Sounds like an interesting direction. I remain a fan of modifications that provide different ways to play the game and allow for varied types of viable parties.
Giving underused spells, traits and items like bandages new life is a good thing.
Have you radically reduced the energy costs of high revel spells? It is always irksome to spend such huge percentage of spell energy on a single spell only to see it fizzle. Divine fire springs to mind here.
I like the idea of additional enchanted pole weapons. Focus spirit being based on priest spells tracks nicely with the idea of Paladin type Fighter/ Priests.
I've always found wands underpowered. It's a *magic wand* it's should hit very, very hard
Does Circle of Madness keep the teleport of Blink Burst?
My fresh start 2.2 mod party is now 12th level. Caster and Archer still using leather type armors while the Paladin and Priest are wearing chain and carrying the steel breast plates around in their luggage. Definitely more tradeoffs to work through regarding encumbrance v protection.
You're certainly moving aggressively with regard to armor weight increases. Have you considered modifying other traits besides Strong Back to balance this a bit?
For example, Good, Robust and Perfect health seem tailor made to add a few pounds of armor capacity per each upgrade in addition to the HP bonus.
Looking forward to 2.3.