Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Gandalf

Here we go again, writing a post inspired by something JB at BX/Blackrazor said that got under my skin.  The inciting posts are this one and this one.

Getting the rant out of the way ...

I do not understand why this concept of "rememorizing" spells is such a burr in the sides of so many people.  It isn't as if having to learn something all over again isn't ordinary in today's world.  I haven't used integral calculus since High School.  I've forgotten nearly all the Russian, French, Latin and Greek I ever knew, and once upon a time I got Bs in those classes.  And besides, why, why, WHY all this carping about how something that doesn't exist doesn't conform to logic that doesn't exist?  It's magic, people!  If we discovered magic in the real world, and it involved rubbing a monkey against your naked butt and then making balloon animals, we'd do it however ridiculous it was because the magic would fucking work!  An argument that magic in D&D works ridiculously makes as much sense as measuring the ass of an angel to figure out how many can fit on a pin.  Can we not spend our time writing words more efficiently?

I suppose not, because I'm writing this post.

Okay.  A few caveats.  I don't run spells exactly like it's said in AD&D.  I do require mages and illusionists to rememorize spells; I expect clerics to pray for them; and I expect druids to meditate.  I have redefined "memorization" on my wiki, but that's not important.  The cost to rememorize a spell is 15 minutes per spell level (cantrips count as half a level).  And as a quick answer to some things JB said, a "dagger" is NOT a "knife."  Not remotely.  A spellbook only needs to be large enough to hold the number of spells the character has presently ~ at 1st level, this is just a small book.  At 5th, as the spells need more space and proliferate, the caster buys another blank book and wraps them both together with cloth.  The "big book" of spells relates to the very high mage who has taken the time and trouble to transfer all those old copies onto one massive tome, which sits in the library and does not get dragged across the landscape, because said mage teleports into the situation and teleports home to relearn said spells.

Shut up Alexis.  Stop ranting.

Okay, okay.  The meat & potatoes.

I appreciate the procedure of the spellcaster being temporarily denuded of spells, because it encourages reliance on classes who have relatively less power.  Because the fighter always has a sword, as long as he's awake, it helps mitigate the magnificent power of the spellcaster by giving them a "Dr. Jekyll" persona.  At one moment massively powerful, the next a soft, spongy vulnerable soul with a pointy dirk and not much guts.  The time spent having to regain the spells, refolding them into the spellcaster's mind, extends this Dr. Jekyll period sufficiently to make the caster dependent.  This helps build the party and mitigates the player's feelings that the caster "wins every battle."

An 8th level mage in my world will have between 26 and 30 cantrips, six 1st level spells, three 2nd level spells, three 3rd level spells and two 4th level spells.  Typically during a dungeon day, virtually every spell will be cast and about ten cantrips.  The total time to relearn all these spells = 34 levels = 8.5 hours.  Add to this time the caster must spend healing and resting, during which spells cannot be relearned, and we have a character who will very definitely Not use their spells frivolously.  That is what I want.  I am always speaking about how I have created rules that lower spellcasters to the level of fighters and thieves; relearning spells is a cornerstone of that method.

I was always getting into arguments with people who would explain how magic could accomplish all the world's productivity, as the spells could be cast every day and within a few rounds.  Well, unless caster want to spend all their free time staring at their spellbook, for the sake a few farmers who could bloody well go out and hoe the field themselves, as they have nothing else of importance to do, spellcasters are going to find something better to do with their time.  I like that, too.

Additionally, since a cleric is going to have to wedge nearly two hours into the schedule of praying to their god exclusively to get their resurrection spell back, because the miller's son doesn't know how a waterwheel works, there's going to be a pretty strong pushback against using the spell just because it is there.  It gives good reason for the cleric to ask, "And why should I raise this lout, exactly?"  A cleric high enough level to cast resurrection will have the responsibilities of a bishop or a cardinal.  Every try to get two hours of a bishop's time, just because you have something you want?  Good luck, buddy.

I could give a rat's ass for the logic of whether or not rememorizing "makes sense" from a theoretical "this is how magic works" point of view.  I care about how it works in the game procedures of my setting's design.  Mages, as written in the books, need hamstringing.  This is a perfectly reasonable, comparable, acceptable way to do it and I have never had a character complain.  After all, there has to be some cost to having all that power.