Basically, what I was asking. Can arcane spellcasters rest multiple times per day, to renew there spell list?
Yep. 8 hours of rest and you're good to go, no matter the time of day.
But this isn't something special about arcane casters. EVERYBODY regains their daily powers after an extended rest...
It's extremely clear in 4thED
PHB pg 263... You must wait at least 12 hour before the next extended rest.
What do they think is unfair? Martial and Divine characters follow the exact same rules as Arcane characters. They all regain their daily powers after an extended rest.
U mean 263 in the 4th edtion PHB, not the 3rd. So no matter what, you need to wait a full day, for your daily spells.
Fixed that for ya.
And it's not just arcane spellcasters. All classes can renew their daily abilities once per day. You're players seem to still be using the 3e mindset. Arcane casters (and really, classes in general) in 4e function quite a bit differently than they did in 3e. For any class, you are going to want to save your Dailys until you really need them. Your spellcasters in general still have plenty of per encounter and at-will spells to cast with impunity.
Your wizards can cast At-Wills like Magic Missle and Scorching Burst all the live-long day, and can cast Encounter spells like Fire Shroud and Shield at least once per fight. Just like like how the Fighter can use At-Will exploites like Cleave and Tide of Iron all the live-long day, can use Encounter exploits like Get Over Here and Dance of Steel at least once per fight. Though the wizard had better save Sleep, and the fighter, Villian's Menace, until they really need them, because their aren't getting back those Daily abilities until they get an extended rest. And as Crimson_Concerto pointed out, you only get one extended rest per day.
Or does your confusion lie in the wizard's Spellbook class feature for preparing spells? If so, first let me say that the wizard's spellbook functions differently in 4e than it did in 3e. Basically, here's what it does. Everytime you would normally learn a new Daily or Utility spell, you learn two. After an extened rest, you can choose which of the spells you want to use for that day. You can't prepare the same spell twice, and you don't get additional Utility or Daily power uses per day. For example, a 1st level character (of any class) gets 1 Daily power and 0 Utility powers. While every other class is locked into their choice of one daily power known and available, the wizard gets to scribe two into his spellbook.
For example, let's compare a 1st level fighter and a wizard. Let's say that the fighter chooses Brute Strike as his 1st level Daily power. From now one, the Fighter can use Brute Strike 1/day. He's locked into this choice until he has a chance to retrain the ability.
The wizard, on the other hand, scribes two 1st level Dailys into his spell book. He chooses Flaming Sphere and Sleep. Like the fighter, the wizard can only have one Daily power available at 1st level. But unlike the fighter, the wizard can choose which Daily he wants to use for the day. At the end of an extended rest, the wizard can choose to prepare Flaming Sphere -or- Sleep and make that his daily power until he decides to change spells again.
Hope that helps.
...You are inquiring about 4th edition, right? I'm still finding it hard to tell.
The books say daily attolment of spells, but that usually applies to arcane and divine characters. I know that divine are provided with there spells at a certain time of day, but with arcane, they need only prepare, or spontaneously cast, and 8 hours rest. Does that mean that they can break the rule for SPD and prepare or have there spells recharge their list of spells with each 8 hour rest they take in a day? The question came up in my game session the other night, and i have always used the daily attolment, but you know curisosity?
First, a quick note to everyone: this post is referencing the 3.5 Edition Rules. Since this forum covers advice on both 3.5 and 4E, it's probably a good idea to reference which edition of the rules you're using.
Ilaro:
Arcane spellcasters need only to rest for 8 hours before being able to prepare their spells, so technically, you can switch into "video game mode" and rest for 8 hours, adventure for 20 minutes, then rest for another 8 hours.
However, many DMs will also enforce the standard 8/8/8 division of a game "day". This essentially translates as the PCs will be active for roughly 8 hours, then spent about 8 hours doing non-heroic things like bathing, dealing with biological functions, eating, maintaining their equipment, and the like. The day is then capped by a solid 8 hours of rest. This effectively limits your spell preparation to once per 24 hours.
The confusion here is perhaps the driving reason for the clarifications of Short Rest and Extended Rest in the 4th Edition Rules.