dtgreene: From my experience with Bishops (and I have a *lot*, as I always include one in my party):
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01kipper: Any advice on which schools I should focus on for my Bishop (or even whether I should try to advance all four equally)? This is one area I'm really unsure where to go. My other party members with spells would be Valk(Div), Sam(Wiz), Ran(Alc), and Gadgeteer (who'll have some gadgets with spell effects).
I would probably suggest going for Alchemy and Psionics first. Alchemy tends to be the hardest to raise if it's not ahead of your other skills because it shares so many spells, plus the best high level offensive spells are in this spellbook. Psionics is good because you don't have anyone else who can cast the spells, and I *love* the Psionic Blast spell.
It is still a good idea to raise Wizardry (Freeze Flesh/All) and Divinity (Rest All, Heal All (which can be replicated with items including 1 gadget), and eventually Restoration), but those skills don't need to be as high to easily increase when they're not your best skill.
Anyway, here is the situation with respect to leveling spellbook skills when they're lower than the others:
Wizardry: with 15 skill, you can use Enchanted Blade and Missile Shield (non-combat with practice timers); 30 gives you useful enemy-targeted spells (Fireball and Freeze Flesh)
Divinity: 0 skill gets you Bless (combat spell that doesn't backfire), 15 gets you Guardian Angel (ditto), and 30 gets you Rest All (cast in fake combat for practice), Armorplate (non-combat with practice timer), and Magic Screen (ditto).
Alchemy: 15 gets you Razor Cloak and Dracon Breath (combat no-backfire, but not that useful other than practice), 45 gets you Ring of Fire (combat no-backfire) as well as some useful combat spells.
Psionics: 15 gets you the useful combat spell known as Insanity, 30 gets you Hypnotic Lure (non-combat with practice timer).
When casting spells that don't backfire, or whose backfires are harmless (Holy Water and (in fake combat) Rest All), you can cast the spell at a higher power level for more skill experience. If the spell has a practice timer, you must wait a certain amount of time after casting it for the next cast to count, or you can take advantage of the fact that the timers aren't saved; just quicksave and quick-reload. (Note that quick-reload takes time on period computers; if your computer has decent RAM and an OS that does proper disc caching, this becomes much more practical.)
Zadok_Allen: To train a spell needs to count as having an effect (refreshing buffs doesn't work for instance).
Actually, that is not entirely accurate. It's true for healing and status recovery spells, but not true for others. In particular:
For combat spells (including things like Bless), you must be in combat against an enemy; fake combat doesn't count. (If the battle music is playing, you are in real combat.)
Long-duration spells (like Armorplate and Enchanted Blade) have practice timers; if you wait long enough, or if you save/reload, you can cast the spell and it will count as practice. (Note that the Portal spells also have practice timers, and that the timers are shared for the whole party.)
Stamina/Rest All are unusual: You can cast them outside of combat, but you don't get skill experience unless you cast them during combat. Fake combat does work here, however.
Summon Elemental: This combat skill does award skill experience when cast during fake combat. (Using this by a certain fountain is a good way to raise a Ranger's Alchemy so that she can learn Quicksand and Resurrect at level 18.)
Spells that are resisted still count. Spells that fizzle or backfire, I believe, actually give you *more* skill experience than those that are successfully cast. (This is unlike Dungeon Master, where failed spells give less experience, or Morrowind, where failed spells give none.)
