Best Class for low stats

[Nameless Void]

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has made suggestions. Very helpful!

Warlock can do it if you focus on no-save invocations.

Verily, I agree most wholeheartedly.

Wait, plus fucking fourteen modifier?!?!!!    Tell me that's also the DM's age.  Nothing else makes sense.

You could also try the Healer  and disguise the fact your stats suck by doing the one task that will make you popular at any table that winds up with such an absurd ability score spread.  You'll be bored out of your mind, but no one will notice you aren't doing anything useful.   



Thirty fucking eight ability score.  38! 
... In a row!

Total modifier my friend, total modifier 

You could use dragonwrought kobold for +3 to mental stats. 

You could play a muckdweller (Serpent Kingdoms, p71) and take an albatross (Stormwrack, p52/165) as your familiar.  Combining one of the few tiny races with one of the few small familiars lets you ride it.  An albatross has a fly speed of 50 feet, so you might be able to keep out of harm's way.

Now this is a hilarious idea

I vote for Lesser Dragonborn Arctic Ooze Para-Genasi. You can swing a 22 in constitution that way, plus a breath weapon so you can qualify for meta-breath feats. A solid tier 3.

I think I'd get prodded with a red hot poker if I tried this..

Melee wizard. Get a dagger and run to the front.

Your next rolls will liekly be better.

Trust me.. I thought about it, but I don't know how optimised the party will be and I'm sure I'll be able to create something worthwhile 

[ClayQ]

I laughed at the Monk/Paladin sugestion....

For obvious reasons the Casters are ofc the best, because you can deal with the lower stats If you're forced to and Tier 1/2 are tier 1/2 for a reason. I'm still partial to the Wildshape ranger -> MoMF's build not quite the same tier mind you but once you reach level 5/6 the only stat ther "really" matters anymore is con because you replace the others and your int/wis/cha aren't used for anything "specific"

And there's always the Sword of the Arcane Order/Shooting Star Ranger variants to add to the mix. For minor Wiz casting....

Suboptimal sure, fun and viable on low stats definitely. And with full bab + higher than a casters HD you should be able to survive the first 5-6 levels decently well enough :-p

[linklord231]

Suboptimal sure, fun and viable on low stats definitely. And with full bab + higher than a casters HD you should be able to survive the first 5-6 levels decently well enough :-p

Survive maybe, but he wouldn't be contributing to the party.  He would lack the attack and damage bonuses from high Str, so he wouldn't be able to hit anything.  A single save or die would kill him, because he can't reliably make the save with such low modifiers on top of an already poor save (assuming most things with full BAB and big HD have a low Will save). 

[Jackinthegreen]

And indeed a Ranger does have poor Will save progression.  The Hexblade and Duskblade are two of the few classes with full BAB, decent to good HD, and good will saves.  Neither would really work well here because they're primarily martial classes with poor spell progression for the Hexblade, and middling progression for the Duskblade.

[ClayQ]

Suboptimal sure, fun and viable on low stats definitely. And with full bab + higher than a casters HD you should be able to survive the first 5-6 levels decently well enough :-p

Survive maybe, but he wouldn't be contributing to the party.  He would lack the attack and damage bonuses from high Str, so he wouldn't be able to hit anything.  A single save or die would kill him, because he can't reliably make the save with such low modifiers on top of an already poor save (assuming most things with full BAB and big HD have a low Will save). 

Almost no matter what he plays, a single save or die is going to ruin his day, just a matter of what save is being targeted. Between levels 1-5 there aren't that many save or dies anyway (a few that may as well be, but none that actually are.... Hold Person... which is still a roughly 50/50 roll for a wizard at these levels too...)

How often does your level 1-5 cleric wade into melee with his mace and hit things because he doesn't want to waste his incredibly small spell repertoire. Alternatively, whats the difference in to hit on my bow with Full BAB and 14 dex vs 3/4rd BAB and 18 Dex, +1/+2? based on level.... What race he picks is going to matter... As for will save when it really starts to matter, he'll have to shore that up with items, maneuvers, or quite simply not being target-able.

[Bearchucks]

Another vote for bard/SC or buffer wizard that goes into War Weaver.  Bard also has the fun little trick of being able to be king of all the obscure skills (Jack of All Trades + Bardic Knack).  Bit of spotlight, helpful bonuses...and you're a bard, there's a lot of fun story options with that one.

[Cyclone Joker]

I'm going to second Wildshape Mystic Ranger/MoMF. Honestly, Rhino's Rush or Hunter's Mercy spam should keep your damage reasonable. I personally like Warforged, despite the Wis penatly as you get to keep armor while Wildshaping, and get a Con boost.

Of course, a T1 caster always works, even if it is the boring answer. If you want to go that way, I recommend an Arctic Grey Elf. +2 Int +2 Dex -2 Cha -2 Str. Pretty good deal.

If you're feeling really spiteful, you could build an Ubermount and laugh as you murder everything in your path. I, personally, really like the Ubermoose, but it's sub-optimal compared to the Ashworm or a Griffon, or even a Fleshraker(Not that that's saying much, the fleshraker is, well...), unless you're allowed to build the mount's feats and such from scratch.

Basically, everything in this thread will work fine. Well, except that Paladin/Monk joke.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Another vote for Druid, Wildshape Ranger / MoMF, or Warlock who ignores the save-based invocations.

Druid's the best choice, of course.  Ranger can work, but you'll suck mightily till you get wildshape (druid has spells).  Warlock willbe mediocre but ok the whole time.

[Empirate]

Too bad you're not playing Pathfinder. The Pathfinder Summoner is just the thing you need - you basically only need HP, and the rest of your work is done by your summoned Eidolon, which has its own spread of ability scores.
Maybe you can get it houseruled in? It's not as if it's at all incompatible with a 3.5 game, you can almost take it as-is.

[ClayQ]

Since the save was brought up, Ranger 5 (need that wildshape)/MoMF 7 Is the "build" what you do after is all you, I'd need to look at MoMF's a bit more for the "break points" But a couple levels of swordsage (or warblade) particularly for the saving throw counters would benift (and whatever other goodies)

I really like the Ranger 5/MoMF 3/Swordsage 1 (2?)/MoMF +4/
And since I want my Cheese, After MoMF 7 I'd fill it out with Warshaper 5, MoMF +3 (if I want this, I need to look again) and Swordsage (or warblade) levels to complete it.

Ranger has some decently usable ACF's ontop of the wild shape variant that may come in of use depending on your party and everything else, and if you intend to level your spellcasting after momf's.

[zioth]

WS Ranger5/MoMF7/Warshaper(1, 2 3 or 5) is a really fun build, but watch out -- Warshaper doesn't advance the maximum hit dice of the forms you can take. Your low-HD forms will be stronger, but you'll lose the high-HD forms.

Nature's Warrior is also a pretty good class for wildshapers, and one can argue (up to your DM) that it advances Improved Wildshape from Master of Many Forms. This means that MoMF7/NW3 would give you dragon and gargantuan forms.

Another option is Wild Monk from Dragon Magazine, instead of Wildshape Ranger. You lose some BaB, but you gain Improved Unarmed Strike, which is very nice in wildshape form, since it's almost always better than your natural attacks. Pile on a level or three of Fist of the Forest to advance Unarmed Strike further, along with a Monk Belt with Wilding Clasp, and the Superior Unarmed Strike feat. Doing this, it's not hard to max out unarmed damage. Max unarmed damage in a gargantuan size, with the +1 weapon size from Warshaper and another +1 from the Improved Natural Weapon feat, can get you a ton of damage per hit.

With this build, your strength score doesn't matter much (you do enough damage without it, and get a large strength bonus from many forms). You really only need CON, with maybe a little WIS if you want to use Stunning Fist.

[phaedrusxy]

For a Con-beast, Steadfast Determination takes care of your Will save problems. Failing a reflex save usually isn't as deadly as failing a Fort or Will save, especially if you have a massive Con score, as most of the time it just means taking a bit more damage.