Is an 18/19/20 an absolute must?

[Mentat55]

Note that class and weapon choice also matter. Fighters and rogues get +1 to attack rolls with specific weapons, and going for a +3 prof weapon over a +2 makes a difference, too.

I played an eladrin taclord with a 16 Str and 18 Int. I relied a lot on Commander's Strike, and waiting for combat advantage or other openings to use powers where I absolutely wanted to hit, e.g., Lead the Attack. I thought it worked well.

If I had to guess, this hurts implement users more than weapon users, since there are a lot of feats that give situational bonuses to hit for weapon users, and there is the differentation between more accurate and less accurate weapons; these do not really exist for implement powers.

 

[Blackbrrd]

A 16 can work very well as long as you have some synergistic racial abilities for your class, and as long as you have a +2 in an important secondary stat.

The primary examples of this are, of course, dwarves. Even without a +2 to Strength, they make excellent Fighters and Wardens. That +2 to Constitution is important (as is a +2 to Wisdom, particularly for fighters), and their resistance to knockdown, resistance to forced movement, and minor action second wind are all pretty outstanding. Plus, they have their own top-tier feats for both of these classes, like Dwarven Weapon Training.

Anything lower than a 16 is, IMO, sorely lacking. And also IMO, a 20 is overkill.

-O

Personally I would make my Dwarf Fighters with an 18 starting str anyway.
18str, 15con, 13wis.

As a Fighter it is important to be seen as a threat, otherwise the monsters will ignore your mark.

In my current campaign (with me as a dm) our Battlevigor Dwarf Fighter did such huge damage at low levels that I didn't even contemplate ignoring his mark except maybe for solos. Now, at level 8 his damage is down compared to the monster hp and I have started ignoring his mark to do my stuff. (You really don't want to stay bunched up around the Fighter... The Invoker will blast your ass from here to hell)

 

[Blackbrrd]

Note that class and weapon choice also matter. Fighters and rogues get +1 to attack rolls with specific weapons, and going for a +3 prof weapon over a +2 makes a difference, too.

I played an eladrin taclord with a 16 Str and 18 Int. I relied a lot on Commander's Strike, and waiting for combat advantage or other openings to use powers where I absolutely wanted to hit, e.g., Lead the Attack. I thought it worked well.

If I had to guess, this hurts implement users more than weapon users, since there are a lot of feats that give situational bonuses to hit for weapon users, and there is the differentation between more accurate and less accurate weapons; these do not really exist for implement powers.

You can take the feat "Distant advantage", but then you have to have at least 3 melee characters.

Implement attacks vs Will is also very good, AC can be very high on soldiers, the same can basically never be said about vs Will-attacks.
In my current campaign, when AC is high, will might very well be low. If AC is really low, will is usually really low as well. If AC is medium, will is usually medium as well. In other words, you should probably target soldiers/brutes.

 

[Mengu]

It depends...

A gnome warden with 16 strength and a warpick in the same party with a 20 strength greatweapon talent half-orc fighter with fullblade is probably not ok. One defender will outshine the other.

An artful dodger tiefling dagger rogue with 16 dexterity in the same party with a 20 cha halfling feylock is probably fine as they won't outshine each other.

For a starting stat 18's are preferred, but 16's are workable if you have some other accuracy features. Some Sorcerers can probably get away with a 16 because of targeting multiple enemies. Avengers and Rangers can get away with a 16 due to multiple rolls. Fighters and Rogues can get away with a 16 because of weapon talent, and in the case of rogues frequent and easy combat advantage. Warlords may get away with it if they grant more attacks than they themselves make, and also because they frequently use +3 proficiency weapons.

However, I wouldn't recommend a starting 16 for a warlock, a cleric, a shaman, a warden, a predator druid, or most any character wanting to wield a +2 proficiency weapon, or any character who uses an implement and typically targets a single enemy.

So basically, if you know what you're doing, a 16 can be ok, otherwise, it's safe to go with an 18 post racial.

 

[TerraDave]

It depends...


However, I wouldn't recommend a starting 16 for a warlock, a cleric...

I know these two better, and they can have some MAD, making this a real issue.

E.g. you want to make a melee cleric. I guess you can take bastard sword proficiency...

 

[Mengu]

I know these two better, and they can have some MAD, making this a real issue.

E.g. you want to make a melee cleric. I guess you can take bastard sword proficiency...

All you have to do is find a race that lines up the bonus where you need it. Goliath battle cleric with 18 strength and greatsword is easy enough, and you still have 14-16 con, and 14-16 Wisdom (leaving 10-13 Cha). A dwarf battle cleric with Str 16 and a hammer is just not a very good idea. Str 18, Con 13, Wis 16, Cha 10 is much more reasonable.

In the case of the warlock, however MAD you may be, 18 primary is better than say having three 16's (say if you want to be a starlock with 16 Con/Int/Cha). Solution, don't play a MAD character. Pick two stats, and live with the sacrifice you have to make on the tertiary. A Half-elf with Con 18, Dex 13, Int 14, Cha 16 is not too shabby for a starlock. But if you wanted to play say an Eladrin Starlock, I'd sacrifice Cha altogether, and go with something like Con 18, Dex 13, Int 16, Cha 10.

 

[Colmarr]

A dwarf battle cleric with Str 16 and a hammer is just not a very good idea.

Actually, that character is probably the only +3 stat +2 weapon combination I can think of that I would try. It would very easily slip into the quasi-defender role that battle clerics are sometimes expected to fill.

But generally, I agree with you. A +3 attribute bonus does not fit well with +2 weapon proficiency for characters that are going to target AC. I generally draw the line at a level 1 attack bonus vs AC of +6, and I prefer +7 if it won't cost me too much to get it.

 

[eamon]

An 18, 19, or 20 is not mandatory. It is, however, very good. And getting one isn't very hard. So if you don't have one its worth asking why. You might have a good reason! But if you don't, you should go with at least an 18.

This. On the one hand a 16 is "just" a -1 to hit and damage vs. an 18, on the other hand, that's quite something - it will be noticeable and you should be asking yourself what you're getting in return.

 

[Shin Okada]

IMHO the one who need the higher primal stats are Leaders, especially str based ones. As a leader, they must hit often to give various advantages to their comrades. And str leaders must aim for AC with melee weapons. Their hit-rate affects much on the entire party.

Other characters, depending on builds, can be ok with 16-18 primal stats. You can make efficient characters with non-maximized primal stats if you can mainly aim for Ref or Will, or if you can inflict damages without making attack rolls (say, rain of steel).

Particularly, Avenger could be a class which can do well with lower main stat, as the class has significantly high to-hit rate thanks to the class power.

Racial powers, class features, expected task in the party, etc., will also do matter.

I once played a Elven Warden/Polearm Master with starting Str of 16. As he was using glaive, his attack bonus is -3 lower than that of warriors who started with Str 20 and using +3 proficiency bonus weapon.

Still, he was a very efficient combatant within the party. He was not the main damage dealer in the party. He was a kind of melee controller. Thanks to elven accuracy racial power, he could almost always hit at least once per encounter in critical moment (say, when using encounter or daily power which moves a main villain a lot and then knocks down). Thanks to blade opportunist feat, his attack bonus was not so bad when making Opportunity Attacks. It helped as he was making a lot of OAs thanks to Polearm Gamble. And, as the second defender in the party, he was often expected not to mark high AC soldiers but to go on enemy artilleries and controllers. He was very good at it because he could move really fast (warden powers which let him shift multiple squares, speed of 7, ignore difficult terrain when shifting)

 

[Klaus]

If you're playing an Avenger (who can reroll) or an Assassin (who deals damage on a miss), you afford a lower prime stat. Other than that, if you intend on hitting anything you need at least a 17 on your prime stat (after racial adjustments).

My personal favorite is to aim for a starting total of 19, so the modifier can go up at 4th level. An even score means the modifier won't go up until 8th level.