I have never been in any situation where it was necessary to do half of those things--the issue is seriously a means of simplifying things. If merging the two stats as a simple additive measure is going to create some bizarre problem, as in Zero's case, the best solution is to boost the combined DEX stat to +7 or +8 or something and then take the other four points and distribute them as freebie-ups to other statistics. This isn't entirely unreasonable or unfair.
It should be noted, as far as the usefulness of Dexterity as a single stat, that separating the "Dexterity" used for missile weapons from the "Agility" that makes you a decent fighter by improving your AT/PA (which reflects your base defensive capability, naturally) really potentially screws over any thief character who also wants to have decent skill points (INT) and some COU to provide magic resistance, weapon cap increases, and other benefits. Strictly speaking, it is the least "valuable" stat, because its only benefit is to add to the caps of certain skills. It occasionally gets used in stat checks for relatively minor purposes. AGI is a much more "valuable" stat because it adds to initiative, AT/PA, and skill caps, and its uses in a check are somewhat more major (a reflexive jump to avoid a trapdoor or falling object, for example).
You guys didn't argue about this three months ago, or at least, not heavily. Why the sudden influx of opposition to something that, systematically speaking, makes a lot of sense? If I felt I could get away with eliminating another stat in the name of simplicity, I'd do it, but eight stats isn't completely unwieldly.
As another side note, if we shouldn't make changes to Philsys that will require people to change their sheets, then we shouldn't make changes to Philsys. Ever. At all. Because the most important fixes are going to
require changes, somehow, and since everyone keeps track of their own sheets nowadays, it's not that much to ask. Let me give you an example:
Once upon a time, a little RP webmaster named Archmage maintained and tracked
every single PS sheet on the website. By himself. Anything that needed updated, changed, or reformatted was his duty. One of the earliest Philsys fixes was that most physical fighters were almost incapable of doing any damage whatsoever to a character wearing so much as hide armor unless they used a chopping attack! But to personally edit every single character sheet and change every available bit of information on the subject at the time would have been an overwhelming and impossible task. The solution? To simply decide that damage reduction was equal to AC/3, rounded down, and leave it at that. In truth, this is
not a good, permanent fix--it's the result of needing a hasty band-aid to cover a hole in the system that would have been too complicated and tedious for one webmaster to correct.
From one perspective, we are still beta-testing Philsys. If Philsys is to evolve, grow, and improve, changes to the system that will require people to edit their character sheets
will be necessary. Last I checked, there weren't dozens of people playing under Philsys in RPs currently, and there's no pressure to go back and edit all of your sheets immediately. God knows I won't. Just edit them as needed and worry about it later.
Edit: And before I get the counterargument that "there are more important things than being good at combat"--I firmly believe that a player should not have to sacrifice their ability to fight effectively in order to be able to pick locks and give back massages. <p>
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Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=archmage144>Archmage144</A] at: 8/25/05 2:14