PCs Without Stats

One of the greatest insights in Tracy Hickman's Xtreme Dungeon Mastery is that most of D&D (and other d20 RPGs) comes down to rolling a specific number or higher on the d20, or any die for that matter. As Professor Dungeon Master of the Dungeon Craft YouTube channel states "this is like seeing the matrix".

What this means is the DM can take any player action, however grand or granular, judge how difficult that task would be for this character, and ask the player to roll that number or higher on a d20. This is a beautiful foundation upon which you can play any sort of RPG in any setting with virtually no other mechanical rules.

In most games we differentiate character abilities by stats. These translate into roll-under target numbers or map to bonuses depending on the system. Generally either these stats improve over time, or some other bonus (training, proficiency, etc.) improves as the PC gains experience. These bonuses are intended to reflect the PC getting better at their specialty but can create bonus inflation depending on how quickly they're accrued.

Inspired further by the XD20 system laid out in Hickman's book I've begun to wonder about stat-less PCs. Hickman's system only has 3 stats (subtract d8 from 15 and that's your target number for physical, mental, and magic/luck-based tasks) and "leveling up" only ever gives the player the ability to contest a DC by stating "I'm a level 5 Thief. Picking that drunkard's pocket should be easier than that", which a DM can choose to adjust for or ignore. That's it. No extra hit points, skills, or bonuses.

I dislike that a player is rolling for a fixed target number on their sheet. The GM can adjust it but they have to either know it or ask for it first. But the leveling up idea I want to take to the extreme. If we remove stats entirely, PCs instead become an archetype or even a classless, imprecise set of skills. The only "stat" is their level and its only value is helping the DM pick a target number between 1 and 20 for the given task.

If the task is easy, something the character is naturally be good at, or something they're trained to do, the DC should be lower. If the task is difficult or something the character is bad at and has never practiced, the DC should be higher.

Examples:

A 5th level "Thief" tries to pick a drunkard's pocket. DC: 5

The same Thief, who is typically standoffish, tries to befriend the drunkard: DC 10

The same Thief, who is scrawny and poorly fed, tries to withstand a weak poison: DC 15

The same Thief tries to strike a dragon with a 2-handed great sword: DC 20

A 5th level "Paladin" in the same, if unlikely, situations may well have the opposite DCs.

It is then up to the DM and the table to decide how many vague attributes or skills the PCs begin with, and whether than can gain more during play or by training during down time. The point is it happens in the fiction and the only mechanical implication is a DM can rule a target number by assessing a PCs level and what they're good at.

This makes rulings over rules the heart of the game.