Thanks for tackling weak spots in my system, it helps when figuring out what to change to make it a better experience for everyone, to which right now, as you stated, is a glorified D&D system (which it pretty much is)
I think it might be easier to start with some of your later points than to go through them down the list. I'll start with my motivations for creating a new system instead of house ruling a couple of changes into an already existing system
"What experiences am I looking for that I can't find elsewhere?"
Hopefully without sounding redundant, the goal is to keep similar RP'ing game play style found in D&D, but fixing several things that seriously peeved me about the game:
* There is no reasonable difference between weapons
* When compared to D&D 2e, 3.5, and 5e, it bothered me that combat felt so empty. There is little reward for teamwork or creativity
* Combat again, granted it's on a per DM basis, but declaring you want to hit a goblin in the head vs hitting a goblin normally results in no difference
* The fact that if someone declared an action against you, you have very few actions to take to respond against said threat.
* A goblin rolling a 19 hits a player wearing full plate mail, as well as hitting a player in a cloth robe. In both circumstances, the same end result occurs, each player takes 8 damage.
* and others
Also what it comes down to, in my opinon, is that D&D is one of the most familiar tabletop RPGS around, something that can be easily related to. As stated above, I believe it can be improved by changing how a few things work. On the same note, I think GURPS is a wonderful system, but it's greatest flaw is it's learning curve, how it is incredibly difficult to get started with that system. I personally thought it would be a good idea to take some concepts from GURPS that I thought were well implemented, and put them into the familiarity of the D&D system.
"What mechanics would support that experience?"
It might be simpler to highlight some key features
Strength promotes dealing more damage and making heavy armor a viable option. Those who do not invest in strength will find themselves more exposed to weaponry and find it more difficult to deal with targets who are clad in heavy armor
Dexterity provides the player with high risk, high reward type of play style. When heavily invested, the PC has a good chance to dodge oncoming attacks, avoiding 100% of the damage, but if he fails, it will potentially cripple the PC. The player must ask himself if he wants to heavily rely on dodge, knowing fully well that it is unreliable. Dex also allows the players to more consistently land hits on his foe. It also allows the player to attack key locations on the enemies body more readily, giving low damage characters the ability to successfully participate in combat without feeling like he needs to do damage to succeed. Those that don't invest in dex must face the reality that they are rarely going to be able to dodge attacks, so they must adopt a different playstyle
Constitution is a life saver considering the low average life of most PC's and NPC's in the world. On quick observation, the average HP total of a character is 6. The possible damage someone can do with a longsword is 1d6. Without wearing armor, your character stands at a little less than 20% of being knocked out immediately. Having a low con also results in a low base speed, meaning that faster opponents can outrun you and seriously threaten you.
Intelligence allows for greater success when casting spells and also allows provides a weapon focused PC the choice of A: Do I want a low Int in favor for high Dex, which will give me short term advantage, or do I want to invest in Int, so I can point buy specific combat skills that will outgrow dex scaling in the long run. Having a high Int also allows for casters to consider amplifying their spells, resulting in more opportunities than just casting spells at their base value. Having a high Int also promotes good role play if the PC plans on RP'ing their proffesions
Wisdom unfortunately is a not a very well thought out attribute at the moment, and provides a harsh gateway for those that want to cast spells. Those that don't invest will find out that they can only cast 1-3 spells, while those that do invest can entirely rely on spell casting. It's a WIP
Charisma is another not very well thought out attribute, that currently only modifies how much you can sell and purchase items for. Its a WIP
Amplifying spells: A caster may take huge risks for the hopes of huge rewards by dynamically deciding how much mana they want to spend on their spell. All spells at base value cost their rank to cast and for each extra mana spent above this base, it is at a -1 to cast, but provides extra benefits. See the example fire spells for a better idea.
More options in combat than what D&D provides, similar to what Gurps provides. Using teamwork is effective and there is more to combat than just "I attack the goblin"
"What mechanics would take away from that experience?"
To best answer this, probably skills and you are right. There are probably way to many skills than what there should be and I should realistically take the same approach that D&D did transitioning from 4th to 5th. Also you are correct that there is no real reason to invest heavily in RP'ing skills as opposed to combat skills
Now onto the point about the attributes and I'm afraid that you had the wrong idea about them. It's only possible to have an attribute range from 6-14. You roll 2d6, reroll 1's and 2's but only keep the higher of the two. You then add 1d8 to that number, rerolling 1's and 2's once again. I mentioned in a previous post that I am going to add point buy for attributes, but I just need to figure out what numbers to use
As for the pokemon, I think I am going to forgo that concept, even though it is something I really wanted to do :(