The Origin and Use of Magic in OD&D part 2

If you were thinking that this post is going to be something claiming to be a definitive answer, sorry that is not what this is about. Continued from The Origin and Use of Magic in OD&D part 1

1. B. "remembered during any single adventure," what does that mean? OD&D does not tell us anything beyond that for spell memorization. How long does it take to memorize one spell? Is it crack open the spell book and read the spell once in a meditative state or something else? Does it vary by the level of the spell? Does it vary by the level of the spell and the level of the Magic-User? I don't want to slow down the game or get picky with this or make the game boring for everyone, so I hand wave it. We assume that the Magic-User spends a bit of time each morning to memorize his spells, but we don't go any deeper with it although you easily could if you found it fun to do so. What does all of that mean in regard to the Cleric? I run it the same way, but if the player wants to think of it differently, I'm cool with that.

1. C.  "each applicable character indicates the number of spells of each level that can be used (remembered during any single adventure) by that character" again what does that mean? Specifically what does that mean for a Cleric and how is it different for a Cleric versus how it is for a Magic-User? The rules themselves do not say. So IMHO that leaves it up to the DM with player input to do what you find to be more fun. How do you want to run it, do you want to gloss over it or create a distinction between the two? I have done both. I have run it identically for both the Magic-User and for the Cleric. In doing so we ignored the issue of why does a Cleric not get a spell until 2nd Level when a Magic-User gets a spell at 1st level. I have also made a distinction between the two and invented a rationale for the differences such as when they each get the first spell and also why the Cleric gets fewer spells than the Magic-User. I can see plenty of reasons to do it either way or even something else.

1. D. "A spell used once may not be reused in the same day," what does that mean? Does that mean that when I am a 2nd level Magic-User I get two spells but they both have to be different spells? Or can I memorize a Sleep spell twice and cast each of them once? I have always run it the second way, but I have considered the first interpretation since it would greatly change the way you play a Magic-User. Another thing to consider is that if you use the first method, then once the Cleric has at least two spells per day, only one could be a healing spell. That would help spike the whole trope of the Cleric being a healing bot and not being able to take any other spells, just because. That trope has never been a problem IMC because my players understood that sometimes there are things more important than a healing spell. But as the healing bot trope is so widespread, I can see how running it the first way could both tone-down the Magic-User and make the Cleric more interesting to play, if your players needed to be given that direction.