Without Critical Tables and Base Spell Lists I would never have picked up Rolemaster (or MERP which is where it started) and I would never pick up a version of RM that didn't have them. It's one of the reasons I don't like HARP (no unique lists and I hate the damage cap). I have every critical table I can find from all versions of RM in a binder and I convert spell lists and professions from other versions.
I would actually like to see a critical chart for each weapon. So the Rapier would have it's own critical hit chart and so on. That's rather extreme... but I think it could be done. Writing that many Crit Tables would be a pain, but you could do a lot of crossover on the results between similar weapons (so you wouldn't have to do every result on every chart from scratch - you could have like 75% commonality and 25% tailored to the specific weapon for example).
Now, I would be ok with reducing attack tables down to 1H Edged rather than Broadsword, Scimitar, etc, etc. You'd have....
1H-Edged, 1H-Pierce, 1H-Krush, 2H-Edged, 2H-Pierce, 2H-Krush and maybe a couple Missile Weapon tables... maybe Heavy Ranged (Longbow, Hvy Spear, Hvy X-Bow), Medium Ranged (Shortbow, Javalin, etc) and Light Ranged (Dagger, Dart, Throwing Star, Bola style weapons)? Then have a chart for each type. So you'd have a 1H and a 2H Edged and so on.
I might even be ok with Critical and Attack Tables combined, but they would need to be much larger than they currently are - at least double. You could or couldn't combine this idea with the above ones too.
My personal preference would be a have a 1H Edge and 2H Edged (and so on) style attack chart, with built in critical effects unique to that size and type (Edged, Pierce, Krush), that went to at least 300. Having the attack table and critical charts separate does not bother me, but putting them together eliminates a roll in combat and also largely puts stop to the 1A result that ends up take someone out scenario.
1H-Edged to 300 with it's own Critical Table.
1H-Pierce to 300 with it's own Critical Table.
1H-Krush to 300 with it's own Critical Table.
2H-Edged to 300 with it's own Critical Table.
2H-Pierce to 300 with it's own Critical Table.
2H-Krush to 300 with it's own Critical Table.
Heavy Ranged to 300 with it's own Critical Table.
Medium Ranged to 300 with it's own Critical Table.
Light Ranged to 300 with it's own Critical Table.