Starting spells in Core 2nd edition without Magic expansion

rules
#1

Hello Shield Wallers,

I got my core 2nd edition book yesterday and I am planning on running my first session tonight. I suspect, one of my players will want a caster of some sort. (Can’t wait!)

I know part of the caster journey is the acquisition of spells, but how many spells do you usually give each caster when starting a character? The class suggest a starting spell but do you allow them more typically?

Edit: If I am asking for something, I might as well give something. Here is my idea for a mentor: The Chaos Mage, she is a little folk (dwarf in my minds eye) wild Mage. As an NPC, she is a "Gandalf-ish but when rolling a check or attemps on a 1 or an 20, She cast herself in astral travel. Roll d100: results 1-10 are the moments before she reapears, 11-50 are the hours she is gone and 51-100 are the days she is gone. feel free to use it.

#2

I start them with one spell and allow them to learn new spells as milestones, loot, or becoming an apprentice. This keeps them happy and makes learning a new spell more exciting (in my opinion). If you give it several spells, remember your spell timers. I forget half the time.

#3

I have started new casters with anywhere between 2 to 4 starting spells, depending on the game I am running.

#4

I like to give them a choice of 2 from the core list and the opportunity to create one additional spell themselves (I review it to make sure the mechanics make sense).

#5

For some strange reason the spellcasting characters begin with 1 spell in the ICRPG CORE book but with 2 spells in the ICRPG Quickstart. Maybe it’s a kind of errata.

Personally I give 2 spells to my players.

#6

While rolling up a wizard, you can have your player roll a D4 for the number of spells they start with.

This could represent their degree of education leading up to the current point in time.

#7

I’ve yet to actually play, but have wondered this myself. I think to bolster a more traditional sense of a caster, one can offer whatever makes sense to start with spell-wise, but say that minor magical effects are possible too. Like cantrips that are harmless or only do minor effects, such as prestidigitation, light, mage hand, etc.