Honestly getting rid of VIT as a stat and having class and other factors be more of what determines bulk seems like it could be worth investigating too. You could move water attack scaling to SKI which I don’t think would change much. Aquarian domain bonuses already affect both ice and water. Things like Aquaphobia even already scale using SKI so this would retroactively provide more synergy. It also makes the ice staff a better option for water mages too.
I think this would also better allow for the control of class strength. Mages now have more controlled HP thresholds so that they don’t get to be as oppressive with both high base DRs and huge HP values. Giant Gene also gets better the more HP you have so by lowering max HP potentially this also caps out Giant Gene’s power potential and makes things like Boneheart more viable due to less situations where you get insane value from Giant Gene.
I think this would also better allow for the control of class strength. Mages now have more controlled HP thresholds so that they don’t get to be as oppressive with both high base DRs and huge HP values. Giant Gene also gets better the more HP you have so by lowering max HP potentially this also caps out Giant Gene’s power potential and makes things like Boneheart more viable due to less situations where you get insane value from Giant Gene.