Sounds very interesting.
For example, using Profession Sailor to climb the rigging on a ship would not entail any penalty. Using the same skill to climb a tree might entail a -2. Trying to climb a cliff would be -5 (or possibly more).
A short while before 4e was announced, I came up with the idea of a VP/HP system. Basically, VP were an encounter resource, and every character starts each encounter at full VP (or regains VP after a short rest). HP are the HP that we know, and are only recoverable through (an extended) rest or magic. The key differences between this system as the Star Wards VP/WP system were:(3) WP/VP: I am no fan of the idea of healing surges and vancian fighters. What other options have people used to decouple encounter hp from daily hp?
RC - for my new campaign, I expanded the profession skill into what I think you're talking about.
Using the Professions skill, you can make various skill checks that are related to that profession - for example, Profession Sailor allows you to make Balance, Use Rope and maybe a couple of other skills. However, you take a penalty the further away from your actual profession you are. The penalty is pretty much left up to the DM, but, typically ranges from -1 to -5 or so.
For example, using Profession Sailor to climb the rigging on a ship would not entail any penalty. Using the same skill to climb a tree might entail a -2. Trying to climb a cliff would be -5 (or possibly more).
As an aside, I'm still kind of wondering how you can have tactical choice WITHOUT knowing the placement of every on the board. IF I'm understanding you right, isn't your system of weapon skill a pre-battle decision tree?
Weapon skills have an in-battle decision tree, where you assign ranks of skill to different purposes, according to they type of skill you have. Some types of weapons, for example, can be used to increase your AC while others can increase your critical range, etc.
RC