Thanks, guys, and hello.

It occurred to me that while having mixed scaling talents does solve a lot of problems, it does introduce an issue with STR & INT and FIN & INT having little distinction. For instance, if FIN and INT both contribute equally to weapon and spell damage, then the choice of distribution between the two ends up being completely arbitrary (12 FIN and 18 INT is the same as 18 FIN and 12 INT). A more ideal system would allow for some meaningful distinction between how one allocates between those two primary attributes.

Some ideas on how to address this:

1. Sidestep the issue by imposing a max attribute spread range on your primary attributes.

So if I have the Battlemage talent described earlier, the talent would only allow STR and INT to both contribute towards scaling if both attributes are within X points of each other.

This is a so-so solution and could present some problems if the player has a bunch of items that tip one attribute out of that range.

2. Have each attribute contribute a slightly different percentage to melee and spells, respectively.

The basic idea is, STR + INT scaling = 75% of damage done by STR-only for melee attacks, and 75% of damage done by INT-only spell skills. But what if STR and INT had different multipliers that made them contribute towards each category unequally?

Examples:

Battlemage's Total Damage Output Potential = 75% of Mage damage output + 75% of Fighter damage output.
Let's say that we have a target damage output, when combining these, of 150%, for the sake of simplicity. This doesn't mean that they do 150% of a normal Mage or Fighter - it's just a way of combining each of their attack types into a measurable total to compare with below.

So let's throw on some multipliers to each attribute that varies based on whether or not we're calculating melee or spells:

Battlemage's Spell damage output = Spell base damage + (Spell damage fraction x 1.15 INT) + (Spell damage fraction x 0.35 STR)
Battlemage's Melee damage output = Weapon base damage + (Weapon damage fraction x 1.15 STR) + (Weapon damage fraction x 0.35 INT)

This would mean that if you focus more on STR, your melee attacks will be, in a relative sense, more effective than your spell skills. Focusing more on INT does the opposite.

This has the drawback of being confusing to explain to players, but would introduce some difference between various FIN/INT and STR/INT configurations.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Anyone have any other suggestions or thoughts?