D&D 5E Strength or Dex for a Goblin Tempest Cleric/Genie Warlock

[Swarmkeeper]

Just to be contrary: Take 16 in STR
Opens up the weapon choices
Allows for Heavy Armor
Add Grappling to your melee repertoire
Pair with Grappler Feat to gain advantage on your melee attacks and, when pinning, give your allies advantage, too
Bonus action Disengage still works well in all cases
Bonus action Hide is overrated in that it is not always possible or, if it is, it is not always successful during combat since enemies are alert to danger
Skill Expert for Expertise in Stealth is still possible and mitigates the low Dex score when Dex(Stealth) rolls are warranted

 

[ECMO3]

A problem of dex is always, that it is an "all in" stat. If you take it, you better increase it to 20 to really get all the advantages (high to hit, high skills, high AC while being able to be sneaky).

Staying at dex 16 means, your AC will stay as low as 15, or 16 with medium armor that has no disadvantage on stealth. With 8 strength, you might reach your max load fast if you go half plate for AC 17.

AC will be 19 with half plate and a shield (with disadvantage) or 18 with breastplate and a shield and no disadvantage.

If I have expertise in stealth, and a 16 dex, the disadvantage is not a big deal your ability score will be high enough to be good at it. Not great at it, but good. With a breastplate and no disadvantage I would be great at it.

The thing with a Goblin is you get disengage as a bonus action through numble escape, and on this build I have booming blade as well. So yes I am giving up 1 point of AC vs where it would be with heavy plate armor but I am going to be attacked less.

I also plan to make enemies pay for attacking me to - take damage from moving from Booming Blade to even make an attack against me, then take damage from armor of agathys and wrath of the storm if you hit me.

We do not use variant encumbrance, so my limit is 120lbs. I do get close to that frequently with 8 strength characters, but usually it is managable.

The advantage of str is, that you can stay at 16 and wear all the best armors for AC18 without worries. Also, with just one skill investment, you get all the strength skills, which are often asked for during adventuring. Bare strength checks are also not unheard of.

But Athletics is not offered in either my background or my class, so I would need a feat to get it (like I am doing with stealth) and unlike stealth it is not something that is related to goblin abilities specifically.

17 wis and a decent con on top. Feytouched will increase it to 18 immediately.

That is the other feat I am thinking about. Wheter I take skill expert or Fey Touched I will be using the half-ASI to boost Wisdom.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

But Athletics is not offered in either my background or my class, so I would need a feat to get it (like I am doing with stealth) and unlike stealth it is not something that is related to goblin abilities specifically.

I think you can´t go wrong with either Str or Dex.

Here you are incorrect though. You can customize your background, which IIRC is actuall the (well hidden) standard. But if it does not fir your imagination, it is moot anyway.

 

[Smythe the Bard]

take the skilled feat... if you can, and yes there is the 'make you own background' opinion too, which is good. Anyway, good luck and have fun with the character, no matter how it turns out; as you may find organic growth leads to something very different than what was planned. In the end the only real thing that matters is that you have fun.