Caster Questions from a Noob Cleric

[fusionaddict]

Okay, I have never played any sort of caster class before but the group I just joined needed one, so I went cleric. However there's been some contention on how cleric spells work. I was wondering if someone could give me some clear confirmation on these:

1) True or false, Orisons work in the following manner: Each Orison can be cast an unlimited times per day, as long as the components are available. However, the cleric is limited in his selection of Orisons...for example, I am Level 1, so I can prep 3 Orisons to cast each day. I can cast each of those 3 as many times as I like, but I am stuck with those 3 until my next prayer session.

2) Exactly how does spell level work? My Wisdom score is 19 which, per the Cleric's Wisdom-based spells and Table 1-3, means I get 1 bonus spell each from level 1, 2, 3 and 4. Is this tied to my Cleric level? Or does it mean I get to, say, cast one level 4 spell as a level 1 Cleric?

I realize these are probably silly questions to ask and I'm marking myself clearly as a noob but I would appreciate having both answers here so that I can clearly point this out to the others in the party. Thanks in advance.

[HaraldKlak]

1) True
2) You cannot cast spells of a level that is not yet availiable to you (eventhough your ability score is high enough to grant you bonus spells for higher levels). So as a lvl 1 cleric you can cast lvl 1 spells. When you hit lvl 3 you can cast lvl 2 spells, lvl 5 gets lvl 3 spells, and so on.

[Corlindale]

1) is easy. The answer is yes!

2) is more complicated. You only get those bonus spell slots once you can cast spells of that level. So at 1st level you'd get 1 extra first level slot with 19 wisdom. At cleric level 3 - when you have access to 2nd level spell slots - you'd get 1 extra of those as well.

You won't get an extra 4th level slot until you can actually cast level 4 spells, which is at Cleric level 7. So bonus spell slots never give you early access to a given level of spells, they just give you extra slots once you get there.

Hope that made sense :-)

[fusionaddict]

Okay, so here's a related question. According to the CR, quote:

"A spellcaster who lacks a high enough ability score to cast spells that would otherwise be her due still gets the slots but must fill them with spells of lower levels."

Does this work when it comes to the bonus slots? Would I be able to use all my bonus slots at Cleric 1 to store level 1 spells? Or does this rule specifically apply to casters with low ability scores as they unlock access to higher spell levels?

[el cuervo]

fusionaddict wrote:

Okay, so here's a related question. According to the CR, quote:

"A spellcaster who lacks a high enough ability score to cast spells that would otherwise be her due still gets the slots but must fill them with spells of lower levels."

Does this work when it comes to the bonus slots? Would I be able to use all my bonus slots at Cleric 1 to store level 1 spells? Or does this rule specifically apply to casters with low ability scores as they unlock access to higher spell levels?

No, if you read the cleric table in the CRB, you'll see that cleric doesn't get a level 2 spell slot until level 3. You can't get bonus spell slots if you don't have the base spell slots for that level.

You can fill any bonus slots you have for levels up to your casting ability (at level 1, that is level 0 and level 1 spells). You CAN, however, prep a level 0 in a level 1 slot, if you so choose.

[Avianfoo]

fusionaddict wrote:

"A spellcaster who lacks a high enough ability score to cast spells that would otherwise be her due still gets the slots but must fill them with spells of lower levels."

All this means that if your caster ability score is too low to get spells of a certain level, (e.g. 12 is required for level 2 spells, so a cleric with 12 wisdom would not gain access to 3rd level spells.) they get to use those higher level spell slots for the level 1 and 2 spells.

It does not relate to bonus spells at all since you only get bonus spell slots from having a HIGH ability score. e.g. 12-13 gives 1 bonus 1st level spell slot.

Remember: You cannot prepare a higher level spell in a lower level spell slot.

[fusionaddict]

Thanks so much for your help, everyone. This ought to settle things nicely. :)

[Heaggles]

good luck, I find clerics very fun.