Is Wisdom the real dump stat?

[Buttercup]

High strength provides better carrying capacity and increased damage in combat, as well as bonuses to certain skills.

High dexterity provides a boost to armor class and reflex saves, as well as bonuses to certain skills. Also, it's a prerequisite for several feats.

High constitution provides more hit points and better fortitude saves.

High intelligence provides more skill points per level and bonus spells for Wizards. It also provides bonuses to certain skills.

High wisdom provides bonus spells for arcane casters, will saves and bonuses to certain skills.

Charisma provides bonus spells for bards and sorcerers, and bonuses to certain skills.

So if you aren't a divine caster (and there aren't any in my new campaign) why would you care about wisdom? Is having a decent will save and a bonus to a few skills really worth a high ability score? Besides, low wisdom characters are fun for the player and fun for the DM, since they tend to charge headlong into all sorts of situations, thus moving the plot along.

All the other abilities can be useful for any character (charisma the least, but unless the campaign is totally hack & slash, every character needs to interact with the world at some point, and charisma facilitates that) but only divine casters need bother about wisdom?

Opinions?

 

[hong]

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is this: never skimp on your Fort save, but only slightly less well known is: never skimp on your Will save either.

 

[Buttercup]

So are you saying that a good Will save can help you win a land war in asia?

 

[Seeten]

My low wisdom half-orc Barbarian/Fighter has a +1 will save at level 7, which means he runs away everytime a wolf howls, or any other fear effect/will save occurs.

I dont see this as a helpful thing for the party.

 

[Seeten]

After Iron Will, good luck finding another will save bonus too.

 

[Henrix]

And here I was thinking that you meant that wisdom evidently is the real-life dump stat!

Which I think it is, by the way. Most people are far more interested in their charisma than their strength or dex, but few care about their wisdom.

 

[Greylock]

Already mentioned, Will save. Eventually I'm going to have to get my char Iron Will. For all his moxy and ability, my char is a sucker for any kind of Hold spell or whatnot. In addition, this char has at some point in every single game session flubbed a Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, or Survival check. Gets annoying.

 

[NTZ]

My low wisdom half-orc Barbarian/Fighter has a +1 will save at level 7, which means he runs away everytime a wolf howls, or any other fear effect/will save occurs.

I dont see this as a helpful thing for the party.

This is exactly why you should not use Wisdom as a dump stat. Will Saves are usually very important. Just ask any party that has had a barbarian confused or held.

It is a bit silly that the big fighters and barbarians are usually the ones most susceptible to being frightened and running away from a battle due to low Will Saves.

NTZ

 

[FraserRonald]

For me, the skills that WIS modifies are very important (Listen, Spot and Survival). Granted, the skills that CHA modifies are likewise very important, depending on the type of character one is playing. When I'm playing a fighter-type, INT is usually my dump stat (though extra skill points could come in especially handy!) while when playing most other types, either STR or CON become the dump stats. That might sound insane, but my thieves are rarely Conan-esque in proportions and my wizards can't usually bench-press party members.

But that's just me!

Cheers

 

[der_kluge]

I don't know.. a 20th level barbarian with a 14 wisdom isn't going to be much of an improvement over the same barbarian with a 10 wisdom. I mean, that +2 isn't going to make much of a difference to a guy who's making DC 36 will saves.