As the title.
As a specialist evocation wizard, I get 3 spell slots, 1 of which has to be of an Evocation trait, the other two being available to anything.
However, my contention is with how many spells I gain from acquiring a new level of spells. Do I really only ever get 2 per level period, which means that I am effectively required to have two copies of a given spell (probably the non-Evocation one) every time I get a spell level unless I scribe a scroll to learn new spells?
That seems...quite restricting. This means I need to have bought (or found) one of the next-level scrolls before getting access to that spell level, and in the official campaigns I've been in so far, I have been lucky to even find one or two scrolls of a given item, combined with them not being of the next level of spell available, which really really bites, especially when the wealth I've been getting thus far only just pays for said level 2 scroll of my choice.
Am I missing something or am I getting as shafted as I've described?
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Yeah, I think the ability to freely heighten lower level spells easily allows you to have a different spell in every slot. It does mean that it's important to pick up low level spells with lots of heightened possibilities if it's important to you to see different spells in your highest slots.
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You should also be getting spell scrolls as treasure during your adventures and be able to acquire spells in downtime. You get the two for free, but your a wizard. Be resourceful.
Basically work with your GM.
Page 204:
Each time you gain a level, you add two more arcane
spells to your spellbook, of any level of spell you can cast.
level =/= SPELL level
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Page 207:
If you specialize in an arcane school, rather than studying
each school equally (as universalists do), you gain an
extra spell slot for each level of spell you can cast. You can
prepare only spells of your chosen arcane school in these
extra slots. In addition, you can prepare an extra cantrip
of your chosen school. You also add another arcane spell
of your chosen school to your spellbook.
__________________
Looks like at odd levels, you get 3 spells in your highest and 4 in all else, ONE of which per level must be your specialization. And at even, it's 4 in all, one of which is your spec school. Meanwhile, it looks like you get four spells in your book per level (other than first, which starts with ... 5, plus 1 for specializing, then 2 more at 2nd)
So, outside first level: 4 spells per level without spending resources, 4 spell slots. Is there something that supersedes this?
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This means I need to have bought (or found) one of the next-level scrolls before getting access to that spell level
You can use a scroll if you want to use the Learn A Spell downtime activity, yes. But you don't 'need' one. I'm not sure if you're using words like 'need' or 'required' for emphasis or if you think you really need to buy scrolls when you level up or are somehow forced to get multiple copies of the same spell, so I'm just clarifying that you don't actually.
You gain a level, you add two spells to your spellbook. That ends up being 38 spells, plus the five first level spells you start with at level 1. If you want more than that, you can use downtime.
Yes, that means when you hit level 3, you have 2+1 spell slots and 2 spells known, so one of your prepared spells is going to be a duplicate or a heightened lower level spell.
This is exactly how it worked in 1e too, by the by (except that heightening was metamagic and your starting 1st level spells were based on your int).
Oh, right, the FIRST level of each spell level. Yes, I agree this looks like the right interpretation. However, given heightening, there's usually a few spells that would go quite well there instead of a duplicate.
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You can always Learn a Spell, and if you pick up the Magical Shorthand skill feat you can use downtown using the same rules as earn income to discount or even eliminate the cost of learning new spells.
I don’t see it as much of a problem since heightening lower level spells seems like such a good option anyway.
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Yes, when you gain access to a new spell level you get two free spells added to your spellbook, two spell slots of the new level, and an extra spell slot if you're a Specialist. So if you're a specialist and you can't afford/find a third spell right away, you start that level with a max of two spells and three slots of your new highest spell level.
Then when you level up again, you gain another two free spells for your spellbook, and one additional slot of your highest spell level. So if you somehow still haven't learned another spell in the meantime (either copied from a scroll, learned from a fellow wizard, or researched during downtime), you'd start that level with a max of four spells and four slots of your highest spell level.
But that seems like a pretty unlikely scenario to me, unless your GM is being really stingy with treasure and/or downtime, or you're choosing to spend your money/time on other stuff instead.
You should also be getting spell scrolls as treasure during your adventures and be able to acquire spells in downtime. You get the two for free, but your a wizard. Be resourceful.
Basically work with your GM.
Finding scrolls of spells that are above your level are basically non-existent due to the nature of item levels and expected treasure, so that's out of the bag. Finding scrolls of the same level is no problem, we've already come across 3-4 scrolls before we hit 3rd level that I've all scribed into my book.
Purchasing is an option, but the vendoring/coin treasure of this adventure (the first Hellknight Hill AP) has been pretty lackluster. I only have 14 gold to my person, and a 2nd level scroll is 12 gold, and this assumes I'm at a settlement to buy what I want (which I believe I can). But even if I can, that's over 80% of my wealth gone to a single scroll that can easily be wasted if I bomb the check.
Honestly, everyone's suggestion of heightening a lower level spell might be the best route. I got a couple spells that work well with a 2nd level heightening, so that's probably what I'll do. I honestly forgot all about that since I'm so used to spontaneous casters who can't get access to spells unless they're part of their spells known, and they have special heightening rules.
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Just to clarify, the scroll is NOT wasted when you fail to scribe the spell (or even when you succeed), you just cannot try to scribe that particular spell again until after your next level-up.
That said you need to both purchase or otherwise obtain access to a copy of the spell (scroll or another wizard's spellbook) AND provide materials worth a few gp (6gp for a 2nd level spell, half is lost on crit success or crit fail, all is lost on regular success) to actually use the Learn A Spell trained action to scribe the spell into your spellbook.