I'm a fighter mage thief combo and was wondering what are the restrictions on the spells you can learn?
Originally, I thought you could only learn spells of the level you are on and those above...but recently I was looking into my spellbook and noticed that I had only learnt 7 spells on all of the levels that I had previously been on.

Whats the deal? can you only learn 7 spells because if so thats kinda crappy...
Any help would be appreciated...

I have never heard of any restrictions on the amount of spells that you can learn.

However, there are restictions based upon which magic school your mage is apart of, unless you are a general mage, but even then there shouldn't be any limit to the AMOUNT of spells that you can learn.

Now memorization is another thing and this is obviously limited to the both the type of mage, whether you are a specialist or a general, and the level of your character.

Perhaps you simply have not run across any more spell scrolls that your character CAN memorize, due to spell school limitations. That might explain why your spell book levels are not fuller.

Note: I have never played a multiclassed player before, so I'm not completely sure of all the possible limitations that may occur.
I would recomend that you read your manual top to bottom, or atleast the areas of the rules of the game which still confuse you. If you want to know more about the various mage/spell schools and their limitations, then check out pages 96 and 139 of your manual. I beleive pg 139 has a table which lists "opposition schools". Hope I helped.

H-e-l-p! As you see I can spell help :D
Ok -I am joking here (I am an expert in making bad jokes ;) )

There IS a limit on how many spells you are able to LEARN each level. Your INT score will limit it. See here

http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/2937/list5.htm

I guess that your character has 10-12 in intelligence, which limits the number of spells pr. level to 7.

Another thing: As far as I remember, you have to be a single/dual class mage to be able to be a specialist, but I might be wrong here.

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Insane

Welcome to the Ironworks, limeyman [img]graemlins/wavey.gif[/img]

Insane's right on both counts.
Intelligence will indeed limit the amount of spells per level you can learn. Which is why it's such an important stat for mages.

Also, you can only have a specialty wizard if you are
a) single-classes
b) dual-classed from a specialty wizard to another class
c) a gnome (in which case you're automatically an illusionist)

It's unfortunate you only found out about the limitations of a lower intelligence now when there's not much you can do about it without manipulating your character (I'm careful to avoid using the word cheating here).
Normally even mages with low intelligence are playable, and offer interesting roleplay oppertunities, but it helps if you knew in advance and were able to plan the spells you really wanted to use in advance. You could now find you're stuck with less useful magics than you'd like.
Still, not all is lost, as magic is only part of your character, and he/she can still use spells from scrolls and wands, on top of those spells you did learn and memorise.

and

b') dual-classed from another class to a specialty wizard (ex Imoen)

And

Welcome to you limeyman25 from me as well
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Insane

Oops!
I comepletely forgot about the intelligence factor.

I suppose it is because all of the mages that I have played with, be them NPCs or PCs, have all had farely high intelligence.
So I never ran into the problem of spell-learning limitations, and thus forgot about the rule.

I wonder however if there are any items such as rings or necklaces that will raise your intel to 18, but my limited memory says there isn't.

There are however Tome(s) of Intel that can help you out eventually, it might take you awhile to find them and you may not want to go off hunting for them early on in your campaign. Plus, I'm not sure if there is more than one, and whether this amount depends upon your installation of the Tales of the Sword Coast. Someone else on this forum will have to answer such questions.

there is 1 tome of intelligence (clear thought IIRC is what it's called) as far as items that increase intelligence i don't remember any, but keep your eyes open

Or, if you're far along in the game, realize you bo-booed on character creation, and use GateKeeper to trade your stats around (which, if there is no net increase, is IMO and acceptable "cheat" given your situation).

You can also drink potion of genius (+4 INT) or potion of (forget it's name) (+3 DEX and +3INT) before trying to learn new spells - they'll enable you learn more spells pr. lvl.

Dexterity.

It's the potion of perception that increases INT and DEX both by three. Potion of agility just sets your DEX to 18. BUT I believe you'll lose spells when your INT goes back down to normal.

No you don't. The only things intelligence is used for is to: determine how many spells per spell level you can put in your spell book, and to determine your chance of scribing a scroll into your spell book. In the PnP game, it also determines what level of spell you can cast (i.e. need 18 intelligence to cast level 9 spells), but in this game only the above two things are what intelligence does for your wizard. It does absolutely nothing involving how many spell slots you get, nor has any other effect on your spellcasting. Also, once a spell is scribed into your book, it won't leave your book, regardless of your intelligence. Thus, you could have a wizard with a 9 intelligence, and just use potions of genius when scribing spells. It will work the same as if you had an 18 intelligence.

Potion of Genius: +4 to INT
Potion of Mind Focusing: +3 to INT, +3 to DEX
Potion of Agility: DEX set to 18
Potion of Perception: +20% bonus to Find Traps, Open Locks, Pick Pockets, and Stealth

The stupidest Mage in the world can use Potions to get a 150% chance to successfully scribe every single scroll in the game, and the spells will stay in his spellbook after the potions wear off. Also, the restriction on allowable spell levels (which does not come into effect in BG1, only in BG2) only applies to the main character Wizard. By this I mean: If you create a Mage with 16 INT, he or she will only be able to learn spells up to and including Level 8. You can never scribe 9th level scrolls (without raising your INT), because you simply aren't smart enough. Now, NPC Mages do not have this limitation--they can scribe spells of any level they want.

Thaks a lot for all your help and for the welcome. I found out it was the intelligence that kept me from learning the spells, but since I'm fairly far into the game, I guess I'll just have to forget about it.

Thanks again you guys