It is quite easy to rework the system, really. Just toss it all in the garbage and fetch the 2nd edition books.
I love AD&D 2nd Edition but it does have issues of its own, mainly melee classes being fucking boring and a joke. Fighters in the PHB get fuck all. HP, lower Thac0, proficiencies and specializations.... and that's it? The Combat & Tactics splatbook intodroduced weapon masteries.
The problem with procifiency, specialization and mastery is that it doesn't really open up new options for the fighter. It's just straight up better hit, more attacks and maybe a tiny damage bonus. It's dreadfully boring.
The class kits from the Complete Fighter splatbook didn't really add anything of relevance either and most of the kits were purely RP fluff anyway. IIRC, only the Berserker kit even did something new in terms of class mechanics.
In that regard, the core AD&D 2nd edition rules for fighters (and related classes) weren't really any different from the previous five editions of Dungeons & Dragons. PHBR1 The Complete Fighter's Handbook followed the core AD&D 2nd edition rules within just a few months, and it included 25 pages of new rules for various combat actions (e.g. pull/trip, pin, parry), specializations, and related items for the usual, one-on-one, melee combat that fighters engage in.
whats up with those preset faces? Even Cyberpunk allowed for more customization freedom. If you want to play as a white guy there's only white guy face and that's it.
The lack of face options is due to facial animation limitations I heard.
Your character makes expressions so much its hardly surprising they had to limit that. And even with the limits, it's still extremely hit or miss. Some make you go "ok that was actually pretty good" and others take you for a ride to the deepest trench of the uncanny valley.
Reminder: Dragon's Dogma had an innovative character appearance customization system that allowed the player to choose the basic shape of important facial elements from a lengthy list of options (in similar fashion to selecting a hairstyle in many games, including BG3), supplemented by sliders to change size, positioning, etc. And it even had a more limited customization of the body, allowing the player to select from a smaller number of options for arms, torso, and legs, plus a height slider, a musculature slider, a weight slider, and (for women) a bust slider. And this game was released in 2012 for a console released in 2006. The expressions made by the player-character in Dragon's Dogma weren't all that much worse than the expressions made by the player-character in BG3, despite Larian limiting the player to a handful of heads (once sex and species have been chosen).