...halflings should return to their origins -hobbits- if we want that the power-of-the-genre-archetypes concept which D&D is based upon since it came to life spread its magic; it seems they do so and I'm very happy!
This is something i totally agree with. another post mentioned splitting different spells up between different classes, but then you need all those classes to cover every magic need. Letting people do different things via flavor, makes the spells seem entirely different
I dont think the core rules need to give you that much flavor. Building a mechanic that lets you build your own background is much better. The fighter maneuvers and monk ki abilities are a great example. You can either chose ones that you like, or just pick and chose and slowly build your own fighting styles. By giving a base set of spells and abilites that all of that class has(set spell list) and then encounter powers that build your story.