The text of Wild Arcana reads:
"Wild Arcana (Su): You can expend one use of mythic power to cast any one arcane spell. This spell must be on one of your arcane spell lists and must be of a level that you can cast using that arcane spellcasting class. You don’t need to have the spell prepared or on your list of spells known. When casting a spell in this way, you treat your caster level as two levels higher for the purpose of any effect dependent on level. You can apply any metamagic feats you know to this spell, but its total adjusted level can’t be greater than the highest-level arcane spell you can cast using that spell’s spellcasting class."
I have two rules lawyers ready to draw blood over this. My question is, when the Archmage Arcana power is taken, does the caster select _any one_ arcane spell, which they can then cast whenever they want by expending a point of Mythic power, OR do they select the spell tied to the ability when they select the Arcana power?
I tend to think that the intent of the power is to turn an arcane spellcaster (memorized or instantaneous) into a lexicon of magical possibility, and am inclined to rule that the power is not locked down at the time of selection of the power. However, the rules lawyer is stating that the "any one" is restrictive, rather than encompassing, and means that the archmage basically gets a "signature spell", as opposed to a "cast anything" power.
Anyone else dealing with this?
I'm inclined to read it as picking an spell each time you use the ability.
I'm inclined to read it as picking an spell each time you use the ability.
Same here - was curious if I was the only one dealing with it!
As a rules lawyer myself, I can see where both ideas could be correct. So, this power DEFINITELY needs rewording to make it very clear the intent. So like either...
"Wild Arcana (Su): You can expend one use of mythic power to cast any one arcane spell, chosen when you select this power."
or
"Wild Arcana (Su): You can expend one use of mythic power to cast any one arcane spell, chosen when you use this power."
Cause, yeah. I can totally see a GM making a call either way as it's worded.
Now, the fact that you don't even have to know the spell in the first place and that it doesn't say you can take Wild Arcana multiple times SUGGESTS it's meant to basically open you up to literally being able to cast any spell you want, but I could still totally see "any one" as still saying Pick one when you select this.
My original assumption was that for one mythic power point you could fire off any spell you wanted, barring the level/spell list restrictions, though I guess I could see how it can be interpreted the other way.
However, without the usual disclaimer of 'This [whatever] is selected at [whenever] and cannot be changed,' such as from some class features, I'm still inclined to believe it is chosen on a case by case basis.
Edit: But of course, this is a playtest, so maybe that was just an oversight.
My original assumption was that for one mythic power point you could fire off any spell you wanted, barring the level/spell list restrictions, though I guess I could see how it can be interpreted the other way.
However, without the usual disclaimer of 'This [whatever] is selected at [whenever] and cannot be changed,' such as from some class features, I'm still inclined to believe it is chosen on a case by case basis.
Edit: But of course, this is a playtest, so maybe that was just an oversight.
Right, I mean I saw it as "any spell, any time" myself too, but I've had way too many cases where a rule was MORE plainly spelled out than this is and still had people insist I was wrong in my interpretation to not see how easily this could be interpreted either way.
Put another way
Considering the other archmage mythic ability lets you juice up all your known spells it would not really make sense if wild arcana only let you pick one spell you could burn a mythic point to cast with no benefit.
In fact if you look at the mythic spells and the mythic spell feat that's exactly what they give you one juiced up normal spell you can spend a mythic point to cast.
I would say this segment of the description...
The text of Wild Arcana reads:
"... You don’t need to have the spell prepared or on your list of spells known..."
strongly suggests that this is intended to be chosen as needed upon casting. If this was a spell you chose upon level up, and was locked in as unchanging signature spell, why would there be a caveat saying you don't need to have the spell prepared? When has what your character memorized for a single day ever had impact on choices made during character advancement?