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Message: <blockquote data-quote="outsider" data-source="post: 5090293" data-attributes="member: 54690">The original post isn't the only way to build a successful character in 4e.  It's not even the only way to build an optimized character in 4e.Race selection is more complicated than just picking whatever gives you a bonus to both your primary and secondary attribute.  Such a race is going to be one of your best options, and is certainly the most obvious one.  There's several different things races give you though, and you have to figure out from your class/feature how important each thing is.1. Bonus to primary attack stat: this is probably the best thing a race can give you for any class.  It can, however, be beaten with the right combination of other race features though.2. Bonus to secondary stat: depending on your class/feature, this may be awesome, or not very important.  Some classes might even be able to put a bonus to two secondary stats to good use.3. Bonus to tertiary stats: by this, I mean stats that don't directly affect the class or it's powers.  These are sometimes useful for picking up highly powerful feats(weapon mastery especially).  For example, the +2 dex an Eladrin Warlord has opens up the possibility of Heavy Blade Mastery, which a +2 str/int race would not be able to get.4. Racial powers/abilities: there are plenty racial abilities that are appealing to various builds.  Defenders of all sorts enjoy the Dwarf's minor action healing surge.  Any striker class that doesn't teleport drools over the Elf's +1 movement and shifting through difficult terrain bonus.5. Racial feats: some of these are FANTASTIC, and the best ones are typically found for races/class combos where the race doesn't boost the class's attack stat.6. Racial paragon paths/epic destinies: there isn't alot of these yet, but there's some potential there.You don't neccessarily need advantage 1 if your build gains advantage of multiple things from categories 2-6.  It's quite easy for many builds to gain more benefit from 3-6 than from 2.  Just don't expect any one individual racial feature to match/outdo a bonus to your attack stat(it'll take at least 2 or 3 things).As far as attribute spreads go, 16/16/13/10/10/8 is frequently more useful from the optimization perspective than 18/14/11/10/10/8.  I'd only use the 18 spread on dex or int attackers, or when the secondary stat is nearly irrelevant.  Both spreads are good though, and just about every 4e character should use one or the other.The original post lists the most obvious set of guidelines to get an optimized character.  It will definitely get you one of the top builds for your class.  If you really want to get into the mechanics though, you can create optimized characters in other ways that wind up being roughly as good as the obvious way.  Personally, I think it's cool that this time around that there's an obvious way for people who don't want to monkey with the system too much, and more mechanically complex ways to go for the tinkerers, and they'll both come out around the same powerlevel.</blockquote>

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