I agree with you whole heatedly. In fact you have roughly stated the basics of what we already have. Skills are addition to natural ability, so for every rank up of skill (kind of) you get a plus to that skills governing attribute. Thus you roll your attribute instead of just skill. This also means that you can specialize. So you choose a category of weapon, Swords. Then a specialization of weapon, Short swords. And finally a familiarity, your sword. Each one progressively adds a bonus.
Second, armor is a way of defense, and in many cases you need to penetrate armor. Thus while you are just as easy to hit with or with out. The type of armor determines how much damage it can resist before it is penetrated by an attack. This is represented by use as AP, while weapons have a power rating to determine penetration. If the weapon does not penetrate the armor, then the armor absorbs the damage and it's AP degrades. Further more Shilds do not add ther armor to your body. Instead they are their own armor. They have a number that on a defense roll, determines a successful block. We are still working out as tyo weater this number if the number of success you need to block. Or if it is a bonus to your roll to block. Any way...that is neither here nor there.
As for an attacker, an attacker, unless under dire situations. Will not choose to attack a superior foe. They would rather run. Training can enhance their backbone. But beasts also choose based on their natural aggression. In most cases opponents will try to flee when they believe advantage has been lost. And accounting for this, opponents that flee and survive will become a greater threat as they have learned from the experience.
Oh and you mentioned magic, well...we have reversed the tables. Magic is no longer the pure sure thing. The caster can always get a spell off. But the conditions of the world influence the spell. It will degrade as it travels through our reality. So to counter this, players skill is more a focus to the spell remaining cohesive. The players mana pool is also a pool of dice, and the player pays an initial amount to cast, then adds dice to the spell for the roll to see if it makes it to the target. So if you have 24 mana. You use 2 for the spell, then you really want it to get there. You can put in the remaining 22 for your roll. So you would roll the 22 dice to test for success. But you would be out of mana.
These are the core rules and the core of what we are making. It is rather an amalgam of several ideas and systems. The thing I am trying to avoid when it comes to weapons and armor is the generic weapon. Where a saber and a short sword are treated with the same damage. I want to know and design a system where the weapons shape and design effect damage, power, and speed. Where each one has an influence.
So thicken the blade, it increases potential power...but adds heft loosing speed. A curved blade might increase damage while loosing power. This is what I am trying to judge. And seeing as I have no experience...I must defer to more experienced persons. Thusly why I have posted here.
"Any body who is interesting is mad, in some way or another anyway." Dr. Who
