As I like to meet my Characters rather than specifically craft them, I rolled up a series of ability scores in order.
STR - 7
DEX - 13
CON - 18
INT - 15
WIS 13
CHA 11
Since I had a low strength score and a high Con score, I decided to play a halfling. (With a human it doesn't really make sense why his strength score would be so low with such robust health). Since my second highest score is intelligence, I'd like to play a wizard, but I would only end up with an INT score of 16 (or 15 if I wanted to make my halfling even tougher).
In 3e and 4e, the monster defenses made having anything less than a maximum ability score in the prime requisite tantamount to career suicide. 1e and 2e generally were more forgiving of middling ability scores, but also richly rewarded high ability scores.
I know ability scores are important in D&D Next for saves and for skills. I know the prime requisite is important for attacks and the power of your spells. But the question I have is a mathematical one. Can I sacrifice a little bit of raw spell power and still be a viable character? How would a 15 INT stack up against the monsters I am going to face? Will the flatter math save me from having to optimize? How about multi-classing? Can I have a secondary class with a middlingly good ability score and still be effective?
STR - 7
DEX - 13
CON - 18
INT - 15
WIS 13
CHA 11
Since I had a low strength score and a high Con score, I decided to play a halfling. (With a human it doesn't really make sense why his strength score would be so low with such robust health). Since my second highest score is intelligence, I'd like to play a wizard, but I would only end up with an INT score of 16 (or 15 if I wanted to make my halfling even tougher).
In 3e and 4e, the monster defenses made having anything less than a maximum ability score in the prime requisite tantamount to career suicide. 1e and 2e generally were more forgiving of middling ability scores, but also richly rewarded high ability scores.
I know ability scores are important in D&D Next for saves and for skills. I know the prime requisite is important for attacks and the power of your spells. But the question I have is a mathematical one. Can I sacrifice a little bit of raw spell power and still be a viable character? How would a 15 INT stack up against the monsters I am going to face? Will the flatter math save me from having to optimize? How about multi-classing? Can I have a secondary class with a middlingly good ability score and still be effective?