EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
If I may ask, then: What do the ability scores actually represent?Nah. I'm just gonna outright say that if a DM goes to the low INT character and say; "you're acting too smart, please start making stupid decisions." is a bad GM and shouldn't try to run a game with that attitude.
Because from this, we can conclude that someone with 3 Int can still come up with genius plans (so long as the player can do so), someone with 3 Cha can still speak incredibly persuasively (so long as the player can do so), and someone with 3 Wis can dispense sagacious advice (so long as the player can do so).
But the character with 3 Str cannot lift massive boulders (whether or not the player can), the char with 3 Dex cannot precisely hit a target from 300 feet away (whether or not the player can), and the char with 3 Con cannot stave off exhaustion (whether or not the player can).
Why are the mental stats given the privilege of "since you can roleplay it, you can do it", but the physical stats are strictly enforced?
This seems to imply that physical stats do in fact actually represent the capabilities of the character--that the character simply cannot do some of the things the player might wish to do, if their physical stats are inadequate--but the mental stats represent nothing whatsoever, and are simply there to give the occasional boost to a spell attack or to make it harder to resist a saving throw.