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I blame a poor night's rest, but this variant idea came to me just a bit ago. While it does stomp on a few cows, I like the overall "feel". Assume current DDN rules unless overrided below.

Note: Wisdom is primarily encompasses perception/awareness (name kept for posterity). All casters will use Int or Cha as their primary magical ability.

Races:
Note: Racial ability bonuses are removed
Humans: Add skill die (or an additional die) to any d20 roll twice per encounter (once per round)

Classes add a +2 bonus instead of +1 to chosen ability score.

Defenses (average of the listed scores, round down):
  AC: Str, Con, Dex, Wis, [armor value*]
  Fortitude: Str, Con
  Reflex: Dex, Wis
  Will: Int, Cha
*: See armor below. Might change to a flat bonus instead.

Armor:
  Light: 14
  Medium^: 16
  Heavy^^: 20
^: disadvantage on stealth checks
^^: disadvantage on all movement-related checks.

HP: Con + 5/level (regardless of class)

Attack bonus: Use current DDN values based on class. Note: no ability bonus to attack roll. Accuracy based solely on character level.

Base damage*:
  Note: Not sure how balanced this is, so subject to tweakage.
  basic and finesse weapons: d6
  martial weapons: d8
  heavy weapons**: d10
  spells: assigned by spell
  *Roll damage die for each attack bonus you have. Spells use spell level instead of attack bonus to determine damage. Apply damage bonus (see below) once per round. Two handed weapons increase damage die one step. AoE effects halve base damage (round down).
  **Treat all 1s as 2s on damage dice.

Damage bonus (use ability bonus here):
  non-finesse melee or heavy thrown weapons*: Str
  finesse melee or light thrown weapons: Dex
  projectile weapons**: Dex for short range, Wis for long range
  physical magical attacks: Int
  mental magical attacks: Cha
    *Two handed weapons double the bonus
    *Two handed weapons also add Str bonus

Critical hits occur on a natural 20 for most attacks. Two-handed weapons crit on a natural 19-20, and finesse weapons crit on a natural 18-20. Deal max damage on first die only (roll any remaining dice). A critical hit is downgraded to a normal hit if it would have otherwise missed.
Note: this is an attempt at making finesse weapons slightly more accurate, with the tradeoff being a smaller base die size.