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Solik wrote:

No, Divine Power inches in the direction of non-damage characters. A character doesn't have to do a single point of damage to be very useful in combat. The developers avoided that in the initial releases because they didn't want people to shy away from Leaders as the "buffbots" that never get to beat up enemies.

If 4E ever moves in the direction of "non-combat characters," it'll probably have an entire sourcebook devoted to the idea with tons of new rules for how DMs are to run those kinds of games.

I think my point was that DP inched in the direction of characters that aren't forced to spend all their choices on things that could have no possible use outside of a melee. There really is no need for special mechanics for non-combat type PCs, just a way to allow them to not have to ignore half of their character sheet. Mainly what they would need is a set of power choices that are more beneficial to that sort of character. MacGuyver or really the majority of detective type characters. I agree it would need a book, but it probably doesn't need new game mechanics.

Frankly though I don't think the two types of characters ever mix very well. Given that you don't really have to put them all together in the same party (at best they may work for the same side in some sense) then 4e as it is now can support the style of play. The party just does all non-combat encounters. Sure in theory they have attack powers, some of which can be creatively co-opted to other uses, but essentially you just don't need to worry about it. The PCs all operate at roughly similar power levels to each other and face appropriate challenges.

Given 4e's lack of "plot buster" items/spells/rituals and an already ample demonstration by many posters here that the skill system is perfectly adequate to resolving whatever you need it to I really don't see where you've lost anything vs older editions in terms of running this style of campaign. Granted there are a lot fewer bizarre classes and things like monster races you can play right now by RAW in 4e, but I think one is missing the point if one thinks it requires being able to play a whackamancer/wererabbit/cupid in order to make the story interesting. (yes, OK, that's a bit tongue in cheek, we enjoyed playing a few monsters for a change back in 1e days too).

No doubt 4e will get a Grimoire of Alde Lore of Playing Beasts one day too. In the mean time the core system is certainly robust enough to support a lot of homebrew.