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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8271290" data-attributes="member: 6790260">I think it's a great idea--and I think you could do a LOT worse than look at 4e for how to go about it. That is, both 4th edition D&D proper and Gamma World 7e did things in this direction, just in somewhat different ways.That is, 4e had the Inherent Bonuses option: get rid of all the various benefits you normally get from equipment, and gain stuff at <listed rates.> Any weapon you pick up, if you can use it, you can hit with it the way the system expects you to, other than your stats. You'd just be adding that bit (and, it sounds like, typical feat bonuses as well).GW7e was pretty constrained numbers-wise, but despite having a semi-unfavorable stat gen system (3d6 strict, as I recall), it had rules to make sure your basic stats were always good for what you needed. Your character has two origins (typically randomly-rolled). Each origin is associated with a key stat. Your first origin gets 18 in its main stat (regardless of what you rolled for that stat), and your secondary origin gets 16 (ditto). If your two origins share the same key stat, you get 20 in that stat, but all your other stats are rolled as normal--your focus is better, but you lose out on getting a second "free" good roll.You wouldn't have to have the execution work exactly like either of these things. But starting from these ideas, considering what you like and don't like about each method, could prove useful.I, personally, have the half-baked ideas of a "simple baseline" system that uses seven stats, but I'll spoilerblock the digression about it.[SPOILER="Digression"]I'd have four stats for non-combat applications (Might, Dexterity, Wits, Presence) and three for combat effectiveness. The three combat stats would generally cover offensive potency (typically damage), rider potency (typically how much of a buff or debuff an action inflicts), and utility potency (typically number of targets, area size, or number of uses); I'd call them Impact, Finesse, and Scope. I have a notion of making the combat stats class- or source-specific, but I haven't thought enough about the consequences of doing so. As an example thereof, however, a Paladin might have Fervor (Impact), Grace (Finesse), and Patience (Scope); you still must choose how to allocate your points among those three, but they'd be designed to all be useful, so that focused and generalist characters could all work for doing something. So maybe you have a starting score of 1 in each, and get 6 more points to put into them, up to a max of 5. You could do 5/3/1, 4/4/1, 3/3/3, whatever you like. Still allows for build variation, but decoupled from the narrative concerns that are now handled by the four non-combat stats.[/SPOILER]</blockquote>

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