Greater flexibility for prepared casters?

[Backlash3906]

Okay, so, I've never made a secret of my personal aversion to playing prepared caster classes, generally preferring the freedom to cast as the moment demands, rather than just make my best guess about what the day will hold.

The Eldritch Scoundrel (and the new spellcasting Fighter as a runner-up), however, is sorely tempting. What means are there to improve the reactive ability of a prepared caster in general, and an ES in particular? Thank you.

[KujakuDM]

Scrolls, Wands, general magic items.

Also you do not have to fill all of your spell slots at the beginning of the day for most (any?) prepared arcane casters. They can take time to prepare spells at any point in the day IIRC.

[avr]

Brilliant spell preparation helps, or generally leaving some slots free at the beginning of the day and spending 15 min to fill them later.

Another thing that helps is getting scrolls/wands of some utility spells rather than preparing them. Alternately, get Preferred Spell and you can prepare those less-used spells freely because you can convert them to your favourite spell when needed.

[Rennaivx]

It's not eldritch scoundrel-applicable, but the arcanist has a good balance between the two - you basically pick your spells known day-by-day, then cast from that chosen list like a sorcerer would choose from their spells known. I haven't done much in the way of casting, but if I was to play a full arcane caster that's probably the way I'd go.

As for the eldritch scoundrel, I'll echo Kujaku - a prepared caster doesn't have to prepare all their slots at the beginning of the day. They can leave as many as they want unfilled, then take 15 minutes when an issue arises, prepare what they need, and go. It means you aren't going to have combat-critical spells at the drop of a hat, but it definitely ups utility casting a bunch.

[Avoron]

The Quick Study exploit is great for arcanists and exploiter wizards, but again, it doesn't help for an eldritch scoundrel.