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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Basic Expert" data-source="post: 9841570" data-attributes="member: 7054049">OD&D had the six ability scores, but they were rarely used as roll modifiers and, if they were, were capped at +/-1 on a d20, so not a huge effect on play. They mostly affected xp and that's it. Each addition upped the disparity between high and low scores and added additional uses for them because players LOVE differentiation in their characters (even if it means being worse at some things).There are a few OSR games that don't use ability scores or modifiers. Searchers of the Unknown and its various derivations comes to mind. There is also Wizard, Rogue and Mage (which isn't D&D-based) but you essentially take ranks in the three classes to determine what you're good at. And Quest RPG characters are almost entirely mechanically defined through their feats.In something like a 5E context, I would probably consider everyone to have (maybe) a +2 bonus to everything. They could take feats like "Great Strength" or "Hardy Constitution" to give them additional bonuses. However, with 2024's feat structure already giving ability score bonuses (but not necessarily a d20 bonus), you're looking at more of a rework than you'd probably want. Ability scores are just really baked into the system at this point.</blockquote>