The idea would seem to work better if they brought back attributes and made it s strength check. Where you look so strong you intimidate people or something similar.

There's more to intimidation than just being strong, though, which is something most RPGs seem to ignore entirely. Self assuredness, posture and a general threatening vibe are more important than just big muscles. And that's something that can be cultivated and developed, even without actually having any ability to follow up on it.

Of course, being strong can HELP, but looking at it as the defining characteristic is something that many, if not most, RPGs get wrong. Artemis Entreri, for instance, isn't a big or particularly strong man... But he's terrifying, even to those who don't know about his reputation, because of the atmosphere and personality he has cultivated around himself.

Talking about skills that might not be big enough or hard to level, King of Dragon Pass* had something interesting. Characters have their basic skills (Combat, Leadership, Bargaining, Custom, Animals, Plants and Magic) rated from 'Fair' to 'Heroic', but then there's also 'composite skills' which are based on the basic skills, like Strategy (Combat + Leadership), Deception (Bargaining + Leadership), Diplomacy (Bargaining + Custom) and Hunting (Animals + Combat).

That could be adapted and used to make some skills in TES, like the aforementioned Presence. I'm not sure how useful the skills I came up with might be, but, well, at least they could be used in dialogue-checks. Anyway:

Restoration and Alchemy --> Healing-skill

Conjuration and Enchanting --> Necromancy-skill

Light Armor and Sneak --> Scout-skill

Pickpocket, Lockpicking and Sneak --> Thiefing-skill

There could also be perks and other bonuses that affected only the composite skill (Orcish armor could increase your Presence more than other armors).

*It's a fun RPG-Strategy hybrid. Instead of roleplaying a single character, you roleplay a clan.

Exactly. I'd be far more intimidated by a lean person who comes across as sinister and makes me believe he can harm me (or those close to me), than a big muscle-bound guy who acts more like a goofball and won't make good on any threats.

Each paradigm should have a way to mitigate damage, deal damage, a crafting skill and (possibly) a healing skill.

Warriors have weapons, armour/block, smithing and (first aid?).

Mages have alteration/restoration/illusion, destruction/conjuration, and enchant.

Thieves have dodging/sneaking, bows/shortblades, alchemy and, again, alchemy.

Speech seems like a skill that fits into the thief paradigm, but is chosen often enough by knights and paladins that I don't think there needs to be a warrior alternative. Or, maybe, there can't be a warrior alternative without breaking up the speech skill and personality attribute too much. Intimidation has to do more with personality and speech (if we assume the speech skill also includes non-verbal speech, like posture, facial expressions, hand gestures, etc...) than it does with strength, as has already been said.

Now, there could be perks that tie skills together. Like "your ability to intimidate goes up with your armor rating/damage rating of equipped weapon" in the speech tree, to show that you know which mannerisms and stances to take in your kit for maximum awe. Or something like that.

There can be a warrior avenue of the speech skill tree, just like there can and should be a more thuggish one.