Cha? Hmmm.

I don't like CHA for the same reasons you don't, Mark. I like it for the same reasons you do, Rob.

But maybe have two physical stats - agility and strength - and two mental stats - intelligence and Will. The Will stat covers everything good that charisma did - social power, intimidation, etc. that you might want a roll for, without making the stat stand in place for the PC social interaction - the bad stuff. (I talk to the king about our sentence. I make a CH check. He lets us walk.

The duck says Waaack.)

And yeah, maybe have an endurance stat, or give everyone 10 hp (or whatever) plus some modifiers from ST and Will. I'm just top-of-my-heading it here. I think INT could stand for priest's spells - they need to be clever to figure out what their gods want, or whatever. My general rule for mechanics is to Keep It Simple, which is why rolling high numbers is good, why maybe just one modifiers list for the stats, etc.

Yeah 5d4 is LESS random, but it's still random, and for a system that's so heavy on stats ... The 3E PH (or DMG, I forget) has a sample table for point-buying like you were talking about, for some ideas (all stats start at 8, the first four points cost one each, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 6. Something like that - so buying an 18 costs 4+4+6+4+6, I think. Pretty spendy!)

Maybe give everyone a stat bonus every level, or every three levels, instead of buying them. I didn't look very closely at the skills, but a question to ask might be what do I do with skill points? Is EVERYTHING tied to skill points? Is just stuff I check tied in? Do I have different paths - initial one-time buys (kinda like feats?) vs. better over time? Are there other things - saves, stats, spells? Are these balanced?

I mean, there's no way REALLY to balance buying mage magic vs. buying buffout-fighter, but when I've tried for a new system one of my rules of thumb is can I approximate the classes from the PH - using that as a sort of bench-mark. When Paul made his system, that's the question I asked - can I make a Paladin, or a Monk, or a Ranger? Can I make a mage like the PH, or a fighter, or cleric or thief? You're deviating from D&D, so it won't be exact (nor should it!) - I'm just saying these are existing standards that have been tested to work.

I would think REALLY strongly about tying skill points to a stat, too. Maybe give bonuses for a high int, but everyone should start with roughly the same points, I think.

Another thing that struck me at first glance is that some places seem very skeletal - which, in general, I think is good - and some places seemed fleshed out in lurid detail. Penalties to combat at night with different phases of the moon, for instance. What if my world has three moons? This seems like the kind of thing for a different source-book.

And amen to Rob's talk of keeping Jimmy Swill effective at higher levels. One of the things I'm'a gonna look at this weekend is if it's effective to focus just on one stat and the affiliated skills, and a variety of character sets. If I want to be the charming marketeer guy, am I just hiding in the corner so the two fighters can finish off the necromancer and his skeletons?

And I don't think I need to say this, but the reason we're making so many comments - and most of them are negative - is that we're taking it seriously. So right from that, good job, hey?