Preparing spells every 8 hours?

[IceBear]

I agree. I don't think anyone who posted on this thread in favor of once per 8 hours actually disputed that the real rule is once per day. I think we just all went - "Ah, what the hell let's try once per 8 hours".

Sorry for screwing up your thread.

IceBear

 

[Staldin*Freefall]

And just to note, if the rule was explicit, this wouldn't be a poll

Now, assume we've got an underdark spellcaster in a place where there is no night or day. Does the wizard have some sort of biological 24 hour clock that tells him "Ding! I can prapare spells again,"?

 

[Mark]

And just to note, if the rule was explicit, this wouldn't be a poll

Of course, it would be. The rule is explicit but the poll (or in point of fact, the thread on the WotC boards) is raging on because (some) people wish to ignore that rule in favor of increasing the spell power of Wizards. As Ice Bear points out, most people recognize the rule but are posting their expression of a House Rule, and how they handle that House Ruling in thier own campaign.

Now, assume we've got an underdark spellcaster in a place where there is no night or day. Does the wizard have some sort of biological 24 hour clock that tells him "Ding! I can prapare spells again,"?

The ability to be aware of night and day has no effect on the existence of night and day. How a Wizard figures out whether or not they have reached a point when they can regain spells is certainly something that players whose characters are in the underdark would need to assess. A DM who wished to make things "realistic" would assuredly make a point of this during adventures that take place in that setting.

I'd be more interested in hearing how DMs handle the fact that spells can only be regained once per day in relation to travel from one plane to another, or as happens in some games, from one planet to another where the diurnal cycle is either of a different length or out of sync with that of the home planet of the caster. That is something I've not seen difinitive rules to cover in the three core books.

 

[SableWyvern]

Actually, I read a comment from one of the designers stating that option A is intended.

Unfortunately I can't remember who or where.

And general experience seems to indicate that what one designer claims was intended isn't necessarily what is officially considered intended.

 

[Sigma]

Wow, I'm the only voter for A who is posting here and I'm not even all that passionate about it. Anyhow, rereading the text about prepping spells, I see that the words 'day', 'daily', and 'for that day' come up quite often. I suppose I've always considered that the phrase 'spells per day' to be just a more concise way of saying 'spells per rest period'. In any event, it hasn't really been an in issue in my group, and we've played it that way all along. Not sure if that's because our wizards/sorcerers aren't devious enough or if the other players are just too impatient to wait for additional rest periods each day. Now that I think about it, I'm kinda ashamed I didn't take advantage of this loophole-I pride myself on my munchkinations. Oh well, guess I'll have to abuse option A next time I play to see how broken it is.

 

[Conaill]

I agree. I don't think anyone who posted on this thread in favor of once per 8 hours actually disputed that the real rule is once per day.

I have this sinking feeling that the majority of people voting for "once per 8 hours" actually DO believe that is the correct rule!

Let me quote the main proponent over on the WotC board:

I've never known any argument to be settled by an ENworld pun, and you'll notice that I didn't attend.

The "once a 24 hour period" is not in the rules, but sounds very reasonable. As long as people are willing to make arguments based on what they feel is reasonable, rather than on what the rules actually say (ie.: for ever), people will make arguments for "once a 24 hour period".

It doesn't help quiet things that in earlier editions of the game, the once a 24 hour period was actually in the rules. Although of course, that should help settle things as anything which was in the rules in the old edition and isn't in the new one is probably actually gone for good.

PS: anyone willing to look up the language in 2E on this? I'm just curious to see how explicit it is in there, and how much the 3E language differs.

 

[Caliban]

I've seen "Frank" post on the WOTC boards before. He really doesn't seem to have firm grasp on the rules, and he get's irrational and abusive if you disagree with him.

I pretty much ignore anything he posts unless I'm bored and want to see how worked up he gets when I disagree with him.

 

[Conaill]

I seen "Frank" post on the WOTC boards before. He really doesn't seem to have firm grasp on the rules, and he get's irrational and abusive if you disagree with him.

True. But that still doesn't explain why the current vote tally is one in three in favor of his position as being the "official" rule. Personally, I had expected maybe one in ten for something that seems this clear cut to me.

Guess it's not that clear cut to some people...

 

[IceBear]

And I'll say it again - if many of these people played the D&D computer games, you only had to sleep 8 hours to get your spells back. There are some rules that people just believe they know without really studying them (A common one, is that a natural 1 on a skill check is a failure - people are extrapolating from combat rolls to skill rolls without verifying (even though it is plainly stated in the books)).

So, if you've played D&D for years and your DM said you need 8 hours sleep to get back your spells (which I think is what most DMs said - the unspoken part of that was per day), the computer games only require you to have 8 hours sleep to get back your spells, then you start to think you only need 8 hours to get back your spells. Normally, in the course of a day someone only rests once for 8hours, so the way they play meshes with the rules. It's only when someone tries to be a munchkin and "over rest" to get more spells do we have a problem.

IceBear

 

[Quickbeam]

Two quick comments:

1) My vote is cast with those in camp B.
2) Great topic!!