1st Level Character : score of 20 ?

[Destil]

The wizard is the single most viable class for a 20. I'd go so far to say their the only class I'd really want a 20, otherwise you're giving up way too much vs. a 16-19.

Everyone loves orbs, but really the wand is just as awesome (most of these amazing spells that force saves require you to... hit first. And almost every wizard power can benefit from it, not just a smallish subset). Eladrin get a good bonus there since they don't have to tank Dex and can get a great Int.

Likewise even for an Orb wizard tiefling for an easy 12 Cha frees up that many more points for Wis.

And because they're the only class with a really good selection of at wills, human is actually as awesome a choice as it should be.

 

[toxicspirit]

I disagree. Ranger-Archers get an incredible amount of mileage out of a 20 in Dexterity.

 

[Zurai]

Yeah, Archer-Rangers can easily get away with 20 dex, 14+racial wis, and 11 con, dumping charisma (since they get zero cha-based skills anyhow).

 

[KarinsDad]

Wizards want a high wis and int. If you play a wizard you are wanting to be a controller, and controllers will want the orb implement mastery. This uses wis. They might want a higher wis than int. Going for anything else over the long run will be sub-optimal. Maybe fun and fit a concept, but the tone of this thread was stepping on optimal, so I felt like I could go there.

Probably the best array for wizard is 8,12,10,16,16,12. Maybe 8,10,12,16,16,12 if you go with a second implement in paragon for wand mastery. Staff mastery will likely be best for gish characters that want to go wizard fo the spiral tower. Otherwise, controllers should stay controllers, leave the damage to the strikers. Take the Orb.

Ah, no.

The Orb pretty much sucks until high level. One has to get to high level in order to use it effectively. It's fine as a second implement, but the best first level implement in the game is the Staff.

The Wand sucks at low levels as well. +Dex to hit once per encounter makes a minor change to an encounter about 1 encounter in 7 IF the Wizard actually uses it (and some encounters, he might hold off using it or might use in on a minion by accident or some other thing where it doesn't even get used or used properly). Ditto for the Orb. At low levels, they rarely help.

Even without taking into account the +Con boost to AC once per round, the +1 AC Staff affects combat 1 round in 20 that the Wizard gets attacked with a normal attack. Considerably more potent.

And, 17 14 14 10 10 8, or 18 12 12 12 10 8 arrays are fine for Wizards. The extra +1 to hit, AC, Reflex, and damage at levels where other same level PCs do not get that boost is pretty substantial.

One cannot just tweak out a PC for high level and say it is the most optimal. One has to survive low level to get there.