I love Torchbearer--it's become easily my favorite system for that good old-school dungeon fantasy. Still, there are a couple little things about the rules that bug me, or that I wish were more flexible.

For example, the way elves use magic. Especially in the setting I'm working on for the system, but also in general, I don't like the idea of elves doing it exactly the same way as wizards, spellbooks and all. I think elven magic should be more natural, possibly innate, or maybe the product of oral tradition. Think of Tolkien--when Sam asks Galadriel whether her scrying pool is magic, she says she doesn't know what he means. To elves, magic isn't a discipline you study, with formulae and notation, it's something you just do, something that suffuses every part of their lives. Of course, that could easily come with a downside--they draw on the same powers as wizards, but their lack of focused study makes them less broadly capable in doing so. Wizards vs. sorcerers in D&D, basically.

So, for my setting, I'm thinking of including this houserule for elven rangers:
  • You neither need nor carry a traveling spellbook. Such crude methods are the necessity of mortal wizards--sidhe magic is more natural, a mix of innate capability and oral tradition. Enjoy your extra pack space.
  • However, you can't learn new spells from books or scrolls. You may choose to learn a new spell and expand your mental inventory when you gain a level, as normal; you can also learn new spells from a mentor, but your mentor must be sidhe, and they will not teach you for free like a magician's mentor. These are the only ways you may learn new spells.
  • You have no library. All the spells you know, you can prepare from memory.
  • You can't scribe scrolls, or cast spells from scrolls.

Far as I can tell, this should leave elves with a smaller spell repertoire than a magician of the same level, but balance that out with two extra pack slots from not having to carry a spellbook. From my experience with Torchbearer so far, that seems like a pretty solid tradeoff; even if it does weaken elves some, I'd hope that wouldn't be too big a deal, since the book outright says they're the most powerful class by default. Can anyone with more system mastery evaluate this for me?