Increasing Spell Variety

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Many systems for fantasy gaming have a list of spells as long as I am tall, either in the main book for players or in optional expansions. Usually, on creation, a player will pick 3 to 5 of these for his character and they often include things such as magic missile, read magic and burning hands or their equivalents.

Not everyone was aware of this when I played 2nd edition AD&D, but there were actually other 1st level spells available for novice mages and specialists to select from besides Magic Missile and Sleep. — Excerpt from the Dwarf this morning.

A GM who wants to address this situation has a few choices. You can get amazingly imaginative and come up with encounters for which these spells are required in order to succeed but I’ve chosen a different path – consumable magic spells.

Consumable magic is