Rolled high stats, trying to figure out what to make

[Kailaspen]

Rolling 4d minus1d got the following stats.
17,16,16,12,15,16

Trying to choose race/class from PHB and kobold press midgaard something or other. How can I take advantage of all these high rolls best?

[Unoriginal]

Rolling 4d minus1d got the following stats.
17,16,16,12,15,16

Trying to choose race/class from PHB and kobold press midgaard something or other. How can I take advantage of all these high rolls best?

Do you have only access to the PHB as far as official 5e books go?

With those stats, you can play basically whatever you want, especially classes or builds that are often judged MAD.

Monk and Barbarian, for example. Or melee Warlock without Hexblade.

If I had a character with those stats, I would go for Conquest Paladin 7/Long Death Monk 6, because I find the combination of the Long Death's Hour of Reaping feature and the Conquest Paladin's aura to be pretty neat.

But more to the point, the question is: what kind of characters *you* like/want to play? As in, is there a thematic, aesthetic or mechanic that you like more than other?

[Sorinth]

Kensei/Bladesinger multiclass

[kaoskonfety]

Beast master Ranger: generally considered bad I believe: but what do you care? go live ur best life.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Gonna be tough to play in a party. You will probably always be the best of the party at every skill you choose, and some if you don't.

Go bard, and you can really do it all with jack of all trades. I like bard because you can be a perpetual showoff braggart personality, like Mac Davis.

"Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me. I must be a hell of a man. Oh, Lord, it's hard to be humble, but we're doing the best that we can."

Yeah, not sure how this will work with a group. It would be great in a solo or two player game.

[micahaphone]

Monk and/or paladin. If you're in a norse setting, I could see a warrior-priest type thing being cool.

Or a high stat line can let you play a strong barbarian who doesn't have to dump all their mental stats like they normally have to do. Hell, you could even take a level or two of another class for utility. Barb/Rogue for something closer to the OG Conan stories, or bard/cleric to be a skald/priest outside of combat.

[Unoriginal]

Gonna be tough to play in a party. You will probably always be the best of the party at every skill you choose, and some if you don't.

Go bard, and you can really do it all with jack of all trades. I like bard because you can be a perpetual showoff braggart personality, like Mac Davis.

"Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me. I must be a hell of a man. Oh, Lord, it's hard to be humble, but we're doing the best that we can."

Yeah, not sure how this will work with a group. It would be great in a solo or two player game.

Or you can play Tom Bombadil.

[RogueJK]

Angry Grapple Monk with All The Attacks (4-5 attacks per round: 3 Claw + 1 or 2 BA Martial Arts/Flurry)

Beast Barbarian 3/Long Death or Open Hand Monk X
(Starting Monk 1, then Barbarian to 3, then Monk X)

STR 17+3
DEX 16
CON 16
INT 12
WIS 16
CHA 15

Custom Lineage with +2 STR and the Skill Expert feat for +1 STR plus Athletics Proficiency and Expertise.

Max out WIS next, for AC and Stun purposes.

Your STR-based attacks not only get bumped up by your Martial Arts dice and get +5 from your 20 STR, but they each also get Rage damage bonus too. And you can Reckless Attack for Advantage on your 3 claw attacks when needed, then BA Dodge with Patient Defense to remove the Advantage on attacks against yourself.

You're also a grappling monster, with +5 STR, Athletics Proficiency, Athletics Expertise, and Advantage on STR-based checks while Raging. Combos really well with the party caster creating hazards like Create Bonfire, Cloud of Daggers, Spike Growth, etc. for you to drag the grappled enemies into and hold them there.

Go Long Death if you want to be more of a tank, or Open Hand if you want to be able to reposition enemies with 15' shoves.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

"Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me. I must be a hell of a man. Oh, Lord, it's hard to be humble, but we're doing the best that we can."

Wow. There is a pretty well known Dutch version of that song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XHWIEZawRw), I just never knew it was a cover.

I learn something every day.

[bid]

Rolling 4d minus1d got the following stats.
17,16,16,12,15,16

Trying to choose race/class from PHB and kobold press midgaard something or other. How can I take advantage of all these high rolls best?
If you ever wanted to play sorcadin, play a wizadin. A war wizard in heavy armor, with smite.

[MoiMagnus]

Gonna be tough to play in a party. You will probably always be the best of the party at every skill you choose, and some if you don't.
[...]
Yeah, not sure how this will work with a group. It would be great in a solo or two player game.

If you synchronise with the other players, you can make sure to avoid taking skills already taken by others.
(Except Stealth/Acrobatics/Athletics, those are the kind of skills where the more peoples have them, the more often you can use them.)

[Necrosnoop110]

Paladin 7 (Oath of the Ancients) / Sorcerer 13 (Draconic Bloodline)
I went with a Forest Gnome who rode around on a Mastiff war dog but VHuman wouldn't be a bad move.

Insane defense tank which shares some of the most important defenses with your party at close range, great standard offense and defense (melee and at range), nova level offense when needed, party face, you can do it all. Super fun build you'll always be able to contribute meaningfully in any encounter or scenario. I've played this build with way lower stats and it was one of my all time favorite characters (and I typically only play wizards and psions).

See here for more: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?502673-Unlimited-Blade-Works-The-Guide-to-the-Ultimate-Paladin-Sorcerer-Multiclass

[Eldariel]

Straight Bladesinger feels great. With these stats you can even pull off the incredibly difficult-to-pull-off Strength Bladesinger with PAM if you'd like:

Half-elf
18 Strength
17 Dex
16 Con (or 17 Con, 16 Dex if you plan on Resilient: Con)
18 Int


You could even pull off Pally 2/Bladesinger X, which is slightly weaker perhaps but really sweet in its own way.

[Stabbey]

Make a Librarian Barbarian, perhaps with the Sage background so your face-smasher can also be the go-to person for knowledge on History and Religion so they can have stuff to do in the social part of the game.

STR 17
DEX 16
CON 16
INT 16
WIS 15
CHA 12

[Grod_The_Giant]

Straight Bladesinger feels great.
Seconded. I'm playing a Bladesinger with excess stats right now, and it feels very different when you have Fighter-level hit points underneath all the dodging.

[SLOTHRPG95]

Seconding non-Hexblade melee bladelock, or alternatively a Str-based Valor Bard. Something like a half-orc skald splitting skulls on the front line with their greataxe, while also inspiring/buffing allies. Throw in expertise in athletics for some pretty good shoving action to grant yourself/allies advantage. Stats could look something like this:

Str 18
Dex 16
Con 18
Int 12
Wis 15
Cha 16

[Beelzebubba]

Late to the party here, but having extremely high stats is the *perfect* opportunity to play one of the sub-optimal subclasses. Having all those great scores will give you fantastic hit points, saves, and basic ability checks, so you can try out something niche or weird.

It would also a good idea to go for a support class/build. That way, instead of using all that power to outshine the others, you do things that set up the other party members to do awesome things as well. An over-powered character is hard to complain about when it's mostly used to make the rest of the party's actions better.

[Fatefulforce]

Rolling 4d minus1d got the following stats.
17,16,16,12,15,16

Trying to choose race/class from PHB and kobold press midgaard something or other. How can I take advantage of all these high rolls best?

Honestly, anything you want but this is a great spread for a MAD character.

Things like Monks, Barbs, Pally, Ranger, Arcane tricksters, Eldritch Knights, and weird multiclassses.

[KorvinStarmast]

17,16,16,12,15,16
What I would probably do with this
vHuman Monk, Sun Soul, Resilient Wisdom Feat.
S 16 D 17(+1) C 16 I 16 W 15(+1) Ch 12
or, if your group needs a controller caster
Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) vHuman with the Warcaster feat.
S 12 D 15(+1) C 16 I 16 W 16 Ch 17(+1)
Start out with Advantage on conc roll checks and proficiency in Con Saves. Specialize in Control spells with concentration, and a few blasty spells.
or
Half Elf Sorcerer, Divine Soul.
S12 D (15+1) 16 C (17+1) I 16 W 16 Ch (16+2)
What I like about this concept is the added skill proficiencies. Take advantage of the higher INT for various Arcana, History, Religion checks.
but if the party needs a martial character,
Zealot Barbarian, vHuman
S 16 D 16 C 18 I 16 W 16 Ch 12 (+1) Feat = Pole Arm Master. Boost CON and DEX at 4 and 8 respectively.
Wear scale or half plate and get the full +3 from dex, and, no penalty to stealth checks wearing half plate when he can afford it.
Need the boost in Int and Wis saves.

[DwarfFighter]

Rolling 4d minus1d got the following stats.
17,16,16,12,15,16

Trying to choose race/class from PHB and kobold press midgaard something or other. How can I take advantage of all these high rolls best?

It would make for an very good Human Fighter Champion, at least compared to other Human Fighter Champions...