One stat to rule them all, or what if we merged Dex and Str?

[sithlordnergal]

It's interesting how the argument in the thread went from "it's not nice to your group to not attempt something that your character is perfectly capable of doing because RP" to "I want my character to fail at things"

This is because you refuse to acknowledge that without mechanics to back it up, your RP means virtually nothing. Its why changing a Fireball from a ball of fire to fireworks is perfectly fine, cause nothing mechanical about Fireball is changing. In this case, you're attempting to use RP to back up the idea your character is bad at Strength or Dexterity when the mechanics of your idea show the exact opposite. This utterly fails because the mechanics you came up with state you're just as good at Dex checks as you are Str checks, because they have the share the same score. It doesn't matter how much you RP or flavor it, you're still just as good Strength checks as you are Dexterity checks and vice versa.

I don't know about you, but I want my character to succed at everything she tries. Sure, many times she won't (even if she gets to add her Physique stat to a particular roll, so I don't know what you mean by "passes all Str checks". Even a raging Barbarian fails Str checks every now and then), but I won't be sad and think "succeeding on this roll goes against how I envision my character, because she'd have failed that roll if Dex and Str were still split". I'll just be happy that she succeeded at the roll, and come up with an explanation for it that fits my character.

So, people do want their characters to succeed, but they also want a clear differentiation between the two. A Fighter with 20 Dexterity plays very differently from a Fighter with 20 Strength. One is likely wearing Heavy Armor and charging in with a Greatsword, the other is likely wearing Light Armor and standing in the back firing an arrow. We don't want the Fighter with 20 Dexterity to suddenly pick up a Greatsword and Heavy Armor and be just as effective as the Fighter with 20 Strength. Because at that point there's no real way to differentiate between the two.

And while you can claim "But you can choose not to do that" or "you can RP that you don't do that" all you like, the fact of the matter is that a single physical stat would have that be the norm, and anyone who doesn't carry a Longbow and either a Greatsword or Longsword and Shield will be purposefully weakening themselves for no reason what so ever.

This is even more true of a game like D&D, with its notoriously fickle D20, where a 20 Str Barbarian can fail to break open a door only to have the 8 Str Wizard suceed.

This...doesn't actually happen as often as you might think. It can happen occasionally, but even then, its a very rare case.

I'd also say that your nimble waif wirh below average core strength probably shouldn't have a very high dex. Maybe a 14, if she's in fact exceptional in hand-eye coordination and flexibility? But that would start a whole new rabbit hole. .. anyhow, though "nimble waif" is a somewhat common archetype, I don't think "nimble waif with low core strength but still a very high Dex score" is that common of an archetype.

See, here's the thing, core strength doesn't actually exist all that well in DnD. Its why you can have a character with 8 Strength, 20 Dexterity, and 16 Constitution be perfectly fine. Or you can have 20 Strength, 8 Dexterity, and 16 Constition and still be perfectly fine. While it may not be a common archtype outside of DnD, whichI am not sure that's true, it is very much a common archtype in DnD.

Actually, a good example from movies for someone who's extremely nimble but lacks strength is Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride. Throughout the movie Inigo is shown to be extremely nimble, highly skilled with a blade, but he never has any great shows of physical strength, like what you'd see from a high strength score. He's pretty good at acrobatics, as shown in his fight with The Dread Pirate Roberts, and has a high Constitution, as shown when he gets stabbed multiple times, but he's never shown to have high physical strength. Meanwhile Fezzik is the exact opposite, extremely strong and capable of great feats of strength, but lacks the dexterity Inigo has.