Since there's so many changes, i thought i'l bring up something that isn't too likely, but good food for thought.

New Class

Warlock:

A warlock is a warrior who has given up his soul for dark power. Although he cannot use spells like a normal spell caster he can funnel through his familiar to gain arcane abilities.

A Warlock would have a progression comparable to an assassin/fighter. But with no dodge/parry or any other abilities that benefit combat.

Starting at level 1 a Warlock can summon a familiar, it has a seven minute cooldown between losing the last one and summoning a new one.

When casting spells the Warlock uses the HP of his familiar, when the familiar's HP is reduced to zero it dies.

The level one familiar is a curious imp. The curious imp gives its owner a bonus to raising realms when he casts.

Level five the Warlock gains the ability to summon a Dire Bat. The Dire bat will randomly attack to aid its master, feeding on blood and gaining back a small amount of HP.

For each five or so levels a new familiar is attainable through questing. Each familiar gives some bonus to it's owner, increased HP to the Warlock, resistances, AC, ect...

Warlock's can always: Hex, Consume

Hex is a curse that can do a number of things to the target. The Warlock may gain other hexes by questing.

The Warlock starts off with the Hex of Years. The target ages and its attack timer slows exponentially each round for the duration of the hex.

For instance: hex years [target]

Consume allows the Warlock to absorb its familiar adding the ramining HP to his own up to his maximum. This will give the Warlock another lease on life, but leave him fragile and without spellcasting ability, especially in a protracted fight where the familiar will not have much HP left.

Seems like a fun way for a class to cast and fight without having MP. It also gives more emphasis to a pet class that does something fun other than just doing damage.