So, I've seen a lot of threads and posts made where people criticize cookie-cutter characters. Charisma seems to take the most hits since it's the most common dump stat and the most useless ability for many game styles and many character classes. The fact is, though, that every class has a dump or two, and that under point buy rules, it's very hard to afford these stats.
Now, assuming you have a high point buy, a lenient GM, and a group who favors fluff and diversity over optimization, it can be possible to play that 14 Int, 16 Cha Fighter, but let's be honest: the system is not set up to accommodate these sort of builds. You're working uphill by doing so, just as though you were choosing to play a Commoner.
However, this does indeed have its consequences. Droves of Cha 7 martial characters. Fighters who can't afford any skill points. Wizards who can barely lift their staves. Things we'd thematically like to get past sometimes, but that simply aren't in the same realm of necessity as the primary abilities of each class.
I've been thinking about a mechanic that would perhaps lower the point buy values for certain secondary ability scores, and/or would raise the default value of a score above 10.
This is what I'm thinking: to avoid multiclass abuse, a player would have to swear off certain classes upon character creation. For example, let's say you're making a Fighter and you'd like a little more Charisma without forfeiting your Dex and Con for it. Now, it wouldn't be fair to get that Charisma on the cheap and then go Paladin at level 2. So the Fighter would select a (I wish I could say Archetype, but I'll call it a "Nature" for now) Nature which prohibits him from taking any levels in Bard, Oracle, Paladin, Sorcerer or Summoner (possibly Cleric). With these classes removed, the amount of raw potential left to the Fighter by having a boosted Charisma is severely reduced; thus, the Fighter can both afford a non-vital stat, and cannot easily exploit that non-vital stat.
Part of my inspiration for this idea was the Abyssal Sorcerer's inherent Strength bonuses. Those would be extraordinarily valuable on any martial character, yet for the Sorcerer, it takes work to really find ways to apply that Strength - it is quite simply less valuable than it would be to a Fighter. If we all know some of these abilities are less valuable than others to some characters, then I think there could be definite advantages to pricing them as such.
Obviously, some ability scores would be difficult to incorporate - most 3/4 BAB classes can have very viable high-Str builds, and the Sorcerer can always go Dragon Disciple. There might be other ways than simply barring classes, such as giving the stat a bonus, but capping it there.
Is anyone familiar with any such systems, or have you ever incorporated one yourself?