Magic as Feats

[Ragnarok Aeon]

I'm just curious if anyone knows of any books or systems that use feats to distribute magic instead of spells. I'm hopefully looking for something that gives a bit more of an effect than a single spell...

I'm looking for something that makes them feel more like powers than just spells.

[Falaal]

(For Pathfinder) There are feats that give spell-like abilities. I'm browsing through the feat list and most of them are linked to class abilities or race. For example, Gnome Trickster adds 1/day mage hand and prestidigitation.

[Te'Shen]

Ragnarok Aeon wrote:

I'm just curious if anyone knows of any books or systems that use feats to distribute magic instead of spells. I'm hopefully looking for something that gives a bit more of an effect than a single spell...

I have heard True D20 has some stuff along those lines, but I'm not entirely sure, as I don't own any of the books. I have also heard Green Ronin has a skill based psychic system that might have some interesting bits for you to mine.

I might not be remembering correctly, but I seem to remember the Spellslinger RPG opening spell levels with a series of feats. I think spellcasting was also limited at sixth level.

This is all off the top of my head...

[Lathiira]

Maybe in the Midnight setting? Spellcasting there was pretty limited, to improve you generally needed to keep taking feats.

[Dragonchess Player]

I believe the d20 Wheel of Time RPG had an interesting system for channeling/weaves that could be adapted, although it had some issues.

You could also probably probably come up with a variation on Words of Power, where spellcasters need to spend a feat to learn each type of effect word.

Alternately, you could require a feat to gain the ability to cast each spell level (possibly including 0-level spells), with minimum level (or Spellcraft skill rank) requirements for each spell level; in this case, you should probably use the expert and warrior generic classes from 3.5's Unearthed Arcana (using the spellcaster chart to determine spell slots and spells known for spell levels available); if you're requiring feats for spell levels, you should either not use the spellcaster generic class or grant them bonus feats at every even level, as well as 1st, 5th, and 15th. Combined with Words of Power, you can get a flexible system that lets each character decide how much emphasis to place on spellcasting and what types of effects they want to focus on.

[Ragnarok Aeon]

As far as the Pathfinder feats go, well they're kind of underpowered. Some limited use cantrips seems like a waste of feats. It in general feels kind of underwhelming.
As far as the d20 settings that were suggested, they look interesting, but it's kind of hard to bring myself to spend cash on a book I'm only mildly interested in just to peruse the feats. But thanks for the suggestion.
While searching I did find Spheres of Power, which sounds exactly what I was looking for even though it's not actually out yet.

[Alzrius]

Paths of Power has magic that's based around "paths" - which are clerical domain-like progressions of a small suite of individual spells.

Basically, you start off with a smattering of paths, and can gather more over time, though the book's default setting is that you won't gain very many over time. Each path is roughly equivalent to a feat.

The initial book, linked to above, is free - the expansion is a pay-for product.

Of course, there's also the combined book (in hardcover and softcover), if you want them both at once (and these have a bonus - a listing of all the new spells in the books on traditional spell lists!).