Why Do Clerics Get to Spontaneously Cast Their Prepared Spells, But Not Wizards?

[Doug McCrae]

In the playtest, Clerics apparently get to cast any of their prepared spells in any combination, up to their total number of spells per day. I am wondering why Wizards don't also get this flexibility.

Divine and arcane magic should feel different. I think this has been a failing of D&D throughout its history, not enough magic systems in the core rules.

Though it does depend on ideas about what a class, and its magic system, represents in the game-world. Is a wizard just a set of power mechanics that could be reflavoured as coming from divine, diabolic, spiritual, or natural sources?

 

[paladinm]

I would make both clerics and mages spontaneous casters. They would differ in that mages would be limited to the spells they have prepared (or in their spellbook), while clerics would be able to cast any spell appropriate to their level and domain (as "answers to prayer")

I like the idea of increasing spell power by casting at a higher level (rather than automatically increasing with caster level).

 

[DEFCON 1]

Because 'Sorcerer' is a much better name than 'Favored Soul', so we only need to keep one of them in the game (with applicable mechanics.)

 

[paladinm]

I also kinda like making "turn undead" into a spell. That way clerics have one pool of power from which to draw.

 

[SkidAce]

I would make both clerics and mages spontaneous casters. They would differ in that mages would be limited to the spells they have prepared (or in their spellbook), while clerics would be able to cast any spell appropriate to their level and domain (as "answers to prayer")

I like the idea of increasing spell power by casting at a higher level (rather than automatically increasing with caster level).

We've done this since 1st edition.

Two things, clerics should have spells listed from the "domains" of their deity. Any others should be found and learned. The entire list from every book published is way to much.

And the wizard is limited to what he finds or barters from other wizards. Or researches on his own in play.

Working with the player of the wizard and cleric to ensure a good play experience and it turns out fine.

 

[howandwhy99]

It's something new. I suspect it has to do with limiting the number of overall available spells. Only prepped spells get to be cast spontaneously for the day, or that's what it looks like.

The Wizard is traditional. Prepped spells by slots available.

Remember, you can always keep slots open and "long cast" whatever spells you know. (casting = prep & cast times) I expect Wizards will be traditional here again and have the opportunity to know many more spells than Clerics.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I like the differentiation. A change that is easy to accept.

I could however also accept the wizard prepares spells as the cleric ad may cast them in any combination. Feels vancian enough for me. The most important part for the wizard is flexibility. And beeing able to learn new spells from other spellbooks and scrolls.

 

[Fifth Element]

3) (and most importantly) there was typically a trend, if not expectation, for the cleric to always prepare a lot of cure/heal oriented spells and if he was doing otherwise, he was (at minimum) going to get dirty looks from fellow players so preparing anything other than cure spells never lasted very long. in later editions (i want to say 3.0 but maybe 3.5 or something else) clerics could prepare whatever but had a feature that let them spontaneously swap out any prepared spell for a cure spell of that level. So this is sort of a blend of that in that it lets a cleric still have the option of using other stuff, but the cure spells are still there as an option.

Got it in three.

Clerics being expected to have cure spells available puts a serious crimp in the class' ability to prepare a variety of spells without rules such as this or 3E's spontaneous casting.