Primary Attributes for RPGs

[Man_Over_Game]

It's very interesting that you made this design choice. I tried something earily similar a few years ago.

It used Physical, Mental, Social as the three primary attributes, and then having a Force and Finesse version of each attribute, so Mental Force would represent understanding how things worked (Intelligence), but Mental Finesse would be used for having honed physical senses (Wisdom). Your example is very similar.

So if your Physical was 15, that 15 was divided how you wanted between Force and Finesse. So if a Physical 10 was an average person and you had a Physical stat of 15, you could be naturally thin and mobile (Physical Finesse 11), but still not be good at lifting things (Physical Force 4). The Physical 15 represented your defensive stat when things attacked your physical health, but you'd use your Physical Finesse stat + dice to attempt to influence theirs.

(Physical = Physical Force + Physical Finesse)

However, some actions just are limited in their methods to be used. Attacking someone's courage (Social, or Emotion, stat) using your physical body as the medium for your "attack" isn't going to work well. Even though having an above-average Physical stat of 15 that indicates that you're healthy, the stat you'd use for an "Intimidation" type action for it would be Force , so the skinny acrobat with a Physical Force of 4 (when the average is 5), won't be intimidating someone anytime soon, at least not just by trying to *look* scary.

My overall goal was to make a system where someone could win by more than just attacking HP, and that your stats have some strong emphasis on what your character plans on doing. Charisma in DnD, for instance, doesn't stand out to me as a spellcasting stat, but otherwise it's not relevant in combat. I think that separating attributes, like Charisma, from having to be overly supernatural and making them stand on their own, even in combat, will give room for some interesting dynamics with players. No longer will a Face need to be a charismatic or charming Bard, it can simply be a brute who is naturally intimidating but actually wants to be friends! (High Physical Force, High Social Force)

Attribute	Physical	Mental	Social
Finesse	Agility, Dexterity	Senses, Awareness	Control, Adaptability
Force	Muscle, Size	Understanding, Memory	Charisma, Leadership

Then you picked and chose actions that had prerequisites based on your stats. For example, to make a loud, goading action that caused everyone's attention to be on you, you'd need a minimum amount of Social Force + Social Finesse + Physical Force, and if they met the threshold (15+, or something), you can add it into one of your maneuvers, using one of the prerequisite stats as the stat you'd use for the roll. It would penalizes anyone's Mental Finesse stat (so they aren't paying attention to anything but you), which could have some effects in-and-out of combat.

Just throwing some ideas out there. Your system seemed similar in concept, so I hope something I post here provides some kind of brainstorming.