Inventing New Spells and the first Mage

[munin]

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

... I can see how enchanted equipment would make this process easier, but I don't see how it makes sense for it to be required. ...

It probably assumes that the 800+ low-hanging fruits have already been discovered, and that other spells are more difficult to discover and thus require advanced research methods made possible by previous discoveries. Early Physics discoveries could be made by dropping things off buildings, later discoveries require super-colliders.

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

... The fact that it's impossible without outside help, however, is jarring. Is there something I'm missing? What other possibilities are there to handle this sort of character?

It's been mentioned before that, in terms of mastering use, each spell is the equivalent of a specialization in a field of science -- e.g., Ignite Fire and Biology (Genetics) are both Hard skills. Thaumatology (the understanding of magic) is a Very Hard skill. Someone who can work all of this out on their own in less than multiple lifetimes is at least the equivalent of an Isaac Newton.

That said, GURPS can do that (TM). The simplest is Unusual Background (Intuitive Spell Learner) -- you can learn spells without requiring a teacher or references. This is functionally equivalent to Reawakened so costs the same, [10]. If they can learn new spells in the middle of an adventure, they probably have Wild Talent (Retention). Or just really really high IQ, with penalties for no equipment as Anaraxes mentioned.