I'm going to paraphrase from an EXCELLENT post made by thecannibal on a different forum like three years ago which I cannot find at the moment.
Basically, hellions need every stat. They need max str, int, and cha. Strength affects your physical damage, int affects the spells you can hold and cast (dominate and hellfire being the most important, at least when it comes to concentration requirements), and cha affects the strength of your intimidate, which is an incredible skill. They don't necessary need max dex, con, or wis, but they cannot afford to dump any of those stats either. Aim for 11 at the very least (do not take awkward dex, unhealthy con, or naive wis), and closer to 16 (limber or nimble dex, healthy or durable con, clever or wise wis).
You do not NEED to train art. It will definitely help you, but you can play a hellion without training it. There are many ways to build a hellion, depending on your race, but the simplest and probably the easiest way is going to be to max your strength, charisma, and intelligence naturally (probably in that order), then train your con until it's "durable" when you're naked and not spirit disoriented, then train your dex until you can hold 16 items under the same circumstances, then make sure your wis is at least at "clever." You will have a few stat points left over, if you're at Grandmaster status at least, and you can put those points into art.
This is not going to give you the most powerful hellion build in the game when compared to min-maxed hellions with lots of stat mods, but it won't be far behind them and it should keep you safe. Nimble dex will let you dodge some dirt kicks, and durable con will give you a reasonable number of hit points. Your spells might not penetrate saves quite as well, but again it's not going to ruin your character, and you will be able to play without having to calculate weird stat numbers. Keep in mind that hellions are a very difficult class to play--possibly the MOST difficult--and you will need a lot of practice to get good at it. I know I still do, badly.
P.S. Everybody will tell you different things about how important art is and isn't. Take it all with a grain of salt until you figure it out for yourself.
Disclaimer: I am not a skilled hellion player; I totally just paraphrased cannibal, and badly.
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