In some sense, once a spell becomes free, it stops really being a spell, and becomes an ability. It's not so much that a mentalist is casting Presence as that they have developed a sense which, with a little concentration, permits them to be aware of minds.
In a sense, yes, but mechanically, you still have to roll for and face the chance of failure.
I got thinking about this again recently and wanted to follow up in response to these two points, specifically regarding the Preparation class of spells.
For reference, the descriptions of these spells are as follows:
Dervish (RMC2):
"This spell allows the caster to prepare his body for the extreme rigors that use of this spell list will incur, and so use the spells on this list without destroying his own body. This spell must be cast prior to every utilization of the spells on this list. If it is not used, the caster will take a base 10 points of concussion damage/level of the spell cast, along with whatever other penalty which the GM deems appropriate."Evil Magician (RMC4):
"Prepares the caster's body for the rigors of any of the other spells on this list. If this spell is not cast immediately before one of these spells is cast, the caster will take D10 hits and an 'A' Disruption critical for each level of the spell."Doppelganger (RMC7):
"Caster must cast this before any Form spell on this list. If he does not, he will suffer 'A' Physical Alteration criticals until the total change equals 100%."Now, referencing the two quotes above, my first question regards the amount of time required for the Preparation spell to take effect/be used. Considering that both Dervish and Evil Mentalist lists contain instantaneous spells, it seems unreasonable to assume that the Preparation spells would require a full round to manifest. If they did, what would be the point for the existence of instantaneous spells when they are intended for snap usage? I suppose one could "bank" the Preparation spell toward the chance that you will cast an instantaneous spell in the future, but, at best, that would relegate the instantaneous spells to be used once every other round.
The Dervish also has Extending Dances to consider, the first of which says
"Allows the caster to double the duration of the next spell cast within 3 rounds." The text here makes sense in that Class III spells require two rounds of prep and one round to cast. However, the prerequisite Preparation spell (assuming another base spell is being cast) should technically pre-empt that, which would nullify the goal of the extension spell.
In order to resolve these issues, I would suggest the following, incorporating the comments from both jdale and Hurin. In the round when the end-result spell is to be cast, the player first rolls Base Spell Casting for the Preparation spell. If the Preparation roll is successful, the caster may continue to attempt to cast the end-result spell. If the Preparation roll fails, the caster may choose to either not cast the end-result spell or cast it with the penalty as described above.
This treats the Preparation spell more as an ability rather than a spell, which solves the round time problem for instantaneous spells (since you can't cast more than one spell per round) and the pre-empting problem of the extension spells, but it does not eliminate the need for preparation entirely, nor make it simply automatic.
Thoughts?