Ok, well, you've all talked me out of the proposed system. The mathematical analysis I did was useful to me in comparing the relative worth of stats vs. resistance vs. DP's, and comparing the races, so it's not all wasted time.
yammahoper saidI use 55 Talent Points. Character Law has an excellent point buy talent system in it. There are also wealth tables and the like that can be rolled on, but everything also has a set Talent Point price.
A rockstar. is you.
Yeah, this is my fallback position, and I'll probably just "band" the races. Something like:
+5 TP if your total racial stat adjustments are negative.
+5 TP if your resistance bonuses total less than 50
+5 TP if instead of racial benefits like +21 End, Nightvision, or "can't be scared", your race gets "always barefoot" or "+20 rope mastery"
Still thinking that one through.
Another is to tell the players what skill bonus they will need to accomplish a specific task without failure, IE if you need 111 an easy task gets +60 IIC, 111-60=51 and subtract the fumble range of 1-5, 51-5(max #)= 46.
Good stuff. Copied into my system FAQ doc for the players. I regret to inform you that I'll treat this as my own invention though, or with a generic Hat Tip to the forums.
You and I will always know the truth though...
As for the various comments about 'Limiting races to humans': I admit that would solve my racial imbalance issue, but in a nose-spite-face kind of way. It'll be a High Fantasy world, probably drawing from Shadow World sources a bit.
Finally,
Amethyst Rage: Thanks for the reminder about herbs and healing. I will plan an NPC healer sort if none of the players ponies up for that role. Usually someone does, but the RM Healer =/= 3.5 Cleric in fluff or play-style.