loog... I've been playing d&d for almost 27 years... as for overpowered and directional.. it's all on taste and style and how you prefer to play.. you can make it as superpowered munchkin as you want... or as lowpowered and almost non-magical .... as for character's roles... Cleric is one of my favorite classes to play (as in I've probably had more clerics as characters) and none of them would be considered some mobile healer that spends majority of time healing... just ask my favorite PC cleric "Fist of Kord" .... he definitely does not spend a whole lot of time healing ... but dealing .. damage. I do agree that the HP system does have its drawbacks... I don't see a race for 0 hp necessarily, but I do get a lot of HP counting .... (players tracking the damage they do to enemy's to gage when they feel that enemy should be dead or dying.)
My experience with hit charts (D&D had its own version in 2e with Combat and Tactics) like ROLLmaster and Hackmaster and various other systems.... tends to bog down combat to a crawl as varioius charts are consulted and referred to and multiple rolls are needed to find out who hit where when and what happens to what degree.... I prefer (as a DM) to describe the action as we play freestyle.... its worked for the past 23 odd years with minimal complaint... but that of course is a matter of taste and style ...
I've played numerous systems, in various genre's of fantasy, sci-fi and horror... tho I prefer fantasy overall. D&D (in the beginning when we were kids and starting out it was all about killing, and power and treasure... those were fun days too, no doubt) has provided me with a rich and full world of history and RP ... mostly due to sticking with a RP first attitude ... We prefer to ROLE than ROLL .... for the longest time, the dungeon (the nickname of the room we use for playing) had a banner across the wall that read "If the story ever conflicts with the rules, the story should always win." ... just something to think about ... the system (which ever one you are playing) shouldn't define the story .. the system is designed to cover mechanics of game play ... a structure for which to base and define how the world works... it should never define how the story and RPing should go .... if it did... you might as well read off a "Choose your own Adventure" novel to your players...
that's just my opinion tho