If you were to make a game with 4 base stats…

[danzibr]

I was playing Phantasy Star IV, found something odd. There are 4 base stats (str, mental, agi, dex), yet only 3 derived stats (atk, mdef, def, and nothing, respectively). Agi also helps turn order, whereas dex helps accuracy and crit. Magic potency is determined directly by base mental, no matk stat or something.

This seems quite weird to me. I like separating agi and dex, allowing for like a slow-moving crit machine, but… no matk? Def and turn order both depend on the same stat? No derived stat for just 1/4 of them?

But yes, title. What 4 stats (and derived stats/what they’d affect) would you do?

(Side note, I had a similar thread recently, but it was about stats and elements)

[Psyren]

Betrayal at House on the Hill uses 4 stats - Strength, Speed, Intelligence, Sanity. Those are the ones I might lean toward in a 4-stat system. (Granted, there is no real conversation/influence mechanic in that game, hence no need for Cha.)

Dex and Agi being separate stats doesn't make much sense to me.

[JeenLeen]

I think it depends on the design of the game, its goals and challenges, etc.

Betrayal at House on the Hill's system works well for what it is emulating.
A friend of mine made a simplified nWoD system using Strength, Constitution, Will, and Dexterity. It worked well to streamline things, with a set-up understanding of "you're as smart or charismatic as you can RP" hence no social stats.

For video games, I often like RPGs (tending towards turn-based with Final Fantasy 6 or 7's not-quite-turn-based turn-based system likely my ideal).
Phantasy Star works well enough, but I could see generalizing some to something like
Attack - ability to inflict harm (damage foes)
Defense - ability to resist damage directly (e.g., armor, soak, etc.)
Speed - impacts turn order
Health - impacts HP
Magic and physical aren't differentiated by stats, but would instead be by character or types of special abilities they can use.

Not sure if that's really what I'd prefer or not, but it gives a different way to potentially look at it. I'm not real sure if I like the idea of you can focus on Defense (to take less HP damage) or Health (to have more HP, so each point of damage matters less).

[Cazero]

I think I would go with Fitness (general athletics things), Dexterity (tool use stuff, not agility, that's Fitness turf), Willpower (determination and magicking stuff) and Intuition (problem solving and perceptions).

Of course, since I tend to do overcomplicated things, expect a bunch of nested skill trees to specialize.

[factotum]

Toughness, Wit, Deftness and Charm, probably, which are hopefully fairly self-explanatory. In case it's not:

Toughness--how strong and resilient the character is physically.
Wit--same, but mentally.
Deftness--ability to avoid attacks, perform acrobatics, climb, etc.
Charm--affects NPC reactions to the player character.

[Rakaydos]

Urban jungle looks like a 4 stat system (body, speed, mind, soul) but is actually a 7 stat system. (Species, Carear, Archetype are choosable- IE, a Fem Fatale/vixen/Reporter, or a bulldog/cop/with a heart of gold, but also have a stat value that's relevant to what they do)

[Forum Explorer]

Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow.

None of the stats actually affect gameplay, you are just choosing which storyline to follow depending which one you level up.

[factotum]

Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow.

None of the stats actually affect gameplay, you are just choosing which storyline to follow depending which one you level up.

...you didn't write Mass Effect 3, by any chance?

[Forum Explorer]

...you didn't write Mass Effect 3, by any chance?

Nah. I'd have been much more sadistic. See, I wouldn't actually tell you what any of the colors do. You might think they are actually buffing your stats or giving new abilities, but those would actually just be randomized rougelike style.

Oh, and you'd have a ton of points. This wouldn't be like one or two points. No, more like hundred points throughout the game. Most of which do absolutely nothing.

[Anonymouswizard]

Power, Grace, Brains, and Charm.

Power is how much force you can exert on the world.
Grace is how well you can move.
Brains is your ability to think and reason.
Charm is your ability to get people to like you.

Now notably this doesn't include any kind of 'defensive' stat, that would likely rely more on armour. But I'd also be tempted for weapons to play a bigger direct role in damage than a character's Power does, these stats feel more like things that enable out of combat options.

Replace Brains with Tech and drop charm and I could see these just being elements of a powered armoured suit alongside some kind of resilience stat. Cycle through weapons with various Power and area of effect, attach boosters for more Grace, slot in processors for higher Tech, while extra armour plates just increase resilience.

Tech would be used to hack the enviroy, I think you have a number of known hacks and various targets, and Tech works as a maximum limit.