Yeah well i think they should take it a "leap" further as oblivion in that regard was a step behind, I mean it was on a next gen console, we needed next gen ideas,
everyone can cast a spell of water breathing or night vision but what do the races get for having these abilities natually? just a reduced magic cost of the spell? Thats not how thoughs kinds of things should work.
Even adrenaline rush for the red guard in my mind should of been something less like a spell and more like your bodies reaction to being close to death and in the middle of a battle.
Spells are just that, "spells" just about every spell can be learned by every race(except daedric spells), so shouldn't the up's of being a certain races have nothing to do with casting a spell?
Well having traits system will really help with this, many natural and acquired abilities can be done with traits while perks is depend on skills only so with scripted trait we can create adrenaline rush trait thats start working if certain conditions are met like receive large health damage, have increased stamina usage, be in combat an so on as well at certain level of trait what can level for race or character with character level, or be chosen already on higher level as class specialization trait so for example Redguard mage and redguard warrior will have different starting traits while both are Redguards, but redguard mage start with adrenaline rush as uncontrollable automatic ability thats start automatically if redguard mage in danger, while redguard warrior will have such trait from the beginning with ability to toggle it at will due his combat training not only automatically also he can have increased effect from such trait, but when mage become older (more experienced as character and/or have some level increase in warrior skills) he will develop also such trait at basic level of warrior.
In such cases many traits can be done fro example Khajiits can have damage reduction from falling from start as their racial feline trait, skilled acrobat will also have such trait if level enough acrobatics, Khajiits can have starting trait thats use Night Eye spell effect but other characters can also start with such trait to model unusual changes in characters physiology from birth, mystical or alchemical influence, not need create strict full backgrounds but having traits chose from beginning can really help roleplay different characters even if we all start as Jack commoner and master of none.
Interesting, is that how Oblivion handled it? I believe Morrowind Argonians had water breathing as a constant effect ability (though don't quote me, as I never played an Argonian).
Well
While Argonians appear reptilian in nature at first glance, they also exhibit fish- and amphibian-like qualities, such as being able to breathe underwater, having small gills behind their ears, and swim using the same body mechanism as that of a tadpole or eel, waving its tail side-to-side to propel itself through the water.
But Water Breathing was limited to 120sec for very low cost, thats was changed in Oblivion where they receive constant Water Breathing as trait.
As well as in numerous mods for morrowind, unlike of Oblivion in modded Morrowind argonians also receive Swift Swim spell effect as traits such spell effect was removed from Oblivion Alteration so such feature have only one way to be modeled via script effect what check for swimming condition and alter speed attribute accordingly, well interesting how we can change movement mechanic for Argonians in Skyrim?