Strength.. Is it really the best statistic?

[Buttercup]

I'd say DEX is far more important that STR. Unless you're that half-orc barbarian, you can easily compensate for low strength by getting a pack animal, but with a low DEX you've got a lousy initiative, armor class, reflex save and to boot aren't elegible for several useful feats.

Also, I've been playing a DEX based fighter, and she's turning into a freakin' cuisinart. No stomping around bashig things for her, instead she leaps into the air and before she lands, an enemy's head is missing.

 

[Crothian]

Dex is the king stat and since you can take feats and classes that makes it trump Strength even more, it just makes it so much more so.

 

[The Shaman]

Where're the diamonds, Lefty? *SMACK* Stop shifting your head about! *SMACK* I can keep this up all day, you know?!?!? *SMICK, SMACK, SMICK, SMACK*

Nice!



Strength is important if the game involves a lot of hitting things with other things. In a Modern game where ranged weapons are more commonplace (in most cases) than melee weapons, Dexterity is important if the game involves a lot of hitting things with other thrown or launched things.

That said, the two abilities I am most prone to max in my characters (subject to character concept, of course) are Constitution and Wisdom. Better hit points, better Fort and Will saves, better skill checks on stuff that gives a character an edge (Spot, Sense Motive, Survival).

 

[KnowTheToe]

You have it backwards for halflings and gnomes. They get a stat bonus with no negative to a stat. The -2 to Str is a size penalty and both races get the benefit of the small size, so that balances. What is the neg they take on for their stat bonus? Both halflings and gnomes should get -2 to another stat as well, or -4 to strenght, which would make sense for halflings.

 

[Khafre]

I would say strength is potentially the most overbalancing stat. I tend to prefer high int /dex / char characters, but most stats are easy for the DM to adjust for.

For high dex characters, you shift from lots of mooks to a single opponent. The equivalent CR effect means the opponent's BAB is so high that the high dex character is easily hittable - the only benefit the high dex character has is that he might not get hit with that third attack...

For spellcasters with high stats, a monster with spell resistance will do the trick.

For a character with high strength though, things get dicey. We had a high strength half-orc barbarian, just like the one mentioned earlier, who ran around with a spiked chain. It gets really tough for the DM to control combat, because it all becomes a numbers game around that one character. If that character makes some really bad rolls, what should be an easy combat becomes a party killer. Likewise, if you plan to nullify the character with a hold person, and he makes his save, a tough combat becomes a walk in the park.

No other stat has the ability to make a combat consistently swing around what happens to one character like that, so, from the standpoint of the DM trying to set up encounters, a super-high strength is definately the hardest one to consistently address.

 

[Staffan]

WHile I don't think Strength is the best stat one thing to keep in mind is that Halflings & Gnomes also have the benefit of small size giving them a +1 on nearly everything they do in combat.

Small size is considered a net penalty, albeit a small one. You have less carrying capacity (though many things also weigh less for you), you have to use smaller weaponry, and while you get +1 to hit and to AC, you get -4 to many common events in combat - grappling, disarming, sundering, bull rush, etc. There's also the base speed of 20 ft to consider.

 

[Ed Cha]

I'd say DEX is far more important that STR.

Yeah, I think DEX is the most useful ability in 3rd Edition. With a high DEX, you get the AC bonus, lots of applicable skills, feats you can qualify for, a Reflex bonus, etc.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

From a pure min/max standpoint:

Con = Dex > Wis > Int > Str > Cha

In 3e, saves are the single most important difference between living and dying, winning and losing. The three stats that affect saves are therefore much more valuable than the rest, and to all characters.

Druids are literally the only characters who aren't gimped by a poor Con, and only Clerics, Fighters and Paladins can be added to that list for Dex, and even then an actual penalty hurts them badly. Str, Int and Cha are useless or nearly so to a good many characters. A sorcerer doesn't need Str - but he needs Dex and Con. A rogue doesn't need Int (depending on his specialty), but he's dead meat without Con and Wis.

Paladins mess around with this because a paladin can get away with a good Str and Cha only, simply because he gets Cha to saves.

Also, Str is the hardest stat to apply to other purposes.

Int can easily be converted into a combat stat - numerous PrCs give Int to AC or attack - and Cha is almost universally applicable with the right combos. The monk and ninja already give Wis to AC. Dex can be finessed and always works for ranged weapons, and Con can even be converted to other uses, like AC (Deepwarden).

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Constitution is the most important stat. Every character needs it regardless of their class.

 

[fafhrd]

Constitution is the most important stat. Every character needs it regardless of their class.

Additionally, part of con's benefits grow with an incease in levels. Same with int.