first wizard was a mortal who stole some of the gods' knowledge of magic. The reason wizards can't remember the spells after they cast them is either due to an incomplete understanding of magic (what wizards will say) or because the Gods cursed wizards for stealing magic (very Promethius-like, really) with a curse of Forgetfullness, and only the cunning of mortals & the gift of writing helped mortals not to loose the gift of magic entirely. (which is why wizards have spellbooks)

Sorcerers & Bards have some ancient lineage to powerful, inherently magical beings. (think of the frequent offspring of the Greek gods) Their use of magic is a sort of "ancestral memory" which does not entirely function on a conscious level. (Sort of like the concept of the "old blood" in Robert Jordan's _Wheel of Time_ books)

 

[JimAde]

In my game spells exist as discrete chunks of magical power. Sort of "knots" in the pervasive energy field of the world. These knots can be untied through the intervention of a conscious mind with the right training or an innate gift, releasing the power.

Wizards can find and bind these knots only with careful attention and study. However, their scholarly study of the subject allows them to share detection techniques through magical writing. They use their spell books as a meditation tool to put their mind in the correct state to detect the knots and bind them to their own aura. Once the knots are bound, they travel with the wizard and can be released (cast) at will.

Sorcerers have the innate gift (through their ancestry or whatever) to find and open these "knots" on the fly. They can only find certain flavors of knot and have limited techniques for learning to find others. They are unable to share this knowledge with each other because every sorcerer's knack is different.

In either case the "untying" requires certain actions based on the type of "knot" (so a wizard or sorcerer casts the same spell in the same way). The act of channeling magic is draining and only training and experience allows an arcane caster to increase the power he can channel.

Finding the technique for detecting new kinds of spells is mostly a trial and error process.

 

[Henry]

I prefer the preparation explanation - it's a bit like Paul Zelazny's Amber, in its HANGING of spells by lynchpins, or simple words or phrases or material components.

to quote from http://www.nw.com.au/~dickins/paul/

...casting spells takes a long time. For example, causing a lightning bolt to come and smite someone in front of you will take around an hour, and that is only if you know exactly when, where and against what target you will be using it. The way around that is to rack spells. This means that you have already done the work for the spell beforehand, and hung the spell on your rack for later use. Racked spells must have lynchpins in them. Lynchpins are words or phrases left out during casting to be filled in later. The more lynchpins a spell has, the more flexible it will be, but the longer it will take for release....
...To cast a racked spell, a sorceror must 'visualise' it, then fill in the lynchpins. As soon as these are filled, it will occur. During the time it takes for a character to fill in the lynchpins of the spell, someone could do anything to make you lose concentration and you will have lost that spell. So, if you want to use it in combat, you had better make sure that you can release it quickly, ie, have only a minimum of lynchpins.

So, a Wizard "hangs" his spells earlier in the day, and speaks or destroys his "lynchpin" components to activate the spell.

The Sorcerer, on the other hand, is SO gifted, that he can mentally prepare a spell in an INSTANT's time; He has it mentally and visually prepped out in the moment of casting, something only a real prodigy can do; he's still casting the spells, but it's like the difference between a 20-words-a-minute typist and a 90-words-a-minute typist.

 

[3d6+15]

I prefer the preparation explanation - it's a bit like Paul Zelazny's Amber, in its HANGING of spells by lynchpins, or simple words or phrases or material components.

Hate to be seen correcting a moderator, but it's Roger Zelazny.

 

[ARandomGod]

I'm looking for a good reason as to why a wizard must memorize spells (vs a sorcerer, who casts on the fly) that I can incorporate into my campaign. So far, the reason is because spell energy must be trapped in in runes on items before it can be used. It's a minor adjustment to the Scribe Scroll feat (which a Wizard starts with). Since the wizard doesn't spent exp to 'lock' the spell in the scroll, the item is useless after about 16 hours. This idea has made for some interesting changes in the black market and slave trades.


I like this idea, but I want to get away from the item use, getting back to the actual casting of spells.

Any hints??

Yes.
Both caster type are based on the same thing, the spell matrix. Sorc's were the first casters. They perform a ritual over several days and lay a spell matrix in their mind. This matrix represents the sorc's "spells known". A sorc need only send power through the matrix to have the spell go off.

The first wizard came about when a particularly bright yet unusually persistent caster (probably 28 point buy kid, you can get an 18 in, but you'll have an 8 wis and charisma...) kept trying and trying. Eventually he learned to lay a lesser matrix. He couldn't get it exactly right, but he could do it *fast*. The downside was that he couldn't send any power through the matrix! All he could do was release the inherent power of the matrix itself, causing the mental construct to collapse... after which he'd need to "rememorize" the spell.

OK, actually this is partially from my write up of my own custom sorc. But it completely explains why some casters memorize and why others don't, what the difference in casting is, and why both sorcs and wizards can have spell books (but wizards really *need* them).