I'm new to D&D and roleplaying games in general, so I thought I'd ask here.
- On page 29 of the Player's Handbook for 4th edition, it says I get the class features, racial traits, 1 feat, 2 at-will attack powers, 1 encounter attack power, and 1 daily attack power
- The human racial traits (page 46) say I get 1 extra at-will power, 1 bonus feat, and 1 bonus skill.
- The Wizard class features (page 156) say I get Arcane Implement Mastery, cantrips, Ritual Casting, and a spellbook.
- Under the section Cantrips, it says "Cantrips are minor spells you gain at first level".
- Under Spellbook, under Rituals it says "Your book contains three 1st-level rituals that you have mastered"
- Under Daily and Utility Spellsm it says "You begin knowing two daily spells."
If I take the "Expanded Spellbook" feature (page 195) which grants an extra daily spell per level, do I end up with cantrips, three at-will spells, two encounter spells, three daily spells, and no utility spells, and three rituals or less than this? I bought the source books a day ago and have yet to read through it fully.
Best Answer
Yes you get to learn all those spells you mentioned, but magic always comes at a price. In this case while you "know" a bunch of spells you can still only cast a specific number of them each day. So at level 2 you can cast your at-wills 1 encounter, 1 utility and 1 daily spell (not including cantrips and rituals). You just get to choose which one you will, for lack of a better term, "charge up" for the day. Like Peteris said, at each extended rest you must choose which of your spells you will prepare for the following in game day. This keeps you at the same power level as other same level characters (except you get +1 at will that you can use at any time).
So, Bob the level 2 wizard opens his spell book in the morning after getting a good night sleep and turns to his "Utility Spells" page. He sees Expeditious Retreat and Shield, not wanting to get too close to enemies, he chooses to memorize the evasive spell Expeditious Retreat absorbing the spells magic for use later that day. He then flips through his spell book and does the same thing for the daily spells he has in his book. He then sets off on his travels with his companions being able to cast 3 at wills, 1 encounter, 1 utility and 1 daily.
The benefit here is if you know you'll be facing a certain creature and you have a spell that will deal lots of damage to it, you can prepare specifically for that engagement.