... a mage have to sit down and recall every spell before casting, yet can only use a spell once before have to sit down and recall again?

The title seems awfully familiar to me, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, if this is it, I think I'll pass. I love mage and that design was unacceptable to me.

Early game, yes. I would recommend Sorceror instead, if you're new to NWN. You have quite a few more casts of a single spell.

I could go into a lengthy explanation here, but basically as your character levels up your wizard has access to more spell memorization slots, and your Sorceror gets more 'charges' per spell level. Sorcerors can always cast a smaller variety more often, so if you didn't like that arrangement for wizard, try sorceror. It's more of a newbie-friendly caster class.

It's based on the 3rd edition AD&D rules, so you have x amounts of time you can cast each spell, which goes up with level. You do have to rest frequently, but this is true regardless of which class you play. Hit points do not, from my recollection, automatically regenerate at a fast rate without mods.

Yes and no.
Mages are hard to play in the early levels, but become immensely powerful later on. In the ruleset used for the game, any caster class has a limit of casts per day depending on class levels and primary stat.
While in pen and paper roleplaying you would play the scene out, in the PC game this is managed by a short period during which your character sits down and rests, unable to do anything else during that time.
Particularly in th early levels that would mean you'd have to either rest (sit down) every few spellcasts, or keep fighting without the spells (in which most caster classes don't really excel)

It might be the game you're thinking of, but several D&D based games has similar mechanics for mages - it's part of the Dungeons and Dragons 2/3 rule set.

NWN is very forgiving in that respect, though - you can rest after just about every encounter, without penalty.

if I recall correctly though, there are a few wands that allow you to cast a cantrip an infinite amount of times per day.
also, as a mage, you get a familiar that can really help you out in combat, allowing you to preserve spells. a henchman will do exactly that as well.

pack a crossbow and use spells only occasionally when you start the game. later on, you can 'spam' the spells, so to speak

Rod of frost, bloody godsend to a level 1 mage

A sling and some bullets are another good backup

True in some respects, but it can be hard for a newbie to know what spells are worth picking. Wizard allows versatility and there is no real penalty for memorizing a bad spell, just memorize something else!

No. It isn't a game that... but if you... then that will be good as...
Maybe you could... and then you will be pleased with the...

A bit off topic I guess, but I'd like to see a DnD game one day where magic is very hard to use and hard to come by. Lord of the Rings style magic; where it is very rare and subtle, but also very powerful.

Does that not fit the D'n'D setting Dark Sun? I must admit to have never played it, only read about it, but as far as I know magic there works by channeling the life substance or whatever of all things living around you, thus leaving behind you a patch of dead earth every time somebody magically heats up his coffee, resulting in the whole world being one great desert now.

You might be thinking about the Hellfire Warlock prestige class that was introduced with NWN 2: Storm of Zehir. His Hellfire Blast and Hellfire Shield cause CON damage every thime they are cast.

Yeah. Obviously, it would have to be a game with vastly different mechanics than the average dungeon crawler.