cavalier973
Hero
Not optimal for combat, no; for storytelling, who can say?
D&D 4E can i use essentials with my 4e group?
Not optimal for combat, no; for storytelling, who can say?
AbdulAlhazred
Legend
The 16,14,14,11,10,10 array is quite popular and works great for many builds. I made a character with it the other day. An 18 primary, 16 secondary, with a strong 3rd 14 tertiary stat is quite often a very fine idea. It can help with lots of "I'd like to get this feat" issues in particular, or allow for a dual attack stat build where the 3rd stat is a secondary for 2 hybrid classes or just for some odd thing you bring in.
And yeah, who cares about optimizing? Make a character, give it a story, make it work with the story, and THEN worry about how all the parts synergize.
AbdulAlhazred
Legend
Some people just swallowed the "must start with a 20 or its garbage" theory. There are of course many builds you can point to that are more optimal with a 20 prime, but and 18 will always do fine. What the 4e designers really hit was the realization that players want effective characters, but they are usually at least or more concerned with character concept in most cases. If the differences between optimal and "fits with my character concept, otherwise picking from the better choices" is not much then players will not worry about it a whole lot (aside from the guys that will crunch every number and min/max everything no matter what). I thought 4e hit that spot really well. You can stray pretty far from optimum and not be really harshly punished for it. 3.x's problem was it just wasn't that way. There were a lot of possible variations, but a few of them were vastly better, so it was really tempting to play close to the few best concepts. Even Essentials simple classes still allow for several effective build paths for each class, and some de-optimizing won't kill you.
Mustrum_Ridcully
Hero
I have to agree with this. A 20 in your prime stat might be tempting, but you don't really need it, and it might give you somethnig to flesh out your character. Int13 might be irrelevant for an Artful Dodger Rogue, but it tells us something about the character.
Of the 5 PCs in my campaign, currently at 24th level and played from 1st in all but one case - the sorcerer was introduced at 3rd:
* The dwarf fighter started with 16 STR;
* The elf ranger started with 18 DEX - when he was rebuilt as a hybrid ranger-cleric at 6th level he upped his WIS from starting 14 to starting 16;
* The drow sorceer started with 18 DEX and CHA;
* The tiefling paladin started with 18 CHA;
* The human wizard started with 20 INT - when he was rebuilt as a deva invoker/wizard upon being ressurected, he was rebuilt with starting 20 WIS and 16 INT.
None of these PCs has signficant trouble hitting things, and this is in a game without Expertise feats.
CM
Adventurer
I went one step further and just asked my players in my games to limit themselves to 16s and lower in point buy before racial mods. Most appreciated it because it reduced the temptation to overspecialize.
Yep. At least so far, my level 13 Sorcerer is doing fine, too, and I started with 16 Cha (primary stat) and 18 Str (secondary stat). We also don't use Expertise feats. I do have a superior implement granting me an attack bonus, though (for fire powers only).
Since it's a Dragonborn, I also have my Dragon Breath which is currently at +20 to hit (+21 when bloodied) which hardly ever misses.
AbdulAlhazred
Legend
I guess I never really understood why a DM would do this. Isn't it just as constraining to the players to HAVE to play a character that is more of a generalist? It would be one thing if PCs with a 20 in their prime were really ridiculously better mechanically, but as it is its a real toss up IMHO. Anyway, just curious...
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