I'd rework things into five attributes:
Physique — Strength, brawn, bulk, endurance, resilience, athleticism, balance.
-- Athletics, HP, physical damage, physical resistance
Finesse — Dexterity, fine manipulation, misdirection, reaction speed, evasiveness.
-- Accuracy, Crits, AC, Initiative, Stealth, Sleight of Hand
Knowledge — Education, learning, reasoning, problem solving, perceptiveness.
-- # Skills, tactics, evasion, Medicine, Investigation, Survival, Perception
Personality — Force of will, charisma, connections, presence, social graces, streetwise.
-- Persuasion, Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Animal Handling, Insight
Essence — Connection with the arcane/divine, magical power.
-- Spell Level, spell power, magic resistance
Knowledge and Personality can wield spells, analogous to Physique and Finesse wielding weapons. So to me, Essence looks inessential. Altogether it looks to like the "deep four": STR, DEX, CHA, and INT.
Regarding the assigned mechanics, it is impossible to separate "athleticism" from "reaction speed" and "evasiveness". Whichever ability gets the athleticism and balance also gets "reflex" and evasive dodging "AC" − sometimes to literally leap out of the way of an explosion.
When comparing Olympic extremes, the powerlifter isnt necessarily the somersaulting gymnast. Physique in the sense of muscle can exhibit "strength, brawn, bulk", without being "athletic" in the sense of gymnastic and mobile.
Personally I feel Deception needs to be Knowledge (Intelligence-Perception). To be able to create a forgery so convincing it can deceive the experts, requires extraordinarily high knowledgeability and perceptiveness. This is true whether one is trying to deceive bankers, archeologists, or government agents. The challenge is more about replication and simulation than deception. So even an artist creating a "realistic" painting, is using this Deception skill. Likewise the illusionist creating a convincing sensory experience − even if for entertainment.
When someone is roleplaying a character, the way an actor does. This is more like a Charisma (Performance) check. It is normally good enough to "pass" as an anonymous person in the street. But any attempt to withstand investigative scrutiny requires Intelligence (Deception) or maybe Perception (Deception) in order to imitate precisely and convincingly.
There is a correlation between being courageous oneself, thus having a confidence that can intimidate others, or oppositely, inspiring friends to also be confident alongside oneself. Here I am experimenting with giving Intimidation and Morale to Wisdom courageousness. It kinda works.
My understanding of the abilities is something like the following.
Physique —
STRENGTH: brawn, bulk -- brute Attack (that smashes thru defenses), physical damage, throw, Lifting, break doors.
CONSTITUTION: endurance, resilience, health, physical resistance -- Fortitude save, HP, Heavy Armor AC, load carrying.
Finesse —
DEXTERITY: fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, quick hands, gesticulative misdirection, feinting a weapon attack, precise manual manipulation -- precision Attack, finesse weapon, steady-aim missile weapon, Crit, Stealth, Sleight of Hand (Sleight to pick a lock, do precise calligraphy, anything requiring a quick or steady hand).
ATHLETICS: gross motor skills, body sense, balance, gymnastics, athleticism, mobility, evasiveness, reaction -- Reflex save, agile AC, Speed, Jump, Climb, Balance, Fall, Swim, grappling, aerial stunt.
Knowledge —
INTELLIGENCE: learning, education, self-teaching, intuition, logic, problem solving, psychic prophecy, divination, any means to arrive at knowledge and understanding -- spell DC, technological (?) precalculated (?) Attack, all Knowledge skills (Nature, Survival, Medicine, History, etcetera), Investigation.
PERCEPTION: heightened five senses, alertness, awareness of surroundings -- Perception save (versus hiddenness, invisibility, deception, illusion, blindness, deafness, or the Unconscious condition), Combat Initiative, avoiding Surprise, any skill to detect physical sensory information (whether obscured by something or almost imperceptibly faint) regarding a sound, a scent, or a sight, Deception (including to create a replica).
Personality —
CHARISMA: all social skills, people skills, emotional intelligence, influence, social status, honor, social graces, people reading, crowd reading, crowd pleasing, social connections, accurate psychology, empathy, telepathy, detect the intent to hide information, detect needs, discern motives, artistic beauty, self-expression, charm factor, innate magic, luck, successfulness, aura of influence, esthetics, valuable artwork, talented acting, music, painting, personal presence, larger than life, celebrity, social icon, psychological archetype -- spell DC, mental Attack, Innate Spellcasting (without spell components), Detect Magic, sense when someone is watching, Persuasion, inflict Charmed condition, Insight, Animal Handling, Persuasion to gather information from people (whence streetwise), Honor, Social Status, diplomacy, etiquette, Performance (for all artistic and esthetic presentations, from acting to painting to gem cutting), when crafting an item make the appropriate check with whatever ability for technical skill but then make a separate Performance check to determine its esthetic value and how much it is worth.
WISDOM: sanity, self-control, willpower, focus, concentration, meditation, states of consciousness, confidence, know thyself, authenticity, courage, implaccability, resolute, relentless, ominous, haunting, fateful inevitability, intimidating, emboldening, encouraging, boosting morale against danger -- Will save (versus Charmed, Frigthened, Dominated, Suggestion, Insanity, and emotional manipulation), Concentration, Magic Resistance, mental health sanity checks, Intimidation, inflict Frightened condition, remove Frightened condition, Morale.
