I have bad wrists from years of wrenching wrong. They are arthritic along with my elbows. Off road riding is hell on those joints so I bought a Giant Anthem. It is a very compliant bike, handles well, and is superb on gravel, however, it is overkill for the smooth stuff.
I now have a vintage F500 Cannondale with Headshock and a Thudbuster seatpost. Not as supple up front as the Anthem, but it is not a tunable fork, either. I find it just fine for gravel, but too harsh for off road stuff since it does not have the travel in the fork or the air spring that I really need. Go with a front suspension hard tail and add a Thudbuster.