Modernist Wizard

Starting Equipment: Spell Book, Robes, RitualDagger(lm, 1d4, 0)
Starting Skill: 1) History 2) Metaphysics 3) [select an ancient language]

A: +1 MD, +1 Spell Slot, +2 Spells, Wizard Toolkit
B: +1 MD, +1 Spell Slot, +1 Spell, Book Casting
C: +1 MD, +1 Spell Slot +1 Spell, Friendly Spell
D: +1 MD, +1 Spell Slot, Master of Magics

As you level, you will gain spells from your school’s spell list. You still can learn and cast spells from outside your school, but until you cast them 8 times, MD spent on them do only return on a 1, rather than a 1-3.

Wizard Toolkit
You are a spellcaster. As such, you are afforded a collection of abilities:

1. Cast Magic - What would be the point if you couldn’t cast magic? You gain +1 Magic Die (MD) and +1 Spell Slot for each Wizard template you possess, to a maximum of 4 each, as shown in the Template list above.
2. Magic School - Select a Magic School. This will determine your Perk and Drawback, as well as your Spell List and any variations your specific school may have. If you’re looking to play a generic wizard, simply select Universalist as your school. This school can not be changed later.
3. Detect Magic - The ability to detect magic is a Wisdom based skill for you.

Book Casting
You can cast from a scroll or a spellbook in a way that does not consume the scroll. This allows you to cast directly from your spellbook without loading the spell into your brain first. You do not gain the bonus MD that consuming a scroll generates. You must declare you are casting a spell from a book before initiatives are rolled for the turn. You automatically go last in the initiative round, and you automatically fumble the spell if you take any damage during the round. The spell vanishes from the scroll or book and returns the next morning.

Friendly Spell
Choose 1 spell you know and have frequently cast. Apply a positive mutation to the spell. Do not roll on the drawbacks table, even if the mutation requests that you do.

Master of Magics
Learn up to 6 spells from your school’s spell list, or invent an entirely new spell (GM’s discretion).

Spells and Organization

In times of antiquity, spells use to be organized into schools, to mimic the orgnaization of the Wizards that used them. In these modern days, spells are divided into spheres in relation to their effects. All part of corporate based marketing to sell magic to the modern consumer centered around an individualized study plan and an easy course to licensure. Also its easier to sell a customized program to the government. For war purposes.

There is zero difference between the spells in a School or a Spheres - it’s all marketing nonsense. The training itself is different, however. Where Schools were developed over centries with fine tuning to perfect the Art, Spheres were slapped together by Focus Groups over months to maximize profit of the Product. As such, what the Modernist gains in customization, those lose in magical synchronicity; hence the lack of cantrips.