5th lvl ranger casting 4th level spells with 15pt buy in???

[Ezaviel_Malakai]

Ive been out of GMing for about a year but this just seemed too much to me.

15pt buy in. Starting at lvl 5.

Guy created a ranger with wisdom 18 (used a headband +2).

Said that because of his high wisdom, he could cast lvl 4 spells at his current level. Also said he was using the headband to commit the spells to memory at the beginning of the day and use it again to cast them during battle so would have access to them. (Normally would not without the headband used)

I said that the ranger entry stated he only had access to lvl 1 spells at his current level and that the headband usage seemed a little off.

Anyone willing to enlighten me on this?

thanks for the time. (:

[Erian El'ranelen]

Easy enough. He's wrong. Spells available is determined by class level, not attribute.

[Majuba]

A 5th level ranger can only cast 1st level spells. The 18 Wisdom grants a bonus spell per day for 1st level spells. It will grant bonus 2nd-4th level slots as he acquires the ability to cast those level spells. Those cannot be used for 1st-level spells either (must have at least "0" spells of a level before gaining any of the spell slots for that level).

Tell him to read the section on bonus spells in the Ability score section at the very beginning of the Core Rulebook. It makes it clear.

[NeoSeraphi]

You are correct. It doesn't matter what a character's mental ability score is, his access to spells is based on his class level. With a level 4 ranger, you get the ability to cast a small number of 1st level spells per day with a caster level of 1, assuming you have at least 11 Wisdom.

[Ezaviel_Malakai]

thank you to all (:

[anthonydido]

Also, the headband only grants a +2 to wisdom. It does nothing with his spells other than what a +2 to wisdom does. Or was this his reasoning behind being able to cast 4th level spells since 18 Wisdom grants a bonus 4th level spell.

Everyone else is right though. Point him to the class table for Rangers. It states that at level 4, a ranger has "0" first level spells per day. You need that "0" in the spell column to even be able to cast a spell of that particular level. Now, a 4th level Ranger needs to have a Wisdom of at least 12 to be able to cast a spell because of the bonus spells granted by wisdom score. Therefore, this ranger at level 5 can cast only 2 first level spells per day, one for his being 5th level and one bonus for his wisdom. A ranger cannot cast 4th level spells until level 13.