I tend to main spontaneous casters like Sorcerers and Oracles, occasionally dabbling in prepared casters with Magus or spontanous martials like Eldritch Scion Magus and Bloodrager. So, I like to think that I'm fairly well-versed in how casting spells works. Generally, for spontaneous casters, it works like this:
- Select the spell from the list of spells you know.
- Cross out one of your spell slots until you regain your spells.
- Cast the spell, using spell components and foci as necessary.
For prepared casters, it generally works like this:
- Fill your spell slots with spells from the list of spells you know.
- Select the spell from your slots that you wish to cast.
- Cross out the spell slot until you regain your spell slots for memorization.
- Cast the spell, using spell components and foci as necessary.
However, looking over Arcanist, I am having a hard time comprehending the process by which they cast their spells. Are they spontanous casters or prepared casters, or are they something else entirely?
Best Answer
They are Sorcerers with a flexible list of Spells Known.
If we look at Arcanist, under Spell Casting we see:
From this we can see that in order for an Arcanist to cast spells, they first select a number of spells on their spell list as indicated on Table: Arcanist Spells Prepared to prepare for the day. Unlike wizards, they do not prepare this spell in a specific spot. They can then cast any spell they have prepared using an appropriate spell slot, doing so does not expend the prepared spell (they can reuse that spell).
The simplest way to think about it is as a Sorcerer whose list of Spells Known are swapped out each day. When the Arcanist prepares spells, they are selecting their list of Spells Known for the day. Similar to Sorcerers, when an Arcanist casts a spell they use up a spell slot, but still have that spell known available for casting.