A long look at ADnD 2nd ed, Players Options Spells and Magic.

Two years ago, almost to the month I wrote my deep dive on Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition Players Option Skills and powers. (TSR 2154.) An article I was pretty proud of at the time, even if only Russian web bots ever read it.

Then the world fell apart. A pandemic made camp here in New York, hasn't left yet. For about a year my job went from how I make a living to how I lived. Furthermore, I have by any real measure stopped gaming. I even took this Blogg completely down for nearly 2 years. It's been a strange, sad, busy time.

I kept occasionally thinking about The Players options books. How they seem to have been forgotten. Or if not forgotten dismissed. In reality I would love to ask the author how the Players Options books came about. I would like to know what their internal dialogs and the internal discussions at TSR were while the books were in production.

With that in mind, I'm going to embark on part 2 of the AD&D 2ed Player's Option deep dive. Featuring "Player's Option: Spells and Magic" (TSR 2163, First printing May 1996)

I think now is a good time to note that as of this writing, all the players options books can be purchased in PDF form from Drive Through RPG. Which I had to do for this writing. I only own Skills and Powers, and Combat and Tactics (TSR 2149) in their original forms. (I normally play Fighter / Warrior types and never saw the need to purchase the third book back in 1996).  This book is the one I'm least familiar with. Even through the fog of 26 years I remember using "Skills and Powers." This book will be a fresh read for me as I Journey into systems, mechanics, and character types I didn't often engage with.

With that said let's begin the journey.

There is a TLDR section at the end if cutting to the chase suits.

The Cover is an evocative scene of A wizard obliterating a castle with what looks like a meteor storm spell. The painting is by Jeff Easley and is up to his high standard of work from the time. He's one of the masters. 

While It's not my favorite cover, it does drive home the point that Wizards are a big deal, they blow up castles. Wizards toss fire. Wizards look bad ass while tossing fire. Wizards are unique and powerful. A point that will come up often in the text.

On a side note: I went looking for more information on this cover. I looked up the players options books in "Dungeons and Dragons Art & Arcana, A Visual History" This is a fun book about D&D art through the years. In the book it says the following concerning the Players options books. 

"They Quickly followed with a host of Player's Options and Dungeon Master's options books filled with variant rules reimagining character generation, combat resolution, spell casting, and similarly fundamental aspects of the game. By making all this optional however, they effectively diluted the integrity of the core system."

(Dungeons and Dragons Art & Arcana, A Visual History10 Speed Press; Licensed by WotC,  ISBN 978-0-399-58094-9) 

About our Author / Designer: 
Richard Baker worked with TSR starting in 1991 right though the  WotC years until 2011. He is listed as author of this book and also the designer for the Player's Option series of books. A quick Wikipedia search makes it clear that Mr. Baker was a well-respected and trusted writer. It seems he worked on a ton of TSR product lines including Spelljammer, Ravenloft, Planescape, etc. He also co-designed my personal favorite campaign setting "Birthright." AS if that's not enough he worked on Alternity, another lost game from this period which I just may give this treatment too someday, because frankly it's awesome. 

Mr. Baker starts us off with a Forward detailing how he came to love fantasy fiction. Wherein he states that "the singe defining characteristic of the fantasy genre is magic."
A sentiment which I agree with, and which supports the tone for the rest of the book.
He ends that same paragraph with "Magic is the very essence of the impossible."
Which again is a good indicator of the perspective from which the book was written.

Flowing the Forward is two full pages of the three-column table of contents typical of the lay out followed in the TSR books of the time. It's concise and clean. In truth I have always admired how the TSR books of the mid to late 90's are laid out and structured. I like how they are almost over sectioned, have tables reprinted in the final section, and always contain a detailed Index. There are some modern games that could learn lessons from these 20+ year old books. Steve Winter the creative director on this book had been with TSR since 1981, and clearly knew how to build a book to be used at the table.

NEXT The Introduction (PG:6)
The introduction full page plate is a bit of a reiteration or an extended support of the Forward. As the need for a concise magic system is laid out using examples pulled from Fantasy literature. It's interesting to see the examples of Tolkien's influence being used several times. Years later the writers at WotC will spend time trying to step away from the games obvious roots in classic fantasy literature. The reasons why and the influence of social medial and the greater zeitgeist revolving around D&D is not part of this articles scope, but it is brought to mind here. The nod to Jack Vance being the basis for D&D's traditional magic system is a welcome touch.

On Page 7 an interesting point is brought up. In all the years of D&D / AD&D and so on, the magic system had remained largely unchanged. I hadn't thought of it that way. The introduction goes on to promise a look from all angles at classes, Schools and spheres of magic, introduction of the point-based character class design system compatible with "Player's option Skills and Powers." New proficiencies, information about wizard and priest equipment, and a new memorization / casting system, are also promised. Chapter 8 will include critical hits with spells, which I think may be unique to this book. Looking though some D&D SRD's for 3.5, and 4th I don't see spell critical hits explained explicitly.  Though I do know that some DM's (myself included) would allow critical hits with spells that require a hit roll. I'm not sure if that was a house rule, up until 5th edition. I'll have to keep researching the  concept of spell critical hits.

What do we need to use this book? The core AD&D books are a must. It is also stated that everything in this book is compatible with the other Player's Options books and that the Tome of Magic would be a good companion book.

Integrating Spells and Magic into your Campaign: 
here it is explained that the rules in this book are primarily expansion material however some things such as spell school and sphere rearrangements are an update and replacement of existing material. While I could say that's a minor point However, the book says it was done to "make the wizard and priest specialist classes more competitive with respect to the general versions of these characters." 

This is a bit of a nod to the balance concepts that would come to dominate 3rd edition, 4th edition, and so on. The concept of some character types being a bit lesser, either early on in the game or out of their specific situational roles is replaced with the idea of what would come to be called "builds."  The concept is not new in 1996. I would argue this shift began with 2nd ed's kits back in 1989 in "The Complete Fighters Handbook (PHBR1.) I had that book and  a few other of the "Complete" Books. Builds were definitely a thing, I spent a  lot of time trying to find the right kit to make my  dwarf fighter tougher than  the mountains he came from.  (The answer was and is Myrmidon)

Making The Switch:

A long block of text it's here we get introduced to The Spell Point System for the first time. Here the author suggests running a trial game using the spell point system to make sure all the players enjoy and understand the new content. This is excellent advice, especially for players who had only played D&D and might not have engaged with any other spell system.

I don't want to skimp on the introduction. It is extensive. The introduction section covers pages eight to eleven and asks the reader to ponder all of the important question about how magic fits into their game. Specifically, "The role of Magic in the Campaign" section asks the reader to address the scarcity, power, mystery, and cost of magic. It is suggested that these qualities can be described on a 1 to 10 scale. For example, a campaign with a 9 in magical scarcity and an 8 in power means that magic is very rare and also very potent. Mystery measures how generally the scope of a spell caster powers are known in the world. Cost measures the price that needs to be paid to use magic. Does a caster simply cast a spell and move on, or are they fatigued, ore risk insanity when wielding their powers. 

this example my own campaign would look like this:

• Scarcity: 8 Wizards are few, magic items rare. Spells are hard to come by.
• Power: 7 Spells are used as written, however magic items tend to be more powerful.
• Mystery: 7 Many common folk may never encounter real magic in Thier lifetimes.
• Cost: 3 Basically D& D rules as written.

 The section goes on to talk about a variety of campaign world views concerning magic. This includes several examples of how magic may work in a setting. 

It seems that this section is aimed at world builders. It Makes sense as the author is an accomplished world builders in his own right. This is the first hint of how complete this book really is trying to be. From here on it becomes clear that even though this is called "Player's Option" if there is a wizard or priest in the campaign, both player's and GM's will get use from this material.

CHAPTER 1: Wizards.

The opening line:

"Wizards may well be the most important character class in the AD&D game." 

After the introduction plate the text goes on to say that the information in Spells and Magic replaces or revises the Players handbook, The complete guide to Wizards Handbook, the tome of magic, and the material concerning magic from Players Option: Skills and Powers. Unless of the group is using a particular setting in which case that setting trumps this book. Examples to include Dark Sun, or Birthright's specific magic systems. That makes perfect sense, this book is the essential source for things magic. Meanwhile there is no way the other could have written this book to encompass all the various setting material that had been produced to this point in AD&D's history. This carries into the next section wherein the Book goes on to say Spells from other sources are fine as long as the GM approves. Which is the only way to logical deal with the floods of spells that were flying around. Spells from other books, things like "The great net spell book," which was a compendium of home brew spells which lived on the internet in the early years. The author had to address that there was no way to account for or predict the effects of spells from all the possible sources.

Schools of Philosophy:

This section contains to my knowledge the only concise explanation of what the schools of magic or now known as schools of philosophy actually are. These descriptions are short and to the point. Also, super useful to a GM or Player looking to choose schools for a character. Here also is the first introduction of a new concept the Philosophy of Universal Magic. This "school contains what was once lesser divination along with other spells that wizards should all know. think "read magic."  It's a school every specialist caster has access to, with no opposition school. Which is a huge correction to the AD&D system. Until this book it was possible to create a magic user who did not have access to the basic utility spells required to read scroll, research, and so on simply because those spells were locked away in an opposition school. This book rectifies that oversite in a paragraph. On the surface it doesn't look like much, however it is one of the signs that the author really looked at the AD&D magic system long and hard, then sought to plug whatever which were found. More on universal magic and how it influenced future editions in a bit.

The universal School of magic

At the end of the school explanation there is a paragraph concerning "Creating a New School of Philosophy" The gist here being that if a GM wants to find a custom group of spells that share an approach or methodology that's fine. It is also stated the creating new schools of thaumaturgy would be easier to build. (While not stated, a thaumaturgy grouping would not mess with the newly reorganized schools of opposition.) 

Schools of effect (Page 14)
The book goes on to define other ways to organize spells. First being schools of effect or spells that "share one common result or ingredient." The examples shown in the text are spells involving the elements (Earth, Wind, Fire, Watter.) The text continues to describe dimensional magic (A grouping I used in my own campaign for an NPC) Force, and shadow. 

Next, we go to Schools of Thaumaturgy: 
These are spell lists arranged by the manner in which the spells are physically cast. The examples given are the Defiler of the Dark-Sun setting, and the Sha'ir of the AL-Qadim setting. 
the section goes on to define suggested schools:

• A school of Alchemy or spells cast by using combinations of unusual materials.
• A school of Artifice (New in this book) Where in the wizard uses Devices and magical items to focus their energies.
• A school of geometry or casting through glyphs, symbols, and patterns.
• A school of song or casting based on somatic components.
• And the school of Wild Magic. which originally popped up in Tome of Magic. the author says that the reader might as well ignore Wild magic if they don't own that book.  

I personally like the ideas presented in the Thaumaturgy section more than in the schools of effect section. They are just more evocative. While making an elementalist or shadow mage, with schools of effect is a very cool idea. Personally, I get really get caught up in the idea of geomancers writing glyphs on walls and Alchemists mixing magical concoctions in smokey labs.

I also see these concepts in newer additions. Every concept in this section moved forward in one form or another. 5th addition maintains the schools of magic as Arcane traditions. A player can create artificers, geomancers, Alchemists, and so on in 5th edition as long as they have the right splat books. The concepts of sorcerers and Warlocks are more about the sources of magical power than how spells are cast. (Warlock will come up latter though)

Third edition D&D wizards had the option to specialize, choose a school saying, "A school is one of eight groupings of spells, each defined by a common theme." While the idea of schools of magic is not new here, 3rd edition also maintains the concept a of a universal school of magic that all wizards have access to which was conceptually lifted from this document whole cloth. 

Lastly, it might be more of a stretch to say it however, I can see the roots of Universal magic in the Utility spells magic users get to pick from in D&D 4th edition.

The next section begins to introduce the idea of creating a wizard. The pros and cons of choosing to be a specialist wizard or mage. 

Further the groundwork is set of ideas that will be explored latter in the book. For example, spell research and finding or buying new spells. 

D&D at this point still embraces the idea of characters doing things when they hit 9th level. Pursuits like hiring mercenary followers, building labs, building towers, researching spells and other out of the spotlight activities. It harkens back to reaching "Name Level" in basic D&D This life outside of the adventure concept was largely left behind in the current version of D&D.

I think the game itself is a lesser experience without these external character benefits. Things that root characters to the world and give the players some ownership over the setting are, in my experience some of the strongest glue which holds campaigns together.  Seeing the focus on these higher-level activities in sections of this book is not only welcome, but a reminder of that earlier, (greatly missed) design direction.

The Wizards Spell Book: (Pg. 15)

Here the idea of a spell book which must be maintained, expanded, and protected is introduced. A first level wizard starts with 3d4 first level spells two of which must be read magic and detect magic. The section then says, 

"Once these two have been included in the spell book the player may select any other 1st level spells of the school of universal magic without making a learn spells roll."

Here again another good use for the universal school of magic. A specialist magic user is also free to choose one spell for their school of specialization. For the rest of the spells the character must make "Learn spell" rolls. OR the Gm can just assign four additional spells after read and detect magic.

Next there is a short blurb about gaining new spells, Mages gain one spell per level while specialists gain one spell from their specialist school per level. I cannot remember if this is a departure from the original rules. I don't remember Mages getting one spell per level. I remember that Specialists being the DeFacto player's choice because they get a free spell each level and may also memorize one additional spell per level. As in, at fifth level they are going to get one of the big evocation spells for free and use it twice. This might just be an artifact of my not playing magic users. However, it does make the Mage option appealing as an all-around spell caster.

As an aside the picking one spell per level thing is fine until the players reach the high levels and can pick some of the really powerful spells. In my opinion a 9th level spell should eb something a wizard has to quest for.

As we hit (pg.16) and the list of specialist wizard benefits it is clear that no matter what I may have thought at the time, the specialist is the superior choice for players. Not only do they get the benefits of being a specialist as always, but each school of philosophy also has their own benefits. Again, this feels a bit like how sub classes are handled in future editions 5th ed specifically.

The School of Philosophy bonuses are varied, but not earth shaking. The bonuses are mostly saving throw based; however, each specialist gets one bonus which is more thematic. Examples include an Abjurers base armor class improving by 1 at 11th level. A diviner using find traps for free three times a day at 11th level, and an invoker being immune to one invocation spell of choice at 14th level. 

This section also includes each specialist classes pre-requisite attributes. I normally dislike the idea of prerequisites. Using the Players Options books puts attribute scores largely in the hands of the player. So, if the player has a vision of creating an illusionist having the required 16 dexterity is not a matter of luck, just planning. In the descriptions of each specialist the more detailed attribute structure from Players Option Skills and Powers is referenced here though it is not reflected on the table.

On the same chart (Table 1: Pg.17) each specialist opposition school is listed. This tells the player that their Invoker can't use enchantment / charm, or conjuration / summoning spells. To which they laugh and immolate a nearby wagon just for funnies.

(PG.18) things get interesting. 

The author details the schools of effect which were laid out earlier exactly like the original AD&D 2nd ed schools of Philosophy were described. This instantly adds 5 more options for the specialist wizard.

 Elementalists are describes first and are a refinement / update form the information found in the Tome of magic.

It is noted that elementalists do not add a free spell to their spell book each level like other magic users and this is made up for by giving the  elementalists the ability to cast a spell as if they were 1d4 levels higher once per day. I think this may be concession made to an elementalist having a smaller over all spell list. (If I were running, I might modify this to the bonus levels being equal to the characters CON bonus just to make it a stable bonus. However, that's a matter of personal preference / philosophy.)
An elementalist also gets bonuses at 11th and 14th level concerning summoned elementals, which are easy to gloss over but super cool when given more thought. Not having to concentrate to control an elemental and having no chance to have that elemental turn on the caster has huge ramifications in and out of combat.

(Pg. 19)
The  Dimensionalist  wizard is described.
I have used this class in a sort of cobbled together way for years as one of my long standing and powerful NPC's without having this information. Reading this section really piqued my interest. Having a fully formed spell list for the  dimensionalist would have been helpful to me years ago. The bonus ability to enter a tiny, pocked dimension starting at 8th level is pretty cool. I am not sure I would want to play a dimensionalist honestly. Thier specialist list consists of 22 spells all together, and those spells are pretty specific in their uses. That said, as an NPC wizard or a main big bad, the dimensionalist is very cool.

The next two schools described are the force mange and the mentalists, neither of these grabs me like the  dimensionalist does. The mentalist would make an excellent master manipulator NPC, pulling strings behind the scenes. Though a Game master could make that NPC without using this optional material, and it would take a very specific kind of player to get excited about these specialists.

Lastly on (Pg. 19 and Pg.20) we get a description of the shadow mage. The shadow mage gets to apply saving throw penalties to their targets based on the level of darkness they are working in. This is cool and were I running a game would be the default wizard class for spell casting Drow. 

Keep in mind this spell list (Found in Apendix 3 of this book) includes such gems as 

"Shadow Magic:

The shadow magic spell enables the wizard to tap energy from the Demiplane of Shadow to cast a quasi-real wizard evocation spell of 3rd level or less. For example, this spell can be magic missile, fireball, lightning bolt, or so on, and has normal effects upon creatures in the area of effect if they fail their saving throws vs. spell. Thus, a creature failing to save against a shadow magic fireball must roll another saving throw. If the latter roll is successful, the creature suffers half the normal fireball damage; if the roll is not successful, the creature suffers full normal fireball damage. If the first saving throw was successful, the shadow magic nature is detected and only 20% of the rolled damage is received (rounding down below fractions below .4 and rounding up fractions of .4 and above)."

The Shadow mage is not lacking in ... well anything. Combine saving throw penalties with Spells like Shadow magic, it's big brother "Demi-Shadow magic", and "Shadow Monsters" That Drow enclave in the caves suddenly became very, very dangerous.

The idea of Shadow mages in evocative, and because of that I know it percolated forward. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I squint the 5th ed Shadow Sorcerer subclass has nothing to do with this material outside of the loose concept of shadow magic. 

Before I move on to the Specialists in the schools of Thaumaturgy section, I want to take a step back from what we have seen already. 

It would-be easy to dismiss things like Shadow Magic and elementalist schools as lot of time / work put into just reordering the existing spell lists. 

That assumption isn't wrong but it's short sighted. What is given here is a framework for reordering your own games spell lists if you so desire. The author goes into enough detail that you can see the logic in the choices made. This empowers a GM and a player to find a theme for a specialist wizard and create their own unique spell list, opposition schools, and level advancement bonuses. This material frees the reader from the strictures of the material presented in players handbook which by this books publishing were from an edition already 7 years old which could be easily traced back to 1977. 

Schools of Thaumaturgy: Starting on (Pg.20)

Here we go with some altogether new ways of looking at D&D magic. One of the limbs I'm willing to go out on is that the now familiar Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Mage grouping we are now used to starts right here. These are forms of casting organized by METHOD of casting. A concept that offers up a world of new opportunities. This allows types of magic only limited by how many different methods of casting a Dungeon Master can think of.

Some of these class options are expansions of material originally published in "Player's Option: Skills and Power" (TSR: 2154)

The alchemist:

What is interesting to me here is that after 6th level your alchemist is going to spend a lot of down time in a lab researching and brewing potions. 

The example given in the book shows an alchemist researching a potion of resist fire taking 6 weeks and costing 1500 gp. However if successful the wizard only has to research a potion once and may know a number of potion formula up to their spells per level score.

The brewing that potion takes another week and a roll of 3d6 *100 additional gp. 

That's a fair amount of time and gold. Again, these rules harken back to a time when down time activities were very much part of the AD&D game.  Definitely a good way to get excess gold out of the party coffers.  At higher levels an alchemist could provide the party with a variety of potions making them much more formidable.

If I were running a game with an alchemist involved, I would probably allow a great deal of leeway concerning what spells could be turned into potions. Or even combinations of spells, as long as the player discussed it, research roles were made, and gold paid out. I just like the idea of an alchemist who has literally captured "lightning in a bottle."

(Pg.22)

The artificer: functions quite similarly to the alchemist. The big difference her is for the cost of sometime and gold an artificer can create one shot magic items which hold spells they can cast and temporary copies of magic items which last 1d6 days plus 1 day per caster level.
This is cool. Just like the Alchemist, the wizard's lab, the research, and the materials all drain the party coffers. (Make no mistake I think that's a good thing.)

The stored spells are a cool idea. I picture a wizard wearing a beaded necklace each bead enchanted with a spell that can be called upon with a simple command.
Another interesting point is that an artificer is the only one who can use their temporary magic items and stored spells. Meaning the artificer is much more about their own power, and much less of a support character compared to the Alchemist.

Geometer: While I love the concept of rune magic and symbology. It's application here seems for me to be too close a mirror to the artificer / Alchemist. The difference being mainly in their spell list. However, if a player is thinking about making an abjuration mage and wants the ability to carry scroll that effectively provide one extra casting per level. A player who we would also like the ability to make protection scrolls for the party, this class does that.

Song Mage: Again, this is a unique spell list, and it also checks the box as "a magic user who only needs verbal components." The song mage gets very specific resistances, and bonuses concerning things lie Sphinx's roar and shout spells. Not that a sphinx's roar is anything to sneeze at (See below.) I'm just not sure it comes up all that often. With that said I like the song mage spell list and I think it would be a cool way to make a "bard" style character with more spell casting ummph.

"The androsphinx has another special weapon as well -- his bellowing roar. It can roar three times per day, but must be very angry to do so. The first time an angry androsphinx roars, all creatures within 360 yards must roll successful saving throws vs. wands or flee in panic for three turns. When an already angry androsphinx is continually molested, even after bellowing once, it can roar even louder, causing all creatures within 200 yards to roll successful saving throws vs. petrification or be paralyzed with fright for 1d4 rounds. In addition, any creatures within 30 yards of this second roar are automatically deafened for 2d6 rounds (unless they are deaf already or have protected hearing organs). Any creature foolish enough to anger an androsphinx further will unleash his third and final roar with devastating effects. All creatures within 240 yards must successfully roll saving throws vs. spell or lose 2d4 points of Strength for 2d4 rounds (use -1 point equals -10% for characters with exceptional Strength). In addition to the weakness effects, any creature within 30 yards of the androsphinx is knocked over unless it is 8 feet tall or larger. Creatures knocked over suffer 2d8 points of damage and must roll a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon to avoid being stunned for 2d6 rounds. The force of this third roar is so powerful that stone within 30 yards cracks under the strain, unless it successfully saves vs. crushing blow."

Wild Mage:

Full disclosure Wild mages are one of the things in this book I have a strong opinion on. I don't like the class. I never have. The idea of a caster being skilled enough to pull magical energy and form it into spells, yet unskilled enough that they are not quite sure what is going to happen has never sat well with me. As the mage goes up in levels the whole concept makes less and less sense to me.

I have [personally always seen 2nd Ed wild magic as the purview of players who fall in love with the idea of casting spells higher than their level and fail to account for what effect the magic surges might have on the rest of  the party when things invariably go pear shaped.

"Wild magic is a new theory of magic

that emphasizes study of the forces of randomness; a wild

mage never knows exactly what's going to happen when he

casts a spell."

The mechanics presented here for the wild mage are good and seemingly presented in the name of completeness. The author suggests getting the Tome of Magic (TSR 2121.) and the "Wizards Spell compendium" (four volume set.) if a player interested in playing a wild mage.  

I understand I put myself in the minority by not embracing wild magic. Wild magic is a concept that was very popular when Tome of magic came out, discussed in Dragon Magazine, there's a popular wild magic sorcerer variant in 5th edition, alternate magic surge charts are still popping up on reddit to this day. Wild Magic is one of the concepts in 2nd Ed that truly percolated forward through all the future editions. I would even say if you looked at the Dungeon Crawl Classics casting system its roots are right there in the tome of magic. DCC just dialed it up a notch. 

CHAPTER 1: (Pg. 24)

Here we come to the meat of the matter. IN this section the book comes into line with "Player's option: Skills and Powers," by offering the point buy method for creating a Wizard. I wrote pretty extensively about skills and powers and how I feel it fits in the Dungeons and Dragons evolutionary tree. (Here) I'm not going to run over the same ground which will make the rest of this post move much more quickly.

At thsi point I feel it is very necessary to also have skills and powers to use this book. Just using the material in this book and not having all the other details found in "Skills and Powers" will limit a player.

"If you want to use the material here in conjunction with

Skills & Powers, this section takes the place of the character

class design rules. In addition to the initial allotment of 40

character points assigned to a character in this chapter, a

player may also choose to spend points left over from the

race design chapter and save points in this step for profi-

ciency selections. Note that there is no restriction on how a

character spends his points in this system."

The left-over points from character generation mentioned in the blurb above could meant the difference between making the character desired and having to make too many concessions, and or buy to many limitations.

A custom wizard starts with 40-character points. The player may spend them on abilities as they see fit, I'll take a second to touch on some of my favorites.

Access to schools: (5+)  At five points per school this allows a player to pick just the schools they are interested in. In effect building a custom spell list. (Not unlike the Song Mage or Geometer above.) One nice feature, a wizard gets the school of universal magic for free. Evoker necromancer anyone?

Combat Bonus (8/10) The Player may gain the THAC0 of a rouge or a Preist. Nice point here is there isn't a Fighter THAC0 option, keeping the fighter's position in the party intact. 

Detect Magic (10) Cast detect magic once a day per two level for free. In the context of AD&D 2nd edition This is actually kind of huge and well worth a spare 10 points. It not only makes Detect magic available to the party all the time, but this option also frees up a valuable memorized spell. It's a sneaky good choice. The next options "Dispel" is similarly sneaky good, but quite expensive at (10/15) points.

Enhanced Casting level (10): cast spells from one school as if the mage were 1d4 levels higher than they truly are (roll each time).. Perfect for the Evoker / Necromancer I  brought up earlier

There are some options here, (Extended spell duration, Enhanced casting level, Range increase, casting time reduction) That would go on to become the base of Meta Magic Feats, which I would argue is a direct antecedent of Sorcerer points in D&D 5th edition

Other options allow a wizard to use a wider array of weapons (Gandalf had a sword.... )
wear better armor get up to a priest's hit dice and even attract followers (At only 10 points, If playing in the  original AD&D 2nd ed ecosystem, followers is another sneaky good option)

There is also an option to reduce costs by putting new bonuses off to higher levels. (How about a wizard who gets access to new schools as they go up levels?) Using Delayed acquisition of Abilities from (Pg.24) an industrious player could build a character who levels up and gains in power much like a 5th edition or third edition character would. (How about a wizard who gets access to new schools as they go up levels?)

Interestingly I do not see in the list of optional abilities an ability to inflict saving throw penalties based on circumstance such as the shadow mage can. I can understand why, it's specific and mechanically difficult to apply. I guess that ability remains the prevue of shadow casters. (My head cannon Drow just got even tougher as they are now unique.)

Optional limitations: (PG.25)

The bane of most point buy system, get all the limitations to use all the points. However, here as in "skills and Powers" I think the writer's strike the  right  balance of limitations which are not crippling but also don't give the player enough points to want them all.

A good example from (Pg. 26)

Weapons restriction (3/5): As a 3-point restriction, the wiz-

ard may never have proficiency in any weapon. As a 5-

point restriction, the wizard is not allowed to attempt to

wield a weapon at all and may never try to injure another

creature with a weapon. Doing so renders all spell use

impossible for the character for at least one full month.

I am willing to bet no one has ever taken that 5-point limitation.

Behavior / Taboo (2) is a strictly role-playing style draw back which I like and is a good example of my last statement.  If this character does not avoid red meat, they can't cast ..... not worth it for  2 points.

Hazardous spells (10) This limitation is honestly very cool, a mage hurt and driven mad by their power is a great character concept, even if it would be very limiting in play.

There is a section here called "Dealing with Game breaking Characters" A quick synopsis on how the GM can try to cram the djinni back in the bottle after buying this book. The best advice here is going over the  new character with the player and having the  fortitude to say, "Nah this doesn't fit the game, lets tweak it."

Chapter 2 pretests: (Pg.28)

 I will be moving pretty quickly through this section as it is very much like chapter 1 in form and content. 

I will say that the author does his best here in dealing with the dearth of Preist spheres and other baggage that naturally comes with a game which had tried to embrace every pantheon real or imagined. The author reorganized the spells which are in each priest sphere, mirroring the work done in the wizard schools. For example while not new the  "All sphere" is an analog to the  Universal school of magic. It represents the  basic magical abilities all priests need to be a priest, spells have been reorganized accordingly.

From the  intro:

"In this chapter, we'll examine the basic cleric and druid classes in great

detail, concentrating on their magical abilities. A number of spells are reorga-

nized into different spheres in order to provide the specialty priests with basic

abilities that should be common to all priest characters, while maintaining

unique spells that can only be cast by certain specialists. We'll also introduce

three new types or subclasses of specialty priest: the crusader, the shaman, and

the monk"

The spheres seem endless to me.  Probably why I don't play priests either.

(Page 31) There is a section called "Players Option and Spheres of Access." Wherein it is explained that some spells have been rearranged with in the spheres updating even such a recent publication as Players Option Skills and Powers. Changes were also made to what classes have access to what spheres namely Clerics, then another small section concerning Druids. (This kind of sums up AD&D at this time.)

It is clear when reading the class descriptions below that they author put a great deal of thought into re-assigning the spheres of spells each priest type can access. It seems to me that the goal was to make each priest class clearly their own thing, each with their own lane. To my eye having the "Healing" sphere as a major sphere almost all the class types does dilute the  basic Cleric, but that's an opinion base on my own style. I think the idea is most priests should be able to heal, but the different classes can heal "AND".

Next up the five character classes are introduced. 

• Cleric: the traditional AD&D cleric.
• Crusaders: A battlefield cleric.
• Druids: the priests of nature.
• Monks: Unarmed combat priests, adepts representing prophecy, peace, time, and wisdom... but also punches.
• Shamans: Representing "Priests of barbaric or savage cultures"(more on this in a bit.)

(PG.32)

The cleric gets a short section basic class ability / prerequisites, and defining the spheres which the  class has access too. Nothing new here except that the spheres have been slightly reorganized.

Next up is the Crusader: A priest of a deity of war. Crusaders are clerics who get the THAC0 armor and weapon choices equal to that of warriors. Spell wise Crusaders still get major access to five spheres, and minor access to two more. Thier major spheres are: All, Combat, Guardian, War, Wards and interestingly Healing. The crusader does not get turn undead but can cast lighten load once per day.

The Crusader is definitely the character to pick when a player wants to cram their deity's word right down someone's throat. Personally I might  do a swap and make healing a minor sphere and protection a major sphere in an effort to preserve the Nitch held by the classic Cleric.

The Druid gets three paragraphs here. Much like the Cleric this is a description of what spheres the Druid gains access to. 

NOTE: I love art plate on page 32.

The Monk:

Someday I am going to give this same deep dive treatment to tracking the growth of the Monk / Mystic concept through the history of D&D. It seems every addition people want a hand-to-hand combat character. 

Not counting the Basic D&D Mystic, Monks have appeared in 1st edition ((Players Handbook (1e) (1978)), the often-maligned Oriental Adventures (1e) (1985), Complete Priest's Handbook (1990), Faiths & Avatars (1996), The Players option books (1996), The Scarlet Brotherhood (1999), Player's Handbook (3.0) (2000) and Player's Handbook (3.5) (2003), D&D 4th edition Player's Handbook 3 (2010), and the D&D 5th edition Player's Handbook (5e) (2014). 

Source (https://dungeonsdragons.fandom.com/wiki/Monk#AD&D_1st_edition)

 Funny enough after thirty-six years around ten attempts D&D generally doesn't do empty handed combat very well. This class is not an exception, but it is an interesting priest class with a very interesting selection of spells. The blurb below sums up a problem with this  class. 

"In addition, a monk begins play

with a free weapon proficiency which may be used to special-

ize in unarmed combat. Martial arts and other forms of

unarmed combat are described in detail in PLAYER'S OPTION:

Combat & Tactics; if you don't have access to this book, another

system appears in The Complete Fighter's Hand book."

This is NOT the authors fault, there was just so much stuff out there by 1996 that writing for AD&D in any general sense had become difficult. This book isn't really enough to fully run a monk's hand to hand combat skills.

Monks get interesting spheres to cast from such as Major access to Numbers and thought as well as minor access to the time sphere giving them one of the more unique spell selections out the Preist classes presented here. 

Shaman (Pg's 34 and 35.)

I'm not going to skirt this one. In 1996 there were not such things as inclusivity / sensitivity editors. The world was a different place. I feel that in 1996 More people could tell or at least tolerate the difference between material meant for a tabletop game and a scholarly work on the shamanic religion. Regardless this class would get dog piled in 2022. The language used, misrepresentation of spirt powers, and so on. This is not about authors intention (it rarely is.) It's about a higher degree of cultural awareness that exists today which casts a hard light on works done before. I get that right or wrong this section would not float today, which is a shame because if we pull the language and imagery from the section this is some of the most unique and well thought out design in the book and definitely the most unique Preist class. I need to be very clear; I love the mechanics here. If I were to run or play this class today, I would make the Preist a "spiritualist," change the symbology to Crystall balls and Ouija boards and describe the various summoning as speaking with  known or local ghosts and call it day. (Same car different paint)

Thats all I have to say on that front. 

Page 38: Customizing the  priests.

This is set up much like the customizing the wizard section. A menu of options the priest can spend points on. 

Highlights include.

First highlight: 120 points for priest abilities!

Spheres cost variable amounts depending on which sphere and whether or not the player chooses major or minor access. While it makes no sense to do so  there are enough points to have major access to all the spheres, and be cruddy at most every thing else.

Combat bonus (20) gives the priest THAC0 to match that of a fighter. This is the big Crusader bonus as well but might actually be cool to give a different kind of priest. I only wonder if using this system, a player could make caster with enough  combat prowess that the resident fighter would be pushed out of their role?

Armour class improvement (15) This gives the priest the same armor class bonuses while unarmored as the Monk. AC 7 at 6th level is not exactly game breaking. However, this a cool Trait for a priest of a god of deception where sneaking might be a part of their repertoire.  

Expert healer and laying on of hands Both (10 Points) Free heals. What more can I say? Laying on of heals 2 points per player level which does not rely on a role. Free guaranteed heals.

Hit point Bonus (10) Roll a 1d10 instead of a D8 for hit points per level.

Spell like granted power opens the door to spend a heap of points and make any power a player could want for our priest. (Here I did the work: 23 points for 4th level wizards stone-skin once a day.)

(PG. 40)

Here we find the list of limitations a priest can purchase. Thís section is handled as skillfully as the wizards section already described.

Chapter 3: Other spell casters.

Starting on (Pg. 43) we are presented with the Players option building block of the bards. It's not as long a list as the wizards or priests, but it is offset by bards having some built-in class abilities. 

Similarly, on (Pg. 45) Paladins and Rangers each get a column of text. After the treatment of wizards and priests I have to admit these sections feel like an after thought. I also realize if the  author dove into Bards, Rangers, and Paladins the way he din Wizards and Priests this book would be 30 pages longer.
It's not all dire either. If a player plays a paladin and want to customize them to be a paladin of a certain faith these rules will move the player in the  right direction.

Next is a section on multi-class Wizards / Priests.  To tell the truth reading skills and powers and now Spells and magic, the idea of using this system and multiclassing at the same time makes my head hurt. There are clarifications here which help. 

Pages: (47, 48, 49) Lays the groundwork for running Monterious spell casters in a chapter that should have been called "how I grew up and learned to love a Pit fiend" Everything in this section is useful to Game Masters, and I feel speaks to the authors desire to make this book a one stop shop for running magic in AD&D second edition. A theme I will return to many times as we move forward.

The next chapter has to do with proficiencies. It starts out with a preamble pointing out the difference between using Skills and Powers proficiencies.  The example below is from the  description of Skills and Powers Proficiency use.

Under the PLAYER'S OPTION: Skills & Powers system, spell-craft costs 3 CPs, and has an initial rating of 7. This is modified by +2 for a wizard with an Intelligence of 15, for a total rating  chance of 9. 

Note that the Skills & Powers proficiency rules tend to compress character's success chances in the 8 to 12 range, but success at completely routine tasks is considered auto-matic—proficiency checks are only made for difficult tasks or adverse conditions.

This is a step toward what would become the die mechanic in 3rd edition and beyond. Where the focus is on the attribute modifier rather than modifying the attribute it's self as was the case in the base AD&D 2nd ed proficiency system.

There are no less than 17 new wizard focused non-weapon proficiencies described here. The best of which being Alchemy and Hypnotism in my opinion, (though "Tactics of Magic is also a cool No wep-pro). A chart on (Pg. 52 Table 8) Shows the  costs for the proficiencies both in the  new Character point style and in the  old ed ADD&D 2nd ed Slot system. 

I wish the  author had just stuck with the skills and powers system when describing proficiencies. Adding in the  older system just sort of muddies the  waters. However, I understand this book needed to encompass a lot of materials and be a one stop shop for wizard players.

The next section describes the  process of a mage gaining a signature spell. 

1d10 X 100 gold and 2 weeks of study per spell level. Plus a learn spell roll (Wich fail more than you might think) and some Character points  (or proficiency slots)
This rather steep cost nets the caster: The ability to memorize that spell for free each day. The Ability to cast that spell at +2 levels in power.
If because of the spell that +2 in level doesn't mean anything the caster may choose between inflicting a -2 save penalty on their targets, OR if that's still not good cast it 3 steps faster.

The next chapter (Pg. 60) does the same thing for priest non weapon proficiencies. Including 16 new non-weapon proficiencies for Priests. Some of which are repats from the wizard section such as "Book binding, and Sage" which are blissfully not repeated in the text. A standout here are "investigation, Law, Diplomacy and Persuasion." With those skills a player could make a pretty fun Diplomat / inquisitor type.

Interesting blurb from the  investigation skill description:

The DM may allow the PC to attempt a proficiency check

when the player is missing an obvious line of inquiry or step

of deductive reasoning, although this should be a rare use of

this ability. An investigation proficiency check can also be

used to discover clues at the scene of a crime or to extract

information from a witness or suspect.

Which is EXACTLY how everyone  uses 5th edition "super skill" investigation.

Next up is chapter 5: Equipment.

This is another example of this book needing to cover everything a player may need to play a magic user in the AD&D 2nd Ed style of play. This section starts out with Laboratories. I'm not going to pull this apart like I did the beginning of the book. There's a great deal of  material here. I will say these are the quickest most clean cut rules for a GM to put a price and a time scheme to a players lab.

Of course, just building a lab isn't enough, the  wizard has to fill it with equipment, materials, and, other magic doo-dads. This section could have been called "Divorcing the  Players and their Gold." Which  as any one who has ever GM-ed older versions of D&D ... yeah that's a good thing. The more reason they have to spend gold the more they  will need to go find, and  the  more dungeon doors they will have to kick down to find it. It's the D&D cycle of life, and it's clear the GM is aware of it. Also as the Players buy stuff, build buildings, stock labs, attract followers, own land, create things of their own, they become more invested in the campaign. That's also a very good thing.

The author also goes out of his  way to unite the often large expenditures of gold required to gain library's and labs with  solid mechanical benefits.

there's also a mention of Book scarcity. That brings up a great adventure idea. "There are only three copies of this ancient book in the  world and no one wants to loan one out.... how does the wizard research  materials they need?"

For example: (pg. 65)

However, the materials in a

lab's initial collection only allow the character to research

the formula for one potion or scroll, one magical item, and

one 1st-level spell. In effect, the library that the wizard

acquires to outfit his laboratory is only sufficient for the first

two or three research efforts he undertakes. After these ini-

tial studies, the wizard must expand his library in order to

undertake new research efforts.

This continues to show how better more expensive libraries are need to hold potion formula for the resident Alchemist. Which are the sort of class limitations that never really get written about in more recent editions.

(Pg. 66) dives into monthly upkeep expenses for the player's massive new lab and library complex. Being a wizard is damn expensive. In the example given  on (Pg. 67) the  wizard building a lab and researching a 3rd level spell will have to shell out 10000 gp and pay a 300 gold a month to maintain the lab / library.

The next section concerns Priest alters which is as in depth and  complete as the Wizards lab section Just described.

The next section runs to (Pg. 72) and concerns spell components. The big take away here are the interesting rules form field searching components , which I think might be the only rules of their type for the D&D system. Also of interest are the rules for what "common alchemists, hedge-wizards and wise women" can produce. Also a small section on trading / selling  Magic items explaining scarcity and market value for enchanted items.

 The next three pages are covered by very  complete lists of equipment and spell components each with a price, and best of all a rarity. The rarity is very useful. It ties back to the  field search rules and the buying components rules above. It also gives the DM an opportunity to send the party off to gather mummy dust.

 (Pg. 77) Chapter 6 MAGIC.

Here we go, the spell point system. Here the book picks back up with actually changing how AD&D magic functions. It is at this time that the  book first presents the concept of "spell points." Wherein a mage gets a number of points, based on level each day to spend on memorizing spells. The author also describes not only spending points to memorize specific spells but also the  ability to spend points to leave a spell open at a particular level so the  payer may cast any spell of that level they  know. This book describes that as Free Magick vs Fixed Magick (yes, with the  "K" at the end of magic for the  first time in the  book.)

Loosely in 2022 We know this as spell slots. While I can't say that the designers of 5th edition got the idea here. I know from the "thank you" in the  player hand book the designers cast a wide net where sources were concerned.

From the Book:

Included here so I can share the  general idea.

Argyth, a 6th-level mage, has a total of 55 spell points with

which to purchase his spell selection. He expects heavy combat

against tough opponents in the coming adventure. For 10

points apiece, he chooses three fixed 3rd-level spells—fireball,

lightning bolt, and haste. Since he doesn't know which of his

2nd-level spells may be most useful, he spends 12 more points

to acquire a single free 2nd-level magick, which can be used to

cast any of his 2nd-level spells. He has 13 points left over and

decides to memorize two magic missiles, one protection from

evil, and one free magick cantrip. Argyth has spent his 55

points. He has one less lst-level and 2nd-level spell than he

would using Table 21 from the PHB, but he has an extra 3rd-

level spell and the ability to call upon any 2nd-level spell and

cantrip he knows once each.

Given that at 9th level a specialist wizard has 120 general spell points to spend and 6 extra spell points that must be spent on Evocation spells. it could get complicated. I assume once a player knows how many points they will have each day, and their general spell "load out" that figuring out how to spend their points wouldn't be much of a chore. Still, the genius of this system is flexibility, the genius of 5th editions spell slots is that it's this flexibility streamlined.

 

(Pg. 78) has Rules for characters using spell points to learn and then memorize spells of up to 2 levels higher than they normally could. However, the learn spell roles are very tough, and the cost in spell points makes the action almost impossible at lower levels. Still it's a cool concept and one I would definitely introduce any game I ran. simply because a player being willing to dump that much effort and resource into one spell, could be a good hinge to swing an adventure on.

On (Pg. 79) there is a description of "Over Charging a spell" or spending extra points to cast a spell as if there character were a higher level. 

Example form the  book:

Rarik decides that he'd like a fireball

with some extra punch. He's a 5th-level mage now, and the spell

costs him 10 spell points. Rarik spends two 50% increments (a

grand total of 20 spell points) to cast this fireball as if he were a

7th-level caster. The range increases from 60 to 80 yards, and the

damage is 7d6 instead of5d6.

5th ed players will recognize this as yet another feature of the spell slot system. In that you can choose to cast the spell at a higher level slot . more power for a greater resource expenditure.

The  next section states that a player can also save spell points by adding limitations to a spell , such as slower casting times, reduces spell power, or special casting restrictions. This is a cool kind of "reverse Metta magic" that I am not sure is found anywhere else in D&D. It adds a layer of complexity but one I like.

One wrinkle is spell points is the limit to the number of spells a player may have memorized at each spell level. I know this is for balance. A stop gap so some fool doesn't just load up on fire-balls. Even though understand why this limit is in place, that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to run a game where that pair of cuffs is taken off. (Hey Yall, I'm 9th level and I'm going to cast the first of my 12 fire balls at the enemy flag-ship! Thanks very much.) *

Table 19 on (Pg.80) displays the number of bonus spell points a wizard receives for high intelligence.

From the  book:

"DMs, take note: The cumulative effects of specialist wiz-

ard bonuses, signature spells, and this optional rule could

allow a lst-level wizard to begin play with as many as four

lst-level spells memorized at once! Obviously, this is a very

significant boost in power for a low-level character. Allow-

ing a character to gain bonus spell points for his Intelligence

score is a reasonable optional rule, but it also inflates the

game by drastically increasing the power of 1st- to 3rd-level

wizards. It's a good idea to strictly enforce the limits on the

maximum number of spells of each level (see Table 17) per-

mitted to a wizard character."

*What was I saying about fire balls? I meant magic missiles.

Next up variant magic systems: 

This is where the  author uses the spell point system described previously to branch out into "Non-Vancian" styles of magic. I can look at this section and think of two things one , these are building blocks meant to spur adventurous DM's onto try styles of magic that are even less D&D like. Secondly, I see this from the vantage of the author, who's also  (based on his body of work) a skilled world builder in his own right asking himself, "Does magic have to work the same in all these worlds?"

The  channeler is closest to the  5th  ed Sorcerer in style. Again was there a direct influence or just a steady peculation of ideas from edition to edition to edition. There's no way for me to tell.

First described in Channeling. Where in the character spends spell points on free and fixed Magiks as described in the  previous chapter. However, as stated in the very last line of (Pg.80) 

"The wizard may decide to cast spells for greater effect by simply spending more spell points when he actually casts the spell." 

And on (Pg.81)

"The character may cast any spell that he has available through either a fixed or free magick, except

that the magick does not vanish from his memory once he's cast the spell. Instead, the character deducts the number of spell points required to energize the spell from his spell point total. For example, if a mage with 40 spell points has a magic missile memorized, he can cast that magic missile four times if he wants to!"

When casting a channeler does not "Forget the spell" so if they  don't need to change their spell loadout, they never actually have to  rest and rememorize.  However, if the wizard wants to change up the rememorized spells they need to be well rested and memorize the new spells.

Continued on page 82 a channeler will regain spell points at a rate based on how much exertion they are putting out. For example resting gets more spell points back than walking. 

So cast.... rest ...cast some more. Right?

Not so fast.

Lastly, casting spells causes the channeler to fatigue. On (Pg.82) there is a casting fatigue chart. and every time a spell is cast not only does the  caster receive the listed fatigue, but it is cumulative, is effected by  how many hit points the  character has lost, and how many spell points the character has already spent. Fatigue is at quick glance a bit hard to track round to round with this method. It's also very punishing. The addition of fatigue more than balances out the channeler. It takes the class from something I would like to play to a class I would think twice about.

Warlocks and Witches are next on (Pg.82)

This quote is from Player's option Spells and Magic:

 

"Wizards who rely on these patrons for magical power are known as warlocks or witches. Imps and familiars teach them their first spells as novices, and as they grow in power they seek more and more powerful tutors. Magic comes easily to these characters, a supernatural boon that allows them access to all the normal spell powers of a standard wizard. There is a grave risk involved with contacting these extraplanar powers: the risk of losing one's spirit to the powers that grant the wizard his spells. Magic itself is seen to be wrong for mankind, an abomination of nature, and people believe that wizards who dabble in such things will eventually be consumed by the hungry powers they bargain with for power."

While this quote is from the Dungeons and dragons 5th editions SRD on D&D Beyond.

"A warlock is defined by a pact with an otherworldly being. Sometimes the relationship between warlock and patron is like that of a cleric and a deity, though the beings that serve as patrons for warlocks are not gods. A warlock might lead a cult dedicated to a demon prince, an archdevil, or an utterly alien entity—beings not typically served by clerics. More often, though, the arrangement is similar to that between a master and an apprentice. The warlock learns and grows in power, at the cost of occasional services performed on the patron’s behalf."

To my eye there is more than a passing similarity to these concepts. 

The warlock given powers by another being also existed in D&D 3rd edition having been introduced in the Complete Arcane (WotC 2004, 17925) Which was  (Here comes the twist!) also written by  Richard Baker! 

In Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, Warlock is introduced as one of the original classes from the Player's Handbook.

Why does this excite me? This is one of the few direct links I have put my finger on of "Player's Option"  influence migrating to the  most current (as of this writing) D&D edition.

About the  Warlock.
The author gives the  warlock a long and complex treatment right up until (Pg. 85) Clearly it's an intriguing and evocative concept. The end point is that warlock can and will eventually be overcome by their patron. (I am wondering if Ron Edwards had read this material before writing Sorcerer? That is a Legit question.) This would make a very good evil NPC, and even the  author admits in the text that playing a good warlock would be difficult.

Next up Defilers and preservers (Pg.85)

This is the  magic usually acociated with the Dark Sun campaign setting. Here the Dark Sun material is modified and re-presented to use the spell point system. The  basic jist is  the  caster can select their spells as per the usual methods, but can not cast until they take a moment to collect the magical emery from the world around them. Preservers do this gently but slowly. Defilers destroy plant life around them to harvest magic more quickly.
Defiling is an evil act and as such makes for good evil NPC's. Preservers however are suitable for PCs. I have to admit I find this kind of niche, though I like the concept enough that an evil Npc Defiler could pop up in my game.

Alienists or Summoners:

These mages deal with entities from a terrifying edge of space and time. Lovecraftian horrors abound!
This is essentially a Channeler who instead of risking fatigue to cast spells risks their sanity. What follows is several pages of insanity tables, and descriptions of how to play them out. I have to  be honestly this class doesn't interest me simply  because I don't use mythos style horrors all that often. I could however, see this fitting nicely into a ravenloft game.

(Pg 91) Spell points for priests.

I'm not trying to gloss over an content however the next section is very similar to the  previous section only for ... priests.

Quick point: Having  Minor access sphere spells cost more spell points to memories is an elegant and smart solution to handling Minor access spheres under this system.

Channeling remains very  similar. (Pg. 93)

Warlocks become Ritual casting. (Pg. 94) Which I feel fits priests perfectly and  should honestly  be teh  default Priest casting method. Spells for devotions seems to hit the  nail on the  head.

Conditional Magic is interesting (Pg. 96.) When casting spells may receive increased or  decreased power based on preset conditions agreed upon with the DM.  

Example form the  text:

"Maglas, the priest of Tempus previously described, is locked in battle with an ogre during a thunderstorm. Deciding that things aren't going his way, he decides to cast an obscurement spell to cover his escape. Since he is in battle, and the weather is appropriate, he has two positive conditions. On the other hand, he's getting ready to flee, which is a negative condition. There is a net +1 positive condition, which means that Maglas can cast the spell normally."

This is interesting. While I don't claim to know the in's and out's of all the splat books over the years, I don't think it ever came back to D&D in any other form.

Skipping a bit. The book reviews using the spell point system for Druids, Bards, Rangers, and Paladins. Not much new in these sections. There is a blurb saying  Preserver magic is a great system for Druids and I agree. I think it should be the default druid system.

Next section: (Pg.99 to 115)

Spell research and magical item creation.

This section cements this book as the one stop shop for the 2nd edition wizard. This is a long section, and what really happens here is the codifying and condensing of all the myriad spell / item, research / creation information that had been grafted into AD&D 2nd ed over the years. This cleans up what was to this point in the  games history, a real mess.

The section reads as if the author did his research  put his working boots on and just put a nail in the subject once and for all. It's also clear the author very much likes the dual ideas of separating PC's form their gold and players leaving personal marks on a campaign.

I am not going through this section page by page. As expected it is very  well thought out and very complete.

Chapter 8 Spells in Combat:

This section brings two new spell attributes into play: 

Casting Subtlety, How noticeable is the  casting of the spell, giving each  spell a Subtlety rating based on several factors which  finally  gives a mechanical weight to how difficult it is to know if someone is casting.

And Sensory signature, just how noticeable are the effects of a spell. Spell sensory signatures are broken into sight, sound, smell, and taste. The Text goes into describing each  school of castings typical sensory signatures. Cool information for those running or playing Wizards.

This section also deals with lining this book up to the material in "PLAYER'S OPTION: Combat & Tactics."

(Pg. 120) begins with  Spells with attack rolls.

This page holds the greatest gift of all. The relationship between touch spells and armor is explained. The attacking wizard ignores the  portion of AC derived from Armor. There, it's official. Only dexterity and magical adjustments apply. I can put that to rest..

Then it says this:

"Which spells qualify as spells that bypass armor? Basically, this is a judgment call for the DM. In order to gain this advantage, the spell description should clearly imply that the spell would take effect even if it struck the victim on the breastplate instead of requiring the caster's hand to actually touch exposed skin. Another way of looking at it is this: Does the spell emulate the action of a normal weapon, such as a sword, arrow, or dagger? If it does, the spell definitely requires a normal attack roll on the part of the caster, but if the spell affects the victim's life force or achieves its effect from simple contact, the subject's armor is ignored."

Crap. Someone will still argue touch spell no matter how long I live.

(Pg. 123) features a chart with spells and their knock down dice in case the group is using those rules from  PLAYER'S OPTION: Combat & Tactics. This is also interesting, as the knock down discussion is back on page 121.

(Pg.124) starts the section on Spell Critical effects:
This is revolutionary thinking for AD&D 2nd ed. I don't think Spell crits had ever been dealt with before this book.

From the text:

"Critical strikes occur when the target rolls a natural 3 or less on his saving throw and misses his saving throw by a margin of 5 points or more. If the spell in question does not allow a saving throw, the target still checks for a critical strike by rolling a saving throw versus the attack; this special saving throw has no other purpose than determining whether or not the character suffers a critical strike."

Easy enough. It does mean some powerful foes can't be criticaled by spells, if the monster can roll a 1 on a save and still not miss it by  5 or more. That's going to be pretty rare. There is also an alternative method suggested a few pages latter where in if a target fails their save the  player tosses a D20 if the die result is an 18 or better (15% chance) the  spell is a critical hit. A bit faster and a bit dirtier.

There's also a chart that makes it easier for a caster to score a crit as they get more powerful (Go up levels) A level 18 caster crits on a "Natural 5 or less, save missed by 3 or more." Which is a nice addition.

The rest of the critical strike section goes into size of injury, location , severity. It's very much in line with Combat and Tactics. Luckily  Page 130 has a nice chart that sums up much of the  critical hit information.

Critical hit Severity is based on the  victims current hit points vs the max damage of the attack.
From the  text: (Pg. 126) (Emphasis mine)

"Terthan, the warrior from the previous example, has a normal hit point maximum of 35 when unwounded. The lightning bolt was thrown by a 6th-level wizard with a potential of'6d6 points of damage (a maximum of 36 points). Since this is more than Terthan's hit points, without being twice Terthran's total, the severity roll will be 2d6.

Refer to the appropriate critical strike chart and roll the severity dice indicated for the hit location. The result is the specific injury or effect suffered by the victim for the critical strike. Unlike the critical hits of the PLAYER'S OPTION: Combat & Tactics book, critical strikes do not inflict doubled damage, and they do not allow the victim a special saving throw to avoid the specific effects. After all, the target already blew one saving throw, or he wouldn't be rolling on the critical strike table."

If this seems a bit much, it kind of is. It would be fun to try but I'm not sure I could do it ALL the time. The  problem is, it adds several of rolls to combat. The saving grace is how often do enemies muff saving throws that badly?  

I would love to ask the author if he was excited about adding this material or if it was written only to get this book to line up with Player's option: Combat and Tactics?

The critical Hit charts run ... from (page 130 to Page 139) and are actually seem quite clinical if you like me enjoyed reading the Critical hit charts in Space-Master.

APENDIX 1: New spells

Each new spell description includes the new stats  put fourth in this book . (Critical strike type, Casting subtlety, knock down, and sensory signature.)

APENDIX 2: are new priest spells

In all the new spells section Wizard / Preist runs from page 140 to page 179.

I am not going to review the new spells. Though some like "Trollish Fortitude" did travel forward into latter editions. 

I will say that the high level spells in this book are very  powerful. "Programmed Amnesia" might be the most powerful enchantment spell I've ever read. 

The third level "Lance of Disruption" with its 5D4 Pluss  additional guaranteed damage of +2 points per caster level would easily replace lightning bolt in my evocation arsenal. 

Appendix 3:

All fo the new spell lists including all the base spells, tome of magic, and complete wizards hand book spells all in one place. Each arranged by school, or caster type then arranged by level.
SO USEFULL! 

Without this  appendix the rest of the  book would make much less sense. I can't understate how appreciated it is.

Appendix 4 does the same thing for Preist spells.

Finally we come to a very detailed Index as per the design directives of the day.

Whew: There you have it Players Option: Spells and Magic.

TLDR:

I believe that the Players Options books do not hold the position of esteem they deserve. as a set These books are clearly AD&D 2.5. However within them you can see a microcosm of the problems AD&D 2nd ed faced by 1996. There was just too much material, too many conflicts to solve. Even this book and  Player's Option Skills and Powers don't 100% agree on spell schools and priest spheres. 

Do I feel all of the  material in this book lands? No. Some of it seems like it was only included in an attempt to encompass all that AD&D had become. Something I think was impossible. by 1996 

Regardless these books were forward thinking. Laying the tracks that future additions of D&D would ride over. Introducing concepts that would eventually bring D&D out from under the shadow of it's 1970's roots. These were Brave books, foundationally changing a vaunted and popular property. I don't think they should be dismissed or forgotten.

Thank you for going on the journey

-Mark.