Dexterity: Mental or Physical Stat?

[random user]

If you reduce it far enough, everything comes down to neurons. The muscles you use to lift an object receive neurotransmitters to tell them to start working, and in what way to start working.

When you dream, your body is greatly inhibited from making any movements (many studies have shown that when you dream, your brain still sends all the actions such as running, leaping etc down towards the rest of your body -- it's just that the signal never actually makes it*) by neurotransmitters released along the neural pathway.

In effect, your muscles don't work and you have, in essence, "no strength" even though your mind is telling you to apply your muscles.

Similarly (this one may be an urban legend, if it is let me know please), we've all heard reports of people being on drugs (usually PCP) where they display superhuman strength. This suggests that strength can be varied based on neurotransmitters (well, and the pathways that are affected by them), which is a mental process.

So, at a fundamental level, it's all mental. Much like you can't really prove that the people around you exist, it's usually best to just assume that examining something at such a fundamental level is often not the best way to examine the world (though, of course, that is a generalization, and you know what they say about people that make generalizations...)


* Sleepwalking generally occurs during non-REM sleep (ie not during dreaming) when this inhibition isn't taking place. There has been documented cases of sleep paralysis upon waking when there are some synchronization issues between when your brain thinks it is awake or asleep. This paralysis is usually very brief, but can be quite scary. If you are interested in more, try googling for the term "sleep paralysis."

 

[Joker]

Isn't all this assuming there is something as intangible as the "mental?" I mean, what if the mental things such as Cha, Int and Wis are nothing but the result of bio-chemical processes? Wouldn't those three stats be physical aswel?

Though for games that don't need such complexity I think that Dex should remain physical.

-Me

 

[MonsterMash]

In D&D it is a physical thing, all six stats are very much approximations rather than being realistic simulations of reality as there would be synergies between areas.

 

[wocky]

As I understand, reflexes, balance and hand-eye coordination are mostly autonomous/involuntary, and/or handled by the cerebelum (though I'm not sure if all of them are handled by the cerebelum...). The fact that they deal with the nervous system doesn't mean they are "mental" skills... IIRC the cerebelum is the bit that allows a headless chicken to run around for a while right after being decapitated.

On the other hand, WIS, INT and CHA all operate at the abstract/symbolic level, which is the biggest justification you can give to having a brain.

I was told by a doctor that the digestive system has the second largest number of neurons in the body. That's why stress affects your digestive activity so much... yet, I wouldn't dare call digestion a mental activity.

 

[Yair]

I voted physical.

I agree that in the real-world dexterity is largely a question of the mind, not the body, but for game purposes it is better to have it as phyiscal.
BTW, a lot of things associated with constitution (endurance) can be attributed to the spirit more so then the flesh; ask any army cadet and he will testify. Strength can also be focused and channeled effectively through mental concentration (the source of some martial arts techniques), though to a lesser extent. Social interaction (Cha) has a lot to do with *physical* appearance, though not all. Force of will (Wis) really has nothing to do with awareness (Wis) or common-sense (Wis again). I can go on. The point is - this is a game, it doesn't simulate reality, and it shouldn't.

 

[Ottergame]

Don't try to overthink D&D, it's NOT supposed to be realistic. It's a land of absolutes and polar opposites.

 

[diaglo]

i'm with Olivia Newton John on this one...

let's get Animal..

let me hear your body talk
your body talk....

 

[BryonD]

Physical.

All neurology and physiology aside, DEX is about how you interact with the material world. Thus it is a physical ability.