Stats & Tradeskills

Stats, and how they impact tradeskills, have been the subject of much debate, pet theories and urban legend. Over the years we've received several conflicting/changing reports on the effect of stats when tradeskilling. Here is the most recent information we have.

The Fundamentals

Intelligence & Wisdom, whichever is higher governs your chance to gain skill increases when practicing any tradeskill.

Charisma will affect your prices, both buying and selling, with merchants.

Smithing skill increases use a secondary stat of Strength. The highest of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Strength governs your chance of gaining skill in smithing.

Fletching skill increases use a secondary stat of Dexterity. The highest of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Dexterity governs your chance of gaining skill in fletching.

Poison Making skill increases use a secondary stat of Dexterity. The highest of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Dexterity governs your chance of gaining skill in poison making.

Stats do not affect your chance of success for a combine. Only your current skill (modified by any skill-enhancing items) affects your chance of success.
We've included a handy-dandy calculator for determining the chance of a succesful combine.

What the stat does affect is your chance to get a skill up on a failed combine.
The paraphrased quote is:

"You have up to 100% greater chance of a skill up on a successful combine than you have on a failed combine. Your stat will 'mitigate' the difference between a failed combine skill up and a successful combine skill up."

Direct From the Character Creation Screen

Strength is one factor in determining how much damage you do with weapons and special attacks. It directly affects the amount of weight you can carry before suffering penalties. It also increases your chance to gain Offense and Bash skill points.
Tradeskills: If your strength is higher than your intelligence or wisdom, it determines how quickly you gain skill in Blacksmithing.

Stamina increases your maximum hitpoints. Different classes get more hit points per point of stamina than others. Stamina also determines your maximum air supply when you are underwater or in an airless zone.

Agility is one factor in determining your avoidance--how often NPC�s will miss when trying to hit you. It also increases your chances to gain points in some combat skills.

Dexterity affects your chances for special melee abilities such as combat effects and critical hits. It increases your chances to gain points in most combat skills. It is also a factor in determining how much damage you do with throwing weapons and archery.
Bard Only: High dexterity decreases the chance you will miss a note while playing a song.
Tradeskills: If your dexterity is higher than your intelligence or wisdom, it determines how quickly you gain skill in Fletching and Make Poison.

Wisdom affects your chances of gaining skill points in most skills, if it is higher than your intelligence.
Wisdom is the primary spell-casting attribute for Paladins, Rangers, Beastlords, Clerics, Shaman, and Druids. It affects how much mana these classes have, which determines how many spells they can cast before they must rest. It also determines how often a spell will fail to be cast correctly (fizzle).

Intelligence affects your chances of gaining skill points in most skills, if it is higher than your wisdom.
Intelligence is the primary spell-casting attribute for Shadowknights, Bards, Wizards, Enchanters, Necromancers, and Magicians. It affects how much mana these classes have, which determines how many spells they can cast before they must rest. For all except bards, it also determines how often a spell will fail to cast correctly (fizzle).

Charisma affects how much merchants will charge you for their wares. It also affects the chances for charm, memory blur, mesmerization, and divine intervention spell effects to work.
Bard only: High charisma decreases the chance you will miss a note while playing a song.

A specific quote from Tanker, SOE Tradeskills Developer

Here's the list guys:

Smithing - STR

Fletching - DEX

PoisonMaking - DEX

END OF LIST
* note, there are NO more tradeskills that have alternate attributes.

Closing Note