HOW TO MINMAX A D&D NEXT GUY

(using the optional point-buy rules)

the standard array:
[15,14,13,12,10,8]   basically not good for humans (need mostly odd)
                     AND not good for demihumans (need mostly even)

the point buy system in the book suggests (as most extreme and most boring cases):
[15,15,15,8,8,8]     okay for a human, but three bad scores.
[13,13,13,12,12,12]  +1 to everything. dumb.

so these are pretty bad examples to include in the book.
there are essentially four kinds of guys you can make in d&d next:

I:   humans with +3 to one ability score and +1 to all the rest
II:  humans with +2 to two scores and +1 to all the rest
III: demihumans with +2 to one score
IV:  demihumans with +1 to two scores

you need to point-buy differently in each case - so a cautious player (with access to the point buy system) will spend too much time making a guy. d&d next character creation is full of little problems like this. (if you are a dm running d&d next and a player asks to use an optional rule, "hey I can create my own background right?" say no) (I always do all the optional stuff)

numbers in [] brackets are the original scores just from point buy.
numbers with no brackets include bonuses from race and class.

good sets for a human:

(I: humans with +3 to one ability score and +1 to all the rest)
18,16,16,9,9,9    [15,15,15,8,8,8]    (three good scores, three bad)
                                      (as suggested in the book)                                     
18,16,14,14,12,9  [15,15,13,13,11,8]  (four good scores, one bad)
                                      (much better)                                     
18,14,14,14,13,10 [15,13,13,13,12,9]  (or this)

(II: humans with +2 to two scores and +1 to all the rest)
16,16,14,12,11,11 [14,14,13,11,10,10] (three good scores, no bad)
16,16,13,12,12,12 [14,14,12,11,11,11] (no bad scores)

good sets for other races:

(III: demihumans with +2 to one score)
16[14],14,14,10,10,10     (two good scores, no bad)
16[14],14,12,12,11,10     (no bad scores)

(IV: demihumans with +1 to two score)
16[15],16[15],14,12,8,8   (three good scores, two bad)
16[15],14[13],14,10,10,10 (three good scores, no bad)
14[13],14[13],14,12,12,10 (three good scores, no bad)

(all this is from the current playtest packet. maybe the game will not be like this when it's out.)