DEX

[snow]

STR is needed to wear armour and INT is needed to cast spells. DEX isn't needed for... anything.

So... I'm just going to toss this idea out there: DEX could reduce stealth and casting penalties from armour while STR could reduce attack penalties. If it's significant enough heavy armor casters would chose to pump DEX instead of INT and pumping INT would no longer be a no brainer. Now at the moment pumping STR on a caster past 8 or 9 isn't worth it so replacing the need for STR with DEX doesn't really change anything. I really think lowering the evasion penalty on some armor would solve this issue. I'm not saying we should have casters running around in storm/gold dragon armour but what if plate mail had, say, a -4 penalty? Keep in mind they'd have much less INT if they chose to pump DEX so it's not really a buff.

Another idea that came to mind would be to have 3x the evasion penalty simply remove ALL armour penalties for stealth and casting or just have the penalties not as harsh. This way fighters will still work up to higher tiers of armour instead of just tossing on the heaviest thing they find.

[mikee]

I think that if you tabulate all of the data, you will find that heavy armoured casters will still choose int every time.

[snow]

What if it's significant enough though? Surely there must be some way to tweak the numbers such that it's worth it.

[njvack]

See the dev wiki for quite a lot of discussion about all three stats.

[ximxim]

This would be a remarkably pointless addition. Dexterity is already competitive with strength for heavy armour characters that have enough strength to wear their heavy armour. Also, people cast in plate mail all the time.

More like equally useless for heavy armour characters that have enough strength to wear their heavy armour.

I've probably forgotten some effects, but here's what I think the stats do:

Str: Ev penalty*3 to wear heavy armour, +1.28% base damage per point depending on weapon, boost shield blocking, more for larger shields.
Dex: Boosts EV with dodging skill (decreasing returns above 24 + a bunch of stepdowns), +1.28 base damage/point depending on weapon, 3 stealth/point, boosts shield blocking for small shields.
Int: Lowers spell hunger, increases spell success, boosts spell power by 10%/point (before stepdowns)

One of these is better than the others (hint: starts with "in" and ends with a "t").

[theglow]

I think that if you tabulate all of the data, you will find that heavy armoured casters will still choose int every time.

you have to admit mikee str and int definitely rule the roost as far as stats are concerned... while dex certainly has some utility as things stand i dont think its too outlandish to table a motion for it to be improved somewhat??

[mikee]

you have to admit mikee str and int definitely rule the roost as far as stats are concerned... while dex certainly has some utility as things stand i dont think its too outlandish to table a motion for it to be improved somewhat??

Your premise is acceptable in some ways... but I hope you don't mind if I take some of it with a tablespoon of salt.

[CommanderC]

you have to admit mikee str and int definitely rule the roost as far as stats are concerned... while dex certainly has some utility as things stand i dont think its too outlandish to table a motion for it to be improved somewhat??

Dexterity is very useful for any character that trains dodging or stabbing. The only characters that should prefer strength over dexterity are the ones wearing GDA or crystal plate, and even those should raise dex, once str has reached the magic number. Str is almost useless past that value.