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?
Oh damn, so it does! I completely skimmed over that bit of it at first.
Its own thing that’s still based in your Wisdom score.
This, I think, is the most interesting bit. I’ll have to mull it over a bit more, but it’s got me now thinking along the lines of “this variant may not accomplish the main goal it set out to at all”. Martials go from needing all 3 physical stats to…needing all 3 (different) physical stats. Non-martials go from needing 2 of the physical stats (dex & con) to…needing a different 2 physical stats (str and agi). With more time spent thinking about it, it might not end up actually being that bad, but it’s not a great first thought.