Quasqueton
First Post
This post is not a rant or a complaint. And I'm not really looking for advice. It is just an observation made by me and one of my Players. I'm posting it to see if others have the same problem.
There are 2 arcane casters in my game's party. A rogue/wizard 1/4, and a sorcerer 5. The sorcerer is your stereotypical blaster.
The wizard is the utility mage. Although he does have blaster spells in his book, preparing them is usually unnecessary with the sorcerer in the group. He sticks to non-combat spells or combat spells with special uses. He also has a selection of scrolls at his fingertips.
When the group is planning for the next day's action, he figures what spells he needs to prepare in the morning. But often the plans change soon after getting underway for the day. Sometimes the plans change *right* after he finishes preparing spells.
Sometimes the change of plans is because of new information, or a new discovery, or the bad guys change their own setup --- not a fault of the party. Sometimes it is because the party didn't really talk through all the ideas thoroughly the night before, and someone comes up with a "better" plan en route to the adventure --- the party's fault.
Too often the wizard is "stuck" with less useful spells prepared. Disguise self, detect secret doors, and knock are wasted spell slots when you end up in a frontal assault that you thought was going to be a backdoor sneak-in.
Or he's loaded up on combat spells and the party decides not to tackle the front door because the big guard looks too dangerous.
The wizard usually does have *some* useful spells prepped, because he makes sure to prep a wide variety. But the Player has seemed frustrated at times when the plan changes and half his repetoire is made unnecessary. This is especially aggravating at low levels because of the limited number of spells he can prepare (3 second-level spell slots vs. the sorcerer's 6 slots).
My question here is: Is this a common problem with wizards in your games? Do wizards often get caught wrongly prepared in your experience?
The Player is figuring it all out, and it is not ruining the game for him, but I do see the occasional frustration. His selection/collection of scrolls has grown considerably to combat this problem. I can't imagine a situation where he won't have an appropriate scroll tucked away somewhere, now. But this is also becoming an expensive solution for him.
Quasqueton
There are 2 arcane casters in my game's party. A rogue/wizard 1/4, and a sorcerer 5. The sorcerer is your stereotypical blaster.
The wizard is the utility mage. Although he does have blaster spells in his book, preparing them is usually unnecessary with the sorcerer in the group. He sticks to non-combat spells or combat spells with special uses. He also has a selection of scrolls at his fingertips.
When the group is planning for the next day's action, he figures what spells he needs to prepare in the morning. But often the plans change soon after getting underway for the day. Sometimes the plans change *right* after he finishes preparing spells.
Sometimes the change of plans is because of new information, or a new discovery, or the bad guys change their own setup --- not a fault of the party. Sometimes it is because the party didn't really talk through all the ideas thoroughly the night before, and someone comes up with a "better" plan en route to the adventure --- the party's fault.
Too often the wizard is "stuck" with less useful spells prepared. Disguise self, detect secret doors, and knock are wasted spell slots when you end up in a frontal assault that you thought was going to be a backdoor sneak-in.
Or he's loaded up on combat spells and the party decides not to tackle the front door because the big guard looks too dangerous.
The wizard usually does have *some* useful spells prepped, because he makes sure to prep a wide variety. But the Player has seemed frustrated at times when the plan changes and half his repetoire is made unnecessary. This is especially aggravating at low levels because of the limited number of spells he can prepare (3 second-level spell slots vs. the sorcerer's 6 slots).
My question here is: Is this a common problem with wizards in your games? Do wizards often get caught wrongly prepared in your experience?
The Player is figuring it all out, and it is not ruining the game for him, but I do see the occasional frustration. His selection/collection of scrolls has grown considerably to combat this problem. I can't imagine a situation where he won't have an appropriate scroll tucked away somewhere, now. But this is also becoming an expensive solution for him.
Quasqueton
