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Just some thoughts on alternate ways that spells could be learned:
Currently you can learn spells based on level and stat. Each spell costs one "point", let us say. What if we were to increase the number of points the player gets, and then also variably increase the cost of the player learning spells? So for example, Manastorm might cost 20 points instead of 1. Then you can let the player make tradeoffs in which spells they want to learn.
Now, determine which spells are related to other spells. Give the player a discount for learning spells that are related to spells they already know. If you know Firebolt, the cost of learning Fireball is reduced by 2 points. Knowing Detect Monster, Detect Treasure, etc. makes learning Detection cheaper. This encourages specialization: you won't have the points to learn every spell and it's not cost-efficient to try to learn many spells that aren't related.
Now, mush all the spells together. Give the player a personal spellbook that increases in weight by 1 pound for each spell they add to it (and scatter individual spell scrolls about the dungeon). Ditch the mage/priest distinction. All classes are primarily distinguished based on how good they are at melee/missile weapons, and how many points for spell learning they get. You could even change character creation into picking a set of points on a slider for your character: "I want to be 30% combat / 70% spellcasting. I want to have 80% saving throw / 20% stealth. Etc." Being more biased towards combat gives you extra blows, more starting STR/DEX/CON, a higher armor limit before being encumbered, etc. Being biased towards spellcasting gives you more points for learning spells, better starting INT/WIS (which would need to be more strongly differentiated, perhaps into points earned / mana earned), a lower minimum failure rate, etc.
One possible problem with this approach is that by level 50 the player may find they have leftover points that they cannot spend on any spells that they want. "Well, I have 3 points left, the only spells I'd actually use cost at least 5, and everything else I can afford is basically useless." One thing you could do here is allow the player to invest remaining points into supercharging a spell they already know. For example, each extra point invested in Firebolt increases its damage by 50%, decreases its cost by 1, and increases its minimum level by 5. Probably not as good as learning a useful new spell, but a lot better than nothing, and again encourages specialization. You might have mages who try to scrape by with a bare minimum of spells until they get to Manastorm, and then pump all the extra points they can into that one spell. Or mages who spend the entire game casting Magic Missile (only to find by the mid-late game that it stops scaling adequately, making up for the much easier early game).
Currently you can learn spells based on level and stat. Each spell costs one "point", let us say. What if we were to increase the number of points the player gets, and then also variably increase the cost of the player learning spells? So for example, Manastorm might cost 20 points instead of 1. Then you can let the player make tradeoffs in which spells they want to learn.
Now, determine which spells are related to other spells. Give the player a discount for learning spells that are related to spells they already know. If you know Firebolt, the cost of learning Fireball is reduced by 2 points. Knowing Detect Monster, Detect Treasure, etc. makes learning Detection cheaper. This encourages specialization: you won't have the points to learn every spell and it's not cost-efficient to try to learn many spells that aren't related.
Now, mush all the spells together. Give the player a personal spellbook that increases in weight by 1 pound for each spell they add to it (and scatter individual spell scrolls about the dungeon). Ditch the mage/priest distinction. All classes are primarily distinguished based on how good they are at melee/missile weapons, and how many points for spell learning they get. You could even change character creation into picking a set of points on a slider for your character: "I want to be 30% combat / 70% spellcasting. I want to have 80% saving throw / 20% stealth. Etc." Being more biased towards combat gives you extra blows, more starting STR/DEX/CON, a higher armor limit before being encumbered, etc. Being biased towards spellcasting gives you more points for learning spells, better starting INT/WIS (which would need to be more strongly differentiated, perhaps into points earned / mana earned), a lower minimum failure rate, etc.
One possible problem with this approach is that by level 50 the player may find they have leftover points that they cannot spend on any spells that they want. "Well, I have 3 points left, the only spells I'd actually use cost at least 5, and everything else I can afford is basically useless." One thing you could do here is allow the player to invest remaining points into supercharging a spell they already know. For example, each extra point invested in Firebolt increases its damage by 50%, decreases its cost by 1, and increases its minimum level by 5. Probably not as good as learning a useful new spell, but a lot better than nothing, and again encourages specialization. You might have mages who try to scrape by with a bare minimum of spells until they get to Manastorm, and then pump all the extra points they can into that one spell. Or mages who spend the entire game casting Magic Missile (only to find by the mid-late game that it stops scaling adequately, making up for the much easier early game).
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