What Does Your Spell Preparation Look Like?

The camp went silent at the sound of the hammer. It struck hard and true, followed by the sound of something wet pattering on the leaves. Three blows, a pause, and then another three blows, each followed by that heavy spatter. There were no cries of pain. No gasps of anguish. Just the slow, steady breathing of the body. Lakonia entered the clearing a few minutes later, throwing the mallet aside in disgust before seating herself near the fire.

"The priest?" Arnault asked without turning his head to look at her.

"Praying," Lakonia said, shuddering. She kept her gorge down, though. She'd wielded the hammer too many times now for the sight to make her truly ill.

"Good," said Bofull, tugging on his bow string. "We'll need all the strength we can get."

"Tomorrow," Lakonia said, staring into the crackling flames. "You can crucify him."

Religion, am I right?

Spell preparation is one of those things we often gloss over completely when it comes to Pathfinder. Just like the days of journeying to your destination, or the amount of stuff you're currently carrying, most DMs just hand wave it away. All they care about is that you prepared your spells, never mind what you did or how you did it.

For some players, that's just fine. If you're looking for a way to make your casting characters a lot more unique, though, it might be a good idea to think about what their spell preparation actually looks like, since the party is going to be seeing a lot of it.

Making The Magic

The general theory behind spell preparation is that a prepared caster, like a wizard or a cleric, has to go through a ritual in order to nearly complete a spell. Think of it like creating a magic bullet, and loading it in their brains. They're preparing a mental shell, loading it with the right ingredients, and cocking the hammer; all that's left to do is pull the trigger in the form of verbal, somatic, and material components. I already talked about those in What Do Your Verbal and Somatic Components Look Like? if you're looking for tips on making the casting, rather than the preparation, more unique.

Every spellcaster is doing the same thing when preparing their spells; going through the motions, and focusing their mind in order to shape the concept of magic into the proper creation, so that it can be unleased into the world when appropriate. The descriptions in the rules when it comes to preparing arcane and divine spells are both similar, and vague. You need to get into the proper, receptive state of mind, focus, and then either go through an arcane form as dictated by your spells, or pray. Whatever that looks like.

Don't laugh, this is totally an option for spell preparation.

The question you need to answer for yourself is what does your character's particular preparation look like?

The Pregame Ritual

Think of your spellcaster as an athlete for a moment. The rituals they're going through are their pregame. Just like someone getting ready to compete will stretch and warm up, both mentally and physically, so too does your spellcaster have to get in the right head space, and turn on his or her A-game.

How do you do that?

Aside from ingesting magical elixirs.

There's no one, right answer to this question. For example, if you're an erudite wizard who is more of a scholar than a warrior, it might be common to find you enjoying what portable pleasures you can while in the wild. Sitting in a camp chair, idly sipping a cup of tea, and flicking through your spellbook using prestidigitation to turn the pages while it sits on a stand is an option. Bonus points if you convince the bard to play a lute or a violin so you have relaxing tunes while you rev up your brain for the day.

On the other hand, say you're playing an evoker who graduated from a war academy. Your spell preparation is written down in your book, but each spell might have a ritual that goes with it. The more powerful the spell, the more involved the ritual. For example, you set up a ring of candles, and then you have to move through that ring. 1st level spells like burning hands might require you to step forward, striking swiftly with both hands to put out a flame. You capture the smoke in your mind, and hold the last moment of that fire going out as the trigger you'll unleash when you speak the command word. For a bigger spell, like fireball, you need to go through a more complex set of forms, capturing the feel and symbolism of fire, using your motions to blow out every candle in the circle before drawing their potential together into your hands, clasping the spell in your mind.

Those are just two examples of what your spell preparation might look like. If you worship a sun goddess, do you prepare your spells at dawn, or at sunset? Do you use the day's first natural light to fill your mind with magic, or capturing the last of her fading glory to keep you bright and warm through the night? You could do that with any prepared caster who happens to be religious. Or, say you are a cleric who worships a god of war. Do you kneel and pray quietly, or do you recite the edicts of your order while maintaining your equipment? Symbolic prayers, like sharpening your sword for greater magic weapon, or polishing your helmet for a protection spell, add depth to a daily ritual that might not otherwise exist.

And if you worship a god of pain, suffering, and darkness? Well... you might need to get crucified before your mind reaches the place you can commune with your god.

What About Spontaneous Casters?

If we hand wave prepared spellcasters, we out and out forget that spontaneous casters have any ritual to their daily preparation. After all, that's the point of being a spontaneous caster, isn't it? You don't have to pick and choose, or go through long rituals... you're always on.

Always.

We all know that sorcerers, bards, and other spontaneous arcane casters just need to get 8 hours of rest before they can cast their spells for the day... but what we sometimes forget is that they also need to spend 15 minutes or so after that rest focusing their minds and tuning themselves up (Core Rulebook 220). Bards need to do some kind of performance as well, whether it be lightly humming through their favorite tunes, strumming on an instrument, or going through a prepared monologue while limbering up their voices.

What does that look like? For example, if you have a draconic sorcerer, do you surround yourself with the element associated with your forebear? Do you lie on a pile of treasure? Do you concentrate on your inner dragon, stoking the power inside yourself so that it's closer to the surface?

Those little decisions can say a lot about a character. Not only that, but they transform you from, "that spellcaster we bring along," to, "Blackthorn the Mad, Scion of a Thousand Razors".

Be honest, which name would you rather be known by?

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Jesus Wept, You Can Now Buy Your Own Lament Configuration!

With Halloween still a recent memory some of us are experiencing the urge to bring some real horror to tabletop games. Whether you're running Call of Cthulhu, Dungeons and Dragons, Savage Worlds, Pathfinder, or another game entirely though, there is something you need to be made aware of.

You can buy your own Lament Configuration.

It has such sights to show you.

For those of you who don't know what this is, the Lament Configuration is the puzzle box used in the horror classic Hellraiser to summon the alien Cenobites; creatures of extreme sensation for whom pain and pleasure are indecipherable. It's a staple of horror and now there's a way for you to get one short of sneaking onto the set of the remake and stealing one for your very own.

All you have to do is go to the website for The Puzzle Box Maker (since that's not ominous at all) and place your order. Seriously, take a look at the details here.

Never have I more wanted to play a cleric of Zon Kuthon... if only these were big enough to keep a set or three of dice inside...

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Using Religion in Your Roleplaying

An individual's faith is a deeply personal choice, as is the way he or she decides to practice it. Some people are very quiet about their beliefs, not bringing them up in conversation or even making them a part of their common vernaculars. Other people display their faith subtly, perhaps by wearing a symbol to identify themselves or by saying a small, quiet prayer before they eat. Still other people make their religion very plain, following strict rules on dress, behavior, diet, and even about the kinds of people they can associate with according to their faith.

If you want to add an extra dimension to your roleplaying, consider your character's views on the divine.

The Gods Are Real

And they will give you things, if you ask properly.

Let's take the example of a fantasy roleplaying game like Pathfinder. In these games gods, spirits, and other forces are undeniably real. Clerics, paladins, druids, oracles, and others all draw power from the well of the divine. Not only that but those who have been resurrected have given testimony of the worlds beyond, and learned practitioners of the arcane can commune with any number of beings beyond the mortal, material realm.

So, the gods are real.

Take a moment and contemplate that for a moment. Think of a world where there was no question on the existence of gods. A world in which the gods and their servants could be seen, heard, felt, and where there was a better than even chance their mortal mouth-pieces were in fact giving the masses the straight dope on the divine. A world where the pious could perform miracles, where infernal and angelic bloodlines manifested in the populace, and where there was no possibility of it all being smoke and mirrors as a salve on troubled souls.

That's the kind of world your character exists in.

What Sort of Faith Did Your Character Grow Up In?

We do not smile in the graveyard. Pharasma will make our faces stick that way if we do.

Religion, whether by its presence or the lack thereof, shapes people. Just look at people in America. Catholics have saints as well as Jesus and Mary, and there are a hundred rituals and holy days to remember. Lutherans forego many of these things, though they practice ostensibly the same faith. Other religions, like Santeria, Voodoo, Asatru, Wicca, Hinduism and others all come with their own rules and regulations. Not being raised with a faith at all, or being raised in a way that doesn't expose you to a faith, also leaves a mark on a person. These are things that can cling for a lifetime in the form of warding gestures, turns of phrase, or little rituals from lighting candles for the departed to running fingers over a rosary when one is nervous.

So ask yourself what faith or faiths your character grew up with. Was he raised in an orphanage run by clerics of Asmodeus who taught about the contracts of society, and who instilled values of cleverness and power? Perhaps she was brought up in the country, and her father taught her all about nature, and how Erastil had given them a responsibility to support each other and to never take more than they need to live? Maybe your character was raised by wizards, who considered the divine a problem to be solved rather than an idea to be worshiped and followed?

Whatever your unique upbringing was, ask what bits of faith held tight and which fell by the wayside. Maybe it's the curses your character uses, the taboos she avoids, or something even deeper.

How Do You Pray?

Put on your knee pads girls, we're going to be here a while.

Every day clerics have to pray for their spells. This is the same kind of hour-long ritual that wizards and magi have to go through to access their magic for the day. Most players just tell their DM "I pray for spells," the DM nods, and the game continues on.

If you do this you're passing up a huge roleplaying opportunity.

Yes, the mechanical effects of praying for spells don't change from one cleric to another. Every cleric spends an hour at prayer, and as a result said cleric gets a certain number of spells for the day. But what does it look like?

Does a cleric of Gorum passively kneel and pray, or does he clean his armor and weapons to a mirror shine as he recites the tenets of the god of battle? Or does he stand without armor, in just a loincloth with naked steel in hand as he goes through combat forms that represent different spells? Does a cleric of Shelyn create art while praying, or does the cleric play music or dance as a way to create something beautiful as an offering? Does a cleric of Zon Kuthon cut herself, or run needles through her skin in certain patterns to get closer to the god of agony? Do the prayers change over time? Are more elaborate rituals required for those who are higher in power, which explains why they're granted more powerful magic?

This isn't just for clerics either. Any character who worships a god should have little rituals that make them more unique. Barbarians might offer a prayer at the beginning or end of a hunt to commemorate the activity. Rangers who track and kill undead might carve Pharasma's spiral on their arrowheads out of a totemic belief that they'll draw the restless dead home. Fighters who worship Cayden Cailean might offer the first toast to him after a successful adventure in thanks, or before embarking as a prayer for good luck.

When the gods could quite literally be on your side, it's important to make sure they know you're listening.

Monsters and Faith

Sixth level of the Abyss, how can we help you?

Even the most diverse games tend to be very human-heavy; let's face it a bonus feat and skill point are hard to say no to. However, it's important to remember that monstrous races all have their own gods as well. Elves, dwarves, giants, ogres, gnolls, and others all have gods they revere. The question players have to ask in these cases is did these monstrous characters leave their old faiths behind, or cling tight and go on adventures with their primordial patrons looking over their shoulders?

For some races the connection to the gods is even stronger. Tieflings and aasimar are the first that come to mind, but geniekin and others with the blood of powerful outsiders running through their veins are also important candidates for deeper questions. For instance, does a tiefling believe that he's damned simply because of his heritage? Could a lifetime of prejudice and scorn lead him to snap, deciding that he'll commit such atrocities that when he does go to hell they'll make him a duke for his troubles? Does an aasimar regard divine parentage as something more like an extended family than a god, leading them to treat those they're descended from with greater familiarity and less awe than they might otherwise command?

These are good questions to start with. How you answer them will depend on the kind of character you want to make.


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