Shattered Kingdoms

All back-rank casters should have int, wis, con and charisma maxed: You might be able to argue not maxing charisma or con for warlocks or sorcs now, but for necros it's still a requirement since so much is done through orders and since animate HP depends on the necros HP.

In addition, all casters benefit greatly from some combination of art and mana, unlike other classes.

Out of warlocks, sorcs and necros, necros are hurt the most from tanking dex on account of BoG, and they're also hurt the most from tanking strength since they need to carry the most extra weaponry and also don't have access to shrink and enlarge on their own.

To sum up, necros need int, wis, con, charisma, art and mana. Besides those, you have dex and strength. if you tank dex you'll hardly ever dodge BoGs. If you tank strength, you're going to be carrying around STR mods all the time or else you're going to go overweight just wearing armor and carrying heal vials.

Bards and hellions are clearly more stat-heavy than anyone else.

Edoras made a good case for why necromancer is the most stat-heavy of those three caster classes. But I think shamans and paladins are more stat-reliant than necromancers are.

I was not aware a necros con affected animated HP pool. Does the same still apply for warlocks? If so, put them on the list.

It does.

So, my question is this then. Should the super stat heavy classes be looked at, or due to their class abilities, they are just fine?

Hellion
Bard
Paladin
Shaman (Close 4th, depending on your build)

I honestly don't see any reason to max out the wis stat.

Bards imo are one of the hardest classes to build. They require every stat as well as mana. Not only that, if you don't have a group, no matter how awesome tumble is as a skill, you'll always get thrashed if you're not in a group. A solo bard, for the most part, even with insane buffs, is pretty much a free gank to anyone who is prepared.

There are of course exceptions to this, such as ethereal scrolls etc, but for the most part, bards sacrifice a great deal for their songs. Once singing, they can't quaff, recite, eat, drink or order. The bonus that dance is supposed to give to dodging and dodging bashes and such is pretty negligible as even with 22-25 dex my Helf bard constantly was tripped and or bashed, even in mood defensive. The lack of shield block makes em very, very squishy.

Maxing out wis gives you the mana and mana regen you need, not to mention boosts your will save. Every character except for MR barbs should have at least average wis so they don't take a will save penalty, and casters have no reason not to max it naturally or through items.

Jhorleb does have a point though, which is that shamans are pretty stat poor as well. I think it's a close tie between shamans and necros, since shaman have no innate need for charisma at all.

I voted for swashes, bards, and shamans, but I totally forgot about paladins and hellions when I posted. Man, hellions and bards have really gotta be the worst.

I'd probably say hellions and bards and shamans.

Eh, you'll get more regen from having trance, and mana trains.

Probably don't see any reason to take it higher than 5 under the max. Personal preference, though.