Attribute potential is a stat separate from each corresponding primary Attribute — it is not related to the character's current abilities, but serves to signify how easy it will be for him/her to improve. In practice, if a character's stat has reached its potential (which can be checked in the "@" or Alt-q screen), any effort taken to train it (as detailed in the appropriate article for each stat) may instead increase the potential by one — thus yielding no immediate benefit, but allowing more training to increase the actual stat. In 1.2.0, most if not all training methods (except direct increases from eating certain corpses) were removed, making stat potentials now a more differential aspect for races.