I think the standard 6-attribute system has a lot of flaws and has mostly persevered through sheer inertia.
Numerically ranking intelligence and charisma are both troublesome, in their own way. Roleplaying a character with very different aspects from the player can be interesting, but for the most part players prefer to actually come up with solutions to puzzles, traps, mysteries and plans, for instance, rather than roll dice and be handed the solution.
I come from a school -- hard-learned over time from too much time and effort spent doing the opposite -- of less is more. My own system I've been working on has only four base stats (I considered using three, as Stackmouse said) and replaces Intelligence with Insight. This is not just a renaming exercise; your character can be as smart or dumb as you want; I don't care, just roleplay it. But if you need to test for something related to your capacity to understand things specific to the game setting and themes, then Insight is where we look.
Likewise, Charisma is out. In its place is Persona, which is more of a measure of your ability to influence, motivate, and your overall force of will. How that works out isn't limited to charisma in the traditional sense and you're free to present your character however you want.
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