Is Forum Logic overly in love with prepared casters? (Baldur's Gate Experiment)

[kelbpanthera]

quite a few more who thought it was a wizard-only thing because divine casters have a fixed time to pray for spells each day and the rule about them being able to prep spells later in the day is under a different header in the Magic chapter than it is for wizards.

I've seen this said on rare occasion. Anybody got the citation to what he's alluding to here?

[Power]

Here are 3.5's Divine Spell Preparation rules:

Preparing Divine Spells
Divine spellcasters prepare their spells in largely the same manner as wizards do, but with a few differences. The relevant ability for divine spells is Wisdom. To prepare a divine spell, a character must have a Wisdom score of 10 + the spell’s level. Likewise, bonus spells are based on Wisdom.

Time of Day
A divine spellcaster chooses and prepares spells ahead of time, just as a wizard does. However, a divine spellcaster does not require a period of rest to prepare spells. Instead, the character chooses a particular part of the day to pray and receive spells. The time is usually associated with some daily event. If some event prevents a character from praying at the proper time, he must do so as soon as possible. If the character does not stop to pray for spells at the first opportunity, he must wait until the next day to prepare spells.

Spell Selection and Preparation
A divine spellcaster selects and prepares spells ahead of time through prayer and meditation at a particular time of day. The time required to prepare spells is the same as it is for a wizard (1 hour), as is the requirement for a relatively peaceful environment. A divine spellcaster does not have to prepare all his spells at once. However, the character’s mind is considered fresh only during his or her first daily spell preparation, so a divine spellcaster cannot fill a slot that is empty because he or she has cast a spell or abandoned a previously prepared spell.

Divine spellcasters do not require spellbooks. However, such a character’s spell selection is limited to the spells on the list for his or her class. Clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers have separate spell lists. A cleric also has access to two domains determined during his character creation. Each domain gives him access to a domain spell at each spell level from 1st to 9th, as well as a special granted power. With access to two domain spells at each spell level—one from each of his two domains—a cleric must prepare, as an extra domain spell, one or the other each day for each level of spell he can cast. If a domain spell is not on the cleric spell list, it can be prepared only in a domain spell slot.

Same text as 3E's, I believe. Note that a divine spellcaster explicitly "does not have to prepare all his spells at once", follows up with a mention of a "first [emphasis added] daily spell preparation" (indicating there is more than one) and generally defers to the Wizard rules for spell preparation rules. The implication here is meant to be that like a Wizard a divine spellcaster can prepare into unprepared slots with 15 minute sessions.

I can quote a 3E FAQ on the subject:

I play a divine spellcaster and I generally leave a spell slot open. I’m concerned about whether I am following the rules correctly. After reading the Player’s Handbook, I have assumed that divine casters can leave slots open; although, they must still perform the daily prayer session to prepare any spells that day. However, I can understand the argument that all spells must be prepared at the daily prayer session, and no slots can be left open. Page 156 of the Player’s Handbook says a divine caster’s mind is considered fresh only during his first daily spell preparation, so he cannot fill a slot that is empty because he has cast a spell or abandoned a previously prepared spell. I’m a little confused by this statement.

A divine spellcaster does not have to prepare all his spells at once (see page 156 in the Player’s Handbook). This means you can leave slots open.

The text you’ve quoted merely points out that you can replace spells you have cast or can switch prepared (but uncast) spells for other prepared spells when your mind is fresh (and only then). If you’ve left open slots, you can fill them in 15 minutes, even when your mind is not fresh. Arcane casters have the same rule (see page 154 of the Player’s Handbook).

Pathfinder, in a rare display of editorial competence where they have actually made rules clearer instead of more ambiguous for once, spells it out explicitly in their divine spell preparation rules:

Spell Selection and Preparation: A divine spellcaster selects and prepares spells ahead of time through prayer and meditation at a particular time of day. The time required to prepare spells is the same as it is for a wizard (1 hour), as is the requirement for a relatively peaceful environment. When preparing spells for the day, a cleric can leave some of her spell slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes. During these extra sessions of preparation, she can fill these unused spell slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because she has cast a spell in the meantime. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if she prepares more than one-quarter of his spells.

Divine spellcasters do not require spellbooks. However, a divine spellcaster's spell selection is limited to the spells on the list for her class. Clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers have separate spell lists. A cleric also has access to two domains determined during character creation. Each domain gives her access to a number of special abilities and bonus spells.

[Eldritch_Lord]

I was wrong about it being under a different header (the subsections are just a bit out of order in the arcane and divine sections), mea culpa, but the divine portion is still a blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing.

So, everyone knows that arcane casters have the ability to save some of their slots for later, because they don't have a particular time-of-day requirement and it's explicitly called out:

Spell Preparation Time
After resting, a wizard must study her spellbook to prepare any spells that day. If she wants to prepare all her spells, the process takes 1 hour. Preparing some smaller portion of her daily capacity takes a proportionally smaller amount of time, but always at least 15 minutes, the minimum time required to achieve the proper mental state.

Spell Selection and Preparation
When preparing spells for the day, a wizard can leave some of these spell slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes, time and circumstances permitting. During these extra sessions of preparation, the wizard can fill these unused spell slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because she has cast a spell in the meantime. That sort of preparation requires a mind fresh from rest. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if the wizard prepares more than one-quarter of her spells.

But not everyone notices that it's also a divine caster thing, because they look at this bit:

A divine spellcaster chooses and prepares spells ahead of time, just as a wizard does. However, a divine spellcaster does not require a period of rest to prepare spells. Instead, the character chooses a particular part of the day to pray and receive spells. The time is usually associated with some daily event. If some event prevents a character from praying at the proper time, he must do so as soon as possible. If the character does not stop to pray for spells at the first opportunity, he must wait until the next day to prepare spells.

...and don't notice this bit:

A divine spellcaster selects and prepares spells ahead of time through prayer and meditation at a particular time of day. The time required to prepare spells is the same as it is for a wizard (1 hour), as is the requirement for a relatively peaceful environment. A divine spellcaster does not have to prepare all his spells at once. However, the character’s mind is considered fresh only during his or her first daily spell preparation, so a divine spellcaster cannot fill a slot that is empty because he or she has cast a spell or abandoned a previously prepared spell.

EDIT: Swordsage'd.  Curse you, laggy post loading times!