KOTS, Lay hands, other and play.

[Jhaelen]

For others, like the paladin, multiple abilities are more of a concern. Whereas the cleric uses wisdom for all of their class abilities and a majority of their attacks and damage, the paladin uses strength to attack and charisma to damage, as well as charisma to govern applying their marks. Which is fine, that's two abilities, and they're defenders, so they should probably have a decent strength anyway... But wait! In addition to charisma, one of the paladin's class features also requires a wisdom bonus. Not a wisdom attack, a wisdom class feature. While a low strength or charisma makes some attacks harder as a cleric, a lack of a wisdom bonus means the paladin loses a CLASS FEATURE.

Well, of course I have no way to prove it since we do not have the complete rules yet, but I'm convinced all classes will have to make similar choices:

Ideally, to cover the widest range of abilities and powers you'll want to have three high ability scores.
If you are willing to slightly restrict your choices or don't think the bonus is worth it, you can make do with two high ability scores.

There's a Paladin at will power that only requires Charisma: Bolstering Strike. If Bolstering Strike is going to be your default attack, then you won't need to have a high Strength score.

You've also got a choice when you look at the Class features:
Divine Challenge and Lay on Hands are improved by a high Wisdom stat. Channel Divinity is improved by either Str or Cha. Here's your choice: Concentrate on two stats (either Wis & Cha or Wis & Str) or try to cover all bases by having three high stats.

I expect all classes to have choices available that will allow them to fullfill their role with just two high ability scores. Having three high ability scores will give you more options but will not ultimately be required to fullfill your role.

You may still be right that some classes may seem to require a larger number of high ability scores than others, but it's too early to tell.

 

[Ginnel]

But hey this is D&D generally you want at least an 18 and 3 14-16's for your character but that rarely happens

My current concept for a dragonborn fighter, is that I want str and con as I see him to be pretty robust, and also intelligence for access to knowledge skills for the ritual feat (he's pays respect to all the gods and trys to pick up a little of everything which works bit like the factotum class in dungeonscape) and quite possibly alchemy when it appears and also at least an average wisdom for heal and yet more rituals, cha and dex I can skip.

But yeah I've always had the problems in my character concepts that I want 3-4 very decent stats but I normally have to work with 2-3, but thats the way the game goes and lower stats often make for interesting character quirks when you try to figure out how these would play out in the world, the fact that a class ability may not work out that great is just another one of those things.

 

[Stalker0]

What I don't get is why Lay on Hands, which you can use Wis/day, is At-Will (special), while Healing Word, which you can use 2/encounter, is Encounter (special). They should both be At-Will (special) or Daily/Encounter (special).

Because the paladin's is an at-will, an enemy can dominate the paladin and force him to use it. Can't do that with the cleric's healing word.

Further, at high levels there may be abilities that recharge encounter powers. That would work on the cleric's word, but not on the paladin's lay on hands. Even abilities that recharged dailies wouldn't work on lay on hands.