Hello all,
I started with AD&D over forty years ago, so our group was used to wizards having to roll randomly to determine new spells acquired when going up a level. I do not want to go back to that for my next Pathfinder game that I will be running, but I also do not want to give the wizard two spells of his choice as in the Pathfinder rules.
I was thinking that either the school can be rolled randomly with choice of spell within that school; or the school can be chosen with the spell being rolled randomly, with a possibility of rolling more than one spell and then having a choice.
Please keep in mind that this would not bother the player of the wizard, as we played together back then and this is similar to how spells are acquired in the Dolmenwood game that he runs now. Also, spell books from defeated wizards will not be uncommon in the campaign (Mummy’s Mask adventure path).
Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can blend randomness with player choice?
Instead of having random spells why not use a spellcraft check. Allow the player to choose the spell but require them to make a spellcraft check to gain the spell. If they fail the check they have to choose a different spell and make a spellcraft check to learn that spell. Keep repeating the process until they gain the number of spells they are entitled to.
If the character is a specialist, you could require that at least on spell has to be from the characters school.
The spells gained for going up a level are supposed to represent spells the wizard researches during down time. So, gaining completely random spells when going up a level does not really make sense.
If the player knows what he wants to learn, make him do a quest to find it. Could be trivial or substantial. You can plot that as far forward as you like, and he can otherwise manage with some random or plot-relevant spells in the meantime.
As (by RAW) the PC could simply buy a scroll of what he wants, the same should apply to buying magic items, though it depends how much time you and your players want to spend doing what amounts to shopping.
I assume you also want to remove the rules that you can simply buy spells in the local market
Besides nostalgia what is the purpose of doing this? As prepared spell casters wizards have to choose what and how many of each spell they cast per day. A sorcerer has less spell to choose from but can spam out what spells they know. A bad selection for a wizard can render the character useless for that day. Having a completely random selection of spells makes that more likely. Having the perfect selection of spells per day is nearly impossible unless the GM is telling the players exactly what to expect. In reality most of the time the wizard ends up with some useless spells. This has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of the class too much.
You could use a parallel method to the "old school" 1st Ed AD&D Unearthed Arcana for a character's initial set of spells in their spellbook (or familiar):
1) PF1e automatically includes all 0-level cantrips (other than those in prohibited schools [if any]);
2) for the three "baseline" 1st-level spells, you can roll randomly for one offensive spell, one defensive spell, and one utility spell (you can either create the lists for each category to remove spells from the prohibited schools or re-roll any results that indicate a spell from a prohibited school);
3) for the additional starting spells based on the character's Int bonus, you can probably allow the player to choose* those from "common" spells (essentially a curated list).
Other casters, like magi, with a spellbook or a familiar can just tweak the above.
*- wizards probably should be allowed a larger list to choose from, while a witch should probably have a smaller list based on their patron