Hamanu

I would much prefer a system where the cooldowns are moved prior to the casting of the spell. AKA a warm up or charge up period. This serves several purposes; -It limits the frequency with which a mage can cast certain spells, the same purpose that cooldown timers serve. -It allows for more gameplay mechanics, such as Concentration. Spells with warm ups could have a casting difficulty rating that is independent of the warm up time, making them more or less difficult to cast, and of course easier to interrupt. Mages could have skills that reduce the difficulty of casting spells, or certain types of spells from a specialised school. Or even just certain spells that they cast a lot. There could be skills or perks to allow casting on the move, or at high levels multicasting simple spells. -It's more tactically interesting; as it makes the player think about positioning and defensibility for both the casting mage and the party. The Mage will be vulnerable while concentrating on casting and will need to be protected during this time. -It's more lore friendly. It makes a lot of sense that someone summoning a rain of meteors or a ice tornado would be too busy focusing on what he's doing to do much else for the duration. Of course with practice it becomes easier, and some people might even have the knack of being able to defend themselves or run while casting. There's no need to have a cooldown period after a warm up period, as the purpose of limiting the ability of the mage to spam spells is already accomplished using the resources of both time and tactical opportunity, as opposed to simple time in the case of a cooldown.