D&D 5E Primary Casting Stat per tier

[EzekielRaiden]

I will add, that this is great starting 101 D&D lessons. HOWEVER once you have learned to synergize and pick things here and there you can find other ways to power up. starting with the 16 and going for the 20 asap is just the easiest/

Right. For example, if you select only spells that don't inflict saves, e.g. by buffing allies, creating battlefield zones/walls/etc., or various utility effects, then you could theoretically ignore your casting modifier, but it's tricky to do that and you're forcing yourself into a narrow space.

It's not just that "start with 16 and build to 20 ASAP" is easy, it's that it's always useful. Doing something else means choosing a harder, less-versatile path. Doesn't mean you can't do it, doesn't mean you can't succeed while doing it, but the limitations are real.

 

[Stoutstien]

As a general rule, you definitely want to always start with a 16. Starting with anything less will be...painful. As you can see from the above charts, if you start with less than a 16, you may actually have your enemies pass saves more often than they fail. It might not seem like much, but the difference between (say) 55% of the time, enemies fail their saves, and 65% of the time, enemies fail their saves, is the difference between "it's pretty much a 50/50 gamble" and "you'll hit them twice as often as you miss them."

This is also why things like magic weapons are so important, despite WotC claiming otherwise. Even with a 20 in your main attack stat, you have only a 52% chance to hit a CR11-16 creature on average via spell attacks (and there's no reason physical attacks should be radically better). Going from 52% to 67% (the equivalent of going from a +0 weapon to a +3 weapon) is literally the difference between "every attack is a 50/50 shot" to "you hit more than twice as often as you miss." Sure, it's "only" 15%, but in terms of how it feels, you absolutely will notice going from "I could flip a coin and it would accurately tell how often I hit" and "I hit twice as often as I miss."

In general, you don't NEED need those increased stats until higher levels (e.g. you should probably use your level 8 ASI to increase your casting stat). But you'll start to notice if you get to (say) level 9-10 or so and you haven't improved your stats at all.

I think your math is a little off. AC rarely scale past 19 and if you remove the occasional high CR(20+) form the data pool the average is closer to 16. Sure you have occasional outliers but
So if you have maxed your ability modifier you will usually stay in the mid to high 60% hit chance range. An easy starting point is +5 attack mod vs 15AC is 55% hit chance. Moving either value is worth 5% so it makes for a quick way to eye ball it.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I think your math is a little off. AC rarely scale past 19 and if you remove the occasional high CR(20+) form the data pool the average is closer to 16. Sure you have occasional outliers but
So if you have maxed your ability modifier you will usually stay in the mid to high 60% hit chance range. An easy starting point is +5 attack mod vs 15AC is 55% hit chance. Moving either value is worth 5% so it makes for a quick way to eye ball it.

Not my numbers. I was using the ones @Dausuul posted. You have a 42% average chance to succeed on a spell attack against a CR11-16 monster (from the Basic set, not all of them, but I can't imagine that the full set radically drops in AC!), assuming you have an ability score modifier of +3. That means, if you push it up to +5, you should be hitting 52% of the time.

If there's something flawed with the math, hopefully they can explain it!

 

[Stoutstien]

Not my numbers. I was using the ones @Dausuul posted. You have a 42% average chance to succeed on a spell attack against a CR11-16 monster (from the Basic set, not all of them, but I can't imagine that the full set radically drops in AC!), assuming you have an ability score modifier of +3. That means, if you push it up to +5, you should be hitting 52% of the time.

If there's something flawed with the math, hopefully they can explain it!

Oh I misunderstood I thought you were saying it was that low with a 20 in the governing stat.

Yes the sample size of a give game can shift ACs a lot. Playing a game with lots of humanoids tend to increase AC by a lot compared to other types.
I did a comparison per tier for published modules a while ago and BGs had almost a constant 3-4 AC threshold higher than the others.

 

[Horwath]

 

[aco175]

Some also depends on the DM and how much magic he puts out. If you are getting +1 weapons at 3rd level and gauntlets of ogre power and such you may not need to or want to bump something like strength since the magic made up for it.

 

[Horwath]

Some also depends on the DM and how much magic he puts out. If you are getting +1 weapons at 3rd level and gauntlets of ogre power and such you may not need to or want to bump something like strength since the magic made up for it.

yeah, the "set the ability to 19" are overpowered items for it's rarity.