How to make my DE Paladin unlock the secrets of magic

[Stingray1]

Don't worry about the bug, I had even beastfighters learn spells with the bug. Easiest way to train your concentration to 100 real fast is to go fetch the phial of Caladriel and use it whenever your PP has recharged.

Definitely get Literacy to 100 too and get Learning up to about 20 with Garth. Wear the crown of science while reading, just remove it afterwards as it curses and dooms the character while worn.

I wouldn't start reading simple spells before level 18 or so, maybe you can try earlier and see.

[JellySlayer]

Level is a very important factor in spellcasting. Higher is better. Even wizards with 100 concentration and 100 literacy have trouble learning some spells at level 1.

Graveyards are a great place to train literacy. Spend a few minutes wandering around reading gravestones and you'll get literacy increases for awhile.

I prefer to have Learning over 20 before seriously attempting to read spellbooks. Garth + oracle can get you there easily as long as your potential isn't too low. If not, crown of science can help too as long as you remove it afterward.

[Mobius]

Yeah, I usually do that. Here, I got my strength drained by -3 in an undead vault, but fittingly the reward were the gauntlets. But is it necessary to take the gauntlets off? Because I heard that now the attributes increases are based on the base value (in order to prevent starvation training)

Anecdotal evidence - I seem to have better results when my stat boosting items are off. And with STR, it's nice being able to un-strain yourself with one easy move, putting gauntlets back on.

[gosos]

i play alot of paladins. im not an expert at the game... but i do play them alot. i find that paladins are not worth doing any magic until literacy is at 100. i generally dont like to read any spellbooks until they are blessed and Im atleast level 17. i try to ID them first. i find with paladins its best to hold off on magic in the earlier game. i usually dont try it until I reach dwarf town and have eaten the corpse in HMV that increases my learning (forgot name off hand). I also often stockpile gold to buy up my learning to the 20s before I try to read any books.

paladins do just fine with just melee/scrolls/potions and some kind of range item until then.

[gut]

pump Le: in every way possible.
Crown of Science, eat oracle, drink all +Le: potions including temporary boosters, garth training (do this first if possible), equip any +Le: items such as mental stability rings, hop in the ID for rooms that give +1 Le: and -1 St: (again, better early than late). After all that, find a bookshelf room

[Cactus]

Lots of useful advice, thanks!
Oh my, reading gravestones! I should have figured that out... Also, using the Phial to drain PP.

About the bookshelf rooms: The guidebook just says "faster when learning spells from books (half time)", but then again there's a lot of question marks in that section, so it's hard to tell between assumptions and evidence there.

Regarding the starsign, for a semicaster Book would have been a much better choice than Cup, because it actually helps the success chance. Cup on the other hand is better for a pure caster since it increases the casting points by 20%. Also, while the +2 Le of Cup are clearly documented in-game, Book actually gives +3 Le (undocumented in-game) according to the ADOM Wiki.