Sevak Blackstaff's page

Sevak Blackstaff wrote:

And just to really throw a wrench in the works, I don't even think leaving spell slots open is allowed by RAW.

PFSRD wrote:

A wizard may know any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the wizard decides which spells to prepare.

To prepare spells for the day a wizard requires 8 hours of sleep. Spending half the day slogging through dungeons pretty much eliminates any benefit of a well rested mind he had after he woke up that morning, thus his unprepared slots would be completely useless. Unless someone can point out a ruling that actually covers unprepared spell slots, this whole question is moot.

I think these rules can answer your question:

PRD -> Magic -> Arcane Spells -> Preparing Wizard Spells:
"Spell Selection and Preparation: Until he prepares spells from his spellbook, the only spells a wizard has available to cast are the ones that he already had prepared from the previous day and has not yet used. During the study period, he chooses which spells to prepare. If a wizard already has spells prepared (from the previous day) that he has not cast, she can abandon some or all of them to make room for new spells.

When preparing spells for the day, a wizard can leave some of these spell slots open. Later during that day, he can repeat the preparation process as often as he likes, time and circumstances permitting. During these extra sessions of preparation, the wizard can fill these unused spell slots. He cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because he has cast a spell in the meantime. That sort of preparation requires a mind fresh from rest. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if the wizard prepares more than one-quarter of his spells."

and:

PRD -> Magic -> Divine Spells -> Preparing Divine...

Ok, I knew it was used pretty universally but couldn't find the reference in my book. I still don't think that leaves it open for staff recharging though.

And just to really throw a wrench in the works, I don't even think leaving spell slots open is allowed by RAW.

A wizard may know any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the wizard decides which spells to prepare.

To prepare spells for the day a wizard requires 8 hours of sleep. Spending half the day slogging through dungeons pretty much eliminates any benefit of a well rested mind he had after he woke up that morning, thus his unprepared slots would be completely useless. Unless someone can point out a ruling that actually covers unprepared spell slots, this whole question is moot.

Wolfthulhu wrote:

Ravingdork wrote:

Kolokotroni wrote:

I think that the time of day you do this shouldn't matter, just that you don't have that spell slot for the day if you use it to charge a staff.

This is what it's really all about. If you haven't prepared a spell in the spell slot for the day, you should be able to use it to charge the staff since it didn't contribute any other way in the slightest (just as it would have if you had charged the staff in the morning). In fact, the spell slot contributed even LESS since you didn't have the charge already in the staff available throughout that particular day.

No, what it's really all about is sacrifice. By committing a spell slot to recharge a staff you are giving up the option of having that spell slot available for the day. Bypassing this allows you to 'have your cake and eat it' and is not, IMO, the intent of the system.

I think the intent of the wizards ability to not prepare slots is to give options like this, so I don't see anything wrong with allowing it. Yes, it makes wizards slightly more powerful with staves than other classes, but this seems pretty fitting to me.

I think the intent of the Wizards ability is exactly what it seems, to give them a little bit of flexibility at the price of preparedness. Extending it beyond that is not gamebreaking by any means, but it is a stretch of the rules.

Don't spend your loot on Bracers until you can buy something that negates the need for Mage Armor completely. (i.e. +4 or better) Until then you want to cast Mage Armor on yourself from your spells memorized. At level 4 it will last 4 hours, buy yourself a Pearl of Power lvl 1 (1000gp) Now you can recall the spell and cast it again after it wears off. (A wand of Mage Armor IS a good investment, but best used to cast on your melee characters when you run into incorporeal beings like ghosts.)

Instead get a wand of Shield. Even if you cast this with Extend Spell on it you're only going to get 8 minutes out of it. Casting it from a level 1 wand will last a minute which is more than long enough for the vast majority of your combats through out the game, even into your upper levels.