Which spells should I write down on my character sheet?

Question

Under my spells list on my character sheet, there are many lines, and some have a selection of 'prepared' beside them. Am I able to write all of my spells down there, or is there only a certain amount that I can write down?

I have the gist of preparing and casting down, just not sure if my character is 'aware' of the rest of the spells?

For instance, I understand that a level 1 cleric with a +4 WIS mod can have 5 prepared spells, unless I don't have the gist of it. So I could prepare, for example, cure wounds, healing word, create or destroy water, guiding bolt, and command

But would I be able to write down the other level 1 spells in the rest of the blank lines? Or are they something I learn?

Answer 1

As a cleric you get to choose, each day, 5 (level + WIS mod) spells to prepare from the entire cleric list, as well as your domain spells which are always prepared (PHB p.58) So while you may have decided today that those five spells are the day's agenda, tomorrow you might change your mind.

To that end one might jot down the name of all cleric spells and bubble in the five you've picked that day. Tomorrow you can erase those bubbles and bubble in five different, or only change one, &c.

Or you might just jot down the spells you think you like--say, 3/4 of the list--and do likewise with the bubbles.

The structure of the spell-page of the "standard" character sheet is meant to be useful to all casters--those who prepare and those who don't, those who know a whole list and those who only know a subset.

Answer 2

In the PH, this is what it says under Chapter 10: Spellcasting.

Regardless of how many spells a caster knows or prepares, he or she can cast only a limited number of spells before resting.

This means that you can use the spells from the cleric list, but can only use your amount of spell slots before resting. Check the Player’s Handbook for you race and class features on spellcasting. I’m not so sure if I have this right, but I still thought I could give it a try anyway. I advise you strongly to get a Player’s Handbook if you don’t have one. It goes over all of the stuff like this and more.

Answer 3

Cleric spells are a little more complicated than what the character sheet can provide.

Since clerics have their whole spell list available to them, and choose to prepare a set number of them per day, you may want to print out a separate sheet with all cleric spells on it. Another party member made this list a while ago, but I don't know if it's up to date with Xanathars and which domain it was for.

They would bold their domain spells to mark that they were always prepared and then they used a pencil to bubble in which spells they prepared each day.

You might also want to invest in some spell cards. Either by printing your own or buying them online.

Answer 4

How to best use that sheet will vary depending on the character class, and how you like to keep track of things. There isn't any specific rule about what to write on the sheet, as long as it helps you to accurately track what spells your character has prepared at any given time (and for Wizards, what spells they have collected in their spell books).

Clerics don't have to worry about learning spells

For a Cleric (or Druid, or Paladin¹) spells "known" means all of them, so there is no need to write them all down unless it makes it easier for you to pick them. A Cleric will use it a bit more like a scratch sheet, writing down or marking whatever spells he has chosen to prepare for the day (including any he gets from his Domain) and changing those if he chooses different spells on a different day.

¹ These three classes are called Divine Casters and their magic operates differently from Arcane Casters

Arcane Casters have to learn spells

Wizards "know" the spells they have collected in their book (potentially up to all of them), and prepare a subset of those spells for a given day. So a Wizard will write on the sheet all of the spells he has in his spellbook, and fill in the bubbles on what he has prepared for that day.

For a Sorcerer, Bard, Ranger, Warlock, Eldritch Knight, or Arcane Trickster, spells known and spells prepared are the same; simply write down those few spells he knows, as those are the ones he has prepared always, and those only change when he goes up in level.

The above has nothing to do with spell slots, which are on a table in your character class description, and tell you how many times you can cast, of each level of spell, from whatever spells you have prepared by whatever method your character class prepares spells.