Hi Ramon,
I may be late, but I always keep my promises, so ...
Me and my family are currently level 3, so I have no opinion as yet about AD&D with high level characters.
But I can give you my point of view, which is more based on fun and roleplaying than purely technical.
1) Purely technical question - nothing more to add.
2) Skills. The skills add A LOT to the game !
AD&D3 seems to have borrowed a lot of good ideas from others RPGs. I used to play another RPG called Rolemaster, which is based only on skills. With Rolemaster, there really are a huge lot of these (even 'cooking' was a skill !), the principle being that when you gain a level, you gain skill points to spend in any skills you choose. No skill is forbiden to a character, but the cost of a 5% gain in one skill depends on your character class : for example, a gain of 5% in plate armor will cost you 1 skill point if you are a fighter and 8 skill points if you are a mage.
They have included this idea in AD&D 3, which is great. The point is, if you play a level 4 thief and I play another, mine and yours will be different, because mine will be much better at stealing techniques, and yours will be better at acrobatic skills, for example. You don't get the feeling to play a standard character anymore. What we could call (as in Rolemaster) 'secondary' skills, like a craft for example, can add a lot to the fun of roleplaying !
3) Multiclassing. The AD&D3 principle is that you don't gain fighter levels or mage levels, but you gain 'non specific' levels. You can be a pure fighter until level 3, then decide to spend your next level as a mage level, then spend 2 more fighter levels, then spend another level as a thief level, then again a mage level. Every 'class' level gives you specific bonuses, which you add to your current bonuses. Am I clear, or do you want an example ?
And, there is no level 20 limitation, only the fact that the existing books don't cover levels higher than 20, which will be treated in future books.
4) Improving attribute score. This is a secondary feature, since you can only improve one point of one attribute every 4 levels, but it definitely is in the line of allowing more personalized characters.
5) Translation to CRPGs. I really have no idea at the moment.
And ... I would add, AD&D3 makes a lot of characters much more fun to play. Take the Cleric, for example : he is no more only a 'cure bag'. First, he chooses his God, and this God is related to several Domains. The Cleric chooses two Domains among those related to his God, and his God gives him a specific Domain spell per level, plus a special ability. My Cleric has chosen Luck and Travel as his Domains, and Luck gives him the ability to reroll one dice roll once per day ! (DMs don't like that AT ALL !). And the Cleric can turn/destroy undead if he is Good, or dominate undead if he is Evil. And the Cleric may memorize every spell he chooses, since he has the ability to instantly cast any Cure spell of the same level or lower instead of any memorized spell.
Similar improvements exist for every character class. Some I know better than others. A Rogue, for example, gains a special Feat (e.g. ability) at every level. At level 2, the Rogue gains the Evasion feat, which means that any successful Reflex saving throw for half-damage results in no damage at all. At level 6, a Rogue can no longer be flanked (except, of course, by another Rogue of higher level ...). And so on. So new feats result in a new interest at every level.
Another thing : the Difficulty Class. The principle is that any action you attempt is not failed or successful as an absolute, but depends on the context. It is 'me against you'. Your skill with your bonuses against the DC of the attempt. For example, a Rogue attempts to pick a lock. If the lock has been made by a Master Rogue, the DC raises. If you have the best set of lockpicks ever, you have a bonus. If you are drunk, you have a malus. And so on. So the DM calculates privately the DC by taking the base DC and adding all the bonuses and maluses of the action you attempt, and you add all your bonuses and maluses of your skill, and then you roll dices. If your roll is higher than the DC (and only the DM knows the DC), you are successful. There is a margin in which you are at 'near success' and can try again. Otherwise, you fail.
This system gives a lot of help to the DM in setting the DC of an action, but some bonuses and maluses are still submitted to his appreciation.
I enjoy AD&D3 rules a great deal, I think they have removed a great deal of the drawbacks of the previous AD&D revisions.
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