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I have read in professor Q's guide to Pathfinder wizards that

Unlike the Sorcerer or Bard or Oracle you never have to sit and wish that you had picked a different spell this level since in a minute to fifteen minutes you can easily have the spell you need ready.

Which is news to me, I thought until a Wizard had enjoyed a good nights snooze of eight hours they couldn't change around any of the spells they have memorised. Looking through the rest of the wizard class description I'm pretty sure I haven't missed anything.

Can a Wizard change a spell they have memorised for another without having to spend eight hours of rest?

KRyan
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Rob
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1 Answers1

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No, but that's not what they're talking about.

The trick the guide is referring to does happen when you memorize spells, though. PF and 3.5 both have the option to not memorize some spells in the morning - to leave those spell slots open to prepare spells into. Thus when you encounter a non-combat problem (or you can predict a specific combat coming up ahead) you sit down and prepare those slots then.

Additionally, Pathfinder has a spell (and I cannot remember the name, but I do recall that it's PF-only) that grants you a temporary bonus feat. If 3.5 content is in, you can expend this on Extra Spell (Complete Arcane) to learn any spell in the game as long as you have the bonus feat on hand. If it's not, then this trick won't work for Wizards. However, Sorcerers and other spontaneous casters can use it to pick up the PF-only feat Extra Spells Known, which permits them to learn new spell(s) with this trick for as long as they have the bonus feat. If you decide to pull this as a Wizard, be aware that it doesn't memorize the new spell for you - you need to prepare it into an open slot.

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Lord_Gareth
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  • Extra Spell explicitly works for Wizards. Or do you mean the Pathfinder feat? – KRyan Jan 08 '13 at 17:13
  • I'm referring to the PF feat "Extra Spells Known". As far as I'm aware "Extra Spell" as you and I are familiar with it was cut from PF and has yet to re-emerge. – Lord_Gareth Jan 08 '13 at 17:14
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    Ah, that's unclear. Rather than having a separate edit section like that, probably a good idea to just rework the paragraph. After all, the question is tagged [tag:pathfinder] but 3.5 material often finds its way into Pathfinder games -- even if the OP can't, someone else may find use of it. – KRyan Jan 08 '13 at 17:16
  • There we are, does that look better/more informative? – Lord_Gareth Jan 08 '13 at 17:20
  • I didn't see the first draft, but I can say this made the differences clear and the flow is good. – SevenSidedDie Jan 08 '13 at 17:33
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    Ahaaaa! I didn't realise you could leave spell slots open for later memorisation, that's a nice trick! – Rob Jan 08 '13 at 19:26