actually gaining abilities is also far more interesting then levelling up stats..
or even better like AOW1 have a point system.. you could either buy a stat increase, or buy a special ability.. Maybe even allowing you to save points to use together for future levelling up..
To prevent abuse.. your "class" or "type" determines what abilities you could buy and/or how expensive it would be to buy them..
So a barbarian type would find it less costly to buy melee type abilities or add points to strength.. while a sorcerer type either couldnt level up certain melee type abilities or it would cost more..
You like RPG elements in elemental? That's basically how rpg works