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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scars Unseen" data-source="post: 6081660" data-attributes="member: 10196">I'm kind of late to the party, but my recommendation would be to split attributes into proactive and reactive use.  Dexterity, Constitution and Wisdom would be reactive attributes, and therefore used for saving throws.   Strength, Intelligence and Charisma would be proactive attributes, and would be used when you want to accomplish something.  Now, having made this division, I would do something a touch controversial, and do away with d20 era saving throws altogether, and instead use TSR era attribute checks.  The whole unified model was a great experiment and all, but I think that it had some rather unfortunate side effects.  One of those is that it made attributes simultaneously too important(by creating a standard linear scale for attribute bonuses) and not relevant enough(by eliminating the importance of the attribute score itself in gameplay).  I'll spare you my rant about attribute bonuses since that's not particularly important for this discussion, but I think that the second part touches on this topic enough to be worth mentioning.  Here's how I see it:Currently, baseline saves are made by adding your attribute bonus to a d20(and then trying to get over a DC).  This means that the most nimble elf in the world(assuming 20 max attribute) has a 25% greater chance to dodge a...  whatever... than the average human peasant.  That isn't much of a difference, and yet the bounded accuracy mantra dictates that we not put a constantly increasing bonus on top of those saves in order to keep numbers from expanding pointlessly.  So how to fix that?  Make a dexterity check.  Instead of the DC being the static point modified by the attribute, make the attribute your standard, and have the DC be a modfier.  Roll d20 and try to hit your attribute score or lower, modified by the DC.  Now that elf has a 50% greater chance than the mud farmer, making his high dexterity matter more, but bounded accuracy is preserved overall.So make dexterity constitution and wisdom checks when something needs a reaction from the character.  On the other hand, when there is a situation that needs to be acted upon, go with your active attributes: strength, intelligence and charisma.  Stuck in a web?  Strength check.  Need to talk your way past a guard?  Charisma check.  Need to tie a rope?  Why are you making a check to see if your character tie a rope?!?  Okay, fine.  Intelligence check to see if you recall the best knot for the occasion.  I hope you're happy.Obviously there are a couple of grey areas, mostly when it comes to dexterity, which could be seen as an active attribute as well as a reactive one.  Some corner cases could be made for most of the attributes being used one way instead of the other, but for the most part, I think that the way I outlined above would help to ensure that all attributes have importance(even if they will never have equal importance in any given playing style) and reward exceptional attributes without breaking bounded accuracy.</blockquote>

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