An endless source of shadows?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

About the Wish option: don't forget that Azalin's xp cap is a big limiting factor in that. Assuming he can't or won't drop himself down to 17th level, he only has 17,000 xp of slack to play around with, so he can't cast a Wish more than three times before he has to go earn more experience. For him, Limited Wish would be far handier (only 300 xp/casting) for most purposes.

For that matter, his xp cap means he must've had to create most of his infamous magic items in stages, adding or upgrading powers whenever he has the xp to spare. If he wants to maximize his access to Wish and similar spells, Azalin may not care to devote more than a few hundred xp to magic item creation at a time, which would make crafting powerful items a painfully slow process: yet another way for the DPs to ensure his limitless lich's lifespan is filled by endless frustration.

In a way, Meredoth is in a similar bind, where xp-based spells are concerned: he's already 20th level, so he doesn't have the leeway left to advance -- not without going epic, which isn't how Mystarans do things -- and he burns so many xp enhancing his undead and creating constructs that he doesn't have much left for Wish and so on. He can use Wish effects to invoke spells from his prohibited schools, but it costs the sea-mage xp he'd rather expend in other ways.

[HuManBing]

That's true, though if there's a spell he absolutely can't do without in the course of his experimentation, Wish is a perfectly sound way to get around it.

He could scribe a scroll of Wish for 200 XP extra too. Obviously he wouldn't throw this around willy nilly because of the drudgery of regaining XP afterwards. But all these points are to show others that there are creative ways around the curse, limited though they may be.

[HuManBing]

Oh! Another find! (I hope I haven't mentioned this before.)

The Book of Erotic Fantasy has a very versatile L9 spell that Azalin would find very useful, called Spell Meld. It basically allows the caster to access another willing caster's spell list.

The spell description leaves a few questions unanswered, but a reasonable interpretation would be that a) you have to use up your own spell slots to cast any spell, regardless of whose spell list it came from, and b) there is no limit to arcane/divine spell type.

Azalin could give a loyal vassalich all the spells he himself can't learn, perhaps including Spell Meld, and then either cast Spell Meld himself (DM's prerogative) or get the vassalich to do it. The vassalich would have to be a high enough level to cast the unknown spell, naturally, but once that's accomplished, Azalin can bypass the curse yet again.

There may be some restrictions but I trust others will point them out if I've forgotten to mention them

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Oh! Another find! (I hope I haven't mentioned this before.)

The Book of Erotic Fantasy has a very versatile L9 spell that Azalin would find very useful, called Spell Meld. It basically allows the caster to access another willing caster's spell list.

The spell description leaves a few questions unanswered, but a reasonable interpretation would be that a) you have to use up your own spell slots to cast any spell, regardless of whose spell list it came from, and b) there is no limit to arcane/divine spell type.

Azalin could give a loyal vassalich all the spells he himself can't learn, perhaps including Spell Meld, and then either cast Spell Meld himself (DM's prerogative) or get the vassalich to do it. The vassalich would have to be a high enough level to cast the unknown spell, naturally, but once that's accomplished, Azalin can bypass the curse yet again.

There may be some restrictions but I trust others will point them out if I've forgotten to mention them

I've ruled in favor of something like this for years, based on the description of Eldrenn van Dorn from VRGTGhosts. Eldrenn and others like him seem like an obvious way to shore up the weaknesses of not being able to learn new spells.