We playtested it about 3 times , 2 times with a wizard in a party . Everytime when he wanted to cast new spell , it took us about 5 seconds to determine , how many MP it will cost . I want to catch that dude , so he won ' t run away ! With a pair of purple magic hands ! Well , he is near , you want to give him state grounded STR , for how long ? Until the Fighter comes to him ! He is already chasing him , so a moment will be fine . It will cost you 2 MP . Suddenly , a pair of glowing purple magic hands rushes from the ground , catches both legs of running man and pull him down . Splendid ! I do not say it is the best solution , but I found it more freeform than a list of prepared spells that need to be tested in game to check if they are ballanced . Also , spellbooks gain real importance as the wizard can write them by himself on separate sheets of paper . A book itself does nothing , but really keeps list of written spells that contain every aspect of a spell and mana consumption , so he doesn ' t have to check it everytime . Some players may say that they want spells to be prewritten . To those I would say , Sorry , you can either play another class or another game . I enlisted those lame spells only to highlight that spells , that have very speciffic effect are not commonly used . Many of them are rather hilarious , but , still , when action arrives , classic spells are picked more often .