I’d further argue that it’s not worth worrying about terms that are self-evident. I call my condition that reduces your speed by half “slowed” because that is an obvious term for having your speed reduced. I opted for “halted” instead of D&D’s immobilized though because halted is also a self-evident term for having your movement reduced to zero while in general use the word immobilized is akin to paralyzed and thus not really a self-evident term.
The idea though in my case is to establish a pattern in my work. If I always use self-evident terms for things then even if those things happen to overlap with some D&D terms it doesn’t establish anything other than D&D also used a self-evident term.
Precisely!
There's also the optics to consider. If you change every term, it becomes obvious you are intentially trying to be different, rsther than just choosing the best term for the mechanic. Obvious things draw attention, so while you're intention is to safeguard yourself, you may only be inviting closer scrutiny for something that MAY encroach on WotC's IP. What you actually want to do is muddy the waters to make a lawsuit harder to stick.
I remember hearing about a case where someone was sued for slander, but the defendant demonstrated that they had a history of being a habitual liar, so charges were dropped.
Yeah, I would go with change the terms that actually need to be changed. Like Intelligence - what is normally being tested for when you make an Intelligence check? It's to see if you know something. The higher your Intelligence score, the more likely you are to already know random information. What is a better term to describe that? Knowledge. Then we've got Wisdom, which is in natural language what you learn from experience - old people have more of it, young less. What is being tested for when you make a Wisdom check? Either perception or willpower. Does Willpower need to be an ability score, or can it comfortably be just a save? Charisma is a little bit less clear cut, since its use changes from one edition to the next, so while in D&D generically it's just the 6th stat, if you're making a system it's not a bad idea to be clear what you mean with it, and to pick a word that correctly describes it.
So you could end up with Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Knowledge, Perception, Likeability. Perception could even apply to stuff like saving throws vs Illusions (contrasting with how it is put on Intelligence in 2nd Edition), and even stuff like Charm magic (you're more likely to notice something is off about your best friend). Knowledge would clearly influence how many languages you know and/or how many skill points you get, just the way Intelligence did before, but the term is more transparent, and you also don't have the problem of figuring out how to play a genius when you're not, or correctly roleplay an idiot. You could be a smart player with a low Knowledge character - they can still act smartly, but they don't have as many skills, can't speak as many languages, and are just more ignorant of the world around them and its history.