I am sure many people have posted this suggestion but...
Why not add a spellbook management for the mages , something simple like:
Switching on/off spell he could cast.
Some other spell order can be usefull:
Order him to cast 1 spell continiously. ( so we can give him this as the 5th order ).
This is very bad when you lose undead spellcaster because thet doesnt cast raise undead but go to spell protection or decay
Anyway I would greatly like the possibility to "tweak" the mage spellbook so we can have him serving in the purpose we want without having to hold his hand too much.