So I am new to Pathfinder (also DnD so no comparisons to it can be made).
I have some spell related questions I have yet to find a answer too that I understand fully.
1: Have I understood this about Cantrips/Orisons right. Cantrips/Orisons are ONLY 0-level spells you choose every day. Sorcerer and Bard choose as many 0-level spells as they know (according to the Spells Known lists) so essentially every 0-level spell they choose to know. So pretty much the same every day? As of Wizards, Druids and Clerics they choose new or the same Cantrips/Orisans every day depending on how many they know (according to their Spells Per Day list)?
2: Spell Slots as I understand it, is the same as Spells Per Day?
3: When I read about Wizards and their Cantrips it says: "A wizard can prepare a cantrip from an opposition school, but it uses up two of his available slots". Let's say it is a level 1 Wizard. She has 3 Cantrips to begin with and has Necromancy as one of the opposition schools. She really wants to have Distrupt Undead as a Cantrip. Would that consume 2 of those 3 Cantrips leaving her with only 1 left to choose that day?
4: As I understand it the Wizards Spellbook preparation and Divine Spells preparation works the same (minus that Wizards are limited to the spellbook instead of the class spell list). When a Wizard, Druid or Cleric prepares spells during the morning, do they choose single spells or the whole list? As I understand it you have (as a level 1 Wizard) 3 0-spells per day and and 1 level 1 spell per day. Does this mean that I lock myself into 3 specific 0 level spells (other then the cantrips/orisans) and 1 specific level 1 spell for the day? This of course if I do the whole thing during the morning and not saving any slots for later.
cantrips/orisons are 0 level spells, you can cast all that are available as much as you want.
For spell known all of the known ones are available.
for prepared spells, the ones you prepared for that day are available.
Yes, if you have 3 cantrips for a day and prepare the opposed necromancy spell you can only prepare 1 other cantrip for the day.
Spell slots are your spells per day.
When you prepare spells you decide which spell is in every slot. So if you have 1 lv1 spell, you need to choose which spell that is when you prepare spells. Meaning in the morning you'd prepare magic missile, and then any time that day you can use that magic missile.
So you're right on most everything.
(Post eaten by duplicate thread; reposting!)
1. Correct. 0-level spells are just like other spells except that they are not expended upon casting.
2. A spell slot is a single spell per day of a given spell level. So, e.g., a metamagic feat that uses a spell slot one higher than the original spell would be prepared as one of a wizard's spells per day of the next higher level, and cast by a sorcerer using one of her spells per day of the next higher level.
3. Yes; that is the price of school specialization. Tomorrow she can make the same tradeoff, preparing one necromancy cantrip and another non-opposition school cantrip, or prepare three non-opposition school cantrips.
4. Given that you don't leave any slots open, yes, you choose all the spells you wish to prepare for the day. As a wizard, though, you can choose when during the day you wish to prepare spells so long as you rest long enough, so no worries about missing your morning spell preparation time. You'll still have what's left of the previous day's spells until then. As a cleric or druid, you don't have to rest to prepare spells, but you must choose a time of day for your daily preparation when you take the class; if you miss it, you can't prepare spells for that day and are stuck casting leftovers.
Also, don't forget that you get more spells per day for having a higher casting stat. Most 1st-level wizards have more one 1st-level spell per day on account of having 12 or higher intelligence.
1-. Cantrips, Orisons,... are the 0-level spells casters can know. You learn or memorize them the same way as all other spells (depending whether youre a spontaneous caster or a prepared one), but you can cast them at will (for prepared casters, you have "infinite" 0-level spells, while for prepared ones you simply do not delete the spell from your memorized spells list when you cast one).
2-. A spell slot is one "unit" of a spell of any level. For spontaneous casters means one usage of a spell of a particular level, for prepared casters means one space of your memorizable spells for that particular level.
3-. Correct. Since a wizard is a prepared caster, if the wizard has three available 0-level slots, a cantrip from an opposed slot takes two of them, so you can only memorize another one (still, since you do not delete cantrips after casting, you can cast that cantrip an unlimited number of times that day)
4-. Wizards, Clerics and Druids are prepared casters. They can memorize all their available spells for that day in a single session, or can partially memorize their daily allotment and leave "blank slots" to be filled later that day (usually takes 15 min).
Be aware that divine casters (clerics, druids, paladins) usually have a main "prayer/meditation" time, usually tied to an hour that has some religious meaning based on the deity they worship (let's say your cleric worships the "God of Sun", his main prayer time might probably be either at dawn when the first rays of the sun appear on the horizon, or at midday when the Sun is at it's peak). This means divine casters cannot ignore their "daily prayer hour" and leave it for later later; they must pray on their main worship time if they want to get spells that day (still, they can perfectly leave blank slots during their "worship hour" and fill them later through "extra worship time").
Three more questions pop up in my mind efter reading all of the answers. Just want to be really sure about it all.
1: So 0-level spells are ALWAYS free to cast and repeatable? So a Wizard can cast every 0-level spell (minus oppositions) as much as he wants as long as it is in his Spellbook + as long as he prepared them? Or is it (as I understand the book) those 3 daily 0-spells you choose and those are free and possible to cast as many times you want?
2: Cantrips is not used on any other level then 0-level spells? (On this one I just want to be fully sure).
3: I guess those extra spells per day is equal to the ability modifier? Do these only apply on 1-level or lower spells or do they scale with your level. Do a level 7 Wizard with a INT MOD of +3 have the 1 level 4 spell per day + 3 from the ability modifier on INT?
Three more questions pop up in my mind efter reading all of the answers. Just want to be really sure about it all.
1: So 0-level spells are ALWAYS free to cast and repeatable? So a Wizard can cast every 0-level spell (minus oppositions) as much as he wants as long as it is in his Spellbook + as long as he prepared them? Or is it (as I understand the book) those 3 daily 0-spells you choose and those are free and possible to cast as many times you want?
2: Cantrips is not used on any other level then 0-level spells? (On this one I just want to be fully sure).
3: I guess those extra spells per day is equal to the ability modifier? Do these only apply on 1-level or lower spells or do they scale with your level. Do a level 7 Wizard with a INT MOD of +3 have the 1 level 4 spell per day + 3 from the ability modifier on INT?
1, What is the difference between these? A wizard has all cantrips in his book by default. So at lv1 he prepares which 3 he'll have for the day and he can cast those as much as he wants.
2, cantrip is just a fancy name for 0 level spell, it has the name cause the rules are slightly different than other spells.
3)there's a table in the attribute's section that tells you how many bonus spells. an int of 12 gives you 1 extra lv1 spell, a 14 adds 1 lv2 spell per day to that, a 16 adds an extra lv3 spell per day, but a 20 not only gives 1 5th level spell, but also a second lv1 spell.
Click that link and scroll down to the table that shows you what additional spells you get at each ability score.
Three more questions pop up in my mind efter reading all of the answers. Just want to be really sure about it all.
1: So 0-level spells are ALWAYS free to cast and repeatable? So a Wizard can cast every 0-level spell (minus oppositions) as much as he wants as long as it is in his Spellbook + as long as he prepared them? Or is it (as I understand the book) those 3 daily 0-spells you choose and those are free and possible to cast as many times you want?
2: Cantrips is not used on any other level then 0-level spells? (On this one I just want to be fully sure).
3: I guess those extra spells per day is equal to the ability modifier? Do these only apply on 1-level or lower spells or do they scale with your level. Do a level 7 Wizard with a INT MOD of +3 have the 1 level 4 spell per day + 3 from the ability modifier on INT?
1. These are the same thing. Your wizard can prepare three cantrips out of the umpteen cantrips in his spellbook. Once prepared, he can cast them at will until he prepares spells again.
2. Correct.
3. There's a chart in the CRB showing how many bonus spells per day you get based on your ability modifier. The equivalent on the PRD is here.
1, What is the difference between these? A wizard has all cantrips in his book by default. So at lv1 he prepares which 3 he'll have for the day and he can cast those as much as he wants.
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Minor Correction: Universalist Wizards get all Cantrips in their Spellbooks at 1st level. Specialist Wizards do not automatically get Cantrips from their Opposition Schools, although they can add them later by the usual methods.
Spellbooks: A wizard must study his spellbook each day to prepare his spells. He cannot prepare any spell not recorded in his spellbook, except for read magic, which all wizards can prepare from memory.
A wizard begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level wizard spells (except those from his prohibited schools, if any; see Arcane Schools) plus three 1st-level spells of his choice.
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Three more questions pop up in my mind efter reading all of the answers. Just want to be really sure about it all.
1: So 0-level spells are ALWAYS free to cast and repeatable? So a Wizard can cast every 0-level spell (minus oppositions) as much as he wants as long as it is in his Spellbook + as long as he prepared them? Or is it (as I understand the book) those 3 daily 0-spells you choose and those are free and possible to cast as many times you want?
2: Cantrips is not used on any other level then 0-level spells? (On this one I just want to be fully sure).
3: I guess those extra spells per day is equal to the ability modifier? Do these only apply on 1-level or lower spells or do they scale with your level. Do a level 7 Wizard with a INT MOD of +3 have the 1 level 4 spell per day + 3 from the ability modifier on INT?
1-. Your caster has unlimited uses for the cantrips he has prepared this day. You prepare a cantrip the same way you prepare any other spell, it's just that you don't "forget the cantrip" upon casting it, unlike all other spells.
Let's say your level 1 Wizard can prepare three level 0 spells (Cantrips) and one level 1 spell.
While you have all cantrips available written in your spellbook, you can only memorize three of them since you only have three level 0 slots available; so when you study your spellbook, you pick three cantrips and one level 1 spell, and write them down in your list of memorized spells. If you have bonus spell slots due to a high stat, you can also memorize them at this point.
Once memorized, you can cast those three cantrips at will the entire day without deleting them from your memorized spells, but the level-1 spell(s) you memorize are immediately erased from your mind upon being cast.
The next day, as long as you have rested for at least 8 hours, you can keep the current memorized cantrips, or "erase" them from your mind and memorize others instead.
2-. Cantrips, Tricks, Orisons... are just "common names" used to refer Level-0 spells.
3-. Not exactly, to know the extra spells casts/slots you get and from what level, you must check the Abilities and Spellcasters table.
For example, if your caster ability score is, let's say, 16, you'll get one extra level 1 slot, one extra level 2 slot, and one extra level 3 slot. This doesn't mean you can immediately use those slots, though, you only benefit from them when your character reaches a high enough level to cast those spells (for example, if you check the wizard table, you'll see he only gets access to level-2 spells at 3rd level, so until your wizard reaches level 3 you will not benefit from the bonus level-2 slot, and you'll have to wait until character level 5 to benefit from the bonus level-3 slot.
Question. Upon reaching certain levels spontaneous caster classes can swap a spell known for a new one (losing the old one of course) can you do this with cantrips? My GM says I can't but he can't give me a straight answer of why, meanwhile nomatter where I look everything points to cantrips being spells for all intents and purposes.
Thanks in advance.
Question. Upon reaching certain levels spontaneous caster classes can swap a spell known for a new one (losing the old one of course) can you do this with cantrips? My GM says I can't but he can't give me a straight answer of why, meanwhile nomatter where I look everything points to cantrips being spells for all intents and purposes.
Thanks in advance.
A cantrip is a 0-level spell, the only difference is that they can be reused at will, so yes, you may chose to exchange one of them for any other 0-level spell available.
Question. Upon reaching certain levels spontaneous caster classes can swap a spell known for a new one (losing the old one of course) can you do this with cantrips? My GM says I can't but he can't give me a straight answer of why, meanwhile nomatter where I look everything points to cantrips being spells for all intents and purposes.
Thanks in advance.
Yes. You can replace any spell you know with any other spell of equal or lower level, provided you are achieving a level that allows this. Cantrips/Orisons can be replaced only by other cantrips/orisons, but otherwise there is no restriction on this.
Question. Upon reaching certain levels spontaneous caster classes can swap a spell known for a new one (losing the old one of course) can you do this with cantrips? My GM says I can't but he can't give me a straight answer of why, meanwhile nomatter where I look everything points to cantrips being spells for all intents and purposes.
Thanks in advance.
Yes, you can swap out 0 level spells because they are spells.