After additional testing, the rules got a small facelift. I was looking to make the character generation process more streamlined and to somewhat reduce bean counting at the table. Here's a quick rundown of what got changed:

• Ability checks renamed to Saves
• Initial combat bonuses determined as 1d4-2
• Only one attack bonus that applies to all situations
• No stat bonuses (STR bonus no longer adds damage on melee)
• Medium armor is 2 slots, heavy armor is 4
• Everyone gets a random expertise
• Characters with one or more stats with a score of 5 or less get a spell

The main event was basically to get rid of stat bonuses. They're ugly and add a whole new dimension of things to track and update. This decouples stats from combat. “Weak” characters can still be functional. Stats become just saves when you do something dangerous, which attempts to drive players away from rolling dice to solve problems and engage more actively with the world. Spells are dispensed as a compensation for characters with lower stats, so they still get a fighting chance and something they're good at. Managing just one attack bonus reduces things to track and calculate.

In other news, there's a quick character generator now in case you can't wait to get on with your adventuring!

https://perchance.org/baremetal