Turn-based combat?

[Glitchipedia]

Would it be possible to replace or supplement the vanilla combat system with a turn-based one more similar to Eastern RPGs (like Chrono Cross, for example)? I travel with companions and tend to lose my bearings in the chaos of battle, often hitting my friends by accident while they do all my dirty work. I'd feel a lot more useful if I could act as a proper commander and direct the actions of my entire party.

[iXenite]

I'm fairly certain that something like that isn't possible within the confines of the Oblivion engine. You'd probably have to rebuild the entire game in order to do that since you'd literally be creating brand new gameplay systems that have no real existing framework in the base game itself. I'm not an expert though, so you can take my word with a grain of salt if you want.

[Glitchipedia]

With respect, I've seen some pretty drastic changes made to the game by various mods. In this particular case, my main frame of reference is Co-op Oblivion, which effectively turns the player into a glorified camera and redirects keyboard commands into a pair of NPCs, one of which is a full copy of the player character.

 

Another mod that might be useful reference is Companion Master, which enables the issuing of commands to friendly NPCs via menu box. Using such a system, one could theoretically select which party member to issue a command to and choose what kind of action to perform (attack, defend, or something else). If the option to directly attack is chosen, the keyboard commands are then redirected to the relevant party member to perform the desired sequence of attacks.

 

The only problems I can think of would be properly controlling the opponents' behavior so that they only attack on their turns, and that experience gains would be very difficult to implement. The best solution I can think of for the latter problem would be to recommend running the mod alongside Wrye Leveling, and have each battle award a cash prize based on the opponents' levels.