I'm looking for tabletop options to fit a setting idea, and I've hit kind of a snag and could use a recommendation. I'm looking for a system that will accommodate an aesthetic that's similar to how alchemy works in Fullmetal Alchemist, but more for depth of specialization than the shonen absurd fight scenes. Ideally someone looking to play a magic-user would be able to select one or two themes that their magic would follow, rather than D&D's "I cast 'solve this exact problem'" approach.
Too vague to provide a good recommendation, I’m afraid – most tabletop RPGs with magic systems follow the model you’re describing, or something very like it. D&D-style spell lists are the exception rather than the rule. What are you looking for apart from that?
(Really, any time you’re describing the system you’re looking for purely in terms of “I want it to lack this one specific feature that D&D has”, you’re probably just describing literally any system that isn’t D&D or a very close imitator thereof. You’re gonna have to narrow it down!)
