Are you ready to see an image macro with a screencap from The IT Crowd?

DESU, vancian casting can generally be converted in a point/mana system pretty easily. You just need exceptions for extremely powerful spells (See also: Wish)

>>46839633
Yes, there are lots of RPGs that aren't called D&D who use completely different magic systems.

>>46839633
Try psions.

>>46839633
Try finishing this sentence. Have you tried anything besides __&__?

>>46839633
Spell points are love. Spell points are life.

Exhaustion and hp ones are cool too, like in shadowrun.

There's a whole world of RPGs out there other than dnd. Most of them aren't half as torturous to learn.

Yes. Pretty much any magic in an RPG that's not D&D, but even D&D has Psionics.

>>46839633
The psionics system from 3.5e D&D.

D&D itself is also pretty much the only system that does Vancian casting. Ars Magica and its successor games, Mage: the Ascension and Mage: the Awakening are famous for their cool casting mechanics, although in those games you're ALL wizards (and the appeal there is inventing your own spells on the fly).

>>46839633
I actually really enjoy the magic system they came up with for Green Ronin's "Chronicle" system. (Also known as A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying) though I wish they had bothered to actually publish anything but the bare bones of it.

It's a magic system designed for an inherently low-magic environment. Magic is fueled by destiny points, and destiny points recharge on a per-adventure basis. So if you're going to attempt to cast a spell, be damn sure it's worth it.

>>46839633
...You know what, Nickolai? I'm feeling surprisingly good today. Things are going well, I have nice things to look forward to, things are surprisingly not as fucked as normal, and I haven't had any family members die for six months. So you know what? I'm feeling generous. Don't fuck this up for me.

Here's your link, so all the research is already done for you. Because of course we all know you're playing 3.pf, and if you're not, well, there's probably something for 4 as well. Anyway.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/spellPoints.htm

Right, good deed done for the day. I'm out.