Attributes are at the core of describing characters in most RPGs. But how many is the right amount and which ones?

Somehow an old article from 2019 showed up in my feed. DIY and Dragons was pondering already if it should be 8 Abilities - 6, 3, or 4 Ability Scores?. I found it an interesting read and it explained why I had an odd feeling (there's a pun in here, you will get it later) about some systems and their attributes. I thought it a fun exercise to check the systems that I mostly play (or have played).

What is the ideal number of Attributes?

Let's go first over the theory. You could argue, that there are three central dichotomies: physical vs mental, force vs grace and attack vs defend. You can describe any action with the help of these dichotomies. If you do the math, there are 8 different combinations:

• Physical force attack: Your typical brute force. Smashing doors open. Lift something. Punch.
• Physical force defence: Taking a punch. Endure in extreme temperatures. Survive poison.
• Physical grace attack: Sleight of Hand. Aim and Shoot. Handle delicate things. Disarm.
• Physical grace defend: Dodge and weave. Sneak. Evade.
• Mental force attack: Give a rousing speech. Inspire. Calm animals. Affect emotions.
• Mental force defence: Do not fear. Ignore commands. Knowledge is power.
• Mental grace attack: Lie. Manipulate. Outwit. Solve riddles and puzzles.
• Mental grace defence: Looking at the right places. Avoid ambushes and surprises. Recall.

So by this measure, 8 attributes would be the ideal. But you will rarely find any system that does this. Most often attributes will take the duty of multiple of these combinations. Is this model ideal? I'm not sure, but it shows some interesting issues, that inherently we feel something is off.

Shadowdark / OSR

Shadowdark uses the "classical" 6 attributes, that we can see in all Dungeon and Dragons inspired games. This includes the original D&D as well as most OSR systems.

• Strength: Physical force attack
• Dexterity: Physical grace attack and Physical grace defence
• Constitution: Physical force defence
• Intelligence: Mental grace defence
• Wisdom: Mental force defence
• Charisma: Mental force attack and Mental grace attack

We have a nice division of Mental and Physical abilities, but we will end up with two attributes that have two combination. And from this we can see what we felt all these years.

Dexterity is unique as it combines attack and defence, which no other attribute does. This makes it really powerful. Especially considering, that D&D by nature is a more physical focused game. No wonder that Dexterity is often called the god stat. Conversely we have Charisma. It also has two combinations, but both are attacks. And mental attacks are not that common, thus why we often call Charisma the dump stat.

Cairn / Into the Odd

Next up I have Cairn, and conversely all Into the Odd derived systems.

• Strength: Physical force attack and Physical force defence
• Dexterity: Physical grace attack and Physical grace defence
• Will: Mental

This is were my odd feeling comes in. It is pretty clear we have an imbalance of physical to mental attributes. Even the naming of Will seems a bit off for me. Maybe Mind would have been a better choice. Given the above definition it also is odd, that we use Dexterity to resolve surprise situations, where it should be in the mental dichotomy.

There's also an argument to be made, that because Cairn uses saves and not directly checks, we do not cater to the attack vs defence dichotomy.

Blades in the Dark

Blades in the Dark does a complete 180 to Cairn and pushes the imbalance in favour of mental attributes.

• Insight: Mental grace attack and Mental grace defence
• Prowess: Physical
• Resolve: Mental force attack and Mental force defence

In the context of Blades in the Dark, this makes a bit more sense, as you will spend more time in sneaking around and manipulating. But it suffers from a similar problem, than Cairn does.

Ironsworn / Starforged

Oh boy, this one is a doozy.

• Edge: Physical grace attack and Physical grace defence
• Heart: Mental force attack and Mental force defence
• Iron: Physical force attack and Physical force defence
• Shadow: Physical grace defence and Mental grace attack
• Wits: Mental grace defence

There's a slight imbalance towards physical and we have an interesting thing going on with Shadow and Wits. This is the first time we have seen one attribute combining both a physical and mental characteristics. This means that it encroaches into both Wits and Edge, which often leads to the confusion which stat to use to resolve certain situations, which makes Shadow a tad bit more powerful.

Vaesen / Year Zero

Finally we have a divisor of 8 in the number of attributes, which makes Year Zero games pretty clear in its division:

• Physique: Physical force attack and Physical force defence
• Precision: Phyisical grace attack and Physical grace defence
• Logic: Mental force attack and Mental force defence
• Empathy: Mental grace attack and Mental grace defence

Similarly to Cairn we basically forgo the attack vs defence dichotomy. This by nature creates a more balanced experience. For me that is the ideal number. It is not too many that it becomes too encumbering on deciding which attribute does what and still striking a good balance.

Conclusion

There are more systems out there, that might have a different number of attributes. I do not have much experience in those (or I don't even know them). I took these examples because that's what I play and I was interested in its analysis. It also gives a broad enough overview.

Due to the maths involved there's only three possibilities for truly balanced number of attributes: 8, 4 or 2. Of course this depends on whether you actually want this balance or not. It might cater to a specific feel you want to give a system (like Blade in the Dark).

This also all assumes, that our premise of the dichotomies is actually correct (or relevant).