Spell Memorization Time

September 2006

This page provides revised rules for spell memorization. If I recall correctly, I based this upon an article inDragon Magazine.

Spell Memorization

By the book, spells require 15 minutes per spell level to memorize, following a rest period. This is for all classes and sounds reasonable, as it typically takes a 1st level a mere 15 minutes to memorize their one spell.

However, as the character rises in level, the time required grows at an ever increasing rate. A 9th level cleric takes 8.5 hours to re-memorize all spells. In game terms, this adds a full day to between when a party may leave a dungeon to recuperate and when they may re-enter the dungeon. Personally, that bogs the adventure down, especially in higher level campaigns, as teh following table demonstrates.

Table #A5 – Cleric Memorization Times

An alternate is to enable high intelligence/wisdom to reduce the time required. The time per level decreases with increasing intelligence/wisdom to a minimum of 5 minutes per spell level for those with an intelligence/wisdom of 19 or higher. Spell casters cannot have an intelligence/wisdom less than 9 so 15 minutes is the maximum time required.

Table A6 lists the times by Intelligence/Wisdom.

Table #A6 — Spell Memorization Time

A cleric with a wisdom of 18 has greatly reduce memorization times.

Table #A7 – Revised Cleric Memorization Times

This page last updated: March 2020
Copyright 2020 Bryan Fazekas