The elephant in the room (in my mind) is the glaring flaws with the cover system and the lack of reaction shots. I think this game could benefit a lot from some XCOM fundamentals. Overwatch, high, and low cover being the most obvious.
The worst part of combat in this game is being forced to move your squad members into the open simply because there's no other way to advance the fight.
Casters should have more "flushing" abilities that can force enemies into the open. If a ranger or rogue ends their turn with significant leftover action/movement points they should be able to elect "overwatch" mode and the opportunity to fire on an enemy leaving cover or entering their field of vision for the first time. Similarly I think their should be a way for melee characters not visible should be able to ambush enemies forced into the range of any left over movement points at turns end.
Maybe the perception stat could formulate the counter/ likelihood of success for the target of said ambush.
I think this would add tremendous opportunities in both gameplay and story. The latter would allow for the party to be ambushed/ forced or caught in the open just as the party could potentially do to enemies taken unawares. Some awesome cinematics could be made to add to the effect. Also it would add entirely new elements of strategy to what Lyrian has already been able to make from turn-based combat.
I think that making changes along these lines could add value to both the ranger and rogue classes with scouting and perhaps some type of "lure" ability. If either class could break with the main party and scout ahead for the enemy while remaining invisible until sighted than designers might allow an extra movement before the scout is forced into combat. This would allow the scout to return to the party with enemies in pursuit. Alternatively you might be able to "signal" the rest of your party and move them into strategic positions around the discovered foe.
Casters I feel, get all the love in these type of RPGs, this could give melee and ranged dps classes an added unique role that they lack in their presently undervalued state.
As you can tell I'm no D&D fanboy. I just like playing great games. The story and lore will always be better in the D&D universe but adding better stealth, cover, reaction shots, and the ability for casters to flush enemies into your waiting party would improve the RPG and combat experience.
