Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Balthezar BlackSword 01-31-06, 12:17 AM	Hi! Do Bards and Sorcerers need a Spell Components Pouch? If the answer is yes... Then why? I thought only wizards needed the material components for spells.
green_yawgmoth 01-31-06, 12:39 AM	Yes, they still need it. They cast arcane spells, just like a wizard. They just get a small number of spells known that they can spontaneously cast instead of preparing from a spellbook. But a lot of people (myself included) give sorcerers eschew materials as a bonus 1st level feat. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/yawgmoth/kittyjig.gif
Balthezar BlackSword 01-31-06, 12:54 AM	Tnx for your answer. Now, another question: What does it "Prepare a Spell" mean?
Pandaemoni 01-31-06, 01:10 AM	It just means that a wizard must decide each morning what spells he'll need for the day. He may decide to take (say) two magic missile castings and one casting of mage armor as his first level spells. He reviews those spells in the morning and sets up ("prepares") the castings in advance. If later in the day he uses his mage armor and later wishes he could cast it again...he's out of luck because he only "prepared" one casting of it. In contrast, a Sorcerer can cast any spell he knows "spontaneously". That means he migt cast three magic missiles, or three casting of mage armor or any combination. The Sorcerer can decide on the fly, whereas the wizard does not have that flexibility.
Wyrd Bearer 01-31-06, 01:12 AM	Wizards, as opposed to spontaneous casters such as sorcs and bards, need to pick from the multitude of spells they know and "prepare" them for casting. Clerics, druids, and wizards, and to a lesser extent paladins and rangers all will have a bigger spells known list then the spells they can cast during the day. Hence the need to pick the spells they will cast that day. Spontaneous casters, the bards and sorcs, know quite a bit less spells total, but they have no need to prepare which ones they will cast ahead of time. If a sorcerer knows 4 different 1st level spells (say magic missile, mage armour, shield, and sleep) and can cast 5 1st level spells a day, then he could cast 5 magic missles that day, or could cast 2 magic missile, 1 mage armour, 1 sleep and 1 shield, or any combination thereof, so long as the total 1st level spells cast does not exceed 5 for that day. At the start of the magic section in the PHB, right before the gigantic spell list, most of this is explain in better detail. A good read through of that section should help you better understand magic and how to do certain things (of course, I don't think I've ever actually read that section thoroughly, rather I learned by being shown how to play by my elder gamers and then only look that section up for rules debates).
Balthezar BlackSword 01-31-06, 01:36 AM	Tnx for your answers but I think I didn't explain well. What I tried to ask was what does "Prepare Spells" means in the game world, not the tecnical meaning. Like what does a Wizard does while he prepares his spells? It's easy to imagine a divine caster praying for the powers he/she would like to receive today, but a wizard reading a book... So? I could think that if the prepared 1 Magic Missile, he could easily cast it as many times as he has 1st level slots. I'm confusing myself XD
green_yawgmoth 01-31-06, 01:46 AM	Well, since it takes 15 minutes, imagine a guy cramming for a test. He's staring intently at his spellbook and repeating the first bits of each spell over and over until he has it memorized. His arcane skill lets him cram a certain number of each spell into his head, and when he casts the spell, he says the last part of the spell and it goes out of his head and into reality. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/yawgmoth/kittyjig.gif
The WarOverlord 02-06-06, 04:20 AM	Hi! Do Bards and Sorcerers need a Spell Components Pouch? If the answer is yes... Then why? I thought only wizards needed the material components for spells. Depends on the Spell. Material Compnents are "focuses" to help the Wizard make something, example, a lot of the "force" type spells such as "tiny hut' and "Globe of invunrablity" uses a glass bead or a crystal bead as a "focus"....Why? to help the Caster envision a "Hard Globe" that protects him/her, that's why (Though some would say with the disapearence of the bead the bead does "become" that magical globe)
Puca 02-06-06, 11:36 AM	So? I could think that if the prepared 1 Magic Missile, he could easily cast it as many times as he has 1st level slots. I'm confusing myself XDWhat you are thinking makes perfect sense. The rule makes less. It exists that way simply because it does. In case you care, it is called Vancian casting after an author I am not personally familiar with named Vance, and wizards have cast this way since D&D began. I believe that it helps keep a little bit of a limitation on the vast power that these classes eventually have. Besides that, it is silly and makes very little sense. I prefer the “not-think-too-hard” method of dealing with it. Some rules that seem completely illogical exist for a variety of reasons, and this is one. If you just accept that this is how it works, life is so much easier. If that doesnt work, there are also spell-point (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/spellPoints.htm) systems that (I believe) work as youve described.
green_yawgmoth 02-06-06, 02:25 PM	Depends on the Spell. Material Compnents are "focuses" to help the Wizard make something, example, a lot of the "force" type spells such as "tiny hut' and "Globe of invunrablity" uses a glass bead or a crystal bead as a "focus"....Why? to help the Caster envision a "Hard Globe" that protects him/her, that's why (Though some would say with the disapearence of the bead the bead does "become" that magical globe) A material component is not a focus. A material component is consumed in casting (so you need 3 pearls to cast identify 3 times), whereas a focus is not (you only need 1 jade circlet to cast shapechange, no matter how many times you cast it). http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/yawgmoth/kittyjig.gif