On #3, do you mean that you let them equip a book to their arm?
or do you mean that an offhand book, equipped in the offhand, with modified stats would appear on the gnome's arm?
on #1, fail could work as long as you don't lose the old gear on fail. but, sounds like these suggestions might be moot if your intent is not create your own progression tasks/quests.
everyone is different; but for me, Emu is about custom content. Otherwise, I'd be on pEQ
