I read in the tips some contradictory advice that has me confused. One person says switch roles early & often and anotehr says don't change roles for your wizard or priest (mage users) until they've maxed out the high level spells in Vine magic or Stone Magic. Someone else suggests to wait until Lvl 9. BUT at Lvl 9 ALL of my spellcasters need at least 11 more spells (the Wizards 4-5 in Stone magic PLUS 8 spells to complete Sun magic) without switching roles & my priests still need 5-6 Vine magic spells & about the same or more in Spirit magic. By my calculations both groups would need to be Lvl 20 to get all their magic spells. This of course is without Reseting the game. I already did that once but I am finished the all but the 3rd Mage quest & the Teporn quest. I don't really want to start over with my group. I do feel the Priests are better off since they can switch to Paladin & Ranger each once but the only spells they don't know at the low levels of Spirit are a lvl 3 & 4 spell & as for Vine magic they both know all the spells from Lvl 1-4. My mages could switch to Paladin & Ranger and then back to Warlock for both (they would get 6 spells realms 7 have to work their butts off to get all the spells). I am stumped as to what to do & would appreciate any help. Oh yeh my barbarians are "waiting" to get to Lvl 5 in the Warrior's guild at Ishad N'Ha for the 'Stunning Blow' Trait. I sure hope it's worth the wait.

The important thing is to get your level 7 spells. If you learn spells in a non-native spell school, you do so at half your level and spell level. For example, if your wizard is now a level 7 bard, he learns sun and stone spells up to level 3. At level 8, he can learn them up to level 4 (assuming he's level 8 in sun and stone magic).

So...

The important thing is to get your level 7 spells ASAP, because you can get all the other spells later. Just make sure you train your spell school levels as often as possible, and pick one school first. I generally pick stone for wizards because sun is a native spell school for samurai, and you can learn those later on.

I will echo Bungleau's response. Pick the level 7 spells first whenever possible. Also invoke as many spells as you can from books. Note that once a character changes to another role you cannot use a spellbook which belongs to a realm not native to the new role. So use the books whenever you can. And save the ones you cannot use now for later.

BTW I forgot to ask can you find spellbooks in chests etc in this game.

Yes but don't expect any super spellbooks for a long time. More precisely, you will find spellboks starting from Serpent Temple but you will have to wait for level 7 spellbooks until you reach Brimloch Roon.
Therefore, you'd better buy high level spellbooks in the guilds and get high level spells during promotions. Don't wait for the spellbooks in chests.
As it has been said, always learn the highest level spells possible during your promotion. Once you get all level 7 spells, you can get all other spells in any role but you will need skill level 12 in all magic schools for it. You can train in guilds. If you add all level 6 spells then you will need skill level 10 for all remaining spells so that you will save money.
At any rate, money should not be a problem later in the game. Once you get Fletchery, you can duplicate enchanted dragon arrow. If you aren't patched then you can generate money in the inn. In the other words, you should have enough money for training your magic schools to 12.
Therefore, get all level 7 spells and you can change role.

Robalex,

To echo what bungleau said, pick which schools early that you want to train in and which skills you want each character to have.

I had two mages to start out... One was a Stone specialist, the other a Sun specialist.

Also with other skills, I have one character that can forge, one character with the scout skill. It can be pointless and a waist of money to have more that one character with these skills.

Sharde

I will respectfully disagree with my esteemed colleague bsftcs... I personally avoid using spellbooks, since you gain fewer mana points than you do at level-up. And by the end of the game, I've got all spells anyway...

However, there are some spells that are worth considering using the books. Cure Poison is one... exorcism is another.

Bungleau's point is valid - especially if you plan to use your party for several play-throughs of the game. If you only plan to play it once or twice there will be a number of spells that you will never acquire unless you use the books. The lack of mana can be compensated for by keeping some mana potions ready.