Wizard help needed.

[TheOmega720]

I did a great bit of studying the wizard and i don't understand the following.

most importantly how many spells can I pick?
i took the expand spellbook feat so can I pick three spells from every group???
meaning three at will, three daily, three encounter and so on?
when and how many do i choose?

next is the preparing spells stuff.
it never tells you how many you are able to prepare.
and can i always use my at will?
if not they arent very at will are they?

so please help me out
my friend and i are very confused

 

[Tale]

With exapnded spellbook, 3 dailies, 3 utilities. Encounters and At-Will are not invited to the spellbook party.
When is at each level you gain dailies/utilities.

You are able to prepare one from each level you can otherwise cast (assuming you're doing no trade downs, then you treat the trade down as a higher level for the purpose of what you can prepare).

Yes, you can always use your at-will. Why would you think otherwise?

 

[Fede]

You have 2 at wills, always usable (3 if you are human).

One first level encounter spell, usable once every encounter.

You know 3 daily first level spells (because you have the feat, otherwise you should know only 2). Of these, after every extended rest you prepare one to cast. After casting it, you can't use it again until you have had another extended rest.

In addition, you have the four cantrips always usable.

 

[Tony Vargas]

There are 5 kinds of wizard spells:

Cantrips: You know all of these and can use each as often as you like.

At Will Attack spells: You know two of these (three if human) and can use each as often as you like.

Encounter Attack Spells: You know one of these at first level, and can use it once per encounter.

Daily Attack Spells: You can use one of these at first level, but 'know' two that you have recorded in your spellbook. At the end of each extended rest (ie begining of each 'day') you pick one of those two to use that day. You get to use it once, then it's gone. Expanded spellbook gives you a third spell to choose from in your book.

Utility Spells: You don't start with these, but can use one starting at 2nd level. As with daily attack spells, you pick two of them that go into your spellbook, and choose one to prepare for the day, you can use that one spell as often as it allows (1/encounter or 1/day, in the case of 2nd level wizard utilities). Expanded Spellbook does not affect your utilities.


As you level up, you gain more encounter, daily, and utility powers. All characters gain the same number of powers. Wizards, though, when they gain a new daily or utility power get to put two such powers in thier books and choose one of those two as the power of that level that they can use that day.


The spellbook is a nod to the classic flavor of the magic-user, who 'memorized' spells. But, it has no effect on how many spells a wizard can actually use while adventuring. Wizards get exactly the same number of at-will attack, encounter attack, daily attack & utility powers as every other class. There's a chart early in the PH showing levels and the number of powers you get at a given level.

 

[Mr. Teapot]

With exapnded spellbook, 3 dailies, 3 utilities. Encounters and At-Will are not invited to the spellbook party.
When is at each level you gain dailies/utilities.

Expanded Spellbook only affects Daily powers, not Utilities.

So a Wizard with expanded Spellbook works like this: Just like every other character, you get two At-will attack powers (3 for human), and an encounter power at 1st level (then if higher level you get some more Encounters).

A wizard gets to cast one Daily spell a day, but he gets to know two spells (or know three with expanded Spellbook). Each morning, you pick one of the Daily powers you know and prepare it to be cast later on. That's the only Daily power of that level you can cast for that day. Later on, when you reach 5th level and higher, you learn a new set of two (or three) Daily spells. Now you can prepare each day one 1st level spell from the first set of Daily Spells you learned and one 5th level spell from the 5th level spells you know.

Utilities work in a manner like Dailies do: at level 2 you pick 2 Utility powers and each morning pick one for usage. But Utilities aren't affected by Expanded Spellbook, so yo'll only ever have two per level.

 

[TheOmega720]

awesome. I knew i could count on EN World to solve this
I'm new to this site and it helps a ton
Thanks!
you're all the best!
...
thats a contradiction...

 

[Mistwell]

awesome. I knew i could count on EN World to solve this
I'm new to this site and it helps a ton
Thanks!
you're all the best!
...
thats a contradiction...

Welcome to the boards!

For what it is worth, I had the same reaction you did to reading the 4e Wizard for the first time. It takes an...adjustment. But in play, I've found my wizard to be a lot of fun.