What are you on about? You have all these imaged in your head but you haven't given them positions in the game, so it is hard to determine what your goal is.Your guys adamant refusal to see the game in any terms other than "Spells, which can do anything" and "Only stuff Paul Blart Mall Cop could attempt" baffles me.
"Do cool stuff in combat" doesn't mean anything. Tell me what you actually want. Do you want to expend limited resources for powerful strikes? Do you want to "power up bar" style system so you unlock cool things later in the fight? Do you want disarm opponents, or do you want to turn them to stone with a strike? Be specific and people won't assume things about what you want.