The VN Deus Ex messageboard has some word from Warren Spector of Ion Storm on the upcoming RPG'ish Deus Ex: Thanks Billy

We don't have stats, in the traditional paper RPG sense -- no strength, dexterity, wisdom, etc. We do have skills you can upgrade, augmentations you can select and upgrade during play, a limited amount of inventory space you can fill up with items of your choosing, and so on. In a game like DX, which we hope will immerse you in an alternate world, stats used to differentiate characters and in action resolution just don't make sense. For us, action resolution comes in direct interaction with the varied elements of our gameworld. And we can differentiate characters from one another more effectively by sticking with skills, augmentations and so on, as described above.