... I would like to buy spells that only seem to be available from the instructors. Do the instructors ever leave the college (don't some of them wander down to town) or does my mage have to join?

What if

Thanks!

join the collage to learn new spells plus do a quest or so.

you just have to gain accses with faralda, then you can buy any spell

So you want to learn college spells without actually being part of the college which only shares knowledge with members?

k

Are they 'college' spells? I thought they were just spells. Did the college invent the spells? But, yes, my mage wants the spells but has no desire to join.

It's possible to find them in a certain plain of Oblivion where its home to a certain Daedric Prince.

You can go through the back entrance.

Whew! That sounds way easier than the Oblivion thing...

You can't normally jump that high.

If your character can jump 50ft, go for it.

D'oh! So there's no way (the Oblivion option isn't real, right?) other than joining the college? Won't happen - mage'll have to find the invisibility spell in loot. At least she's got her invisibility potions as an alternative.

He didn't mention anything in order to leave the spoilers out, the Oblivion option is more than real.

Dude, you can go through the back entrance. If you can scale a horizontal mountain in Skyrim, you can easily get to the back entrance.

How?

'k - I'll have to check it out later but I'm on the Xbox so no mods or console commands.

'horizontal' mountain? you mean vertical, right? Sometimes it's possible to move horizontally on those surfaces but I can't remember actually making vertical progress. I'll see...

Thanks!

It's real, but the tomes are randomly generated. Though you can find a Flame Thrall spell in one of the "portals"

Dragonborn DLC.

Easiest way without having to go through back entrances or Oblivion. Just "join" and then that's it. Though you will have to take part in the learning thing if you want alteration spells from Tolfdir.

D'oh! yes, I meant vertical.

Thanks, that's what I thought. It's going to be tough to survive in that environment on Master difficulty with a stealthy, but highly squishy, illusionist...

Also, this PC is not slated to realize the path of the Dragonborn so no souls to spend.

You don't need the Dragonborn MQ to start those books. You can actually visit Solstheim without doing any of the MQ content.

Yes, this PC is an alchemist so she went to Solstheim for scathecraw (good poison ingredient). Finished the quest Final Descent (defeated Zahkriisos through pure stealth and sniping which was awesome fun) and found 'The Winds of Change' Edit: but without dragon souls, that's a pointless trip to Apocrypha.

You're right, though, the other Black Books provide rewards without dragon souls. Still, this is a very squishy level 30 illusionist with archery and alchemy but practically no melee skills (only a modest backstab). The Seekers and Lurkers are going to be really, really, tough unless Frenzy and Rage do the trick. Maybe when she gets to 5/5 alchemist and 5/5 overdraw...

Edit: You know, I still haven't gotten the hang of stealth, I keep thinking like a fighter She could use invisibility potions and muffle spells to possibly sneak past some of the baddies...

Just get a horse, they climb horizontal mountains all the time!

Each magical vendor outside the College (IE: all the jarl's court mages) has a certain school that they'll sell spells up to Journeyman level for. For expert level spells, you'll need to go to the College. For Master level spells, you'll need to complete a special quest for each.

^ This.
Spells including Novice, Apprentice and Adept are sold by everyone.
When your skills become quite high and you want Expert spells, maybe you'll change your mind and attend College... as a 'mature' student.

Just do like I do. Follow the questline until Tolfdir returns to the college. That way you can stop doing the quests and still have access to all the spells/trainers.

I know it's annoying to console players to hear about pc players' console commands, but for the sake of a complete answer to this question:

Spoiler: on pc the simple command "coc qasmoke" (no quotes) will take you to a nice little room which contains most if not all items in the game, including all spell tomes. Then, use something like "coc riverwood" to get back to Skyrim.