Looks like a fun discussion.
I may get the time line confused slightly but around UOR specials moves were introduced with 2 handed weapons. Fencing 2 handed weapons had a chance to paralyze on hit, swords did concussion , and I think maces did damage. (Didn't play a macer back then)
This was a random chance and cost nothing.
Soon after this special moves were added to wrestling, (disarm and paralyze blow) though disarm require the wrestler to have 80.1 arms lore and paralyze required 80.1 anatomy
The wrestling special moves required stamina to be used.
Healing took 15 seconds. (regardless of dex)
This meant that while dexers got free specials, mages also got some incentive to add healing to their templates because they would then be able to heal on the run.
My guess as to the changes with AOS introducing specials at a cost to mana was a balance attempt.
Had they been tied to stamina, then the workload would not just be creating specials, but also looking into potion use, (not to mention a new paladin spell system ability that refreshes stamina to full.)
With it tied to mana the goal was probably to make special moves -special-. A part of melee combat that occurred ever so often as players would be forced to figure out when the best time was to execute it since the mana cost is significant and they would have a small mana pool.
I dont think the original intent was for special moves to be used on almost every single blow.
Also while Mana was primarily a concern for mages, there is the consideration that once a mage is out of mana, they are effectively out of combat. An out of mana warrior has not halted their damage output.
I also believe that linking the effectiveness of certain abilities to stats while not elegant or obvious does serve to limit some imbalances creeping up. If healing was tied completely to skill only, some of the already extremely survivable templates would become almost unkillable. Especially when combined with all the other survival boosting options in game.
