Awesome. I'm about to test it out.
RE Balance - It's not about balance in my mind, it's about common sense. D&D gets very cookie cutter. And in NWN it can be really limiting. If I want to play a fighter who is aware of his surroundings (which doesn't seem weird or wrong to me at all) it shouldn't be impossible without multiclassing. Simple example, but fighter not having spot listen and search... when a professional soldier could easily have that skillset... it just seems odd.
I get that it's part of the rules, but those rules were A) Designed to make sure everyone in a pen and paper game has a role and doesn't end up useless and with more freedom in mind, because NWN limits the number of classes used, has far fewer options than P&P, etc. A doesn't apply in any single player game, nor does it truly apply in a lot of multiplayer. PvP, that sort of thing, it's irrelevant. And B is just the truth. NWN is limited by programming, there's no DM at the helm.
And let's not even pretend cross class points make the skill useful.
Anyway, that's my take. But I come from a love of classless systems and games. Grew up on Ultima Online and my first pen and paper was Shadowrun.