Consolidating Stats

[My Self]

Would it be possible to play a 4-stat Pathfinder? Make Strength and Constitution one stat, split Charisma duties between Intelligence and Wisdom. Is this reasonable? Any specific downsides or problems? Any suggestions/ideas?

[Duiker]

It's possible to do anything. Whether it's reasonable or has problems is almost entirely dependent on what your goal is for doing so.

[My Self]

The idea is to reduce martial MAD-ness, make face-type skills viable for characters who don't have room for Charisma, and reduce the number of stats that have no combat application.

Would it be reasonable to allow Dexterity to hit and damage for free (with finesse weapons), assuming that Strength and Constitution were a single stat?

[Cyrad]

This has been discussed before several times. You would have to rebuild a lot of the game and classes from the ground up because the entire game is built upon six ability scores. For the amount of work it would require, you ultimately don't accomplish very much. If you want to reduce MAD, there's several other ways to accomplish it without having to break the game to do so.

Also, keep in mind that several classes and build options are balanced with MAD in mind. Changing the ability scores would throw a monkey wrench in everything.

[Atarlost]

Cyrad wrote:

Also, keep in mind that several classes and build options are balanced with MAD in mind. Changing the ability scores would throw a monkey wrench in everything.

Several classes are mis-balanced with MAD in mind, but none are better for it. Stats are never referenced in such a way that substituting another stat in a systematic fashion is an issue, indeed stats are substituted frequently in the published game with no "game breaking" issues.

Con is already the most universally powerful stat and doesn't need help. Instead, Strength should be merged with Dexterity. Strength and Dexterity both refer to fast twitch musculature. Anything slow twitch (which AFAIK is just carrying capacity) goes to Con.

Merging the mental stats down denies casters a dump stat. This is a strict downgrade for the overpowered SAD casters while for the MAD hybrids it offsets the consolidation of two physical stats.

[Ciaran Barnes]

I honestly don't have a problem with most of the "legacy" aspects of the game. Perhaps the six ability scores aren't what a new RPG would use, but they are part of this game's identity. There are a dozen other systems I could play, but I choose this one. We could change its identity, but at that point I might as well play a different game.

To look at it a different way, using more ability scores allows for more customization. While we know that crunch and fluff can be completely separate, I have always thought it a classy move to allow ability scores to contribute to how a character is role-played. A character with a good Strength often has a good Constitution as well, but I should be able to decide if my weight lifter has a glass jaw, or if my brainiac is unexpectedly tough.

But yes, you could reshuffle what each ability score governs and the game would not fall apart. As Cyrad points out though, it could require quite a bit of work for the GM to tie up all of the loose ends that it would bring about. My suspicion is that the end result would not justify the effort.