History Main / OneStatToRuleThemAll

* In games based on the ''UsefulNotes/{{Fate}}'' system (''TabletopGame/SpiritOfTheCentury'', ''TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles'' et al.), whatever a character's peak skill happens to be can be turned into this to an extent. This is because one available standard function of stunts is to allow a character to use an alternate skill instead of the usual one for some specific task (say, using Deceit instead of Empathy to figure out whether somebody is lying, Intimidation instead of Resolve to resist hostile intimidation attempts, Guns instead of Weapons to throw suitable weapons and projectiles...) and players and [[GameMaster GMs]] are always free to add ''new'' stunts at their discretion. So in principle at least it's entirely possible to build a character, player or non-, who uses his or her highest skill rating, if not all the time, then at least for most of the things he or she actually ''cares'' about.

* Cinematic UsefulNotes/{{Unisystem}}, the core engine of the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', ''Series/{{Angel}}'', and ''[[Franchise/EvilDead Army of Darkness]]'' [=RPGs=].

* In the online games ''Caravaneer'' and ''Caravaneer 2'' agility is the only stat you really have to look for in new hires, since it determines how many actions they can take in one turn(similar to the first two Fallout games) as well as their move speed on the world map. It even replaces accuracy, since taking twice as many shots at half the hit chance is better than a few super-accurate shots.

* In ''Kannons and Katapults'', one of the better strategies is to invest your gold in Kastle Points early and often. This is because a better-fortified Kastle isn't just well-defended -- it also attracts more immigration, with leads to more tax revenues, which means you can afford a good offense as well. It is sometimes possible to snowball your Kastle Points so much it becomes a GameBreaker.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Literature/BofuriIDontWantToGetHurtSoIllMaxOutMyDefense''. TheHero Maple is a newbie to gaming, so she dumps all of her stats points into her VIT stat and leaves all her other stats at zero (for reference, a zero in AGI means that a turtle is faster than she is). Then, by complete accident, she ends up acquiring skills that ''quadruple'' her already absurd VIT stat and equipment specifically tuned to pump up her VIT even higher. The result is that no player or [=NPC=] can even scratch her and due to the mechanics of the game she gains an AcquiredPoisonImmunity to poison and paralysis, covering the two most problematic status effects to her build. And her own lack of offensive stats is rendered moot by the use of skills that don't rely on her non-existent stats, such as summons, status effects, pets and transformations, all of which she gains earlier than the developers ever intended due to her unique build letting her challenge content that would be way beyond her level. Maple quickly becomes one of the most infamous players in the game ''[[AchievementsInIgnorance by complete accident]]''.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'', Speed is once again the most important stat. The change to the damage formulae & stats meant that just about ''every'' Pokémon is a GlassCannon if they ''don't'' resist an incoming attack. As a result? It's better to just strike ''first'' so that you can strike hard.

*** For nukes and elemental Weapon Skills, however, Magic Attack Bonus is God. It doesn't matter how slow your cast time, recast time, or magic accuracy are if you can burst Meteor or Death for 64k+ damage. By the same token, Leaden Salute, the signature move of Corsairs, is one of the most powerful WSs in the game, right next to Savage Blade and Rudra's Storm -- as long as the player takes the time to stack enough MAB.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'', Speed is once again the most important stat. The change to the damage formulae&stats meant that just about ''every'' Pokémon is a GlassCannon if they ''don't'' resist an incoming attack. As a result? It's better to just strike ''first'' so that you can strike hard.

* ''Steam Defense'' from [=MadSword =] Studio is a TowerDefense sci-fantasy game and as such your hero has rather untraditional stats. They are: HP, [[HealingFactor HP Regen]], Ammo, Reload Speed, Rate of Fire, Armor, Speed, Luck, Wisdom and Engineering. When your hero levels up, a choice between 3 of any of these stats appears. Each stat is important but the priority is Wisdom and Luck. Wisdom gives a bonus to your experience gain which can greatly counter the increasing amount of experience needed to level up. Meanwhile Luck greatly increases the chance of enemies dropping stuff such as gold and artifacts (which are BreakableWeapon you can use or sell for gold). Since your technology and its upgrades depends on being bought with gold, getting tons of gold is important especially since raising a powerful army is vital to the game. After Wisdom and Luck, the next most important stats are HP Regen, Armor and HP. Boosting these stats will greatly increase your hero's chance of survival.

*** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', this same trick can be used using Fortify Restoration potions to boost enchants of Fortify Alchemy, making the same buffs preformed with obscene precentage boosts.

* Parodied in ''[[http://web.archive.org/web/20051024220642/http://www.unclebear.com/downloads/badtudes.pdf Bad Attitudes,]]'' an Action Movie RPG. The only stat is Attitude, which is initiative, HitPoints, and points to spend on the important skills (shooting, hand-to-hand, driving, not falling, and picking up girls/guys). The only other skill, despite being an all-encompassing knowledge skill, is called Basically Worthless Stuff. There are three 'classes', Regular Folk, Sidekicks, and Action Heroes, with progressively-higher Attitude scores. Action Heroes can only buy the five action skills; Regular Folk can only buy Basically Worthless Stuff. Damage is also class-based. Essentially, everyone should be playing a brainless Action Hero.

** In a sense, every Epic Attribute in Scion was the [[JustForPun (aptly named, in this case)]] God Stat in relation to every none-epic one. This might very well have been intentional, except that the mechanical execution tended to make the in-game effects... wonky, to put lightly. Each dot in an Epic Attribute added a number of automatic successes (which could be thought of as the equivalent of 3 dots in a regular attribute) ''equal to its level, cumulatively''. That means that the number of extra successes one gains from Epic Attributes goes from 1 for the first dot to 2 for the second to 4 for the third, then to 7 for the fourth, 11 for the fifth and quickly building up into utter ridiculousness (at the 10 dot level, a character got ''42'' automatic successes for every use of the attribute, before even rolling). This was all fine and dandy, especially in the lower rungs, except that in practice what it meant was that past a certain point a character with even ''1'' dot higher in an Epic Attribute would pretty much always defeat one with a lower rating, no matter what. Since dexterity still governed all combat, that meant that by the time the Band hit Legend 4 everyone without a maxed out Epic Dexterity was just about as good as a liability the moment combat started. Meanwhile, since the only way to make non-combat tasks challenging for a ludicrously capable character was to give them stupendous difficulty ratings, any late-game character who wasn't specifically specialized at doing anything couldn't ever hope to accomplish any task beyond their narrow area of expertise. A subset of the issue was that with guns: since unlike bows and melee weapons guns did ''not'' benefit from the wielder having higher stats for the purposes of damage, they became essentially worthless past Legend 4 since any enemy the Band couldn't curbstomp would likely be completely immune to them. [[StoryAndGameplaySegregation All this while the fluff keeps insisting guns are useful and assigning characters legendary guns in lieu of other Relics.]] This has been significantly toned down for the 2nd edition, which removed all non-physical Epic Attributes and turned them into Purview rather than giving them special mechanical effects - someone with Epic Strength can now use it to pull off a lot more impressive strength based stunts, but not actually get dozens of automatic successes for every damage roll.

* ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'': While all stats are important, Luck holds an advantage overal all others for one major reason; it influences the drop rates of items and Shards from enemies. As much of Miriam's power comes from how quickly she can obtain the items necessary to craft new gear, upgrade her Shards (which as noted, the drop rates of which are also guided by Luck), and prepare various foods for permanent stat bonuses, investing in Luck is a necessity to let her quickly snowball her way to full power. It also influences the rate of her critical hits, which can make up for a dearth of offensive buffs.

** Though it (almost) never increases with stat growth, Move is the other main stat, due to the simple sheer versatility of being able to move around quicker. Units with high Move consistently outperform units with low Move on the tier lists, and the Boots (which increase Move) are universally seen as one of the game's strongest items, to the point that [[TooAwesomeToUse you rarely get more than one pair per playthrough]]. In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', both of which have freely buyable Boots, tend to have players sinking as much of their funds as possible into purchasing Boots by the cartload.

** Defense is much more important in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', where speed is much more averaged-out between classes.

** In competitive Pokémon, Speed is considered the most important stat, as it's advantageous to be able to KO the opposing Pokémon before it can make a move. Generally, the only thing players don't make as fast as possible are [[StoneWall walls]]; in only a couple generations was Speed really end-all, but players tend to max it out more than other stats anyway. A few craftier veteran players will defy this. In Generation IV, a move called "Trick Room" was introduced that inverts turn order -- this means that on some Pokémon, it is more advantageous to have a low speed stat. Any Pokémon on the slow side ''needs'' a reliable healing move, no matter how much of a wall they are--fast Pokémon can defeat multiple opponents without taking damage, but slow Pokémon don't have that kind of benefit and need some way to erase the damage they'll inevitably sustain.

** In the games with attributes, Endurance is the ruling attribute. Considering that it determines your starting health, as well as your health gain per level, it is a critically important attribute for all character builds. Making Endurance one of your favored attributes during character creation is highly encouraged, even for magic-oriented characters, in order to avert becoming a SquishyWizard. Further, this makes The Lady a favored birthsign in ''Morrowind,'' as it gives a sizeable boost to Endurance right at the start of the game. The Warrior birthsign gets the same benefit in ''Oblivion,'' as it boosts Endurance along with Strength, mentioned below.

** For the pilots, it's Dodge. After all, it doesn't matter if you can take a hit or not if nothing ever hits you. If a mecha has an "Automatic Dodge" skill (like [[LightNovel/FullMetalPanic ECS]] or [[Manga/GetterRobo Open Get]]), then Maneuverability, which determines how often it comes out, will share time with it. Later games limit the effectiveness of this by adding the "Evasion Decay" mechanic where [[DiminishingReturnsForBalance every successful dodge makes the next less likely]], resetting only once you take a hit.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Arcanum}}'' the number of attacks (influenced by dex) is more important than damage, part of what makes balanced swords so broken. Dex also affects a very large number of skills, making it even more important.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' encouraged skilled players to take [[MightyGlacier Bowser and Donkey Kong Jr.]] for their maximum top speed at higher difficulties, as they could often be overtake you otherwise.