The articles here provide a list of additional alternatives to improve versatility and effects which are especially useful to low level Magic Users.
The first article features a nice, interesting idea which makes the Magic User capable of investigating dungeon features by having at their disposal a spell of the appropriate king. Fire spells can be used to investigate fire or ice spells can be used for divination about the winter weather, and so on.
This would work very well as an addition to cantrips - reasonably as an additional cantrip in itself, called Spell Consultation.
Spell Consultation
by Buildings Are People
A fire spell might be consulted to learn whether a strange material is flammable. An ice spell might be consulted to learn how much longer winter will last. A bewitch spell might give advice about improving social status with the local elite. A knock spell might explain something about the workings of a door rather than merely opening it.
This consultation is not a simple siphoning of information from an ancient text the spellcaster has memorized. The spell manifests as an incorporeal, transparent personality visible only to the caster, who appears to be speaking to himself, in his own voice and in another, strange voice that he thinks fits the personality of the spell. He is not doing this for comfort, fun, or drama; it's a necessary result of the consultation. To avoid appearing even more insane and eccentric than casters usually appear, many prefer to find somewhere private when consulting a spell. Time constraints often prevent this, of course. [...]
The next article fits again very well within the list of other cantrips.
It takes a simple approach to various subjects (fixing things, finding, blessing, healing, etc.) and proposes a low-level yet very useful list of spells that your Magic User (or Cleric) can use at will.
I mentioned in my last post that even magic would be mundane in the "Real" world. I want players to have the option of delving into the mystic arts but would rather not just hand them really powerful or even incredibly interesting spells. It might seem strange to water down magic but these are really tricks. [...]
The trade wizard will do a quick fix for your boat but it will really require a true craftsman to truly repair your vessel. A village wisdom will give you healing herbs but bedrest will still be required. However, mundane magic is still useful and thus it is still practiced. Here are some spells that fit the bill. All spells will have a range of 30ft, require line of sight, and be cast as many times as desired unless stated otherwise.
[...]
1d12 Mundane Magics:
1. Mend: Cause an object to repair itself. There is a level in 6 chance that this spell will work. On a failure, this spell cannot be cast on the same object again until the sun has risen again. Such repairs typically don't last because the spell only repairs as well as the caster could repair such an object and it fades with time. This fix will last for 1d4 days of use for this object if the caster is unknowledgeable about the kind of craft the object was constructed with. If the caster is knowledgeable, the fix will last 1d6 days of use.
2. Find: So long as you have a piece of something or someone, you can find them. To do this, you must spend an hour binding the piece to a compass, necklace, or other makeshift directional devices. After which point, the device will gently point in the approximate direction of the target.
3. Animate: Cause a small object no bigger than a peasant's chair to come to life for a Turn (10 minutes). There is a level in 8 chance that the object will naturally obey your spoken commands. If not this object will require convincing. Objects keep their tendency towards pliancy or rebellion even after this spell has worn off. They retain their personality if animated again. Thus, casters of this spell are known to carry around loyal objects that they can rely on.
[...]
1d12 Divine Mundanities:
1. Bless: You can create a vial of holy water with an hour's prayer, or give a level in 20 chance of the harvest being bountiful by walking around their fields with a censer or thurible or aspergillum until you have circled the fields three times (usable only once every harvest), or bless a weapon by anointing it with holy water, giving its user Advantage on a single attack of their choice within 24 hours.
2. Heal: You cause a creature you can touch to regain 1 HP and give them Advantage on their next save against a physical malady. This spell requires use of herbs that you have prepared. Each dose takes an hour to prepare and 1 sp in reagents. A target of this spell can only be effected once every 24 hours.
3. Ease: Remove a level of exhaustion from a creature and add it to yourself.
[...]
http://sheepandsorcery.blogspot.com/2018/09/into-weird-blue-yonder-mundane-magic.html
In this third post, Brendan (one of my favourite authors, and your too, I bet!) provides a couple of alternatives to the standard Vancian rules. Note that they allow the Magic User to retain the spell after casting (variant 1 - not always forgetting) or to be able to cast a spell that was not prepared (variant 2 - it actually overlaps a bit with variant 1, because you could cast, forget, but then try again).
Both systems (and also rule 3 which for some reason is included under variant 2, but I would count it as a third different house-rule) improve a caster's usefulness for the party by allowing either to cast more than usual, or more spells even if not prepared.
Two Vancian Magic Variants
by Brendan
[...] Variant 1: Spell Retention
Prepare spells as normal, standard charts. However, when a spell is cast it is not automatically wiped from the magic-user’s mind. The magic-user gets a save vs. spells (penalized by spell level) to retain it. [...]
What’s the downside? If the magic-user rolls a 1 on the saving throw, that is considered a spell fumble and they lose the spell and must roll on a magical mishaps table (or suffer some other campaign-specific penalty). Fumbles can only occur when casting spells of the highest two or three levels that can be prepared.
[...]
Variant 2: Improv Casting
Prepare spells reliably as per the traditional rules. Any unprepared spell that the magic-user is familiar with (i.e., has in their spell book) may be cast but requires an action and a successful save vs. spells (penalty equal to spell level as above). Failure and the action is wasted, fumble and bad stuff happens. Further, a fumble occurs on any die roll equal to or less than the spell level. Thus, casting an unprepared third level spell would fumble on a roll of 1, 2, or 3.
[...]
“I saw this one thing this one time and it kinda went like this…”
Any spell that the magic-user has witnessed may also be attempted (for example, if the magic-user has seen another magic-user cast fireball). This uses the same rules as casting unprepared spells, but the save penalty and fumble threat range are doubled.
Both of these variants increase the magic-user’s power or versatility, but also expose them to fumbles.
[...]
This does probably make magic-users more powerful, so if that is a problem you should control spell acquisition carefully (for example, no free new spells on level up). If one was so inclined, one could use both variants together, as they cover different aspects of casting, but that would result in a larger divergence from the traditional game.
[...]
The question, about this third (and last link for this post) is: how can these rules be tuned to be equally effective for low level casters?
Because keeping them as they are, they grant more advantages to higher level casters, while the purpose of this is to grant more power to low level casters without breaking the game...
Design notes:
- Spells may provide information or divination related to their own nature (i.e. fire spells about flames, ice spells about cold weather or ice itself, knock spells can be used to investigate doors, lock spells to investigate locks or traps, etc.)
- The "Spell Consultation" option fits well with other cantrips, to improve low level Magic Users versatility
- Make mundane magic and simple divine blessings (aka cantrips) for various topics (fixing things, finding, blessing, healing, etc.)
- The key is to keep them simple, usable and versatile, without giving them too much power; they should be simple spells that provide some help to the characters rather than powerful ones that will solve the situation
- To grant more power to low level casters, another possible option is to allow a Saving Throw (or use another mechanic) to allow the caster to retain the spell after using it (not forgetting it every time)
- Another option is to allow to cast a spell which was not prepared (again with a Saving Throw or similar mechanic)
- The issue with Saving Throws is that they improve with the character's level, so this change is more beneficial to high level casters
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