I HATE dexterity.

I hate it with burning passion.

Spoiler: Rant against dexterity and proposal of different attributes
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Because it exists strength has a strong tendency to be relegated merely to muscle size and not muscle efficiency, which encompasses controlled and precise, if somewhat broad, movements. A world-class gymnast with maxed acrobatics skills has A LOT of strength and is not a blundering mass of muscles. Maybe a more striking example, not mine sadly, is that strippers, which have very fit bodies and very good scores in acrobatics, are NOT blundering masses of muscle.

Dexterity also has a plethora of uses in TRPGs (ok, mostly D&D and Pathfinder, but not only them), where it can govern initiative, ranged accuracy, ranged damage, close combat accuracy with specific weapons, dodge, and often a good number of skills like acrobatics, stealth, legerdemain, lockpicking, etc...

It is spread too wide, does too much and limits the scope of other physical ability scores.

So what would be a good alternative? Please keep in mind that I am in no way a game creator, and am merely pulling things from my behind.

Physical ability
Muscle efficiency, how good you are at moving your body, how fast you run, what kind of acrobatic stunts you can do, governs attacking and damaging with weapons (and without).

Body control
What I would gladly replace dexterity with. It governs how good you are at controlling your body with slow and precise movements. It is flexibility, dextrous fingers and artificially lowering your heart rate.

Tenacity
Your defense stat, your ability to resist. It governs how tough you are to kill, your resistance to poisons and illnesses, your endurance, and all that both mental and physical. Separating physical and mental resilience always seemed weird to me. Running long distances is tough both physically and mentally, doing debilitating tasks all day long demands as much willpower as horsepower. Besides, I'm always a sucker for "No you don't set me on fire with your combustion spell. I refuse to be affected by it."

Quickness
Your reflexes and how good they are, both in speed and precision. Governs initiative and defense in combat

Perception
How good your five senses are, as well as balance and intuition (and humor).

Intelligence
Your wits, ability to adapt and how discerning your mind is, as well as your character's passive ability to solve puzzles. Govern catching up to lies, logical fallacies piercing illusions and skill points.

Presence
Your mental strength stat, allows you to influence the world without brawn. Governs social skills as well as your ability to attack and damage the etheral.

So, what do you think?


And you, what is your most hated/beloved stat? From which game is your favorite statblock?

I am personnally a fan of the Ars Magica stats and stamina/resilience/body/constitution in particular.