Dave - to sum up - Wheel of Time magic is so radically different than anything I've read in GURPS that it would be a chore to create a system from the ground up.
My goal was to find a system that mirrored Wheel of Time magic without needing ridiculously high CP to attain any level of power.
I don't know if I've given up on this project yet. But dang. There's a lot to change. Currently I'm running a d20 based system which
works well for the magic but CRAP for the mainstream classes. I was wanting a grittier system for mainstream classes which gets away from number creep present in most (if not all) d20 systems.
See below for long-winded explanation.
Realm Magic comes the closest (Or perhaps Powers as Talents). But still - GURPS has nothing to compare power-wise to the magic in the Wheel of Time. And GURPS makes magic almost prohibitively expensive (hence the reason for my first question).
For example - the main character (at a VERY early stage of development in the novels) was capable of crafting a spell that sent out hundreds, if not thousands, of lightning bolts striking and killing foes in all parts of a castle the size of a small mountain. And he still had energy to keep casting.
Or - two women stood atop a tower 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile (if not a bit farther) from a battle and rained down lightning for several hours killing thousands of foes.
A young caster in the Wheel of Time can use air to tie up and render helpless the most horrific of beasts (except for Gholems of course).
To learn a new spell, one simply has to see it done. Once. A lowly caster who is just starting out can oversee a weave of UNIMAGINABLE power and remember it and, when they are strong enough, be able to cast it. Also - even if they aren't strong enough, they might be able to cast a reduced version of it.
There is almost infinite variation of spells available as spells are based off of manipulating pure energy (in 5 forms - Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Spirit). These can be combined in varying ways for almost infinite results.
An example of the awesome power available in Wheel of Time - Balefire - capable of decimating CITIES and DESTROYING THE ENTIRE WORLD!. One caster using Balefire can erase a person from existence and time.
So - I was hoping to try and replicate this in GURPS while sticking relatively close to the rules. But it just doesn't seem to fit no matter how I look at it without characters needing ASTRONOMICALLY high CP to have a relatively adequate caster (compared to the books).
The only solution I can come up with is:
1) Realm Magic or Powers as Talents
2) Magery up to level 10.
3) Reduce FP cost of spells to a 1-10 scale.
4) Allow ER to be bought and used as well as FP to power spells (a semi deviation from the Wheel of Time concept which ties magic strength more to HT than an arbitrary ER pool... but hey)
5) Use advantages for all casting feats (channeling feats)
6) Ignore modifiers for distance and potentially number of targets as well (or drastically increase the modifier table values)
7) Some addition of Threshold magic rules (as spellcasters in Wheel of Time did have a limit to how much they could do - it was just godlike)
8)??