What is "railroading" to you (as a player)?

[Reynard]

Just use the original (i.e ancient greek) meaning, beloved of the gods or divine favour, and it works just fine.

then why is Wisdom the chief Cleric stat?

 

[Fenris-77]

then why is Wisdom the chief Cleric stat?

Everyone can't have the same core stat. People need to share a little. The nature of the six stats is a very odd bit of accreted hobby lore. Might as well spit into the wind as try to make rational sense of all of it all at once.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Just use the original (i.e ancient greek) meaning, beloved of the gods or divine favour, and it works just fine. It's mostly the descriptions of the stats that are the issue. When you broaden things out, especially for the WIS/INT/CHA three it gets a little easier to make the pieces fit.

Too easy to go from "broad enough to make the pieces fit" to "just about anything will work, so the term has no meaning". Would work better with more (or fewer) stats.

 

[AnotherGuy]

then why is Wisdom the chief Cleric stat?

I think the idea comes from the Willpower as opposed to the Intuition part of the Wisdom score. A cleric and a paladin require strong conviction to promote the will of and yield the power that their deities provide them.

 

[Fenris-77]

Too easy to go from "broad enough to make the pieces fit" to "just about anything will work, so the term has no meaning". Would work better with more (or fewer) stats.

No, not at all. It doesn't need to make everyone happy all at once. It really just needs to make one person understand their character better. You're looking for 'an answer' when there isn't one. Trying to impose specific readings of what a stat means is counter-productive. It doesn't matter what someone else does at their table in order to make better sense of their character. We all have the common reference of what's in the RAW, which is enough for us to talk about it in game terms (which is really the bit that matters in a forum like this).

 

[Micah Sweet]

No, not at all. It doesn't need to make everyone happy all at once. It really just needs to make one person understand their character better. You're looking for 'an answer' when there isn't one. Trying to impose specific readings of what a stat means is counter-productive. It doesn't matter what someone else does at their table in order to make better sense of their character. We all have the common reference of what's in the RAW, which is enough for us to talk about it in game terms (which is really the bit that matters in a forum like this).

Then why are stats given descriptions in every RPG rulebook, if there isn't an answer?

 

[Fenris-77]

Then why are stats given descriptions in every RPG rulebook, if there isn't an answer?

I answered that question already. General descriptions that do their best to cover what the designer sees as important. It's a not a straight jacket, and if people choose alternate interpretations to help make better sense of their character it's no one's business but theirs. You talk like people should either stick religiously to the RAW or not bother with stats at all, which is silly. The descriptions of the stats are just fluff past a very general sense that helps tie them to skills or checks. What's it to you if the Greek version of Charisma helps someone get into their character? (A very rhetorical question). This is a mountains out of molehills problem.

 

[TwoSix]

I answered that question already. General descriptions that do their best to cover what the designer sees as important. It's a not a straight jacket, and if people choose alternate interpretations to help make better sense of their character it's no one's business but theirs. You talk like people should either stick religiously to the RAW or not bother with stats at all, which is silly. The descriptions of the stats are just fluff past a very general sense that helps tie them to skills or checks. What's it to you if the Greek version of Charisma helps someone get into their character? (A very rhetorical question). This is a mountains out of molehills problem.

This. It might be a problem of improper modeling, but it isn’t a gameplay problem.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I answered that question already. General descriptions that do their best to cover what the designer sees as important. It's a not a straight jacket, and if people choose alternate interpretations to help make better sense of their character it's no one's business but theirs. You talk like people should either stick religiously to the RAW or not bother with stats at all, which is silly. The descriptions of the stats are just fluff past a very general sense that helps tie them to skills or checks. What's it to you if the Greek version of Charisma helps someone get into their character? (A very rhetorical question). This is a mountains out of molehills problem.

"Fluff" is no less important than mechanics, more so IMO. You can't model the world if there's no good description of it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

This. It might be a problem of improper modeling, but it isn’t a gameplay problem.

Modeling and gameplay and bound together. A modeling issue will IMO inevitably lead to a gameplay issue.