Something like this may have been suggested before probably, but I'm at work and have yet to take the time to look.
I think with a 'little' reworking characters could be a lot more customizable.
Suggestion: get rid of things like speed and damage on weapons/shields. (Arrows can just have +1, +2 ect damage-wide on them depending on the arrowtip). Have a characters attributes/skills look something like:
Str - dictates how hard you hit (melee and range)
Finesse - how fast you strike with your weapon, pull your bow
Reflexes - how fast you block with weapon/shield
Agil - how fast you move.
Weapon proficiency with two categories of melee and range. (Melee would obviously have an overall effect on your melee fighting while range would increase accuracy etc.)
Give everyone the ability to ride a horse (except maybe the top two statwise horses), but add Horsemanship that would noticeably enhance speed and maneuverability and give access at a certain level to top tier horses.
Your Str + agil would dictate the effect that armour/weapon weight has on your speed. When your riding your horsemanship stat would dictate how your weight effects your horses speed.
I think something along these lines would open up tweaking a char to your preference, make the game more realistic, and help reduce people getting stuck with one way of fighting till they can hit 31 and respec without taking an exp hit.
*pardon the messy format, I typed this out on my phone