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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Skallgrim" data-source="post: 4683757" data-attributes="member: 79271">I think I've gotten the major points, and to me, what the OP is looking for is simply something that D&D (particularly 4e) doesn't do very well.  One of 4e's biggest strengths, I feel, was in looking at what D&D does well, and what it does poorly, and stop doing the latter to do more of the former.For instance, GURPS handles this in a manner that seems like it would be to the OP's liking.  All attacks which physically hit the target (as opposed to sway it's mind, or poison it's lungs) are determined by Dexterity plus skill.  Thus, if a mage wants to be good at tossing a lot of missile spells, he will need a good DEX, which would also pay off in using weapons.  Then, on top of that, GURPS has a wide variety of skills, which each individually cost very little out of your character point allotment.  Someone can get a marginal skill pretty easily, though the specialist will have to spend a bunch of points.  Thus, it is easy for everyone to have a passable set of backup combat skills.GURPS also uses a much more flexible time system than D&D, in that you will be able to attack and defend each round (which is a second) with most melee weapons, but a powerful ranged spell, like an Explosive Fireball, will need to be charged for 3 seconds, aimed for a second, and then released.  Thus, the system lets you balance powerful magical effects versus mundane martial attacks fairly easily.  The powerful effects can take longer to create, as well as requiring more skill points to learn.  The less potent attacks can be used more often, and require less skill point investiture.What GURPS does not do well is allow you to make iconic, easy to run characters quickly.  Unless you are very practiced with the system, it can take HOURS to generate a character.  In addition, character generation is a skill in GURPS (Character Optimizers in D&D have nothing on GURPS).  It is possible to create weak, virtually useless characters, or, in the absence of good supervision, broken, hideously over-powered characters.  GURPS also can allow you to throw archetypes on their ear.  The mage with invisibility and death touch (and little else), who goes around killing everyone by tapping them, or the mage with Enlarge Self who simply grows to giant size and crushes his enemies, but knows very little other magic.D&D 4e has rules which replicate a particular type of epic fantasy feel, with an emphasis on character growth in power, and is easy to play, learn, and run.  I think that altering the system in this manner could do a great deal of violence to the system's ability to meet those goals (but, of course, it is your game).</blockquote>

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