To avoid a much too long post, I'll save Races and character bases for another.
What I went for with this is to pare down the dozen or more classes of Dungeons & Dragons and Castles & Crusades. Barbarian, Monk, Fighter, etc are now just one class - WARRIOR. Paladin, Cleric, and Druid - PRIEST. Wizard, Sorcerer, Druid, Illusionist - MAGE. BARD remains its own class because I really couldn't think of how to simply that much more than it already is. ROGUE sums up/includes thief and assassin (does anyone else always type that as 'rouge'?) RANGER was a bit more difficult because they're kind of a light fighter and rogue motif with a bit of druidic magic mixed in. At least when I make rangers, they are.
As for the attributes, the way D&D has abbreviated Intelligence into INT always made me think Intuition, which in fact is more like Wisdom/Perception, so I chose to go with Instincts. And I don't get why Wisdom and Intelligence are two separate categories, but that's because I consider them rather similar....I guess. Thus I just call them both Smarts and give them a single attribute. Constitution had me hung up as well. I tend to think in terms of will power (mental) and stamina (physical), but instead of splicing the attribute as Stamina/Will, I just made it one - Fortitude. Stamina and strength are different things, so Strength remains its own simple attribute. Charisma refers to both speechcraft, which can be leveled up in the game, and natural charm that is inherent to the race/character.
Are you still with me so far? Good. I hope so.
Magic I'm kind of sorting into 2 categories: Arcane and Elemental. Alchemy is a bit of both, since the player/character would be combining natural herbs and elements with magic and spellcraft. And instead of using five elements of nature, I went with only four. I decided that Earth wouldn't mean "dirt", but stone. Since trees grow out of the earth by absorbing water and converting CO2 to breathable air, I went with a "life tree" kind of connection. Elves are therefore the embodiment of ethereal nature made physical. They believe in honoring an individual's achievements because they have taken in things and refined them to be a better person. They are strongest in Air magic and the Healing skill. Dwarves are best at Smithcraft because they use air to stoke the fire and forge things of ore and stone. They are less about the person who made the object, than the item itself. They consider themselves mundane creatures making impressive tools, weapons, armor, etc.
Skills must be incorporated to define a characters beginning/base abilities and give the players something to cash in XP to improve upon. Studying and using magic, whether it's natural or arcane, will increase your abilities. Lots of time spent forging and building will bump up your smithing. Healing can be achieved through treating sickness with herbal concoctions/remedies and/or surgical and battlefield dressing of wounds. Why shouldn't health and healing be both physical and "magical"? I was originally looking at making Agility and Athletics one category because they both apply to physical skill and training, but different training would result in different abilities. Just because someone is nimble and sneaky doesn't mean they're a good horseman or swimmer. Which brings us to Speed. Everyone has a base quickness factor, the same as they have a Strength attribute. Players can up their Strength with XP earned in combat and physical feats, or split it to "buy" something like archery and riding skill. Agility experience gained through scaling a wall or scampering through/avoiding a trap can be considered when leveling up Speed, or even Dexterity for quick hands and reflexes.
All in all, this is just really rough figuring of how I as the DM will run things when there's actually a group throwing dice. Players like a DM that's open and generous. Let's say I am rolling as a goblin against them in combat, my dice could come up incredibly crappy as like a 4 of 20. I could tell the player "OK, that totally sucked. Do you want to say I didn't hit you at all because you have keen reflexes and dodged the attack? (They get an Agility bonus) Or do you want to roll against that saying I hit you, but you took little damage by absorbing it and/or blocking it for a Combat/Athletics bonus?" Ultimately the goal is to just roll some dice, have some fun, and probably do a lot of chatting, laughing, and beer drinking.
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