To the Woodshed: The Bastionland Fix

I sorta just tossed out a fix for most unimaginative retroclones which for the most part works to eliminate various problems with The Original Six.  For completeness sake here it is:

The Bastionland Fix for Bad Ability Scores:

• New Score called Strength = put everything Str and Con get together into one score.
• New Score called Dexterity = same as the old Dex.
• New Score called Charisma = put everything Int, Wis, and Cha get together into one score.

This works with TONs of clones that may have some good ideas but for whatever stupid reason (called nostalgia) use the original six ability scores.  It also fixes a lot of convoluted older D&D (with one exception, solved below),  I came to this line of rationale recently, with unwitting help from the creator of Bastionland Chris McDowall due to his 8+ hour deepdive into his own game. If you watch those deepdives on his youtube channel Bastionland and don't get excited about his product and seek it out, you're hopeless, don't understand the DIY mentality, and probably shouldn't be looking into OSR stuff.  Chris is top-tier OSR*, and I'm not even sure he's hit his stride yet.

I realized there needed to be some extrapolation on the rule above:

• If a race, class, whatever gets a bonus or penalty to more than one related old score, use the biggest bonus or penalty once instead of stacking them.  If a half-orc gets a +2 Strength and +2 Con, that becomes simply a +2 Strength.
• Same principle for ability score requirements, just use the largest one.  
• If an ability score gets a bonus and penalty from the same source (like a Gnome with +1 Int and -1 Wis), let them cancel out to be a zero-sum game.

Now every rule has exceptions, and the one that immediately springs to mind is Exceptional Strength from AD&D2E.  There is a very simple solution, which is that AD&D2E Warriors get the section of the ability score chart that read "Normal - None" pruned from the chart and start getting bonuses at 8 strength (formerly nothing, now +1 damage per previous 16 str) and top out at 18 Str (formerly +1 to hit, +2 damage, now +2 to hit +5 damage per previous 18/91 str).  Warriors get every entry from the chart as if it was a higher stat, effectively being able to make more out of their Strength than other classes.  There is a not-insignificant part of the back of my mind that wants to limit this change to Fighters only, because fuck giving anything to the Paladins and Rangers.  

Tangent "House" Rule: I feel like it's important I mention this even though it's in the DMG, someone with an 18 Strength who gets +1 added now has effectively 18/01 Strength.  Warriors go from the 18/91 bonus to 18/00.  In other words logically step up the chart, don't just hop to 19 str bonus from 18 if you get "+1 Str".  The jump from 18 to 19 is effectively +6 Str.  That's some bullshit twinkery, it didn't fly when I was 14 and won't fly now. 

*3/30/2025: This post didn't age well.  Years later I find Chris is basically faux-sr public enemy #1, both a minimalist dirtbag and shitlib just like rest of those who peddle their garbage on itch, but at least he pays for real art by real artists.