Skill Based System for Fantasy

[Voadam]

GURPS for complete Point buy, Rolemaster/HARP for levels.

 

[SavageRobby]

My first instinct is to say Savage Worlds. Thats cause its THAT good, and THAT flexible.

But, if you're actually playing AD&D, then you might want to look at C&C's SIEGE engine, and the skills listed in Castle Zagyg (done by Gary Gygax himself). That might be more up your alley.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'd definitely go for Runequest (RQ2 if you can get it). I've not seen anything to surpass it yet IMO.

 

[RFisher]

For fast paced, action movie or comic book style pacing and tone, go with Savage Worlds or D6 Fantasy

For more granular character and NPC mechanics (which also play out slower at the table), go with GURPS or Fantasy Hero. GURPS if you want to play more 'realistic; historical fantasy. Fantasy HERO if you still want a bit more of the action movie feel, or if you want the system to lean toward recurring characters for long term play (lower character mortality rate than GURPS), combined with really crunchy (and flexible) character mechanics.

Mutants and Masterminds is a nice choice for middle of the road between the former and latter type of systems, leaning toward cinematic over 'realistic'

That seems like a pretty decent overview to me.

Nobody likes BESM?

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Both RuneQuest and Hârnmaster have fairly simple percentage based rules systems.
One (RuneQuest) assumes a lot of readily available magic the other (HârnMaster) assumes little or no magic.
If you want a d20 rather than a d100 based system then my choice would be Pendragon, though I’m not sure how easy it would be to extract the Arthurian legend from the rules.
Savage Worlds is simple and fast, but it is still level based, unlike all of the rules sets I’ve suggested. HârnMaster doesn’t even have hit points.