Regaining exp and copying spells

[Fullmonte]

I noticed that some of my characters have less experience than the others. I know the wizard lost some from making magic items and I assume the others lost exp through dying or being drained by ghouls. My question is...how do get the exp back. I tried using the restoration spell but it didnt work. My other question is....how do I write spells into my spell book. I tried with oticks resilent orb and I failed the first time and after that it keeps saying invalid action. If I cast the spell read magic does it write into my spell book or does it have to be copy scroll from the radial menu? I dont know because I think these spells are higher level than I can use and I cant tell if they've been copied or not.

[Lord Plothos]

I don't think there are any enemies that drain levels in ToEE, actually. That's really the only time restoration is going to help with experience. (Its main use in ToEE is to restore temporary ability loss.) If you die and get raised, or if you spend experience to make an item, scroll, potion, etc., that loss is permanent, and cannot be regained via a spell (short of wish or something like that, which isn't in ToEE). The loss is included in the game in the first place to make sure there is a cost to dying to to making items. So they don't want you to be able to replace it in any way short of just earning more via adventuring.

That said, you can cheat by calling up the console with shift-~ and typing the following line:

game.party[X].stat_base_set(stat_experience,Y)

Make X the number of your party member minus 1 (0 for your leader, 1 for the next guy, etc.), and make Y whatever amount of experience you think the guy should have. This is also a nice way to fiddle around with different level-up combinations to see what the character will look like later on, so you can plan ahead.

As for the scroll copying, it works like this: to copy a scroll, you first identify it with read magic. That alone just tells you what it is. Next you need to copy it (only wizards can do this). This involves a spellcraft check. If you make it, you copy the scroll. If you fail, you can only try again after adding a rank in spellcraft. That is, you have to level up and add to spellcraft in order to be allowed another shot at it. If you really need to know the spell, save before trying to copy, and reload if you don't make it. Otherwise, level up and add to spellcraft.