Overall I'll call this a good article with bad timing.
Yeah, thus far this month, Dragon has had... backgrounds, rare items, and a single paragon path for player content. Plus some guidelines on improvising powers and this article on unofficial content. Any one or two of those on their own would be fine, and even enhance otherwise normal content, but as the only thing we've gotten? Not a great situation.
That said, I found this a great article. I might try to use it in an upcoming game, or something along these lines - offer each character something 'unique' that goes a bit beyond their normal abilities, but with the potential for some amount of risk. A wizard might be able to actually learn extra spells in his spellbook, old school style (though still limited to the normal number of spells per day) - but if he loses his spellbook, he's in trouble. The psion can mess with people's minds - but risks losing his own in the process. Etc.
I think UA is the right place for this, of course - anything this involved with story elements requires a bit of DM discretion. I can see the frustration for those who think this would be great for their RPGA character and are out of luck... but you can still try running with it. Ask your DM how they feel about it, and basically try and pull off these sorts of abilities as 'stunts' - voluntarily taking on the consequences of your own volition.
Some DMs might still say no, just due to the extra complexity of it all, but I imagine others will be willing to run with it, just like they would be fine with the fighter tackling people through windows and doing other physical stunts.