D&D 5E Spell access via...tools?

[SkidAce]

I'd find it'd make more thematic sense to me if the spells could only be cast as rituals. Having a character bust out large charts and sextants and doing a reading on a combat timescale? That sounds kind of awkward.

Not intended as material components, more like proficiency with the tools represents the knowledge you learned that allows you to understand these spells. You would still need to learn/acquire as normal.