Aquarius
Hey Orion, thanks for having replied!
Need to learn about a spell list, although IGMS/Bigbys will surely be in (maybe also Summon creature IX, there is a struggle with dominate monster); besides, I will take into consideration your suggestion about initial stats, better to improve hit points and saving throws (concentration is, also, a key skill for a caster. Ok for anticipating lv 10 PM, at the expense of delaying CHA: if CHA is capped, 2 lv 9 free slots can be obtained at lv 24; this can mitigate the temporary loss.
And, yeah, your observation is correct: even if there are runes and other goodies I could use in WoG, I often prefer to play a “general” build; this to avoid to significantly rely on specific items that may be rare to find, and to make things “harder”.
If the item is more general and sold in shops, then I don’t feel any constraint to their use.