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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 1694778" data-attributes="member: 5171">In the system I've come up with (but never used -- my players are fine with d20), I've got:Vitality: used for melee damage and health, and for saves against poisons, diseases, and physical transformation magics. Incorporates some of both Strength and Constitution from d20.Agility: used for melee attack rolls and defense, as well as saves against area effect attacks and other "dodging out of the way" type saves. Mostly Dexterity from d20.Perception: used for ranged attacks, all skills involving observation, Initiative checks, and saves against illusions.  Includes some aspects of Dexterity and some aspects of Wisdom from d20.Intelligence: used for skill points, skills involving knowledge, and saves against mind-affecting spells like charms, as well as nonmagical mind-affecting tricks.  As Intelligence in d20.Dynamics: used to modify interpersonal relations skills and saves against magic that affects the very nature of the soul, like death spells.  A little bit of Wisdom and a lot of Charisma from d20.I like Vitality because, while it's possible to have a Strong person who gets sick a lot or a monstrously healthy person who isn't terribly strong, it's not common in d20, or, really, in real-life.  If you're an Olympic athlete in terms of your ability to jump and run fast, you should also have a pretty decently healthy body, unless you want to take a weakness for aching joints or permanently torn muscles or something.I like Agility because it answers all of the "Why don't you use Dex to attack instead of Strength" questions.I like Perception because it lets a sniper-type character focus primarily in one stat.  In the d20 system, a sniper needs to have a great Dex to aim, and a pretty good Wisdom to spot things well.  In this system (the VAPID system, as I've named it), the same skill covers both.  It also serves to get rid of most of the need for Wisdom, since I don't really like Wisdom.  I feel much more comfortable having somebody play an Int much higher or lower than their own than I do having someone play a Wisdom much higher or lower than their own.  Wisdom is tough.  And, really, it's oftimes more of a roleplaying decision than anything else.  So I ditched the "understanding of the universe" stuff and popped the observational part over into Perception, the common-sense part into Intelligence, and the Will save across a few different abilities.Int is fine.  But then, I'm making this for a skill-intensive game where Int is a precious commodity.Dynamics doesn't presuppose likeability.  On Homicide, Frank Pembleton isn't likeable.  He's not nice.  He's not friendly.  He's not pleasant.  What he is is a dogged investigator who is brilliant at getting information out of people, whether it be by intimidating them into talking, tricking them into admitting they were at the scene, or getting inside their heads and showing them that he already knew how it had all happened.  It's possible to have a friendly, nice guy who is such a pushover that he never pushes people to get what he really wants.  So Charisma is sort of gone, but the mechanical ability to be better at interacting with others remains there.Five abilities, five saving throws.</blockquote>

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