The ability scores used in many game systems are antiquated because they don't rely on twenty-first-century science. Yes, I know, many systems are fantasy while many others are futuristic, but the game system should make sense to the players rather than the characters, and the players are twenty-first-century people. Also, many systems have ability scores that are far too numerous and elaborately defined for the state of knowledge today as I understand it.

As far as I can tell, in real life, today, there are only three ability scores: physical, intellectual, and social. Moreover, these ability scores are not so much scores as modifiers that affect our actions.

So I propose that all systems be reworked to have only those three ability scores (physical, intellectual, and social); and, where possible, that the scores be only modifiers rather than actual scores. (Which might not be possible in all game systems.)

Thoughts?

What are you basing this assertion on?

I'm going to need citations and the like, like Dirigible above.

Really? I wouldn't think so...

Being primarily a DND player, I'm working from that example, obviously, but there's a very big difference between the 'physical' nature of Strength, Dexterity and Constitution.

Strength: The amount I can lift
Constitution: How long I can lift it
Dexterity: Agility and speed

Each of these are key factors in different areas of athletics and physical exertion. A weightlifter who can lift 200kg overhead is probably not going to be able to run a 10 second 100 metres, and neither of those two are going to be able to finish the Tour de France with any competitiveness against the athletes who have trained for that.

Same goes for the other three: Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma

Intelligence: What I know
Wisdom: Knowing how to use what I know
Charisma: Making other people understand what I know.

All these abilities are distinct in the way they would play out in a particular setting.

But hey ... Instead of saying all games should just be reworked so that they only have three ability scores, why not create the system yourself?

I agree with you that attributes or abilities should make sense to players and be logical from today's perspective. And they should be the modifier. I actually started working on such a system and found alpha playtesters but alas, had a baby and too many other games going. If you want to take a look and my scattered thoughts.

I'd say there are five categories of ability scores and you can have as many abilities within each category as suites your preferences (level of crunch). The 5  categories would be Physical, Mental, Social, Spiritual, and Emotional. Almost everything you may wish to include in a game falls into one of these five categories. You could further break down each category into things such as Force, Finesse, and Endurance (like WoD or D&D).

This essentially becomes a matter of determining two things whenever you want to do something. First, what part of your being are you using (body, mind, soul, etc.) Second, how are you trying to influence or interact with the world around you (breaking things with force, manipulate with caution and skill, or resist the effects of other entities and forces acting on you)? This would function like strength, Dexterity, and constitution in d&d or just limo then all together into a "body" ability, however you and your group of players prefer.

You could use a lot of the same mechanics and just tie them to different ability scores and change the flavor. If you want to shoot lighting from your hands that could be tied to the physical attribute for a superhero, mind for a psionic Mass effect sci-fi Character, soul for a mage or sorcerer, emotion for a bard or 5e Paladin driven by personal conviction, and social Character who channels the power of other beings they have made pacts with (clerics with gods or Warnocks with devils).

Anyway, thanks for putting up with my idea dump. There's my two cents. Or two dollars.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 05:21, Mon 21 Aug 2017.

Oh, and hi, Jaguar!

Modern understanding actually points towards more specific ability scores, not less.  The top dead lifter and the top sprinter in the world could be argued to each have equal "physical" scores.  They are peak human athletic specimens after all.

However if you devised a new athletic competition and they trained to equal proficiency, so each having the same "score" or "skill" or whatever your system uses to represent a learned/trained/practiced activity, they would not necessarily be equal.

The physiological factors that make naturally talented sprinters after not the same as that which makes naturally talented dead lifters.  We know this because science has expanded the understanding of how people work and how inherent physiological traits affect people's abilities to excel in one activity over another.

So if you want to base things on science you're going to need to go deeper to more accurately represent the physiological and mental diversity science has revealed that differentiates us all beyond just what we're taught or decide to learn to do.

Not to mention that most mechanical RPG systems are balanced around the mathematics of character creation and development so suddenly axing whole sections will require reworking and rebalancing those systems.

You'd be better off just creating a new system that envisions your idea rather than trying to retrofit others to fit.

Having read far too many books and articles for school of late, I can say that modern science breaks down human attributes into many, many, many distinct "scores".  It would be beyond unwieldy to use them all in a game, so you end up having to lump them together.

That's kind of where reality and game design have to intersect.  Can you mash them all down into physical, intellectual, and social?  Yes, and I can think of a few systems that use exactly those stats.  Is it any more or less accurate to life than, say, the D&D 6 stats or the four stats used by GURPS or anything else?  I say no, not really.  It's always going to be an abstraction and the only way you can really judge the stats are on the basis of how well they work for the system they're being used in.

I think you should make a system that makes sense to you, if you enjoy doing that and want to put in the time. I don't think one universal system is necessary or helpful or could ever be agreed upon.

I mostly play D&D and while I used to take the ability scores more literally, I have gotten away from that. The numbers in a game are not the laws of physics or the realities of biology. They're just a way of marking how different pieces interact with the rules. There's nothing about the historical reality of bishops or knights that relates to how those pieces move on the chessboard, and if we called those pieces other names, they'd move the same way. Or, if they moved in different ways we could still call them those names.