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I KNOW I rant and rave about palladium all the time. But its just because I see such potential. I love the game. Other games are simpler or more complicated but I think Palladium is just right. I like all the different hand to hand forms. I like active defenses. I love the point based systems magic and psionic systems. I love Palladium and have spent too much time working with it.

but with that being said,....

what is up with the spells?
a) 1000 pts? really? How does anything that costs 1000+ points summon a god/old one saying " I got this for the next 15 seconds". How does it not allow you to pinpoint and kill everything within 500 feet+

b) How do I get to the point of being able to cast these spells? I really enjoy spells that can cost 600 points like circle travel and my powerful ritual can be undone by a 12 years old spilling a can of paint on my teleportation circle, and still cost me 30 pts per use

c) I am failing to see the point in the levels. The costs are all over the place. See Aura-6 PPE-Level 1, Detect Concealment-6 PPE-Level 2, Magic Shield-6 PPE-Level 3, Blind-6 PPE-Level 4.

d) Metamorphosis: Animal-lvl 7-20, Human-8-40, Insect-9-60, Superior-10-100, Mist-12-250. Aside from any other problems I have with these spells, let look at this? Human Metamorphosis is just that, I can alter my looks to another human. To completely change my physiology into that of an alley cat or rhino is 20 pts. To turn myself into a butterfly is 60 pts. I could see Humanoid for 20 allowing me to change myself into any other humanoid creature, allowing me to have wings horns, tails, quills, etc. Doesn't make sense to me.

I am obviously missing something elemental here.

First spells costing 1000 PPE aren't that hard to cast, really they aren't. any spell can be done as rituals and between getting a group of people to help out and animals to kill and even the effects of ley lines and nexus points make 1000 PPE fairly easily to pull off with planning, but makes it hard to do without planing. most of these spells are extremely powerful when used correctly, having high PPE cost keep them from being overused. I've never had an issue getting enough PPE to cast spells.

Levels have uses depending on your GM. our house rules require the mage to be over the level of the spell before he can try to modify it. Some wizard types can't learn magic beyond their level, and also help determine prices of spells.

as for the PPE cost. the Idea is the more powerful the spell the more PPE, but I agree about lack of pattern, which I only have an issue with when it comes to trying to design new spells. I haven't found any rules on how to determine PPE cost of new spells. (if anyone has a set of rules or know where the set of rules are please let me know)

The function of level is not explicitly spelled out anywhere that I know of. RUE uses spell level to determine the difficulty with which a spell may be purchased or otherwise procured; inclining me to believe that it's a rough estimate of how scarce the information is as well as a vague indicator of how powerful the effect is. It's highly subjective, of course. Your GM may be handing out spells of legend like they're parting gifts on a game show, or he might make casting even a low-level ritual virtually impossible due to the risks associated with hanging out at a nexus long enough to pop one off.

a) Inflation.
b) Read the book. There are lots of ways to get a bunch of PPE, from holding hands with a crowd, to carrying a bunch of Talismans, to blood sacrifice. And it doesn't hurt to hang out at ley lines or nexus points at certain times.
c) Levels are about power and difficulty to learn/cast, not about cost.
d) Changing yourself into a cat isn't that specific. You're a cat. The fur pattern doesn't matter, the breed doesn't matter. You're just a generic cat.
With Metamorphosis: Human, you're turning into a very specific human.
Specificity takes more power.
(Or, if you don't like that explantion, just consider that magic doesn't really make much logical sense.
That's why it's magic.)

a) borrowing the P.P.E. from other mages (that's also why guildes are there)
b) ritual linking many people
c) solar eclipse
d) Ley Line
e) Nexus point
f) lots of talisman/P.P.E. batteries
g) playing a high level and long living mage/R.C.C./demigod/godling/etc.
h) ritual killing (double P.P.E. at death)

Just the first ideas.

My dragon hatchling character had to learn the spell of legend sanctuary for a group of mages to help defeat a large army of evil doers. He can not cast the spell alone, but he knows it and wait until he get 600+ years old .