Divine caster "Time of Day"

[Gualdrippa]

In the core manual, it says about divine caster that

"A divine spellcaster chooses and prepares spells ahead of time, but unlike a wizard, does not require a period of rest to prepare spells. Instead, the character chooses a particular time of day to pray and receive spells. The time is usually associated with some daily event."

In the cleric class description, it confirms it:
"Each cleric MUST CHOOSE A TIME at which she must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain her daily allotment of spells."

But in the other divine spellcaster classes it doesn't confirm that they have to choose a particular moment of the day:

"A paladin must spend 1 hour each day in quiet prayer and meditation to regain her daily allotment of spells"

"A ranger must spend 1 hour per day in quiet meditation to regain his daily allotment of spells"

the same for druids.

So my question is:
Paladins, Rangers and Druids must choose a specific time of the day in which meditate (like all divine spellcaster) or the specific rule written in their class overwrite the general rule so they can meditate one hour whenever they like during the day?

Thanks to all for answering
G.

[Edward the Kobold]

Hmm...there actually doesn't seem to be a contradiction. All divine spellcasters must choose a special hour for their magic-preparing contact with the divine. The fact that it's reiterated in one divine class and not in the other three is kind of irrelevant; it doesn't say that they don't have to choose a time, either, so the override-by-a-more-specific-rule principle doesn't come into play.

That's how I read it, anyways.

[Ciaran Barnes]

We have general rules, specific rules, and exceptions. Everything and everyone follows the general rules, but the specific rules modify general rules as they pertain to certain situations, classes, terrains, etc. A specific rule shouldn't need to convey information from the general rules, but I've noticed that (mostly) in the CRB that sometimes they do. This can be confusing because although the writer is trying to help the reader by repeating some relevant information, the writer can cause the reader to believe that other rules work differently than they do.

For example, the first paragraph in the monk's unarmed strike class feature tells us that the monk can make unarmed strikes with any body part and that all of the monk's unarmed strikes use his full strength modifier for damage rolls. For many years I thought that other classes using unarmed strikes had to worry about primary hand attacks and offhand attacks, but this was not true. The class feature lead me to believe that this was a monk-specific ability. In truth though, that first paragraph applies to unarmed strikes made by any creature regardless of class. It is information from a general rule that is being repeated in a specific rule.

I believe your interpretation that paladins, rangers, and druids must chooose a time of day is correct. I believe that the mention of time of day in the writeup for the cleric is just ambigous information.

[Gualdrippa]

Thanks for your answers.

Actually I was wrong: I was the one thinking that paladins have to meditate 1 hour per day, but they can do it whenever they want.

This is because, as player, I read the paladin class without bother reading the "general" divine caster rule. I assumed that what was written in the class was what we should apply.

Talking with my GM he told me about the general rule and so I checked all others divine casters to see how they where described.

Actually, searching the internet, I understand that the "divine Caster" section was before called "clerics".
So probably before these limitations was related to clerics only.
I actually think that correcting the name of the section, the author didn't think about changing the classes descriptions.

My master keep saying:
in paladin description says "1 hour a day". In the general rule says "a specific time". There is no contradiction (as Edward the Kobold says).
For me is ambiguous, even more if we think that in cleric description they specify it, and in the other they don't.

By the other hand, I think that it could be logical to restrict the time of the day for clerics (that depends on a specific god, that could prefere a specific moment of the day) and don't restrict the time for the others (ranger and druids depends on the Nature, so why some druids do it in the morning and other at night? nature is always there, it constantly surrounds everything, so I can get a communion with it whenever I want... Paladins may depend or not by a divinity, and their "spellcasting" si less powerful than a cleric. So maybe it has some sense that they are not so strictly restricted as the cleric).

But I assume my error, and will proceed doing a "Mea Culpa" process in order to seek atonement for my misdeeds against my GM.

Thanks everyone :D