What classes do well with one single high attribute?

[Sgt Jiggz]

So me and the group I play with just finished Rise of tiamat. It took us well over a year because we always struggle to find times when everybody can play.

Anyhow we're going to start Curse of strahd next week and we decided to try to roll stats for characters (most of us are new to dnd and we haven't tried it before). We decided to do the 4d6 drop lowest approach and on the very first roll I got an 18... The rest of my rolls were average, nothing above 13.

I asked the Dm if I should re-roll my first one since no one else got anything nearly as high, but he told me it was fine. So no i'll be starting at level one with probably a 20 in my main attribute but I'm not sure what I want to do. Which classes benefits a lot from having a single maxed? Rogue comes to mind but I played a rogue for rise of tiamat and I want to try something else.

So what character would you like to make if you could start with a 20 in a single stat? I'm not sure what I want to play so I look to be inspired. Don't know yet what rest of the party is

Thanks ☺️

[MrStabby]

Well druid can use that for wisdom and transform into an animal if they need physical stats.

Wizard has a good selection of reactive spells and can use spells for defence as well - they could be a good choice.

An archer using dex could work - you dont need the HP of a frontline fighter. Ranger or Fighter.

[clash]

Dwarf nature cleric.
Get's wisdom and con boosts, the only 2 stats that matter. Doesn't need strength for heavy armor and picks up shillelagh as nature cleric, so doesnt need strength to attack.

[Spellbreaker26]

Almost all main casters except the clerics that get heavy armour. So long as you're careful you can avoid damage and just blast away. A cleric like light or knowledge is good because you have a lot of attacks that add the casting stat (spiritual weapon, and the potent cantrip ability) and warlocks do well with agonizing blast. A tome warlock could pick up shilleagh as well for melee damage.

[Giant2005]

You could stick it in Charisma and make a Paladin/Warlock/Sorcerer/whatever else, that uses Charisma for basically everything. Although that would have been better for the Rise of Tiamat game, considering you need one of those Dragon Masks to get +Cha to AC.

[Ugganaut]

Ghostwise halfling druid with a high Wisdom would be my pick. Strong spells, and you've got wildshape to bump your physical stats and provide a good hit point buffer. I like the idea of a little halfling that can change into a bear :) I like the Ghostwise for the silent speech so i can talk to the party in wildshape.
From the PHB, moon druid, but if you're allowed to use UA stuff, those new druid circles would be interesting to try out. A lot depends on if you can use UA stuff, or just the official stuff.

Wizard(Bladesinger) could be interesting. Bladesong will really boost up your AC using that Int 20, while still having strong casting. Grab the Warcaster feat and a rapier and have some fun.

Those are the two that come to mind for me.

[Gignere]

Pretty much all of the classes other than barbarian, paladin, and monk can live and even thrive with one awesome stat.

Most of the spell caster is about positioning and finding the right spell for the right job.

Bard - lore and just cast disables and inspire your buddies. Just avoid melee.

Cleric - life/light/knowledge/tempest/arcana can be built to be a pure caster. Healing buffing and damaging with spiritual weapon and spirit guardians.

Druid - both caster and moon can use just one high stat.

Fighter - you may not have a high con but fighters basically have ASIs to burn so bring that con score up. If you pick a race with bonus to con you can start with a +2 assuming you put the 13 here.

Rogue - you know already


Sorcerer - same as bard, focus on disables, damage, buffs, just don't get into melee.

Warlocks - just don't be blade, tome can get Shillelagh so you can melee in a pinch. Otherwise get spell sniper asap and just pew pew.

Wizard - see bard and sorcerer same deal

[Naanomi]

With low Con and limited AC, and likely little multiclass potential, I'd choose anything that stayed out of melee... stout halfling battle master hand crossbow guy, necromancer, sniper type (longbow rogue or warlock/sorcerer)

[Arnie82]

Honestly almost any class that doesn't require 3 good stats will work. A standard array can get 2 stats to 16, and it will take 2 ASI to get a 20 and a 16. You said you have a 13 along with that 18 that means you can start with a 20 and a 14. After 1 ASI you have a 20 and a 16. That puts you ahead of standard so you can be almost anything.

Sorcerer : 20 in charisma, 14 in con, next highest dex

Wizard : high elf givs you 19 int, 15 dex. Level 4 will get you 20, 16

Strength fighter: 18 strength, 13 con and pick from a bunch or races.

The only classes that won't work as well would be maybe barbarian, and monk. Even then they still work ok.

[MinotaurWarrior]

Pure strength fighters do very well very quickly. You get seven feats!

I'd do something like:

Level 1: Variant human, Great Weapon Master, Great Weapon Fighting
Level 3: EK (Self-buffs only)
Level 4: Heavy Armor Master
Level 6: Polearm Master
Level 8: Sentinel
Level 10: Resilient (Dex)
Level 12: Resilient (Wis)
Level 14: Lucky
Level 16: Mage Slayer
Level 19: Mobile

Or, replace a number of those with +CON bonuses / Tough to just have more HP.

[Arnie82]

With low Con and limited AC, and likely little multiclass potential, I'd choose anything that stayed out of melee... stout halfling battle master hand crossbow guy, necromancer, sniper type (longbow rogue or warlock/sorcerer)


You can go into melee just fine. Fighter in heavy armor and strength 20 will be just fine. In my other post I point out that they can be on the same pace as a standard array once you get to level 4 or better .

[Naanomi]

You can go into melee just fine. Fighter in heavy armor and strength 20 will be just fine. In my other post I point out that they can be on the same pace as a standard array once you get to level 4 or better .
Yeah I stated what *I'd choose*, other valid options exist. Starting with a 20 and having a feat free-for-all supporting my strengths is preferable to me then shoring up weaknesses, but part of that is my play style

[Grod_The_Giant]

So one 18 and some 12s or 13s? Pick a race to boost the lower scores; you can probably get to 18/14/14, which is plenty of play anything you want.

[Joe the Rat]

Er, what Grod said. 18 is a good starter for your primary. With 2 13's or a 12 and 13 you can get 3 decent stats with racial modifiers.

[Solunaris]

With average rolls and an 18 I'd almost think being a standard Human would be amazing. Instead of focusing on one stat have them all. Go Fighter for the bonus ASIs and go ham on everything.

[Citan]

So me and the group I play with just finished Rise of tiamat. It took us well over a year because we always struggle to find times when everybody can play.

Anyhow we're going to start Curse of strahd next week and we decided to try to roll stats for characters (most of us are new to dnd and we haven't tried it before). We decided to do the 4d6 drop lowest approach and on the very first roll I got an 18... The rest of my rolls were average, nothing above 13.

I asked the Dm if I should re-roll my first one since no one else got anything nearly as high, but he told me it was fine. So no i'll be starting at level one with probably a 20 in my main attribute but I'm not sure what I want to do. Which classes benefits a lot from having a single maxed? Rogue comes to mind but I played a rogue for rise of tiamat and I want to try something else.

So what character would you like to make if you could start with a 20 in a single stat? I'm not sure what I want to play so I look to be inspired. Don't know yet what rest of the party is

Thanks ☺️
Off my mind on quick thought...

1 Moon Druid: spend most of time Wild Shaped, so only WIS is really important (and even then you could even play a low WIS Druid and still be good, that is how beautiful this class is).

2. Fighter or Rogue playing ranged: many feats and Indomitable on one side, great defensive features and Wisdom proficiency on the other side: only DEX matters, you can cope with low everything else (you will suffer, it will be hard sometimes, but it can be done).
(Note: even Rangers can fit because you can just pick non WIS-dependent spells).

3. Devotion Paladin: max Charisma: it compensates well your lacking attack stat, and you get great saves in addition to your heavy armor.

4. Clerics: weapon options are really just an afterthought in the end. Max WIS and never look back. Use either heavy armor (with the speed penalty) or stick with medium and shield.

5. Bards: whether you take Lore for Cuttings Words or Valor for medium armor + shield, you are still a full spellcaster in the end. CHA is the only stat really necessary, and you can grab great attack cantrips. If you really want a good weapon attack for whichever reason, Shillelagh/Magic Stone will be enough.

6. Barbarians, especially Bear totem: while having no use for Unarmored Defense is sad, all you really need to have fun is Strength. Medium Armor is enough to get a decent AC, you can optionnally wield a shield when it is tough, and half-damage on nearly everything compensate fairly your low saves.
With that said, there are some saves that are far more dangerous than just damage which will target your mental stats, so it's a negative for Barb.

7. Bladesinger Wizard: any Wizard can survive because they get so many good defensive spells (although it's a bit sad to blow slots on this ^^) and the only thing any Wizard really need is the INT. Here the Bladesinger gets a big boost though: better AC and concentration than others.
Compared to all others, Wizard are fairly behind though: when out of slots, there are just plain 1d6 punching bags after all. This changes when you reach 18th level, where they best nearly everyone at least on AC side thanks to free Shield.



So what character would you like to make if you could start with a 20 in a single stat? I'm not sure what I want to play so I look to be inspired. Don't know yet what rest of the party is

Ooops I stopped at the title first time.
Well, disclaimer, if I had a starting 18, I would rather keep it and use a race that boost other stats so I can have a 18 in "main" and a 16 in "another" (Constitution or casting/weapon secondary stat).
So one 18 and nothing above 13 huh?
I'd say a Barbarian with 18 in STR and 14 in both DEX and CON would be nice.
Or a plain Rogue going Dex. ;) You don't have to worry about Wisdom saves because you get proficiency eventually, you get great defensive features, and still enough feats to bump CON, take Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert, and any other (Mobile/Alert/etc).

[ruy343]

You know, considering that the standard array only has a 15 as a max (before racials), you're doing pretty good for yourself on the 5e power scale. Usually, my Monks get at most a +3 to dex/wis, and my barbarians typically get a +2 to Strength and a +3 to Con to start out. As long as you have some moderately good stats, you can really play anything.

But having a starting +5 to constitution as a Barbarian would be awesome...

[Petrocorus]

Pure strength fighters do very well very quickly. You get seven feats!

I'd do something like:

Level 1: Variant human, Great Weapon Master, Great Weapon Fighting
Level 3: EK (Self-buffs only)
Level 4: Heavy Armor Master


That's a fine build, but i would certainly switch GWM and HAM. HAM is much more useful at low level when 3 damage less is really significant, and you don't really have the accuracy to power attack the majority of enemies (the mere goblins has already a 15 AC).
I'm also not a fan of GWF, unless you have a source of bonus damage dice, it's only a 1.33 additional damage on average with a great sword.

[beargryllz]

Dex-based fighter/rog/anything, really

Don't get hit. Use things like archery, sharpshooter, crossbow expert, etc.

Dex acts for both your offense and defense, skills, and initiative. It's a great stat to raise to 20 at the expense of any other stats.

[8wGremlin]

I'm late to the game but I'm advocating the following build:


Arcane Cleric Variant human Wis > Con, Dex=14

Wear Medium armour and a shield (AC = 18, holy symbol on shield)

Take: Booming Blade and Chill Touch (both are now Cleric cantrips and key of Wis)

Feat: Magic Initiate (Druid)
- Take Shillelagh (keys of Wis) & Thornwhip as cantrips
- Take Absorb Elements, Goodberry or Longstrider** as your 1st level


Just keep going to Cleric 8 - where you now get your Wis mod to damage on cleric cantrips (Booming Blade and Chill Touch amongst others.)


You can get Warcaster at 4th level you can now Booming Blade as a reaction.

[Biggstick]

As others before me have said, the only classes that really need, and I use that objectively, multiple high stats are Monk, Barbarian, and Paladin. Every other class can get by with 12-14's pretty easily.

I've included something below that will might provide you a little bit more information as to what to consider when picking a class for Curse of Strahd. It isn't anything major, but it might influence what you play or don't play.

Anything with access to a magic damage will work great in CoS. You're going to run into regular weapon-resistant creatures much faster then you would in other campaigns. Another option is playing a Paladin or a Cleric, as both classes do EXTREMELY well in the CoS campaign. As someone who's played through the campaign myself, Light Clerics are particularly well suited for the campaign.

Most combats are up close and personal, so don't expect to be shooting at 100+ feet, so choose your character class and build appropriately. Everyone is a potential enemy or ally, so social and knowledge skill choices will definitely be useful.

[Asmotherion]

Sorcerers and Wizards can work with only their Spellcasting Stats, and everything else a 10, relying in their reaction spells for defance.

A Warlock 3 Pact of the Tome dip can do almost anything with Charisma. They are the best blasters when combined with Sorcerer, and can melee as long as he uses a Club or Quarterstaff thanks to Shillelagh. They can become Healers by going Bard or Paladin. They can RP amazingly due to their high Charisma. They can go Fighter (Eldritch Knight) using a Quarterstaff and Hex. The only thing they're won't be using is bows and crossbows.

A Druid can do the same, for the same reason (Shillelagh is their cantrip after all). If they need physical stats, they can take an appropriate animal form. It's also the only class that can really, with no consequences dump both Dex and Con, and focus solely on his Spellcasting stat. Sorcerers and Wizards can make up for a low score, but it's not like they can literally dump them.

A Dex-based Fighter with a crossbow is one of the best builds in the game, and since it rellies only on Dexterity (which happens to be the AC giving Stat) is one of the best candidates for this role. It's still good to invest in Con as well (which is really an universal rule), but it's one of the SADest builds you can find, and one of the best as well, if I didn's mention it earlyer.

A Rogue can also dump most things, minus Con, as all his (combat) abilities are Dex-based. Same as above really.

A Bard can virtually focus only on his Charisma, especially in an RP focused game, were his "Jack of All trades" gives him a bit of knowlage about everything, wile investing his Expertese in Charisma-based skills make them the best face of the game (only surpased by Bard multiclasses with other classes for more RP bonuses).

I suppose a Cleric can survive with Wisdom alone because of Armor Proficiency + Shield of Faith? Never actually played one, so I wouldn't know. Theoretically I guess?


As others before me have said, the only classes that really need, and I use that objectively, multiple high stats are Monk, Barbarian, and Paladin. Every other class can get by with 12-14's pretty easily.

I've included something below that will might provide you a little bit more information as to what to consider when picking a class for Curse of Strahd. It isn't anything major, but it might influence what you play or don't play.

Anything with access to a magic damage will work great in CoS. You're going to run into regular weapon-resistant creatures much faster then you would in other campaigns. Another option is playing a Paladin or a Cleric, as both classes do EXTREMELY well in the CoS campaign. As someone who's played through the campaign myself, Light Clerics are particularly well suited for the campaign.

Most combats are up close and personal, so don't expect to be shooting at 100+ feet, so choose your character class and build appropriately. Everyone is a potential enemy or ally, so social and knowledge skill choices will definitely be useful.

I would scratch Paladin off the list... at least as long as he takes 3 warlock levels for Shillelafh through Book of Ancient Secrets. This way, he can focus only on Charisma.

Monk and Barbarian can theoretically be SAD, but it would be sub-optimal.