The TL;DR of the rule is:
The 6 classic ability scores are (allegedly) not well-balanced among themselves. So the attempt is to fix that by:
- Combine Strength and Constitution
- Split Dexterity into 2 (basically, Dexterity: the stuff with your hands; and Agility: the stuff with your feet and body)
- Charisma becomes the stat for Will saves, instead of Wisdom
In short, do you agree with the stated goal of the system? Whether or not you do, do you think these particular changes are a good way of addressing that goal?
Have you ever tried out this variant, how does it go in practice?
I think something like this is a really interesting idea. The Remaster might have been a good opportunity to try something like this on a larger scale, if they really do believe that “the classic ability scores aren’t of equal value”, considering the classic ability scores were chosen essentially for legacy D&D reasons.
I can’t speak to how they play out in practice in Pathfinder 2, because I’m far too new to the system. My experience with D&D has been that Charisma is incredibly useful, and I think this is more down to the way I play the game than to the system itself (a heavy emphasis on non-combat social roleplaying with skills like Intimidation, Persuasion/Diplomacy, and Deception being extremely valuable), so I expect that to transfer into my Pathfinder experience as well.
Splitting Dexterity up seems like something far more important in D&D than it would be in Pathfinder, since most characters won’t be using it for initiative here.
I agree. Strength is pretty valuable as it is important for combat maneuvers such as grappling, jumping etc. Also if you track carry weight it is more important.
Dex is imo not OP in Pathfinder due to how armor works. Dnd it is the so called God Stat.
Con is strong. Who does not like HP?
Intelligence and Charisma I can see being regarded as weaker. Both don’t have a save attached and are only directly important if your class needs it. However if the GM, adventure or players put any emphasis on recall knowledge and lore or social encounters being important this fixes itself. Int also gains a buff if languages are important in your adventure or world.
Lastly I think wisdom might be a bit strong. Perception is very powerful and it is the default initiative Stat. Also Wil saves. Mechanically very strong. Perception is also used for what dnd calls insight or sense motive. And survival can, depending on setting, be an important skill of not. But I think the imbalance isn’t too horrific and imo I wouldn’t go as far as change the system too much for it. And initiative can be shifted to other skills by being smart which fixes a lot.
In D&D I’ve always seen this statement and thought it overrated to be honest (at least if you’re not running a trap-filled dungeon-crawl). But Pathfinder puts what D&D 5e uses “Insight” for into Perception, which makes it far, far more important. (Of course, it’s Wisdom-based in either system, so the relevance to the relative importance of each ability is the same.)