kinda says it all really, why not just increase S&T manually?

Richie

Mostly because in some ways that creates new problems, a creature with a stat above 100 would be ridiculous mechanicaly. Also since toughness is a damage ablative stat a weapon ability that can get through unnatural toughness is better and less potentially gamebreaking than one that just ignores certain levels of toughness bonus. For strength it's easier and faster. Simply put design wise it works better and is cleaner.

Sounds reasonable, thanks