Some great ideas - need to re-read a bit later, but from first pas..
Gut feel, but definitely not ruling anything out :)...
-Gobbo with non-negative items I think is a very good idea.
-Items that stack, probably stick with....but thinking they won't carry across stages (unless I get more interest from bot designers for a inventory).
-The risky/last ditch dice is interesting...has me thinking alittle about classes and dices specific to classes. For instance if your a warrior you could go, hey I want to do a jab roll...or say your desperate you can roll a diff dice that is more like a wild blow...the wild blow has less chance to hit, but if it does you Smack for a much higher dice roll. So like, instead of having a typical six sided dice have a quick blow 1 - 6 dice always hit, and your hit strength is pending number....if do Smack die, it's a 6 sided dice, but instead of having one to six, 3 sides say "miss" and the other 3 say "7, 8 , 9"....Shall think on some more.@gobbo
Gobbo sneaks in and steals all the dice.
He laughs like a jerk and throws a die.
The sneaky git rolls a 5.