Arcanists And Preferred Spell

[TheKillerCorgi]

Preferred spell wrote:

Choose one spell which you have the ability to cast. You can cast that spell spontaneously by sacrificing a prepared spell or spell slot of equal or higher level. You can apply any metamagic feats you possess to this spell when you cast it. This increases the minimum level of the prepared spell or spell slot you must sacrifice in order to cast it but does not affect the casting time.

Does this feat allow an arcanist to sacrifice prepared spells to effectively get more spells per day?

[CBDunkerson]

My reading is that the Arcanist basically gets the Preferred Spell as an extra prepared spell every day. That is, they can use their spell slots to cast the spells they prepared that day OR the Preferred Spell.

[TheKillerCorgi]

That's probably RAI but by RAW a 10th level arcanist can cast 9 1st level spells per day. There also doesn't seem to be a FAQ contradicting this.

[blahpers]

TheKillerCorgi wrote:

Preferred spell wrote:

Choose one spell which you have the ability to cast. You can cast that spell spontaneously by sacrificing a prepared spell or spell slot of equal or higher level. You can apply any metamagic feats you possess to this spell when you cast it. This increases the minimum level of the prepared spell or spell slot you must sacrifice in order to cast it but does not affect the casting time.

Does this feat allow an arcanist to sacrifice prepared spells to effectively get more spells per day?

Technically, yes, with the caveat that those extra spells per day must be a spell selected for Preferred Spell. That's a pretty neat trick that depends on the rules equivocating on the term "prepared spell" between "normal" prepared casters and arcanists--the term doesn't really meant the same thing for both categories.

Good luck finding a GM that will let you out-sorceror the sorceror, though. Arcanists are already ridiculous enough compared to most sorcerors and wizards.

[Thedmstrikes]

TheKillerCorgi wrote:

Preferred spell wrote:

Choose one spell which you have the ability to cast. You can cast that spell spontaneously by sacrificing a prepared spell or spell slot of equal or higher level. You can apply any metamagic feats you possess to this spell when you cast it. This increases the minimum level of the prepared spell or spell slot you must sacrifice in order to cast it but does not affect the casting time.

Does this feat allow an arcanist to sacrifice prepared spells to effectively get more spells per day?

Based on the way you are asking this question, I think the answer is no. Here is what I understand to be the ask:

You are asking if a prepared spell that the arcanist has to choose from each day can be sacrificed for the preferred spell. The answer here is no, the prepared spell list the arcanist prepares each day from their spellbook are not actual spells being cast, they effectively make up their spell list for the day, which can include the preferred spell or not. The feat will allow you to sacrifice one of the spell slots of the same level if you did not memorize your preferred spell for the day or a higher spell slot if you want to cast it more times than you have spells slots of its level.
The biggest bonus this feat grants is the ability to apply metamagic to the preferred spell on the fly without increasing the casting time (i.e. standard action to full round action, full round action to 2 rounds, etc.)