Wizards - getting caught with the wrong spells prepared

[Thanee]

Has been said often enough now, but still... open slots are the key to wizard utility.

Scrolls are good, too, but open slots are absolutely invaluable to adopt to situational changes.

I always leave a good number of slots free and fill the rest with universally useful spells.


And yes, that's exactly why spontaneous casting (with a good selection) is so powerful.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I find that wizards (in fact, spellcasters in general) sometimes tend to fall into the same pattern of spell selection over and over again. They don't want to go over their spell lists ahead of time, so when it's time to pick new spells they just take the same ones as the day before. As a result, they often have spells prepared that they rarely cast. Sure, there are times when the party requests a specific spell, but a lot of the time the spellcaster is left to his or her own devices and justs picks what's fast and easy.

My point? Spellcasters should take some time to examine how often they're using the spells they've prepared and maybe mix it up a little. It's hard to find creative uses for spells when you never prepare spells other than a select few. It just comes down to prep-time and doing your homework. If a spellcaster is "wasting" 20% of his/her spells, then some prep time may be able to cut that down to 10% or less. Hanging on to that knock spell for just the right opportunity can be quite wasteful if that opportunity only occurs once a week...

 

[Doug McCrae]

Is this a common problem with wizards in your games? Do wizards often get caught wrongly prepared in your experience?

My experience was not dissimilar to your wizard's - the occasional frustration but nothing major. Most of the time I felt kickass, especially once I got the SR-ignoring spells from Complete Arcane. Usually I'd memorise a single set list which had a variety of utility spells like Darkvision and Dimension Door but mainly focussing on combat. That worked out pretty well. I'd developed a good sense for the sort of challenges our GM presented - one or two fights per day, usually against a single big monster a bit higher than our party's CR. Ray of Enfeeblement and other ranged touch attacks were highly effective. I'd often Haste the party, keep myself safe with False Life, Fly or my Cloak of Arachnidia (almost as good as Fly when the game's set in a city) and finish up pounding with magic missiles.

Never felt the need for scrolls, possibly because we faced fewer challenges per day than usual.

 

[Dyne]

I hate Vancian spellcasting for this exact reason. I think it's better to just play a Sorcerer or a Bard, or even a Cleric since they can always use healing spells.