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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DMZ2112" data-source="post: 7635657" data-attributes="member: 78752">I don't see the advantage.  I mean, you can argue that no one really understands what the mental ability scores mean, and that is definitely a problem I have with D&D: Is Intelligence a measure of education, or "IQ;" is Wisdom willpower, sanity, or common sense; is Charisma physical beauty, leadership ability, or personality?But as to whether mental ability scores should be removed entirely... I mean, why stop there?  You could arm wrestle your players to determine whether they can lift the portcullis, or have them play ten rounds of Jenga to pick a lock.  You could slip arsenic into their food over a period of weeks to see how well they resist poison.Maybe don't do that last one.Sure, a smart player is going to have trouble playing a dumb character, and a dumb player is going to have trouble playing a smart character.  That's exactly why the numbers exist.  The dungeon master can force a roll when they feel like the smart player is overreaching, and the dumb player can request a roll if they feel like they're not personally up to the challenge their character is facing.I can't help feeling like the endpoint of this reasoning is a game where we all just play ourselves, which isn't roleplaying at all.I hear the arguments about how the Persuasion skill and its ilk interfere with "actual social roleplay" (whatever that is), and yeah, there's some good design logic there.  But it's a game first, folks, not a thought exercise, and for that matter it is a game that disproportionately appeals to the socially awkward.  You don't get to tell those players they can't play the bard if the bard is who they want to play.  Sorry.</blockquote>

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