Specialist bonus spells: Um, what?

I think this has been addressed, but I can't find a thread that states it directly, so...

In addition to these abilities, each school also grants a

number of bonus spells. Whenever a wizard attains the listed
level, he can choose one spell from his school to prepare every
day as a bonus spell. Instead of gaining a spell of the listed
level, the wizard can instead choose a spell of a lower level,
which he can then prepare twice per day (except for 2nd level).
A universalist can choose spells from any school. Once chosen,
these spells cannot be changed.

Well and good, but..

...4th Level: The wizard can cast any second level spell from

his chosen school once per day.
6th Level: The wizard can cast any third level spell from his
chosen school once per day....

...this table doesn't seem to be talking about the same thing. The more I read about bonus spells, the more my head hurts. Can someone reword this so it makes a bit more sense? Preferably with an example?

I'll agree with other commentators: this information really needs to be in the Wizard class description, and not with the spell list. Ideally, the bonus spells should be listed as "bonus spells" instead of "school power" in the Wizard progression table. I hate to say it, but I get the sense that the wizard was only half-changed from Alpha to Beta - some things need to be made consistent to avoid confusion.

Well, let's make an example (with an Evoker, for ease-of-use):

2nd level: The evoker can choose one of his 1st level Evocation spells. Let's say he takes Magic Missile. Now, he has a number of additional fixed slots (all filled with Magic Missile) equal to 1/2 his caster level (or perhaps CLASS level... this is still a bit ambiguous) every day. For example, at 4th level he has 2 extra slots filled with Magic Missile, while at 14th level, these extra slots are 7.

4th level: The evoker can choose one of his 2nd level Evocation spells. Let's say he takes Scorching ray. Now, he has an additional extra slot filled with Scorching Ray.
But...
"Instead of gaining a spell of the listed level, the wizard can instead choose a spell of a lower level, which he can then prepare twice per day (except for 2nd level) [THIS refers only to the ability he takes at 2nd level, NOT to 2nd level spells !!! At 2nd level, he must choose a 1st level spell, he cannot 'swap' it with a 0 level spell]."

So, our Evoker can choose to take one of his 1st level Evocation spells instead. Let's say he takes Burning Hands. From now on, he has TWO additional extra slots filled with Burning Hands (a lower level spell) instead of one single extra slot with a higher spell.

6th level: The evoker can choose one of his 3rd level Evocation spells (to fill an extra slot) OR one of his 2nd or 1st level spells (to fill TWO extra slots). Rinse and repeat...

At the end of the day, I think the Pathfinder Wizard is more complicated to play than the 3.5 Wizard. I'm not sure I like where this is headed.

Indeed. I'm seeing a lot of corner cases (Item bonds, multiple lower level spell slots) that build extra low-level spell capability into the wizard. An extra four or five magic missile spells per day.... hmm. I can't escape the notion that we're veering towards constant low level spells. If this is an attempt to avoid the "four encounters and camp" phenomenon... well, it's a somewhat messy attempt to solve it, or at least a badly worded one at the moment.

I've Dm'ed, and played with, a few players who shoot their PC's magic early and then demand that the party rest.

It's been my experience that providing these players with plenty of low-level magic (say, a wand) doesn't sway them. They still want to stop and rest as soon as they cast their most powerful spells.

Multiple low-level magics (at will cantrips, lots of spare spell slots, what have you) don't correct for the "15-minute adventuring day". What they seem to do is allow parties who adventure on past those four encounters to have wizards who are shooting things with prepared spells, rather than with wands or crossbows.

I've Dm'ed, and played with, a few players who shoot their PC's magic early and then demand that the party rest.

It's been my experience that providing these players with plenty of low-level magic (say, a wand) doesn't sway them. They still want to stop and rest as soon as they cast their most powerful spells.

Multiple low-level magics (at will cantrips, lots of spare spell slots, what have you) don't correct for the "15-minute adventuring day". What they seem to do is allow parties who adventure on past those four encounters to have wizards who are shooting things with prepared spells, rather than with wands or crossbows.

I play in a game as an Illusionist with a Universalist. I use my spells a bit more sparingly, but he doesn't just blow everything all at once either. Knowing when to cast is at least as important as knowing what to memorise.

Potential minor spoiler

If the wizard is demanding to rest and the remainder of the party is ready to press on, tell him you'll be back for him later - hope he's not expecting a share of the spoils.

Regarding the OP, the two paragraphs are talking about different things, right? Although it's not clear on first reading.

Regarding the OP, the two paragraphs are talking about different things, right? Although it's not clear on first reading.

Well, actually no. The first paragraph talks about the general application of the rule; at some fixed levels, a Wizard gains some extra bonus spell-slots that can be filled with a chosen spell from his Specialization School (exception: Universalists can choose from among all Schools of Magic). Once this spell is chosen, it cannot be changed; however, when the Wizard chooses to take the spell, he can go instead for a lower-level one and thus gain TWO extra spell-slots filled with that spell (instead of one).

For example, at 12th level the Wizard "can cast any sixth level spell from his chosen school once per day." means that he gains an extra spell-slot which can be filled with a 6th-level spell from his Specialization School (think of it as a Domain Spell-slot of Clerics from 3.x; the Specialization School is the only 'Domain' the Wizard has, so the slot can be filled only with that particular spell); ALTERNATIVELY, he can choose any lower-level spell from his Specialization School, and in this case he would gain TWO extra spell-slots filled with this particulary spell.

If, however, you are talking of the paragraph (not mentioned) before the two above:
"Arcane schools grant one ability at 1st level, 8th level, and 20th level, as noted in their description. Unless otherwise noted, these abilities are activated by using a standard action. The wizard’s level is used when determining the caster level of these effects. The DC for any save is equal to 10 + the spell’s level + the caster’s Charisma modifier. Arcane school powers that mimic spells are spell-like abilities, while the others are supernatural."
yes, this is another completely different ability, IN ADDITION to the previously mentioned (Charisma-based and either Supernatural or Spell-like).

OK, yeah, don't know what I was thinking about because, as you say, they're about the same thing. It's not very well-explained, though (and using the word 'instead' twice so close together in a sentence is somewhat icky) plus it is somewhat incongruous that it's not in the wizard class section (presumably this was done to stop the wizard taking over the classes section, but it seems wrong).

In 3.5 a universalist only have 4 spells per orb level, only the specialist has 1 slot more.

So a 20 lvl wizard in Prpg have 14/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5 spell slots. Why should i play a Sorcerer?

Why should i play a Sorcerer?

Frankly, because they're sexier. The bloodlines are just flat-out cool.

In 3.5 a universalist only have 4 spells per orb level, only the specialist has 1 slot more.

So a 20 lvl wizard in Prpg have 14/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5 spell slots. Why should i play a Sorcerer?

Well, actually is 14/5/5/4/5/5/5/5/5 spell slots (they do not gain a 4th level bonus spell slot).

Sorcerer = 6+12+18+24+30+36+42+48+54= 270 spell levels
Wizard = 14+10+15+16+25+30+35+40+45= 230 spell levels

The only thing that bothers me is that the Universalist gains the same number of spells than a Specialist...

Also, as Kae Yoss noted in another post, the number of total spell levels a Sorcerer has is still superior to the number of total spell levels a Wizard has.

Sorcerer = 6+12+18+24+30+36+42+48+54= 270 spell levels
Wizard = 14+10+15+16+25+30+35+40+45= 230 spell levels

I don't understand this formula, can explain it better?

The only thing that bothers me is that the Universalist gains the same number of spells than a Specialist...

The specialist should gain 1/4 of his caster level for the 1st spell level, and the universalist any bonus spell.

The Wraith wrote:

Also, as Kae Yoss noted in another post, the number of total spell levels a Sorcerer has is still superior to the number of total spell levels a Wizard has.

Sorcerer = 6+12+18+24+30+36+42+48+54= 270 spell levels
Wizard = 14+10+15+16+25+30+35+40+45= 230 spell levels

I don't understand this formula, can explain it better?

This is the sum of total spell levels a Sorcerer and a Wizard has; since a 1st-level spell is worth, well, 1 spell level, while a 2nd-level spell is worth 2 spell levels (and so on), the formula goes:

Sorcerer: 6 1st-level (6x1) + 6 2nd-level (6x2=12) + 6 3rd-level (6x3=18) + 6 4th-level (6x4=24) and so on...

Same for the Wizard.

Of course, this is only to compare the POTENTIAL of the two casters; a Sorcerer or a Wizard cannot 'trade off' a 4th-level spell to cast 4 1st-level spells (obviously), but it's true that a 4th-level spell is (in terms of power, Save DCs, area, etc.) more or less comparable to 4 1st-level spells.

At best, a Wizard can have (if he decides not to take every time a single spell of the indicated level, but instead TWO spell-slots of the previous level):
16 1st-level spells (4 base + 10 from 1st-level bonus spells taken at 2nd level + 2 from 'swap' of 2nd-level bonus spell taken at 4th level)
6 2nd-level spells (4 base + 2 from 'swap' of 3rd-level bonus spell taken at 6th level)
4 3rd-level spells
6 4th-level spells (4 base + 2 from 'swap' of 5th-level bonus spell taken at 10th level)
6 5th-level spells (4 base + 2 from 'swap' of 6th-level bonus spell taken at 12th level)
6 6th-level spells (4 base + 2 from 'swap' of 7th-level bonus spell taken at 14th level)
6 7th-level spells (4 base + 2 from 'swap' of 8th-level bonus spell taken at 16th level)
6 8th-level spells (4 base + 2 from 'swap' of 9th-level bonus spell taken at 18th level)
4 9th-level spells
= 16+12+12+24+30+36+42+48+36 = 256 spell levels
still ways below the Sorcerer...