D&D 5E Spell Preparation: Leaving Slots Open

[Zaruthustran]

Partial prep was all the rage in 3E Organized Play, at least in the Pacific Northwest. A caster would prep his auto-includes but leave at least 1 or 2 slots open. This way, you had a shot at dealing with whatever the adventure threw at you. It really suited Organized Play because you often had no idea what adventure you were going to play, or what it contained. And no time to construct a full list on the fly; convention games were on strict schedules and some adventures started with "roll initiative."

Anyway.

5e is not 3e. As others have stressed: the list of prepared spells interacts with, but is different from spell slots. The rules says that the complete list of spells is prepared all at once. There is a mechanism for changing that complete list after a long rest, but no explicit mechanism for partial preparation / completing a partially-prepared list.

That said: sure, a DM can certainly come up with rules for partial prep. Just allow the player to prepare less than their full list, and use the "preparing a new list" times for adding spells to that list.

PS for folks coming from 3e: once that list of prepared spells is made, it stays "intact" until you change it. If you're not changing your list, there's no need to spend time re-preparing that same list each day. In other words: if your cleric is jumped in the morning, he's still got all his prepared spells available. There's no longer a requirement to take time to pray to "regain" spells.

 

[jrowland]

I do support [MENTION=5834]Celtavian[/MENTION] and would rule the same. It hasn't come up, and I won't tell my players, but I will rule that way. I think of it this way (and IIRC Gygax did something similar in Dangerous Journeys) where you have your list (cleric list or spell book) of known spells, then there is a short list of "prepared" spells that committed to memory. You can obviously choose not commit your full allotment of "prepared" spells to memory.

Lets say you "prepare" 4 spells of a possible 8 to memory. When you cast spells, you don't "forget" those spells. You consume slots, but the spells remain on your "prepared" list. I still have enough brain power to commit 4 more spells to memory. As to the minimum of 1 spell, if you commit less than 1 spell (zero) it might imply you are not actually preparing spells. Or, this implies that without the minimum mentioned, you could "prepare" zero spells but than be unable to prepare spells again and lose a key feature (see my previous post for devils advocate on this).

I personally prefer the narrative of mental RAM (prepared spells) and I can fill up to Max RAM at any time after a long rest. Once committed to RAM, there it remains until a long rest (reboot). I also personally prefer anything than diminishes the 15 minute work day. One particular peeve is PCs "returning to town" not because they are out of resources, but because they have the wrong resources. This alleviates that peeve.

 

[jrowland]

The rules says that the complete list of spells is prepared all at once.

I can't find this. Can you please refer where it says all at once?

 

[Zaruthustran]

Once committed to RAM, there it remains until a long rest (reboot).

In 5E, it's more like firmware. The list of prepared spells stays put no matter how many times you reboot (long rest). It only changes when you choose to completely re-write it.

 

[jrowland]

In 5E, it's more like firmware. The list of prepared spells stays put no matter how many times you reboot (long rest). It only changes when you choose to completely re-write it.

Obviously my computer-fu-analogy is lacking *fist in hand bow*

 

[Nebulous]

During the public playtest, classes that prepared spells each day had the following clause in their class descriptions: "You don’t have to prepare all your spells at once. If you like, you can prepare some later in the day."

I have to admit I was a bit miffed when I got my PHB and saw that those two sentences had been removed. I don't have a problem with doing it that way myself.

On a semi-related note, I've always found the concept of a cleric praying to their deity for magical power ahead of time a bit odd. I think it would make more sense for them to be able to cast any spell from their spell list when they need it. So if a cleric comes across a diseased beggar, he can just pray to his deity to heal the beggar (by casting lesser restoration or whatever) then and there, rather than having to say, "Oh, sorry. I'd love to help you but I can't right now. Maybe tomorrow ..."

That does make more sense like that.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I can't find this. Can you please refer where it says all at once?

Page 58 of the PHB.

"You prepare the list of cleric spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the cleric spell list. When you do so, choose a number of cleric spells equal to your Wisdom modifier + your cleric level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots."

The whole list is prepared at once. It doesn't say "choose up to a number of cleric spells." It doesn't say you've got a capacity, and can partially fill that capacity. If you're a 20th level cleric but only want to prepare a single spell, Cure Wounds, well too bad--you must choose 20 total spells (+wis mod).

But again: who cares/so what. If doing it another way makes more sense, more power to you! The only place it might be an issue is Organized Play, but even at those events it's still a bunch of players sitting with their DM. Talk it out, and have fun.

 

[TwoSix]

Finally 4th thing, there has never been ANY precedent to indicate you can have a partial list of prepared spells. This, to my knowledge has never appeared in any version of the core game. It also seems like they would explicitly address that in SOME part of the book but nothing like that is ever mentioned anywhere. Not even a hint of it. The minutes seem to be given for story fluff more than anything.

No other edition has had a casting method like 5th. (Closest would be the Spirit Shaman from later 3.5, and some of the casting variants from Spells and Magic in 2e.) So appealing to precedent doesn't hold a whole lot of weight.

 

[El Mahdi]

This option was in 3rd edition throughout and it never caused a balance issue or created a problem for the sorcerer.

That's not true. The fact that some interpreted it this way in 3E also does not establish that this was an option. The assumption that 3E allowed this is just as much in contention as whether 5E allows this.

My interpretation and opinion is that they do not - for the reasons I gave.

 

[jrowland]

Page 58 of the PHB.

"You prepare the list of cleric spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the cleric spell list. When you do so, choose a number of cleric spells equal to your Wisdom modifier + your cleric level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots."

ok, so we are reading the same thing. However, and for those of us who contend its not so cut and dry, further down in the example:

"With a Wisdom of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination." [emphasis mine]

It says "can include" not "must include". So I think its fair to say its not so cut and dry. As Crawford would put it, the RAW might be everything at one time, but the RAI might be you can leave empty ones to be filled later.

But again: who cares/so what. If doing it another way makes more sense, more power to you! The only place it might be an issue is Organized Play, but even at those events it's still a bunch of players sitting with their DM. Talk it out, and have fun.

RAF is my preferred benchmark as well. So no worries there.