Ath'kethin
Elder Thing
I was going to say, a solution to too few spells at low levels is to make it so that spells aren't the ONLY thing a magician can do well. In DCC Wizards can use swords (after all, fantasy fiction is full of wizards with swords, and if your wizard has lower physical abilities and/or attack bonuses as per standard, there's little risk of significantly treading on a warrior's turf). Your handguns seem like they'll accomplish much the same thing.Yeah. My proposed system gives you two spell casts before you make a check, and a way to recharge on a short rest. So I think it will be ok.
I didn't want the magicians spamming cantrips in my system - spells are meant to be pretty cool. The magicians have handguns if they run out of spells
I 100% feel you on not wanting spamming cantrips. I don't have a problem with at-will magic, but I feel it should be liked to stuff like lighting candles and making spooky noises. Handy, obviously the basic learned before mastering more powerful magic, but not something you'd use every turn over and over.