There are a number of design goals involved in this.
- Rebalancing Magic: No more linear warriors and quadratic wizards issues. This is primarily achieved by reworking the magic system completely.
- No Amnesiac Wizards: Casters remember their spells until they forget them. Or until they receive some severe head trauma. Or have them magically excised from their brains. This better fits the flavour of most fantasy fiction.
- All Ability Scores Relevant: An attempt is being made to ensure that all ability scores have some relevance to all characters.
- Race is not Culture: Racial abilities are separated out from cultural abilities to some extent. Characters now choose a race, a class, and a cultural origin. This origin merges aspects of d20 Modern's backgrounds and the regional feats seen in some settings.
- I Hit Him Really Hard. Again.: More interesting combat options for warrior types.
- Non-Grid Combat: Grid combat is an interesting mini-game, but doesn't lend itself to any situation not involving miniatures. This combat system is designed to include aspects of tactical movement, without tying players into a rigid grid. This also allows for a more immersive combat experience, rather than a tacticians analytical view of combat.
- Multi-Genre: This game engine is designed to include the necessary mechanical hooks to allow for any kind of genre to be played.