Realism; Strength is not important for swordsmanship(?)

[Drop Bear]

conciser this you are likely impacting the target a lot more than the dice would indicate, it's just your blows are glancing off or striking protection at an angle that is absorbed by the protection.

in my miss spent youth I was a mediocre archer, as part of an experiment using a (then) modern low end sports bow, I got to shoot arrows at recreation Cloth & Leather Armors. I was hitting a man sized target at 20m in excess of 80% of the time, less than half those hits struck home because slight variations in angle of impact glancing off the armor or with non penetrating embeds. at 30m (60% hits 40% penetration) & 40m (40-45% hits around 35% penetration) my hit rate was down but my penetrations per 100 arrows (my arms where very sore by weeks end) stayed roughly constant. at around 50m penetration drooped of a quite a bit bit due to range attenuation of impact force (and the fact my hit rate was down too).

so Skill is your chance of landing a telling blow, Damage is how much you mess them up when you do land that blow.