It is possible, but difficult for a wizard character to learn
and cast spells of a higher level than he would normally be allowed
to know.
Before a character can memorize a spell that’s over the level
he can normally cast, he has to learn it first. This means that
the character must find, purchase, or otherwise stumble across
a spell of the level in question and attempt a learn spells check to see if he can master it. However, when a character is dabbling
in matters beyond his depth, his learn spells chance of success
is halved for a spell one level higher than he should be able to use, and
divided by 10 for a spell two levels higher than the maximum normally allowed.
If a character does not succeed in learning the spell at this
point, then he can try again at the level that he normally gains
the spell. Under no circumstances can a character learn a spell
three levels higher than his normal maximum — it’s just too difficult,
and he’ll have to study his art for a while longer before he can
make heads or tails of it. Also, because the spell is so difficult
to learn, the wizard must memorize it as a fixed magick.
If the character succeeds in learning the high-level spell, he
can then select it normally by using his spell points to memorize
it. However, since the spell is extraordinarily difficult for
the character, he must pay twice the listed normal fixed magick cost to memorize it. For many low-level
characters, this will make the spell prohibitively expensive in
any event; a 2nd-level specialist wizard only has a total of 12
spell points available, so he could just barely memorize a single
2nd-level spell of his specialty school. Note, a 2nd-level mage
doesn’t have the spell points available to attempt this feat.
Wizards of medium to high level have a better chance to use a
spell that would normally be out of reach for them. For example,
a 6th-level wizard normally is limited to 3rd-level spells, but
with effort he can learn a 4th-level spell and cast it for 30
spell points, which is twice the normal cost of 15 spell points.
Since a 6th-level mage has 55 spell points available, he actually
has a few points left over to select other spells — although it’s
a very costly privilege!
Note, all level-based characteristics of a spell depend on the
caster’s true level, so even if a 3rd-level wizard somehow acquired
a fireball, it would only do 3d6 damage. (And he wouldn’t have the points
available to memorize it, anyway.)
