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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8680999" data-attributes="member: 6790260">As noted above, there's more to it than just "an 18 balances out a 3." You may have intended the arrays to all be essentially equal, but you accidentally made the first array significantly better than the others. Tweaking them so they've got the same sum-of-modifiers makes it a more difficult choice.Part of the problem is, 5e is just as bad as 3e was with making some stats simply more desirable and other stats not particularly useful. Intelligence only matters for characters who expect to make Int-based skill checks, or Int saves. There are only 12 spells that inflict an Int save in 5e, and one of them (contact other plane) isn't even an offensive spell, while another (enemies abound) is a relatively weak control spell (since the save is repeated). The damage, from those that do damage, isn't particularly dramatic compared to their level, and some such spells (like illusory dragon) offer the opportunity to get Advantage on the save if you realize the result isn't fully real. Very few monsters (mostly psionic ones, which are themselves rarely used) inflict Intelligence saves, though sadly I don't have a good bead on exactly how many there are now. Back in 2019 there were only a very small number, apparently four (intellect devourer and mindflayer being the two primary ones, though both have very nasty results on failure.)As a result, Intelligence is by far the easiest stat to dump, so long as you aren't a Wizard or Artificer. Charisma, likewise, is very easy to dump if your class doesn't use it, and its saves tend to be less dangerous than Intelligence (which, while rare, can be devastating). Wisdom is dangerous to dump for multiple reasons (Perception is always amazing, and these saves tend to resist mind control effects.) Strength can be safely dumped...so long as you can still carry your equipment, though early in the game, Str saves are common and can result in "pack"-style creatures laying on a lot of pain. Dexterity and Constitution are both extremely common saves and have major secondary benefits, so you pretty much never want to dump them.So you can pretty easily get away with something like 18 14 10 10 8 3, especially if you're a Hexblade or a pure Cha caster (Bard/Sorcerer) where you don't need more than minimal Str and can safely dump Int completely. And by your own numbers, that array is actually worth a minuscule score (42+11-1-1-7-42 = 11 - 9 = 2).</blockquote>

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