"Of any level you can cast" means having a spell slot to cast that level of spell, not just using the theoretical maximum level defined by your intelligence.
No matter what your int is - if you don't have any slots of that level, you're unable to cast spells of that level in the first place.
I would gain the slots from my arcane school, as it says above. I get one slot for every level I can cast up to level 9. I can cast level 9 spells based on my intelligence.
Except you can't cast level 9 spells, as you don't have any level 9 slots yet :)
You can't gain slots based upon being able to cast level 9 spells, because you can't cast level 9 spells without having a level 9 slot in the first place. You're trying to make a leap from A to C without going via B ;)
Or to put it this way:
You can't cast level 9 spells based upon your intelligence. You need the intelligence *and* an existing level 9 slot to be able to cast level 9 spells. The int alone doesn't qualify you to cast level 9 spells, it only means you're able to learn them once you have a level 9 slot.
But it specifically says... "specialist wizards receive an additional spell slot of each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up." I CAN cast a level 9 spell. I have the intelligence for it... Where is the leap? This is clearly directly from the two statements. :\
The leap is that you're saying you can cast a level 9 spell by having enough int. You cannot cast a level 9 spell yet. Int by itself does not grant the ability to cast spells, it only gives an upper limit.
The ability to cast the spell comes from gaining a slot from the experience progression for that class.
Because if you don't have a slot, you cannot physically cast the spell.
You need to show us where it says you can cast a spell without a spell slot :)
But it specifically says... "specialist wizards receive an additional spell slot of each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up." I CAN cast a level 9 spell. I have the intelligence for it... Where is the leap? This is clearly directly from the two statements. :\
No, you can't cast a 9th level spell at 1st level. You will be able to cast 9th level spells once you get the first slot, which you won't get as a wizard until level 17. That's when you get the additional specialist slot as well because that's when your class's spell table tells you when you can cast the appropriate spell.
When trying to interpret this particular bit of text, take a step back. Does it seem appropriate that a character who is 1st level might be able to cast 9th level spells just because he's specialized in a particular school? Does that seem at all balanced to you - casting spells like wish while your compatriots have nothing near that ability? If that seems a bit weird, use that as your clue that you're interpreting something incorrectly.
If I reach level 1 as a spell caster and I have an intelligence of 20, then I get two new spells of any level that I can cast, as it says here:
You're good so far.
"Each time a character attains a new wizard level, he gains two spells of his choice to add to his spellbook. The two free spells must be of spell levels he can cast."
Still good.
At this point, a Wizard can cast 3 L0 and 1 L1 spell, according to the table on P80 of the core rulebook.
So technically with an intelligence of 20 I can learn a level 9 spell.
And that's where you fell over. You can theoretically *learn* it, but you still can't *cast* (or actually learn it) it as you don't have a L9 slot yet. Int only limits you how far you're able to go, once you've already got slots, Int doesn't grant anything.
So stop here, you can't go any further. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
"specialist wizards receive an additional spell slot of each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up."
So far, you can cast 1x L1 spell. So, you get an additional L1 slot. No more as you can't cast anything else yet.
The list for progression that you two are referring to is called "Spells per day" I am sure that is another way of saying "Spell slots per day" That means that you do get those slots, but clearly the book is telling us that we also get slots based on what spells we "can cast".
To which the answer is: Try casting a spell without a slot :)
Int 20 means you will be able to learn L9 spells. It still doesn't fill the "can cast" criteria, as that requires a slot to cast the spell from in the first place.
Plus the game would be kinda over before it starts if you could cast a L9 spell that early ;)
I showed you where it says I get a level 9 slot. :\
Except you don't get a slot yet, you only get slots for spell levels you can cast (already have slots for)
The part you're omitting is:
"A wizard can cast only a certain number of spells of each
spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on
Table 3–16."
That means you can't cast the spells, even if you have the INT for them, unless that table says you can.
Correct, but it only changes the ones you can cast. You can't cast a spell that has a - in that column (because you don't have any slots of that level yet), so you have to ignore those.
Take a look at the spells per day chart. See all those little dashes? Those mean you cannot cast spells at that level.
For added fun, take a look at the spells per day chart for the ranger. See all the zeros? Those mean that even though the ranger doesn't get a spell slot at that level, he can still technically cast spells of that level if he were to say, gain a bonus spell slot from high wisdom.
Wizard has no zeros, therefore there is nowhere for a bonus spell slot to go until he gains his first normal spell slot of that level.
EDIT: Semi-ninja'd
If you don't have a base spell allotment for that level, you are unable to cast spells of that level. How can you cast a spell if you have zero permitted uses of it per day? Therefore you cannot use "can cast L9 spells" to qualify for a bonus slot, because you cannot cast L9 spells yet.
(Sorry, but going to have to bow out here, I can't explain it any better :( Hopefully someone else can)
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Where does it say that?
I believe that this is what you are looking for:
Abilities and Spellcasters
The ability that governs bonus spells depends on what type of spellcaster your character is: Intelligence for wizards; Wisdom for clerics, druids, and rangers; and Charisma for bards, paladins, and sorcerers. In addition to having a high ability score, a spellcaster must be of a high enough class level to be able to cast spells of a given spell level. See the class descriptions in Classes for details.
That is under the Ability Scores section of Generating a Character.
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On page 16 of the Core Rulebook, 'Abilities and Spellcasters', it states:
"The ability that governs bonus spells depends on what type of spellcaster your character is: Intelligence for wizards; Wisdom for clerics, druids, and rangers; and Charisma for bards, paladins, and sorcerers. In addition to having a high ability score, a spellcaster must be of a high enough class level to be able to cast spells or use spell slots of a given level. See the class descriptions in chapter 3 for details."
Taking a closer look at the Wizard schools themselves, it states that "In addition, specialist wizards receive an additional spell slot of each level he can cast, from 1st on up." (Core Rulebook, page 79)
And under 'Spells' for the Wizard (page 78), it states that "A wizard can cast only a certain number of spells per spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table 3-16."
Consulting the table, at level 1, your base daily allotment is 3 0-level and 1 1st-level, all other levels have a "-" (not a "0", which you can find on classes like the Ranger or Paladin, an important distinction).
"-" means no spell slots of that level are available, which means you do not have a high enough class level to cast those spells. Ergo no bonus spells of those levels from high ability scores, as previously quoted, and no additional spell slots from the Wizard school ("of each level he can cast").
Where does it say that?I believe that this is what you are looking for:
That is under the Ability Scores section of Generating a Character.Abilities and Spellcasters
The ability that governs bonus spells depends on what type of spellcaster your character is: Intelligence for wizards; Wisdom for clerics, druids, and rangers; and Charisma for bards, paladins, and sorcerers. In addition to having a high ability score, a spellcaster must be of a high enough class level to be able to cast spells of a given spell level. See the class descriptions in Classes for details.
Ugh, that's the quote I've been hunting for, thanks! :) One of those things I've just never had the need to look for in the Pathfinder rulebook since moving from 3.5.
There is some circular logic here:
'specialist wizards receive an additional spell slot of each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up.'
so you claim that 1st level specialist wizards
can cast 9th level spells, because they
get extra spell slots, gained because they
can cast 9th level spells, because they
get extra spell slots, gained because they
can cast 9th level spells...
But he can't cast 9th level spells before he's level 17th, therefore he does not receive an additional spell slot, because that is only for spells he can cast.
No 9th slot -> no additional 9th slot.
You also don't receive bonus spell slots for an high ability score before you can cast spells of that level. (the difference between a '-' and a number in the spells per day table)
Heh, sorry again for not having the definitive quote earlier. For some of us it's just one of those things that's been in our head for 10+ years and never had the need to actually find the answer for :)
Having been a DM/GM for [REDACTED] years, I run into this issue with new players all the time. It's simply not spelled out adequately enough, and overloading the word "level" (character level, caster level, spell level, and so on) doesn't help matters one bit.
I'll still take the occasional bit of confusion over the dark days when only Clerics got bonus spells for high Wisdom...
A lot of the road map confusion is probably in the layout of the Core Rulebook which was inherited from 3rd edition, which was probably passed down from earlier editions.
This might be a big reason why Paizo is publishing a 160 page guide to PF/CRB.
I don't wish for a new edition of PF, but I do hope for a new CRB layout - keeping related information together (like character advancement), or at least not as scattered as it is now.
This might be a big reason why Paizo is publishing a 160 page guide to PF/CRB.
Wait, what? Really? They're publishing a rule book to explain how to use another rule book? ...Wow.
I knew there was a reason I love this game!