It would be indeed so cool if a Larian developer wanted to share some of their professional insights on this, maybe they didn't get a chance to see it yet because of their busy lives.
It seems you are saying a good rule system, at least for this kind of game, is centered around player creativity and freedom. Taking the focus away from a forced, one-track progression and letting them sculpt their strategies out of the available tools.
From that perspective, TES Oblivion's level-up system is certainly flawed. I'm not familiar with DA but thank you for describing it, I got a good picture from that.
Looking forward to reading anything else people have to share!
