With my poor understanding of the math the general consensus seems to be that you get more out of maxing your prime scores then feats. I am building a wood elf hunter ranger 5 / war cleric 15. With point buy I have 15 dex 13 con and 15 wis. My understanding is you cannot have more then 15 from point buy.
To max dex and wis with asi seem to take 3 and half asi choices ( last point to con). This leaves me with no feats available. If I go v human I can get sharpshooter but I still come up short on stats ( lose the con). I also lose the movement, darkvision and the perception from wood elf.
You're not doing it wrong since there is no wrong way to play DnD, in the end it is up to you how you play. Bare in mind there are a few very useful feats that also increase ability scores, by only one though. For a Ranger/Cleric Elf, consider the Elven Accuracy feat, which lets you boost Wisdom, Charisma, Dexterity or Intelligence by 1, to a max of 20, and lets you roll 3 d20s when you have advantage, as opposed to 2. War Caster is very useful for a cleric, and Observant gives either a +1 to Intelligence or Wisdom, +5 to Passive Perception and Investigation and a third ability I forget. Feats are for people who want more unique options added to their character, giving them more to do in combat and making them more versatile. With good feat management, you could have a wizard who ,instead of falling back on repeated cantrips when they run out of spell slots, charges into the fray with a greatsword and plate mail, or a paladin who smites a demon with holy energy and then throws a dark hex on another, before firing off an Eldritch Blast. I myself have a Transmutation Wizard who, through feats, at one point had higher HP than the fighter. If you want to make your character the best at what they do already, use ASIs, but if you want cool abilities which are almost like class abilities, consider feats.
It seems like you're asking how many selections you need to get from two 15s to two 20s, correct? If you add in stat bonuses for race, say +2 and +1, then you would start at 17/16, and..
Level 4: 19/16
Level 8: 20/17
Level 12: 20/19
Level 16: 20/20 and +1 to something else
So yes, you are correct. "Three and a half" stat increases.
This is by design. If you want to have a character that has two 20s in abilities, then you have to focus on that as you level the character. Yes, you're going to have to sacrifice feats to do it. That's the trade-off. If you take feats, you won't have as high numbers in your ability scores.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I wouldn't really sweat getting that second 20 unless your build really benefitted from it - something like a monk or barbarian. Likewise with feats - they're often nice bonuses and a certain build may rely on one or two to function properly, but they often fall in the "nice-to-have" category.
Personally I prioritize boosting my main stat (especially if it's DEX since it does so much) alongside any build-defining feats, and only then considering the secondary stat or "that would be cool" type feats.
I wouldn't really sweat getting that second 20 unless your build really benefitted from it - something like a monk or barbarian. Likewise with feats - they're often nice bonuses and a certain build may rely on one or two to function properly, but they often fall in the "nice-to-have" category.
Personally I prioritize boosting my main stat (especially if it's DEX since it does so much) alongside any build-defining feats, and only then considering the secondary stat or "that would be cool" type feats.
I agree with this for the most part but, since the OP says he is taking 15 levels in Cleric, I think he should stat and feat boost for Cleric. Ranger is going to be secondary back up abilities at only 5 levels of investment.
Looking to boost both to 20 with Extra Attack, Divine Strike, War Priest ( need 20 wis for 5 charges plr), Colossus Slayer and Hunter's Mark all adding to my Bow Attacks. Would love sharpshooter somehow to be offset by Archery fighting style and Guided Strike. When I run out of bonus attacks with War Priest I can break out the spiritual weapon.
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With my poor understanding of the math the general consensus seems to be that you get more out of maxing your prime scores then feats. I am building a wood elf hunter ranger 5 / war cleric 15. With point buy I have 15 dex 13 con and 15 wis. My understanding is you cannot have more then 15 from point buy.
To max dex and wis with asi seem to take 3 and half asi choices ( last point to con). This leaves me with no feats available. If I go v human I can get sharpshooter but I still come up short on stats ( lose the con). I also lose the movement, darkvision and the perception from wood elf.
Am I doing this wrong?
You're not doing it wrong since there is no wrong way to play DnD, in the end it is up to you how you play. Bare in mind there are a few very useful feats that also increase ability scores, by only one though. For a Ranger/Cleric Elf, consider the Elven Accuracy feat, which lets you boost Wisdom, Charisma, Dexterity or Intelligence by 1, to a max of 20, and lets you roll 3 d20s when you have advantage, as opposed to 2. War Caster is very useful for a cleric, and Observant gives either a +1 to Intelligence or Wisdom, +5 to Passive Perception and Investigation and a third ability I forget. Feats are for people who want more unique options added to their character, giving them more to do in combat and making them more versatile. With good feat management, you could have a wizard who ,instead of falling back on repeated cantrips when they run out of spell slots, charges into the fray with a greatsword and plate mail, or a paladin who smites a demon with holy energy and then throws a dark hex on another, before firing off an Eldritch Blast. I myself have a Transmutation Wizard who, through feats, at one point had higher HP than the fighter. If you want to make your character the best at what they do already, use ASIs, but if you want cool abilities which are almost like class abilities, consider feats.
It seems like you're asking how many selections you need to get from two 15s to two 20s, correct? If you add in stat bonuses for race, say +2 and +1, then you would start at 17/16, and..
So yes, you are correct. "Three and a half" stat increases.
This is by design. If you want to have a character that has two 20s in abilities, then you have to focus on that as you level the character. Yes, you're going to have to sacrifice feats to do it. That's the trade-off. If you take feats, you won't have as high numbers in your ability scores.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I wouldn't really sweat getting that second 20 unless your build really benefitted from it - something like a monk or barbarian. Likewise with feats - they're often nice bonuses and a certain build may rely on one or two to function properly, but they often fall in the "nice-to-have" category.
Personally I prioritize boosting my main stat (especially if it's DEX since it does so much) alongside any build-defining feats, and only then considering the secondary stat or "that would be cool" type feats.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I agree with this for the most part but, since the OP says he is taking 15 levels in Cleric, I think he should stat and feat boost for Cleric. Ranger is going to be secondary back up abilities at only 5 levels of investment.
Looking to boost both to 20 with Extra Attack, Divine Strike, War Priest ( need 20 wis for 5 charges plr), Colossus Slayer and Hunter's Mark all adding to my Bow Attacks. Would love sharpshooter somehow to be offset by Archery fighting style and Guided Strike. When I run out of bonus attacks with War Priest I can break out the spiritual weapon.