As You Prepare Spells, Do Magical Effects End Pathfinder?

A wizard prepares a spell, which remains in their mind as a nearly cast spell until they use the prescribed components to complete and trigger it or abandon it. Certain events, such as the effects of magic items or special attacks from monsters, can wipe a prepared spell from a character’s mind. Permanent duration spells, such as a sepia snake sigil, will likely outlast the creature, while self-resetting permanencied versions of symbol spells will last as long as the surface they are inscribed upon.

Spells only end (or begin to end) if they require concentration or if you are a summoned creature that was killed. Otherwise, they fulfill their duration. The Shillelagh Principle states that once a spell is active, it no longer checks the requirement conditions. When casting a buff on someone, it becomes active, and you end one spell effect or magic item effect. Dismissal might end the effect entirely or might.

Timed durations are measured in rounds, minutes, hours, or other increments. When preparing spells, write the spell down on a slip of paper and hand it in to the GM who does the spell effect of the spell written on the slip. Each prepared spell is expended after a single casting, so if you want to cast a particular spell, choose a spell that takes 3 or fewer actions to cast.

In Pathfinder, spell slots are how many spells of a level you can cast, while the number of spells you can prepare can be very different. Death rarely ends any ongoing effects, and a spell can only counter itself. Casting the same spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells, and changing your list takes 1 minute per spell level on your list. A spell is a discrete magical effect, shaping the magical energies that suffuse the multiverse into a specific, limited expression.