S&P: Subabilities!

[Azure Trance]

So, I'm curious. If subabilities from 2nd Ed Skills & Powers were allowed, would it for the most part reduce the game to a min/max hell? For those who don't know, subabilties split the attributes into two fields. IE (I'm converting these to 3rd Ed on the fly so correct me if I got anything wrong here):

STR = Stamina (Weight Allowance) / Muscle (Att, Dmg, etc)
DEX = Aim (Att) / Balance (AC bonus and Ref saves)
CON = Health (Fort Save) / Fitness (HP)
INT = Reason (Bonus Spell Levels) / Knowledge (Bonus Languages)
WIS = Intuition (Bonus Spell Levels) / Willpower (WILL Save)
CHA = Leadership (Uh ... not sure ... in 2nd Ed it was Loyalty Base for Henchmen and # of Henchmen) / Appearance (Reaction Adjustment)

Rules: Subabilities can't be more then 4 points away from each pther, amd must be done in 2 point increments.

EXAMPLE CHARACTER:

Leon
STR 16
DEX 14
CON 12
INT 12
WIS 8
CHA 11

Leon, with subabilties
Str 16 (Stamina 14, Muscle 18)
DEX 14 (Aim 12, Balance 16)
CON 12 (Health 10, Fitness 14)
INT 12 (Reason 10, Knowledge 14)
WIS 8 (Intuition 8, Willpower 8)
CHA 11 (Leadership 9, Appearance 13)

Assume that, if possible, the subabilties were more 'evened out' in terms of pros (adding to it) and cons (subtracting from it), like fixing the Spell Bonus Subabilities for INT and WIS [as i said, converting straight from book so might be better way to handle it). Would this force the game into a powergamers dream?

 

[Victim]

It's kind of like giving characters an extra 2 points for each stat. Even when I was foolish enough to allow Ambidex + Grandmastery, I still didn't use subabilities.

 

[Azure Trance]

It's kind of like giving characters an extra 2 points for each stat. Even when I was foolish enough to allow Ambidex + Grandmastery, I still didn't use subabilities.

Perhaps the only abilities which are truly balanced are DEX or CON. DEX maybe not even, for those who don't use ranged weapons. For CON I think it would be the most level, as Fort Saves or HP are always, always useful.

 

[thalmin]

The big question for me, "Does it really add anything to the game?"
In 2E, I thought I would like the idea. We converted over to subabilities. We immediately discovered that how to split most abilities was a no-brainer for most classes. After a lot of trial-and-error, tweaking and reworking, we tossed the idea. It didn't add anything to our game except more numbers to crunch and more min-maxing.
I hope it works for you.

 

[the Jester]

I found that the split stats were a powergamer's wet dream.