How low or high are you willing to go on stats?

[FanaticRat]

Let's say you're doing a point buy campaign. How low are you willing to put a stat and how high are you willing to raise a stat? Does it depend on the stat in question, or the class?

In general, I don't bother raising any main stat above 18 post-racial, and don't like having WIS below 10 ever, even with a good will save.

[ParagonDireRaccoon]

In my opinion, the downside to point buy is it favors optimization. A fair number of players are will to drop Cha to 7 (or 5 if playing a dwarf) and drop Str to 7 if they're playing an arcane caster. I never drop anything below 8, and try to avoid anything less than 10 with point buy.

The combination of point buy and racial modifiers lends itself to picking race and class to min/max stats- dwarf druid or elf wizard, for example. An elf wizard can buy 20 Int, 16 Dex, and 12 Con with Str 7, Cha 7, and Wis 11. This is a build I've seen in PFS. And a dwarf druid can have Str 14, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 9, Wis 18, and Cha 5 (another build I've seen in PFS).

When I GM, I have the players roll 4d6, re-roll 1s, drop the lowest, and the result is four or five sets of attributes all the players can choose from. For Emerald Spire, that method resulted in one set with three 16s and one set with an 18 and a 17 (I have a set of d6 that roll a lot of 1s and 6s that the players use to roll stats, I suspect a flawed weight distribution). The first set has nothing lower than 10, the second has a 7. Players can arrange however they'd like. It works for my group, the player playing a monk went with the three sixteens and the player playing a sorcerer went with the array with an 18. This set of arrays is the ideal for me, each player can choose one that works best for them. One player voluntarily lowered the 17 to a 15 for roleplaying purposes.

[wraithstrike]

I do not buy 18's pre-racial adjustment. They are too expensive, and I don't go below an 8 before racial adjustments. I try to avoid going below a 9.

I don't have a wisdom below 12, and I don't take constitution below 14 after racial modifiers are factored in.

[Some Random Dood]

If I'm playing a class that only needs 1-2 good stats (such as an arcane caster), then I'd get their main stat to 17 (after mods). If I'm playing something else, then I won't go above a 15.

Con is always 14, unless I have something specific planned.

Dex and wis I get at least 12 if possible.

The rest depend on the class.

[Wiggz]

FanaticRat wrote:

Let's say you're doing a point buy campaign. How low are you willing to put a stat and how high are you willing to raise a stat? Does it depend on the stat in question, or the class?

In general, I don't bother raising any main stat above 18 post-racial, and don't like having WIS below 10 ever, even with a good will save.

I only use 20 point buys and tend to stick to certain, basic arrays pre-racial adjustment. If any attribute is particularly low I make it an important aspect of the character's backstory and role play.

17
14
12
12
12
7

16
14
14
12
10
8

15
14
14
14
10
8

Post-racial adjustments I'd say my Dex and Con end up being 14's about 99% of the time.

[Cuuniyevo]

In a crpg, I don't want any low stats, because of the way the games are designed, but with pen and paper, I love having asymmetric stats. It makes the characters feel more realistic, and encourages teamwork, as people make up for another player's deficiency. In the campaign I'm currently gm'ing I let the players choose which system to use, and they chose 4d6 drop the lowest per attribute, with 1 optional reroll if something was terrible. Out of the 5 players, only 2 chose to reroll to get rid of a 5 and a 4, if I remember correctly. One player managed to roll completely ridiculous numbers, leading to a 20, 16, 16, 15, 15, 15, post-racial bonus. That alone makes me want to enforce point-buy in the next campaign, but I wasn't about to tell them they couldn't keep it. Everyone agrees to the rules up-front, and accepts the result.

[Dimminsy]

Nothing wrong with optimizing with a 20 point buy. The stats always require appropriate roleplaying/backstory/etc. of course. I game with a group of friends that go by PFS rules and APs since we're all in college together and want to enjoy our downtime together with no ambiguous houserules. I could count more on knowing how much I could rely on my teammates, so take these stat arrays with that in mind. These stats are also without the racials added in.

Example Starting Martial Array (for a dual wielding barbarian, floating +2 Str):
Str - 18 ~~ Int - 07
Dex - 15 ~ Wis - 12
Con - 12 ~ Cha - 07
This allows for a +2 Dex Ioun stone for a cheaper +Str/Con belt. Even opted for EWP (Falcata) then retrained it when I could purchase the Opalescent White Pyramid + Wayfinder to make up for limited feats. I have no qualms with being my character out of combat and did not contribute to battle plans anywhere close to what I normally would because it wouldn't be anything my character would be able to come up with.

A spell focused buffing/support/tanky cleric I played had these starting stats. Wanted him to be a more all arounder, human, +2 into Wis:
Str - 10 ~~ Int - 10
Dex - 10 ~ Wis - 16
Con - 14 ~ Cha - 14
Had some new people joining so I wanted to make sure they had a fun first experience. Went Healing/Liberation domain to freely move about (man you sure are slippery for an average 10 Dex Joe!) and help others move about while having useful healing/channels with the increased healing. Since they didn't know good ways of dealing with enemies I spent quite a bit more time than usual healing than buffing.

For my very creepy (though arguably otherwise generic) tiefling Kensai/Bladebound Magus (+2 Dex/Int, -2 Cha):
Str - 07 ~~ Int - 18
Dex - 16 ~ Wis - 09
Con - 12 ~ Cha - 07
I played up the smart but restless, weak but vain aspects of my character in the early levels then put a point into Wisdom at 4 to reflect experience and to not rush into things quite so hastily. The 5 Cha helped with the creepy omni-sexual loving personality he had.

It just depends on what you want out of a character. There's the general "good ideas" of at least a 12-14 Dex being good, not dumping Wis, etc.

I tend to try and balance stat/optimization and character concept. Sometimes it's better to come up with a theme, try some stats, optimize, then adjust the theme slightly to better reflect the stats. Sometimes it's better to find a couple useful combos/combined effects then build a character concept around it without caring too much about robust character development. Neither is inherently wrong. It's good to do both to have a varied Pathfinder experience. Just have fun!

Hopefully this stayed on topic lol.

[Desidero]

I love dumping Wisdom. I usually play headstrong, naive characters (with good intentions) because they suit my personality and they are really useful for pushing the narrative forward. Also it's funny to report that you rolled a 0 on your Perception check.

For many melee fighters I like to have either a 14 or 18 in Strength in order to get the most out of any 1.5ing I might be doing thanks to two handing or Dragon Style or whatever.

[Ace of the Flesh Puppets]

Positive wisdom modifiers are for monks, clerics and inquisitors! How else are you supposed to show that you've spent the last three weeks on a houseboat with three ladies and a portable hole filled with pesh on your character sheet?

[Majuba]

Most of the time, I don't go lower than 8 or higher than 15, pre-race.

[Rub-Eta]

Totaly depends on the character concept and build. If it doesn't need a stat, I dump it.
I don't like to dump DEX and CON, since a lower than 10 will get you killed easier than if not. STR is an ok dump.
It's the cognitive ability scores I'm more causeuse about, since they affect roleplay much more (I hate it when someone dumps INT to 7 and won't roleplay it, it just reeks).
Always fun and challenging to find new ways to be the dumbest. When I'm in that mood, I dump INT. WIS is also fun to dump, so much you can do. CHA isn't as fun to dump.

[BretI]

I generally dislike having any stat below 10.

I frequently buy up to 15 and use racial adjustments to get it to 17. It is very common for me to go for a 17 and a 16 after adjustments. Rarely will I do 'all in' on a single attribute to get it at max.

I hate rolling attributes because it means one lucky player dominates.

If the GM insists on rolled attributes, I usually ask what a minimum viable character is. Last time a GM insisted first set takes it, I didn't roll a single attribute above 11 and had a couple really low ones. Thankfully, the GM relented after seeing my rolls. After another three tries, we had a set that at least didn't put me too far behind the other players.

Did I mention that dice hate me? Not just my dice, all dice. Sort of a reverse Barnhouse Effect.

[Zhayne]

Depends on class, race, concept, etc. Generally, I'm more willing to dump STR, WIS, and CHA than the other three.

Unless your class is totally SAD, buying a pre-racial 18 is prohibitively expensive ... I usually go 16, 14 for the two main stats.

[Anarchy_Kanya]

I go as low or as high as I need.

[DrDew]

I'll take a stat as high or low as it can go. It just depends on the character concept and class. If I want to play a retard who bashes things then I'll dump Int and get Str as high as it will go. If I want to play a weak, scrawny, bookish wizard with no common sense then I'll dump Str as low as I can and probably not up Wis or Con while I take Int as high as it will go. Usually I don't dump stats because I normally like well-rounded characters.

[Quark Blast]

It depends on the group/campaign and PC race.

Once gamed with a group where PC CHA didn't matter as all interaction was RP'd out.

Typically, I like to end up with nothing lower than a 9. Max stat is ok but I couldn't imagine the point of a PC with all max or near max stats. Otherwise I like to keep stats in-system logical. No mid-level halfling barbarians with STR 19, 21 when buffed, 25 when raging. In theory such a halfling could be 30" tall and stronger than a Ogre. On Athus maybe but otherwise it's just dumb.

[Ironshield]

If i'm DM'ing a long campaign i outright tell my players that they can only have one stat below 10, and noone below 8 (post racial modifiers).

[Cerberus Seven]

Nothing above an 18 or below an 8 after racial mods. Also, I try to have Con always be at least a 12. Everything else depends on the character.