That's a great recipe. I think the thing I'm missing are the people to playtest with. I have friends who would play but nobody has been very receptive to playing a game that might not work. And I don't feel like kidnapping them =P Instead I've re-written and re-written until I can't think of any more loopholes, and I've run through some rounds of combat to see if it works.
It's like baking a cake without flour. You can do it but oof.