The Campaign Builder's Guild

This has been up before in Polycarp's much discussed thread, but i thought i'd try a new argument.
When a player chooses his attributes he is aiming to make a specific character; he has a mental image of how his character looks and acts and tries to pick attributes that approximate that vision. But in truth, with such an abstract value most people have no idea really what that value represents.
My proposition is, that with an ability-free system you can instead create traits that represent different aspects of this "mental image". Essentially, you make a package that specifically fulfills a certain piece of that mental image. This also allows you to create attributes as needed; instead of having to have two different numbers reserved for animals you just create a trait called "animal intelligence".    
And yes, essentially these packages would just give you a strength or mental bonus or some such. But my point is that it improves the flexibility of the system for the DM and eases character creation in many ways. Also, you wouldn't have to deal with any abstract ability score but only with the bonus (d20 systems anyway). I have made some examples for a system i'm (slowly) developing, and thought i'd post them to fuel the discussion.  
 [spoiler]
BODY
The body category covers your basic physical composition, with focus on muscle mass.

Weakling: You're weak. There really isn't that much more to say. You just weren't that lucky in the genetic lottery when it came to muscles.
Benefits: You have a -2 modifier to every strength-related task you undertake.  

Strong: You are stronger than the average. You can lift more, hit harder, run faster and farther and generally accomplish physical trials better than most other people, although this is more of a simple  advantage than an actual distinguishing characterstic.
Benefits: You have a +2 modifier to every strength-related task you undertake.

Buff: You aren't simply strong. Muscles are part of defining who you are. It's clearly visible to all that you could probably snap their arms like twigs, with little or no effort. Buff characters are large with prominent muscles.  
Benefits: You have a +3 modifier to every strength-related task you undertake.
Juggernaught: You were gifted with extreme strength, bordering on the incredible. You are a massive hulking mountain of fibers and power, and few, if any, can match your strength. Juggernaughts stick out in a crowd, as they are vastly bigger than normal men.
Benefits: You have a +5 modifier to every strength-related task you undertake. Also your freakish appearance gives you a -2 penalty to charm-related tasks unless they involve intimidation in which case you get a +2 modifier. Your hulking frame prevents you from entering small openings, and many objects might break under your massive weight. Also, Juggernaughts are usually not that smart, so all Mind traits cost 2 more points to buy.

MIND
Although many characteristics are in the physical domain, the mental domain also differs vastly from person to person. The Mind category determines the general 'power' of the mind
Brainless: Your intelligence is of an extremely basic level. You can barely reason, and although you can understand very basic concepts, almost everything beyond that is nothing but nonsense to you. You can communicate basically, but you can only get X skill points, and none of them can be spent on academic skills.

Stupid: You are noticeably less astute than the average man. You aren't  

Bright: Bright men are men gifted with a keen mind.

Brilliant: Brilliant people are like smart people, only even more so. Brilliant people are top of their class, able to solve most problems with a glance.

Genius: Geniuses are the pioneers of knowledge; they are the fathers of new and radical ideas, concepts and even sciences. Only the rarest few are considered to be of genius intelligence. DM's should put limits on who can take this trait. If your character is simply vastly intelligent, he should just take brilliant. Genius is only for those unique few who have a specific purpose in life.
 
AGILITY
Nimble: Your body is unusually flexible
Clumsy: You have a tendency to trip over your own feet.

REFLEXES

HANDS
Butterfingered: You're clumsy and really have trouble using your hands for anything that requires any intricacy. You also have a tendency to drop things.
Manual dexterity: Your hands are steady and your fingers are as nimble as they come, and you can easily use your hands to work mechanisms with such precision that normal people would find it difficult.

HEARING
Deaf: You can't hear anything. Your ears are either missing or defunct.
Keen ears: You are able to detect minute sounds with good detail.  

EYESIGHT
Eagle eyes: Although your eyesight is generally standard, you do seem to be able to see a good deal farther than anyone else.
20/20: Your eyes aren't just good, they are the best possible. You can spot minute details and see approaching enemies better than anyone else.
Nearsighted: You are bad at seeing things at a distance.
Farsighted: You are bad at seeing things close to you.
Blind: Simply put, you can't see. This is, not surprisingly, a very troublesome defect that you probably shouldn't take. But the rules are presented here if you feel like being troublesome anyway.
Bad eyes: Your vision isn't as good as it should be: it's actually pretty poor. Although this isn't nearly as bad as being blind, it can still be rather annoying.

APPEARANCE:
Although beauty is said to lie in the eye of the beholder this is only partly true; some people were just gifted with good looks while others weren't.
Monstrous: You aren't just ugly; you are barely human of appearance. It might be due to a monstrous growth or inbreeding or a rare disease. One way or another, only the most open-minded people will ever even consider talking to you.
Benefits: You get a -5 modifier to every check that might be modified by appearance. Also, you are probably shunned by most, and might be the target of mobs and pranks rather frequently.  The deformation can be hidden without too much trouble, but disguising it requires a disguise 18 check.
Ugly:
Pretty:
Beautiful:  

OTHER:
This category is special as the different traits aren't connected to each other specifically. Therefore it is possible to take two or more traits from this category unless otherwise noted.

Superior scent: Although olfaction is usually not of much use, you have a developed enough sense of smell that it can actually provide you somewhat of an advantage. You are relatively good at identifying various smells, and you get a +2 bonus to registering poison and smelly enemies and the like. DM's get the final say on when this ability can be used.  
Eidetic memory: You have perfect recollection of everything that has ever happened to you. If you do not remember it yourself, you can ask the DM about anything relating to your memories in which case he'll have to answer you truthfully. You can remember all details that you have focused at least a little one; e.g. it is not possible to read a book by leafing quickly through it and then remembering everything on each page. You'll have to actually read it and then you'll remember it.

[/spoiler]
Mind you, this is only in the concept stage, meant to exemplify the idea.

The problems that could arise in such a system would be the creation of point pools (could be solved with multipliers of the bonusses) and probably a lot of other stuff i haven't thought about.
My main point is that ability ranges are in many ways needless abstractions.

Comment away my dear forum-friends.

Not needless, just different. A skill or class based system is no less valid than a feat based system. Each one has its place. I will say that I like feat based systems for the emphasis they place on the story over the mechanics. My current version of QpRPG uses such a system and I am liking how it is turning out.

Well, by needless i didn't mean that they were useless. I just meant that they weren't a necessity for a system. :)

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowWell, by needless i didn't mean that they were useless. I just meant that they weren't a necessity for a system. :)

To be fair, what isn't needless? Dice are needless, classes are needless, abilities are needless, I could see an argument for skills being needless... When you get right down to it, the only thing that's really needed is at least one imaginative person.

Of course, that's not to dissuade you from this little experiment. I think this is actually quite interesting.

This is pretty similar to my own concept for traits in my system.

The idea is that in a d20-like system, the primary characteristics don't do anything mechanically except packaging a group of bonuses together. (E.g., STR gives you bonuses on certain skills, on melee damage, etc.) By breaking these bonuses up and assigning a trait to each, the player can choose traits that line up better with her mental image.

That's actually very similar. :)
One of the issues there might be with this kind of system is that it could quickly devolve into a tangled heap of enigmatic bonuses that you can't remember the reason for if your life depended on it. Not really sure how to avoid this.