The three Eschalon games maybe. Magic users are the most powerful and versatile characters in those games.

Can anyone name the definitive patches/Mods for Arx Fatalis?

OOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Baldur's Gate 2 has many powerful spells you don't commonly see in AD&D cRPGS.

Pools of Darkness, while older, has magic being quite powerful thanks to the lack of some of the limits found in other games.

The Elder Scrolls games (except Skyrim) allow you to create your own spells, a feature that can be exploited to create spells powerful enough to break the game (though it might not be immediately obvious how in Morrowind/Oblivion).

In Unepic, magic gets quite powerful late game, to the point where I found that a pure mage build works best for endgame.

Another older game with strong magic is Dragon Wars. There's a reason the villain outlawed magic use; attack spells are quite powerful in that game.

I loved being a mage in Gothic 3. If you level up enough you become as unto a god, your fireball fury the stuff of legend. If that is what you want to taste, the sweetest cosmic powers can be found there.

Magicmaker has a similar experimenting spell crafting system to Lichdom Battlemage, it's also in 2D and much less demanding in case you have an older computer.

KOCollins:
Thanks, I am looking for this kind of info. I played Gothic 2 and Risen 1. G2 have better magic system and more powerfull magic. Risen is not bad, but magic was very simplified.

skeletonbow:
Magica looks interesting, thanks for tip.



I forgot mention games I played, because most of them mentioned here I know. And I am looking for games with more tactical battles (turn based).
Drakensang - low magic.
Divine Divinity - I played, not finished, but I remember not strong as mage. Maybe I had bad character build.
The Elder Scrolls - sorry but the character development is not good, not much spells. Spell creation is interesting but, that is all. (I played Morrowind)
I find M&M6 the best for mages. If anyone know other M&M serie for strong mage, please mention it. (I am not looking for M&M 1 - 5).
Eschalon - I played only 1, but I dont find magic strong as I wish. And not much spells.
TwoWorlds 1 - idea of magic is interesting, but how it is designed, it is bad I ever see in game.
KingsBounty - all except Warrior of North. I like it.
NwN 2 - I dont find strong magic here as I wish. NwN 1 is the same for me, and in beginning I feel more like this - summon monster and wait while your monster kill enemies when your spell run out (around few spell run out quickly and they are weak as slap). And overall damage spells are very weak when you compare how many times you can cast spell and not mention cast spell can fail and you lost spell for current battle.
Icewind Dale, Bg, Dragon Ages - as far as I know they have same or similar system as NwN (I played Icwd 2 and same magic as NwN) I think it is Dungeon & Dragons. I dont think it will be better then NwN, but I can be misleaded.
Wizardry 8 - I start play this game, looks good, but I have doubt about gameplay, because while I level up my characters, monsters are stronger and stronger.
Wizards & Warriors - similar as W8. I think better graphics - not technicaly but looks more good in art area.
SpellForce 1 - ok, not much spells, mage is interesting character here, very slow character movements. SF 2 - many improvements, except character development is step back.
Fallen Enchantress (hope I write it right) I like it, lot of spells but not much for battle.

Interesting magic system? Immediately Treasure of the Rudras comes to mind.

It's worth noting that attack magic does not scale well; it's powerful at first, but it rather useless by endgame.

On the other hand, using spells to boost your stats is useful, but I find it annoying that there's no spell to boost the hidden stat that affects healing (yet you can boost the power of your stat-boosting spells with a spell).

The Might and Magic 6-8. Initially weak, the wizards become truly overpowered after some serious levelling and promotions. Nothing more satisfying then clearing a map with one armageddon spell that will bring down dragons, titans and hydras. Of course, the bloody clerics and the wizards will have to cast the relevant protective spells so they won't end up dead, too;)

But, seriously, most of the fantasy RPG's will have the same formula for mage: weakling at the beginning of the game, overpowered starting mid-game until the end.

1) Arx Fatalis. Keep in mind though you are GOING to need even some basic melee, in one part of the game you cannot use spells plus the strongest type of enemies, are highly resistant to magic. Excellent and innovative magic system very far ahead for its time.

2) Baldur's Gate, especially 2, but CLASSIC, ORIGINAL version. Spells are cheesy imba overpowered broken kinky stuff. Enhanced Editions nerfed them down and balanced them out.

3) Morrowind OBVIOUSLY! You can even create your own spells. You can even bend the game's rules to create your own legit "cheats", like permanent summons, endless underwater-breathing and many, much more interesting and fun moments! Definitely i STRONGLY suggest THIS one! You HAVE to play it!

4) Grim Dawn, the new Diablo! Many classes, there are spellcaster ones obviously and quite powerful! There are even class combos! You can combine both spellcasting classes for ultimate fun (both summoner-debuffer-doter and glass cannon)!

5) Icewind Dale Original or Enhanced. You can create a pure spellcaster. Or a team of spellcasters. My main there was an elf druid. Damn thing pawns HARD!

6) Torchlight 1. I hear alchemist has great spells, even the offensive ones, cough! Torchlight 2. I hear the Embermage is your main!

7) Unepic. Become a mage manually by setting proficiency points yourself into schools and learning spells of choice!

8) Vampire the Masquerade Redemption. Spells are kinky but you need lots of blood and jewelry to lower their cost. Vampire Bloodlines. Roll a tremere and invest in their unique discipline. Great damage imba skills. You probably won't need to melee anywhere. Even first skill fells anyone in 2-3 strikes (non-boss).

9) Witcher 1 and 2, but 2 to a much lesser extent. Signs were REALLY, overpowered. Aard=instant stun for finishing in one hit, Igni=crazy damage plus dot and even thrown ranged, axii=possession, yrden=high damage aoe, quen=broken thing, perfect defense and reflect damage back.

10) If you want THE, experience, the original one, the legit one, of super kickass badass magic in RPG, just grab Diablo 1 + Hellfire, this was the grandfather, THE sh*t, back in the day. Or 2 and lord of destruction, keep it in 1.09, roll a sorceress and go tri-element. Only in 1.09 it is viable (and imba). THOSE were the times, slaying cows with Fire-Frost-Lightning! *Sigh* Boy, do i feel old, now...

Actually, I have encountered many games where it is the reverse.

In Might and Magic: World of Xeen, for example, physical attacks scale faster than magic attacks, especially when you take into account Day of Protection.

In Elminage Gothic, attack magic is quite powerful for most of the game, but once you get into the post-game, it becomes rather weak. (Also, Dragonewt breath is often more powerful than magic, especially if the breather has high HP, though that stops being true in the postgame.)

This pattern is also seen in many JRPGs, including many Final Fantasy games, as well as some Dragon Quest games as well.

One bizarre case is SaGa Frontier 2. Once you have enough Arts known, the balance boils down to this:
* Physical attacks are more powerful, but have to be used sparingly due to WP and limited weapon durability.
* Magic isn't as strong, but is generally strong enough, and because of the way SP is restored to the amount provided by equipment after a battle, you can use it as your primary means of attack and not worry about SP. (Also, you don't have to worry about durability either.) Note that you still get a good selection of spells, including Firestorm (hits all enemies) and Incineration (chance of instantly killing its target regardless of fire resistance).

(In other words, in SF2, the balance between physical and magical attacks is flipped compared to the way most RPGs work.)

Yes, that's the concept of mages in the older D&D editions: weak at lower levels, overpowered at higher levels. If anything, I find NWN actually deviates the most from that formula, since IMO NWN mages aren't that defenseless at the lower levels compared to the other classes, precisely because you can summon a familiar and another creature to distract enemies while you shoot at them with a crossbow from a safe distance, so you're essentially an 'army' of three. I never had much trouble playing casters in NWN, unless a module is badly designed and spawns enemies around you out of thin air. In Baldur's Gate on the other hand, even during the tutorial, life can be pretty harsh for a mage. The first opponent you meet is a thief lurking in a small shed behind an area transition, so the battle leaves you no space to get away from him and he can kill you with one or two hits. But in general, you can't expect to be constantly casting high damage spells at lower levels in any D&D game, you need to be a bit patient. It pays off in the end though.

I get the feeling the OP is looking for God Mode...

Torchlight 2 also has the good old cheats of yesteryear. You can choose the highest difficutly, cheat yourself infinite mana and spam spells like crazy, if this sounds appealing to you.