Mages overpower?
I think that mages are powerful but not overpower, they cant wear proper armor (or their mana will not regenerate properly) , and without reagents they are nothing. FC has a cap. mana ends
Yes they can kill a foe from a safe distance, but hey! This is their class strenght!!
If this kind of thing is touched, a shard will end up in a uniform consisting of bow, full plate, horse and a robe.
Balance is not made of equals, but of strenghts and weakenesses. There is too much to consider before making such thing.
I believe the one thing that could be changed about magery is summoning a demon for example, that should require a proper ritual a la Ultima Pagan, a good bite of karma points and an optional charging a focus.
A focus would be a charged item ( a wand for example) to call a demon like a fast spell and the user couldnt remove it from hand or the demon would attack him
Other than this, I believe, spell changes would lower the appeal of becoming a wizard.
=D
Addendum: I think that obtaining spells should be more than simply buying 8th level spells on the nearest shop.