With more thought, I think that my problem with speed and the almost total lack of area effect spells. As of now, you just spam a spell until all the enemies are dead or you've run out of mana. What few area effect spells there are more like damage over time.
Ever played BGII? Remember Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting? How about fireball or cone of cold? Thats what I mean by area effetc. BAM! every enemy in x radius take 80+x damage. Sure, they can resist it, but the spell become harder to resist as more points are put in it.
You could have a few area effect "nukes" that have casting delays, coupled with some very fast weaker spells for killing the weaker enemies. After all, you wouldn't want pop off a nuke unless you were in a very serious situation.
Also, summons would become more useful because a mage could use them as meat shields AND a means of killing lower level enemies that aren't worthy of recieving the nuke.
