i like the suggestion, but it seems sort of cumbersome to implement.
Agreed. I was just saying how I, someone with zero experience in game design, would modify the idea. Probably something that would be easier to implement would be a combat modification. I like the idea of sacrificing damage and defense for evasion, but I tried it out in the game and got hit 12 for 12 and was doing scratch damage. I think 50-75% dodge chance in exchange for losing 90% damage would be better, though I imagine that it would take a bit of play testing to find the right balance.