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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LurkAway" data-source="post: 5760469" data-attributes="member: 6685059">For years, I've always imagined that when you add Str bonus to hit, that the PC was using their high strength to swing a sword harder, making it more likely to cut through armor and flesh. I assumed there would/should also be causation between Dex (or Int in 4E) and AC, ability bonuses to skill checks, etc. And as per several threads, questions of plausibility arise for some: why would Con or Cha confer a bonus to attacks, why don't 2 relevant ability scores confer a cumulative bonus to attacks, etc.What if I've made the classic mistake of confusing causation with correlation?What if a high strength fighter is more likely to get noticed and train under the best offensive-style swordmasters, thus earning a higher bonus to attacks? What if a charismatic PC was more likely to engage in social situations, and that extra experience is modelled as a Cha bonus to diplomacy? (Does that add to the 'player advantage' threads?) What if charismatic paladins are highly favored by their god and/or clergy, and receive a boon to their powers during their training? (It doesn't mean that additional ability scores don't correlate, but that statistically, one ability score is usually the bottleneck for that talent or training.)Did/do you view ability bonuses as a correlation or cause-and-effect? Does it affect the game if raw ability initially gets you better training or access to x, and it's the extra training or enhanced skill that's now fundamentally more important than the raw ability itself?</blockquote>

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