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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6347109" data-attributes="member: 6696971">There are two reasons that I love 4e's non-Str/Dex as primary attack state model.  1)  The first reason is actually simulatory, both process and genre.  One of the problems of D&D attribute model is that almost all martial enterprise is a combination of multiple inputs.  Its not just your fast twitch explosion.  Its not just your proprioception and sense of body balance.  Its not just your small muscle coordination.  Its also determined by:a)  Constitution - Your physical fortitude and ability to endure/ignore the demands of your biology.b)  Intelligence - Your ability to understand the concepts of your craft and hone and perfect those fundamentals and techniques.  Further, its the speed at which you process information (from multiple vectors), spit out the best response possible, and send your musculoskeletal system into action.  If Arcane, there may be some magic-infusion.c)  Wisdom - Your spatial perception.  This is absolutely HUGE in determining outcomes of exchanges of bodies in motion.  Further, if Divine or Primal, there may be some augmentation via answering of prayer or deliverance of boon/insight by primal spirits.d)  Charisma - Your will to act, your cool/poise under pressure, and your deeply internalized committment to cause.  This is a big one as well.  If Arcane, this may be a bloodline thing if a sorcerer, a patron/pact thing if a Warlock.  If a Paladin, this may be actual infusion of the divine in augmenting all of the above such that those things become supernatural.Regardless, all of a - d above are hugely important in our world, and certainly important within the conceits of the genre.  A Bladesinger using Int as his MBA stat is of course using Strength/Dex (and the others) to perform his amazing bladeowrk.  However, his extraordinary mind is the most important factor of all.  This is what separates him from a common warrior.  He understands his craft more deeply than would otherwise be possible.  His mind performs permutations and spits out a response so fast that its borderline precognitive.  And maybe there is some Arcane infusion.  A Chaladin's is still using Str (etc) to attack (of course).  But more important than his Str is his supernatural will to act/cool/poise/committment to cause.  He is a "grinder" (as the saying goes in sports).  Without that will and "hard-hat" mentality, he would be "just another guy."  But with it, he becomes legend.2)  The second reason is the game balance one; the MAD one.  Unless the game's machinery is uniformly predicated upon stat dilution across all classes/builds (13th Age does a good job with this from a defense perspective by making the determinative stat for your defenses be the middle score of 3), you're going to have certain classes/builds, those that are disproportionately dependent upon multiple ability scores, suffer in performance simply due to the strain on the system's math.</blockquote>

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