Hey there. I'm building a 2nd level Warder with a 15pt buy. I see the recc in Elric's guide to put CON and INT first, followed by STR. I am willing to dump CHA below 10 but really reluctant to do so with WIS or DEX. We'll do max HP at 1st, 1/2+1 after that, so at 2nd he'd have 12+7+CON+fcb. With a +2 from CON he'd have 31 HP (or 33, with fcb).
I'm leaning toward either
STR: 14(16) DEX: 9 CON: 14 INT: 16 WIS: 10 CHA: 7 (putting +2 into STR)
OR
STR: 15 DEX: 12 CON: 14 INT: 14(16) WIS: 10 CHA: 7 (putting +2 into INT)
I see your recommend to max CON in order to max tankiness...and I haven't played the class or seen it played so I'm sure there's a bunch I'm missing...but would you really bump CON higher for this build? More broadly, what overall 15pt buy might you consider? It's so hard for me to imagine a martial character with a 14 STR, which is I think the max I can get if I bump up CON...but maybe I'm thinking too much about Fighters and not understanding how different a Warder (or PoW in general) plays?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
I might consider a different race that gives a negative charisma and positive strength, con, or int (preferably 2 of the 3. Forgeborn works well for this. With a 15 point buy, I think picking a race to maximize ability scores would be best. You'll find you need bonus feats a little less to get good bang for your buck.
Also if it doesn't violate your concept, the zweihander sentinel archetype for warders is even less feat intensive than the average warder. This can help alleviate not being human.
For a 15 pt buy, I highly recommend going with a +STR, +INT race. You really need those bonuses. Lashunta (male only), pre-errata Werecroc-kin Skinwalkers, and post errata Jiang Shi born Dhampir are the only 1st party races with the necessary bonuses. There might be others if you dig around a bit. With both of those bonuses I recommend the following (pre racial bonuses):
STR: 14 DEX: 10 CON: 14 INT: 14 WIS: 10 CHA: 8
That's actually only 13 points, but I'd recommend using those last 2 points to bump up WIS if you go Lashunta or Werecroc, and put the last two in STR (for STR 15 pre racial) for the Jiangshi Dhampir.